Development of a whole-cell biosensor for detection of antibiotics targeting bacterial cell envelope in Bacillus subtilis.

It is an urgent need to develop novel antibiotics to treat infections caused by multi-drug-resistant bacteria. One promising strategy could be the use of whole-cell biosensors, which have been extensively studied to monitor environmental pollutants and intracellular metabolites. Here, we used the σ-mediated regulatory system of Bacillus subtilis to construct a whole-cell biosensor for the detection of cell envelope-acting antibiotics. Using polymyxin B as the inducer for bacterial cell envelope stress and enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) as the reporter, we found that the promoter of ypuA (P) had the lowest background noise and the most significant changes in the fluorescence output. The whole-cell biosensor displayed dose-dependent and time-dependent responses in fluorescence signals. The detection range of this biosensor for polymyxin B was between 0.125 and 12 μg/mL. The response of the biosensor is specific to antibiotics that target the cell envelope. Besides determination in liquid cultures, the output signal of the biosensor can be easily determined on agar surfaces. Using this biosensor, we successfully detected polymyxins secreted by its producing strain and bacteria that produce cell envelope-acting antibiotics. KEY POINTS: • A whole-cell biosensor was constructed based on the σ-mediated regulatory system. • The response of the biosensor is specific to cell envelope-acting antibiotics. • The biosensor can be used to screen novel cell envelope-acting antibiotics.