Abstract
SummaryBacterial membrane vesicles (MVs) are attracting considerable attention in diverse fields of life science and biotechnology due to their potential for various applications. Although there has been progress in determining the mechanisms of MV formation in Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, the mechanisms in mycolic acid-containing bacteria remain an unsolved question due to its complex cell envelope structure. Here, by adapting super-resolution live-cell imaging and biochemical analysis, we show that Corynebacterium glutamicum form distinct types of MVs via different routes in response to environmental conditions. DNA-damaging stress induced MV formation through prophage-triggered cell lysis, whereas envelope stress induced MV formation through mycomembrane blebbing. The MV formation routes were conserved in other mycolic acid-containing bacteria. Our results show how the complex cell envelope structure intrinsically generates various types of MVs and will advance our knowledge on how different types of MVs can be generated from a single cell organism.
Highlights
Most bacteria form membrane vesicles, which play important roles in various biological processes (Schwechheimer and Kuehn, 2015) such as bacterial communication (Toyofuku et al, 2017b), resistance to antibiotics and phages (Manning and Kuehn, 2011), and immunomodulation of the host (Vidakovics et al, 2010)
DNA-damaging stress induces membrane vesicles (MVs) formation in C. glutamicum Given the general role of DNA-damaging stress in MV formation of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria ((Toyofuku et al, 2017a); Turnbull et al, 2016), we first investigated whether DNA-damaging stress would trigger MV formation in C. glutamicum
MVs induced with mitomycin C (MMC) (M-MVs) were investigated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and were shown to be more diverse in morphology and in sizes than MVs formed under normal conditions (N-MVs) (Figure 1D)
Summary
Most bacteria form membrane vesicles, which play important roles in various biological processes (Schwechheimer and Kuehn, 2015) such as bacterial communication (Toyofuku et al, 2017b), resistance to antibiotics and phages (Manning and Kuehn, 2011), and immunomodulation of the host (Vidakovics et al, 2010). Due to these various biological functions and their great potential for application in biotechnology, such as the development of vaccines (Robbins and Moreli, 2014) and drug delivery vehicles (Gujrati et al, 2014), MVs have been attracting attention of researchers in broad areas of life science and biotechnology and the understanding of MV formation mechanisms are fundamental. In contrast to the progress made for Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, the mechanism of MV formation in mycolic acid-containing bacteria (MCB) remains poorly understood
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