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Survival of a Novel Bacterium Acidiphilium symbioticum H8 under Thermal Stress

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Abstract

An acidophilic heterotrophic gram-negative Acidiphilium symbioticum strain H8 is an important bacterium possessing a high capacity for heavy metal binding. As these bacteria inhabit acidic mine regions they are subjected to occasional temperature stress; thus their membrane profile is very important. Cell morphology determined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed the surface and internal adaptation of the organelles. Phosphatidyl ethanolamine, phosphatidyl inositol, and phosphatidic acid are the major phospholipids affected by growth temperature. The membrane fluidity in response to temperature stress was investigated by measuring fluorescence anisotropy using 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) as the probe. Significant changes in membrane fluidity revealed the transition temperature midpoints as 11 and 38°C. To maintain the optimum fluidity increasing the percentage of cis-vaccenic acid at suboptimal and palmitic acid at the upper cardinal temperature support the evidence of membrane remodeling in different growth temperatures. The protein profile from SDS-PAGE provided information about different polypeptide bands which may be responsible for the different metal binding abilities of the strain.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We gratefully acknowledge the help of Dr. S. Cha-kraborty, University Science Instrumentation Centre, Burdwan University, West Bengal, for providing SEM facilities and Dr. T.C. Nag, All India Institute of Medical Science, New Delhi for providing TEM facilities. Many thanks are also addressed to Dr. A. Sen, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata, for his support in providing a GC-MS facility. R. Chakravarty acknowledges the Research Fellowship provided by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi.

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  1. Molecular Genetics Laboratory, CSIR—Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 700032, Kolkata, India

    R. Chakravarty & P. C. Banerjee

  2. Department of Chemistry, Regent Education and Research Foundation, 700121, Kolkata, India

    R. Chakravarty

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  1. R. Chakravarty
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Correspondence to R. Chakravarty.

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Chakravarty, R., Banerjee, P.C. Survival of a Novel Bacterium Acidiphilium symbioticum H8 under Thermal Stress. Microbiology 92, 534–544 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261722602457

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