Microbial mechanisms of tolerance to weak acid stress

Nuno P Mira,Miguel C Teixeira

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2013.00416

Nuno P Mira, Miguel C Teixeira

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2013.00416

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Abstract

Microbial mechanisms of tolerance to weak acid stress

Highlights

Carboxylic acids are ubiquitous molecules found in microbial metabolic pathways and that have been explored for a wide array of applications including food preservation, chemotherapy or agriculture
The exploitation of carboxylic acids as “building-block molecules” for chemical synthesis has recently been a hot topic of research, accompanying the orientation of US and EU policy towards the development of biorefineries(Sauer et al, 2008; Abbott et al, 2009)
The carboxylic group, along with other functional groups frequently found in carboxylic acids, make these molecules attractive platforms for chemical synthesis and/or catalysis

Summary

Introduction

Carboxylic acids are ubiquitous molecules found in microbial metabolic pathways and that have been explored for a wide array of applications including food preservation (e.g., acetic, propionic, benzoic, and sorbic acids), chemotherapy (e.g., the analgesic acetylsalicylic acid, the immunosuppressor mycophenolic acid or the antimalarial drugs artesunic and artemisinic acids) or agriculture (e.g., the herbicides 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid). The article of Jarboe et al (2013) reviews the toxic effects exerted by, and the underlying adaptive responses to, lipophilic carboxylic acids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli, two host systems that have been exploited as cell factories.

Results

Conclusion