Yu Yanshuang, Herzberg Martin, Pat-Espadas Aurora M, Vinuesa Pablo, Feng Renwei, Rosen Barry, Amachi Seigo, Jia Xianbo, Rensing Christopher, Zhou Shungui
College of Resources and Environment, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China.
Institute of Resources, Environment and Soil Fertilizer, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Dec 26;26(1):107. doi: 10.3390/ijms26010107.
Microbes have been shown to adapt to stressful or even lethal conditions through displaying genome plasticity. However, how bacteria utilize the ability of genomic plasticity to deal with high antimony (Sb) stress has remained unclear. In this study, the spontaneous mutant strain SMAs-55 of sp. As-55 was obtained under antimonite (Sb(III)) stress. SMAs-55 displayed significantly increased Sb(III) resistance, but it lost the ability to oxidize arsenite (As(III)) by deleting an entire gene island containing genes encoding functions involved in As(III) oxidation, arsenic (As)/Sb resistance and phosphate transport. This study suggests that genetic plasticity has played an important role in As-55 adaption to Sb(III) stress. Transcriptomic analysis found that genes encoding functions involved in capsule polysaccharide synthesis, as well as functions correlated to stress adaptation, ATP production, and metabolism were more strongly expressed in SMAs-55. In addition, a lower intracellular Sb(III) accumulation in SMAs-55 was observed. These findings indicate that reduced uptake through increased capsule biosynthesis was an effective way for SMAs-55 to adapt to an environment displaying high levels of Sb. This study helps us to better understand the evolutionary processes enabling survival of microbes and microbial community in contaminated environments.
微生物已被证明可通过展现基因组可塑性来适应压力甚至致死条件。然而，细菌如何利用基因组可塑性能力来应对高锑（Sb）胁迫仍不清楚。在本研究中，在亚锑酸盐（Sb(III)）胁迫下获得了sp. As-55的自发突变菌株SMAs-55。SMAs-55对Sb(III)的抗性显著增强，但通过缺失一个完整的基因岛而丧失了氧化亚砷（As(III)）的能力，该基因岛包含编码与As(III)氧化、砷（As）/锑抗性及磷酸盐转运相关功能的基因。本研究表明，遗传可塑性在As-55适应Sb(III)胁迫中发挥了重要作用。转录组分析发现，编码参与荚膜多糖合成功能的基因，以及与应激适应、ATP产生和代谢相关的功能在SMAs-55中表达更强。此外，观察到SMAs-55细胞内Sb(III)积累较低。这些发现表明，通过增加荚膜生物合成减少摄取是SMAs-55适应高锑环境的有效方式。本研究有助于我们更好地理解使微生物和微生物群落能在受污染环境中生存的进化过程。
