Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation
Bacteria frequently encounter nutrient fluctuations in natural environments, yet we understand little about their ability to maintain physiological memory of previous food sources. Starvation is a particularly acute case, in which cells must balance adaptation to stresses with limited nutrient suppl...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1016371/full |
| _version_ | 1828122269524688896 |
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| author | Spencer Cesar Jiawei Sun Kerwyn Casey Huang Kerwyn Casey Huang Kerwyn Casey Huang |
| author_facet | Spencer Cesar Jiawei Sun Kerwyn Casey Huang Kerwyn Casey Huang Kerwyn Casey Huang |
| author_sort | Spencer Cesar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Bacteria frequently encounter nutrient fluctuations in natural environments, yet we understand little about their ability to maintain physiological memory of previous food sources. Starvation is a particularly acute case, in which cells must balance adaptation to stresses with limited nutrient supply. Here, we show that Escherichia coli cells immediately accelerate and decelerate in growth upon transitions from spent to fresh media and vice versa, respectively, and memory of rapid growth can be maintained for many hours under constant flow of spent medium. However, after transient exposure of stationary-phase cells to fresh medium, subsequent aerobic incubation in increasingly spent medium led to lysis and limited growth when rejuvenated in fresh medium. Growth defects were avoided by incubation in anaerobic spent medium or water, suggesting that defects were caused by respiration during the process of nutrient depletion in spent medium. These findings highlight the importance of respiration for stationary phase survival and underscore the broad range of starvation outcomes depending on environmental history. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:33:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7ecc03a5cfae411a89942e5ea2625e4a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T14:33:10Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7ecc03a5cfae411a89942e5ea2625e4a2022-12-22T04:18:29ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2022-11-011310.3389/fmicb.2022.10163711016371Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvationSpencer Cesar0Jiawei Sun1Kerwyn Casey Huang2Kerwyn Casey Huang3Kerwyn Casey Huang4Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United StatesDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United StatesDepartment of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United StatesDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United StatesChan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, United StatesBacteria frequently encounter nutrient fluctuations in natural environments, yet we understand little about their ability to maintain physiological memory of previous food sources. Starvation is a particularly acute case, in which cells must balance adaptation to stresses with limited nutrient supply. Here, we show that Escherichia coli cells immediately accelerate and decelerate in growth upon transitions from spent to fresh media and vice versa, respectively, and memory of rapid growth can be maintained for many hours under constant flow of spent medium. However, after transient exposure of stationary-phase cells to fresh medium, subsequent aerobic incubation in increasingly spent medium led to lysis and limited growth when rejuvenated in fresh medium. Growth defects were avoided by incubation in anaerobic spent medium or water, suggesting that defects were caused by respiration during the process of nutrient depletion in spent medium. These findings highlight the importance of respiration for stationary phase survival and underscore the broad range of starvation outcomes depending on environmental history.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1016371/fullstationary phaseenvironmental fluctuationsmicrofluidicssingle-cell analysisspent mediumanaerobic |
| spellingShingle | Spencer Cesar Jiawei Sun Kerwyn Casey Huang Kerwyn Casey Huang Kerwyn Casey Huang Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation Frontiers in Microbiology stationary phase environmental fluctuations microfluidics single-cell analysis spent medium anaerobic |
| title | Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation |
| title_full | Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation |
| title_fullStr | Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation |
| title_short | Cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation |
| title_sort | cellular memory of rapid growth is sensitive to nutrient depletion during starvation |
| topic | stationary phase environmental fluctuations microfluidics single-cell analysis spent medium anaerobic |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1016371/full |
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