Phenotypic plasticity of Escherichia coli upon exposure to physical stress induced by ZnO nanorods.

ABSTRACT: Evolution of bacteria to selective chemical pressure (e.g. antibiotics) is well studied in contrast to the influence of physical stressors. Here we show that instantaneous physical stress in a homogeneous environment (without concentration gradient) induces fast adaptation of Escherichia coli. We exposed E. coli to a large number of collisions of around 10⁵ per bacterium per second with sharp ZnO nanorods. The pressure exerted on the bacterial cell wall was up to 10 GPa and induced phenotype changes. The bacteria's shape became more spherical, the density of their periplasm increased by around 15% and the average thickness of the cell wall by 30%. Such E. coli cells appeared almost as Gram-positive bacteria in the standard Gram staining. Additionally, we observed a combination o

SUBMITTER: Matula K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6561948 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature