ArticleCurrent biology : CB2020
Biosurfactant-Mediated Membrane Depolarization Maintains Viability during Oxygen Depletion in Bacillus subtilis.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploiting the ability of Bacillus subtilis to synthetize surfactin under oxygen limitation.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Initiation of swarming inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Differential survival and tolerance mechanisms ofApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Article
- Surfactin acceleratesBiofilm · 2025Article
- Surfactin facilitates establishment of Bacillus subtilis in synthetic communities.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Prospects and challenges regarding biosurfactants in advancing the petroleum industry.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Review
- Adaptive laboratory evolution for improved tolerance of vitamin K in Bacillus subtilis.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024Article
- Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy with Bacterial Biofilms: Neuronal-like Behavior.Nano letters · 2024Article
- Magnesium Modulates Bacillus subtilis Cell Division Frequency.Journal of bacteriology · 2023Article
- Microbial Biosurfactant as an Alternate to Chemical Surfactants for Application in Cosmetics Industries in Personal and Skin Care Products: A Critical Review.BioMed research international · 2023Review
- Collective polarization dynamics in bacterial colonies signify the occurrence of distinct subpopulations.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Construction and characterization of a genome-scale ordered mutant collection of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron.BMC biology · 2022Article
- Article
- A mini-review: mechanism of antimicrobial action and application of surfactin.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2022Review
- Systems view of Bacillus subtilis pellicle development.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2022Article
- Bacterial respiration during stationary phase induces intracellular damage that leads to delayed regrowth.iScience · 2022Article
- Nitric oxide stimulates type IV MSHA pilus retraction inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Evaluation of an oxygen-dependent self-inducible surfactin synthesis in B. subtilis by substitution of native promoter PAMB Express · 2021Article
- Genomic and Chemical Diversity of Bacillus subtilis Secondary Metabolites against Plant Pathogenic Fungi.mSystems · 2021Article
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8 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
The presence or absence of oxygen in the environment is a strong effector of cellular metabolism and physiology. Like many eukaryotes and some bacteria, Bacillus subtilis primarily utilizes oxygen during respiration to generate ATP. Despite the importance of oxygen for B. subtilis survival, we know little about how populations adapt to shifts in oxygen availability. Here, we find that when oxygen was depleted from stationary phase B. subtilis cultures, ∼90% of cells died while the remaining cells maintained colony-forming ability. We discover that production of the antimicrobial surfactin confers two oxygen-related fitness benefits: it increases aerobic growth yield by increasing oxygen diffusion, and it maintains viability during oxygen depletion by depolarizing the membrane. Strains unable to produce surfactin exhibited an ∼50-fold reduction in viability after oxygen depletion. Surfactin treatment of these cells led to membrane depolarization and reduced ATP production. Chemical and genetic perturbations that alter oxygen consumption or redox state support a model in which surfactin-mediated membrane depolarization maintains viability through slower oxygen consumption and/or a shift to a more reduced metabolic profile. These findings highlight the importance of membrane potential in regulating cell physiology and growth, and demonstrate that antimicrobials that depolarize cell membranes can benefit cells when the terminal electron acceptor in respiration is limiting. This foundational knowledge has deep implications for environmental microbiology, clinical anti-bacterial therapy, and industrial biotechnology.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.