Stress Introduction Rate Alters the Benefit of AcrAB-TolC Efflux Pumps.

ABSTRACT: Stress tolerance studies are typically conducted in an all-or-none fashion. However, in realistic settings-such as in clinical or metabolic engineering applications-cells may encounter stresses at different rates. Therefore, how cells tolerate stress may depend on its rate of appearance. To address this, we studied how the rate of stress introduction affects bacterial stress tolerance by focusing on a key stress response mechanism. Efflux pumps, such as AcrAB-TolC of Escherichia coli, are membrane transporters well known for the ability to export a wide variety of substrates, including antibiotics, signaling molecules, and biofuels. Although efflux pumps improve stress tolerance, pump overexpression can result in a substantial fitness cost to the cells. We hypothesized that the ideal pump

SUBMITTER: Langevin AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5717160 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature