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Enhanced intracellular Ca2+ concentrations in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis after addition of oligosaccharide elicitors

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Abstract

Elicitation can lead to overproduction of secondary metabolites in plants and microbes. Potential changes in cytosolic Ca2+ levels in bacteria were studied in response to elicitation. We report, for the first time, the effect of oligosaccharide elicitors on intracellular Ca2+ levels. The apoaequorin gene was cloned into Escherichia coli DH5α and Bacillus subtilis 1604 cultures. Addition of elicitors, oligoguluronate and mannan oligosaccharides, to the cultures caused up to 11-fold increase in cytosolic Ca2+ in E. coli and tenfold increase in B. subtilis. These increases in Ca2+ levels could therefore contribute to the enhancement of secondary metabolite levels.

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Acknowledgment

The authors like to thank Prof. Anthony Campbell (University of Cardiff, UK) for his guidance and Pfizer Ltd for Tania Murphy’s studentship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Molecular & Applied Biosciences, University of Westminster, 115 New Cavendish Street, London, SW1 6UW, UK

    Tania M. Murphy, Ipsita Roy & Tajalli Keshavarz

  2. Bioprocess Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Alex Y. Nilsson

  3. Bioprocess Development Group, Pfizer Limited, Kalamazoo, MI, USA

    Anthony Harrop & Keith Dixon

Authors
  1. Tania M. Murphy
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  2. Alex Y. Nilsson
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  3. Ipsita Roy
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  4. Anthony Harrop
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  5. Keith Dixon
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  6. Tajalli Keshavarz
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Correspondence to Tajalli Keshavarz.

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Murphy, T.M., Nilsson, A.Y., Roy, I. et al. Enhanced intracellular Ca2+ concentrations in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis after addition of oligosaccharide elicitors. Biotechnol Lett 33, 985–991 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-010-0511-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-010-0511-6

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