ArticleBMC microbiology2018
A Recurrent Silent Mutation Implicates fecA in Ethanol Tolerance by Escherichia coli.
Article in BMC microbiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reviewing the complexities of bacterial biocide susceptibility and in vitro biocide adaptation methodologies.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Review
- Recent advances in metabolic engineering of microorganisms for advancing lignocellulose-derived biofuels.Bioengineered · 2022Review
- Synthetic Biology and Metabolic Engineering EmployingFrontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2020Review
- Understanding and engineering alcohol-tolerant bacteria using OMICS technology.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2018Review
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAn issue associated with efficient bioethanol production is the fact that the desired product is toxic to the biocatalyst. Among other effects, ethanol has previously been found to influence the membrane of E. coli in a dose-dependent manner and induce changes in the lipid composition of the plasma membrane. We describe here the characterization of a collection of ethanol-tolerant strains derived from the ethanologenic Escherichia coli strain FBR5.
resultsMembrane permeability assays indicate that many of the strains in the collection have alterations in membrane permeability and/or responsiveness of the membrane to environmental changes such as temperature shifts or ethanol exposure. However, analysis of the strains by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry revealed no qualitative changes in the acyl chain composition of membrane lipids in response to ethanol or temperature. To determine whether these strains contain any mutations that might contribute to ethanol tolerance or changes in membrane permeability, we sequenced the entire genome of each strain. Unexpectedly, none of the strains displayed mutations in genes known to control membrane lipid synthesis, and a few strains carried no mutations at all. Interestingly, we found that four independently-isolated strains acquired an identical C → A (V244 V) silent mutation in the ferric citrate transporter gene fecA. Further, we demonstrated that either a deletion of fecA or over-expression of fecA can confer increased ethanol survival, suggesting that any misregulation of fecA expression affects the cellular response to ethanol.
conclusionsThe fact that no mutations were observed in several ethanol-tolerant strains suggested that epigenetic mechanisms play a role in E. coli ethanol tolerance and membrane permeability. Our data also represent the first direct phenotypic evidence that the fecA gene plays a role in ethanol tolerance. We propose that the recurring silent mutation may exert an effect on phenotype by altering RNA-mediated regulation of fecA expression.
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