Abstract
The ability of bacteria to regulate cell surface hydrophobicity is important for the adaptation to different environmental conditions. The hydrophobicity of cell surface can be determined by several factors, including outer membrane and surface proteins. In this study, we report that an adhesin LapF influences cell surface hydrophobicity of Pseudomonas putida. Cells lacking LapF are less hydrophobic than wild-type cells in stationary growth phase. Moreover, the overexpression of the global regulator Fis decreases surface hydrophobicity by repressing the expression of lapF. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that bacteria producing LapF are more viable when confronted with methanol (a hydrophilic compound) but are more susceptible to 1-octanol (a hydrophobic compound). Thus, these results revealed that LapF is the hydrophobicity factor for the cell surface of P. putida.
Highlights
The ability to regulate cell surface hydrophobicity is important for bacterial adaptation to different environmental conditions [1,2]
We have previously shown that fis overexpression enhances P. putida biofilm formation most probably caused by an increase in the abundance of LapA of about 1.6 times compared to P. putida wild-type cells [22,31]
LapA is required for the adhesion of bacterial cells to both the hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces [27], participation of this adhesin in affecting the hydrophobicity of the cell surface of P. putida has not been addressed prior to this work
Summary
The ability to regulate cell surface hydrophobicity is important for bacterial adaptation to different environmental conditions [1,2]. Two large proteins LapA and LapF, which act as adhesins, were shown to be essential for P. putidas biofilm formation [22,23,24]. We have previously shown that fis overexpression enhances P. putida biofilm formation most probably caused by an increase in the abundance of LapA of about 1.6 times compared to P. putida wild-type cells [22,31]. It was intriguing to study whether the two largest adhesins of P. putida LapA and LapF take part in regulation of cell surface hydrophobicity, as it was previously shown that cells growing in biofilm are usually more hydrophobic [7,40,41]. We measured the cell surface hydrophobicity, analysed as water contact angles (θw), of P. putida cells, when lacking the adhesins LapA and/or LapF. The effect of LapF on P. putidas adaptive properties towards hydrophobic and hydrophilic compounds was studied by flow cytometry analysis
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