Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
Guangdong Environmental Protection Key Laboratory for Microbiology and Regional Ecological Safety, Institute of Microbiology, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
mSystems. 2023 Dec 21;8(6):e0086223. doi: 10.1128/msystems.00862-23. Epub 2023 Nov 1.
Microbial cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) reflects nonspecific adhesion ability and affects various physiological processes, such as biofilm formation and pollutant biodegradation. Understanding the regulation mechanisms of CSH will contribute to illuminating microbial adaptation strategies and provide guidance for controlling CSH artificially to benefit humans. Sphingomonads, a common bacterial group with great xenobiotic-degrading ability, generally show higher CSH than typical Gram-negative bacteria, which plays a positive role in organic pollutant capture and cell colonization. This study verified that the variations of two native plasmids involved in synthesizing outer membrane proteins and polysaccharides greatly affected the CSH of sphingomonads. It is feasible to control their CSH by changing the plasmid copy number and sequences. Additionally, considering that plasmids are likely to evolve faster than chromosomes, the CSH of sphingomonads may evolve quickly to respond to environmental changes. Our results provide valuable insights into the CSH regulation and evolution of sphingomonads.
微生物细胞表面疏水性（CSH）反映了非特异性的粘附能力，并影响各种生理过程，如生物膜的形成和污染物的生物降解。了解 CSH 的调控机制有助于阐明微生物的适应策略，并为人工控制 CSH 以造福人类提供指导。鞘氨醇单胞菌是一种具有很强异生物质降解能力的常见细菌群体，通常比典型的革兰氏阴性菌具有更高的 CSH，这对有机污染物的捕获和细胞定殖起到了积极的作用。本研究证实，参与合成外膜蛋白和多糖的两个天然质粒的变化极大地影响了鞘氨醇单胞菌的 CSH。通过改变质粒拷贝数和序列来控制其 CSH 是可行的。此外，考虑到质粒的进化速度可能比染色体快，鞘氨醇单胞菌的 CSH 可能会迅速进化以应对环境变化。我们的研究结果为鞘氨醇单胞菌的 CSH 调控和进化提供了有价值的见解。
