Release of extracellular ATP by bacteria during growth

Roberto Mempin,Connie Chen,Hao Gong,Katharina Kim Ho,Helen Tran,Sangwei Lu

doi:10.1186/1471-2180-13-301

Roberto Mempin, Connie Chen + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-13-301

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Abstract

BackgroundAdenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used as an intracellular energy source by all living organisms. It plays a central role in the respiration and metabolism, and is the most important energy supplier in many enzymatic reactions. Its critical role as the energy storage molecule makes it extremely valuable to all cells.ResultsWe report here the detection of extracellular ATP in the cultures of a variety of bacterial species. The levels of the extracellular ATP in bacterial cultures peaked around the end of the log phase and decreased in the stationary phase of growth. Extracellular ATP levels were dependent on the cellular respiration as bacterial mutants lacking cytochrome bo oxidase displayed lower extracellular ATP levels. We have also shown that Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Salmonella actively depleted extracellular ATP and an ATP supplement in culture media enhanced the stationary survival of E. coli and Salmonella. In addition to E. coli and Salmonella the presence of the extracellular ATP was observed in a variety of bacterial species that contain human pathogens such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella and Staphylococcus.ConclusionOur results indicate that extracellular ATP is produced by many bacterial species during growth and extracellular ATP may serve a role in the bacterial physiology.

Highlights

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used as an intracellular energy source by all living organisms
We examined if extracellular ATP is present in the culture supernatant of Gram-negative bacteria E. coli and Salmonella and investigated if extracellular ATP has biological functions in bacterial growth and survival
ATP was detected in the culture supernatant of Gram-negative bacteria Salmonella and E. coli During a study on the role of bacterial physiological properties in the Type III secretion of Salmonella, we carried out experiments to measure the ATP levels in bacterial cells and used the culture supernatant as a negative control

Summary

Introduction

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used as an intracellular energy source by all living organisms. It plays a central role in the respiration and metabolism, and is the most important energy supplier in many enzymatic reactions. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is one of the most important small molecules in the living organisms. It is a universal energy currency used in many biological processes that require energy. In addition to its intracellular roles in storing and supplying energy in metabolism and enzymatic reactions, ATP has signaling functions. ATP was shown to regulate virulence gene mgtC in Salmonella [4].

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