Escherichia coli Increases its ATP Concentration in Weakly Acidic Environments Principally through the Glycolytic Pathway

DOI Web Site 1 Citations
  • Wenbin Zhang
    Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Protein Function and Regulation in Agricultural Organisms, College of Life Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510640, China
  • Xin Chen
    Guangdong Key Laboratory of IoT Information Technology, School of Automation, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
  • Wei Sun
    Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510530, China
  • Tao Nie
    Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510530, China
  • Natalie Quanquin
    Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
  • Yirong Sun
    Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510530, China

Description

<jats:p>Acid resistance is an intrinsic characteristic of intestinal bacteria in order to survive passage through the stomach. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the ubiquitous chemical used to power metabolic reactions, activate signaling cascades, and form precursors of nucleic acids, was also found to be associated with the survival of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in acidic environments. The metabolic pathway responsible for elevating the level of ATP inside these bacteria during acid adaptation has been unclear. E. coli uses several mechanisms of ATP production, including oxidative phosphorylation, glycolysis and the oxidation of organic compounds. To uncover which is primarily used during adaptation to acidic conditions, we broadly analyzed the levels of gene transcription of multiple E. coli metabolic pathway components. Our findings confirmed that the primary producers of ATP in E. coli undergoing mild acidic stress are the glycolytic enzymes Glk, PykF and Pgk, which are also essential for survival under markedly acidic conditions. By contrast, the transcription of genes related to oxidative phosphorylation was downregulated, despite it being the major producer of ATP in neutral pH environments.</jats:p>

Journal

  • Genes

    Genes 11 (9), 991-, 2020-08-25

    MDPI AG

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