Pleiotropic effects of rfa-gene mutations on Escherichia coli envelope properties.

ABSTRACT: Mutations in the rfa operon leading to severely truncated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) structures are associated with pleiotropic effects on bacterial cells, which in turn generates a complex phenotype termed deep-rough. Literature reports distinct behavior of these mutants in terms of susceptibility to bacteriophages and to several antibacterial substances. There is so far a critical lack of understanding of such peculiar structure-reactivity relationships mainly due to a paucity of thorough biophysical and biochemical characterizations of the surfaces of these mutants. In the current study, the biophysicochemical features of the envelopes of Escherichia coli deep-rough mutants are identified from the molecular to the single cell and population levels using a suite of complementary techniques

SUBMITTER: Pagnout C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6609704 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature