title: DNA microarray analyses of the long-term adaptive response of Escherichia coli to acetate and propionate.
abstract: In its natural environment, Escherichia coli is exposed to short-chain fatty acids, such as acetic acid or propionic acid, which can be utilized as carbon sources but which inhibit growth at higher concentrations. DNA microarray experiments revealed expression changes during exponential growth on complex medium due to the presence of sodium acetate or sodium propionate at a neutral external pH. The adaptive responses to acetate and propionate were similar and involved genes in three categories. First, the RNA levels for chemotaxis and flagellum genes increased. Accordingly, the expression of chromosomal fliC'-'lacZ and flhDC'-'lacZ fusions and swimming motility increased after adaptation to acetate or propionate. Second, the expression of many genes that are involved in the uptake and utilization of carbon sources decreased, indicating some kind of catabolite repression by acetate and propionate. Third, the expression of some genes of the general stress response increased, but the increases were more pronounced after short-term exposure for this response than for the adaptive response. Adaptation to propionate but not to acetate involved increased expression of threonine and isoleucine biosynthetic genes. The gene expression changes after adaptation to acetate or propionate were not caused solely by uncoupling or osmotic effects but represented specific characteristics of the long-term response of E. coli to either compound.
authors.affiliation: Forschungszentrum Jülich, Institut für Biotechnologie I, 52425 Jülich, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Polen
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rittmann
authors.forename: V F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Wendisch
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sahm
mesh_terms: D000085:Acetates / Q000378:metabolism*; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D002258:Carbonyl Cyanide m-Chlorophenyl Hydrazone / Q000378:metabolism; D003470:Culture Media; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011422:Propionates / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors; D014475:Uncoupling Agents / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000085:Acetates; D003470:Culture Media; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D011422:Propionates; D014475:Uncoupling Agents; D002258:Carbonyl Cyanide m-Chlorophenyl Hydrazone