Key Laboratory of Engineering Biology for Low-Carbon Manufacturing, In Vitro Synthetic Biology Center, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, China.
School of Information Science and Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Aug 31;15(1):7575. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-51940-3.
Biofilm formation enhances bacterial survival and antibiotic tolerance, but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here, we show that biofilm growth is accompanied by a reduction in bacterial energy metabolism and membrane potential, together with metabolic exchanges between the inner and outer regions in biofilms. More specifically, nutrient-starved cells in the interior supply amino acids to cells in the periphery, while peripheral cells experience a decrease in membrane potential and provide fatty acids to interior cells. Fatty acids facilitate the repair of starvation-induced membrane damage in inner cells and enhance their survival in the presence of antibiotics. Thus, metabolic exchanges between inner and outer cells contribute to survival of the nutrient-starved inner cells and contribute to antibiotic tolerance within the biofilm.
生物膜的形成增强了细菌的生存能力和抗生素耐受性，但其中的底层机制尚不完全清楚。在这里，我们表明生物膜的生长伴随着细菌能量代谢和膜电位的降低，以及生物膜内外区域之间的代谢交换。更具体地说，内部饥饿的细胞向周围的细胞供应氨基酸，而周围的细胞经历膜电位下降，并向内部细胞提供脂肪酸。脂肪酸有助于修复内部细胞因饥饿引起的膜损伤，提高其在抗生素存在下的生存能力。因此，内外细胞之间的代谢交换有助于营养饥饿的内部细胞的存活，并有助于生物膜内的抗生素耐受性。
