title: Both genome and cytosol dynamics change in E. coli challenged with sublethal rifampicin.
abstract: While the action of many antimicrobial drugs is well understood at the molecular level, a systems-level physiological response to antibiotics remains largely unexplored. This work considers fluctuation dynamics of both the chromosome and cytosol in Escherichia coli, and their response to sublethal treatments of a clinically important antibiotic, rifampicin. We precisely quantify the changes in dynamics of chromosomal loci and cytosolic aggregates (a rheovirus nonstructural protein known as μNS-GFP), measuring short time-scale displacements across several hours of drug exposure. To achieve this we develop an empirical method correcting for photo-bleaching and loci size effects. This procedure allows us to characterize the dynamic response to rifampicin in different growth conditions, including a customised microfluidic device. We find that sub-lethal doses of rifampicin cause a small but consistent increase in motility of both the chromosomal loci and cytosolic aggregates. Chromosomal and cytosolic responses are consistent with each other and between different growth conditions.
authors.affiliation: Biological and Soft Systems, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wlodarski
authors.forename: Bianca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Raciti
authors.forename: Jurij
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kotar
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cosentino Lagomarsino
authors.forename: Gillian M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Fraser
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cicuta
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D004927:Escherichia coli Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000382:microbiology*; D016680:Genome, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D012293:Rifampin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D012293:Rifampin