Cytosolic Crowding Drives the Dynamics of Both Genome and Cytosol in Escherichia coli Challenged with Sub-lethal Antibiotic Treatments.

ABSTRACT: In contrast to their molecular mode of action, the system-level effect of antibiotics on cells is only beginning to be quantified. Molecular crowding is expected to be a relevant global regulator, which we explore here through the dynamic response phenotypes in Escherichia coli, at single-cell resolution, under sub-lethal regimes of different classes of clinically relevant antibiotics, acting at very different levels in the cell. We measure chromosomal mobility through tracking of fast (<15 s timescale) fluctuations of fluorescently tagged chromosomal loci, and we probe the fluidity of the cytoplasm by tracking cytosolic aggregates. Measuring cellular density, we show how the overall levels of macromolecular crowding affect both quantities, regardless of antibiotic-specific effects.

SUBMITTER: Wlodarski M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7522891 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature