Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial Stiffness

A central question in mechanobiology is how cellular-scale structures are established and regulated. In bacteria, the cell envelope is essential for mechanical integrity, protecting against environmental stresses and bearing the load from high turgor pressures.A central question in mechanobiology is...

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Main Authors: Pascal D. Odermatt, Heidi A. Arjes, Fred Chang, Kerwyn Casey Huang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 2018-10-01
Series:mBio
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02127-18
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spelling doaj-b81c253f707f439e8b50b9b2930d73e52021-07-02T12:27:33ZengAmerican Society for MicrobiologymBio2150-75112018-10-0195e02127-1810.1128/mBio.02127-18Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial StiffnessPascal D. OdermattHeidi A. ArjesFred ChangKerwyn Casey HuangA central question in mechanobiology is how cellular-scale structures are established and regulated. In bacteria, the cell envelope is essential for mechanical integrity, protecting against environmental stresses and bearing the load from high turgor pressures.A central question in mechanobiology is how cellular-scale structures are established and regulated. In bacteria, the cell envelope is essential for mechanical integrity, protecting against environmental stresses and bearing the load from high turgor pressures. Trivedi et al. (mBio 9:e01340-18, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01340-18) screened a Pseudomonas aeruginosa transposon library and identified genes that influence cell stiffness by measuring cell growth while cells were embedded in an agarose gel. Their findings provide a broad knowledge base for how biochemical pathways regulate cellular mechanical properties in this pathogen. Dozens of genes across diverse functional categories were implicated, suggesting that cellular mechanics is a systems-level emergent property. Furthermore, changes in d-alanine levels in a dadA (d-alanine dehydrogenase) mutant resulted in decreases in the expression of cell wall enzymes, cross-linking density, and cell stiffness. These insights into the biochemical and mechanical roles of dadA highlight the importance of systems-level investigations into the physical properties of cells.https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02127-18Pseudomonashigh-throughput screeningmechanical genomics
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Pascal D. Odermatt
Heidi A. Arjes
Fred Chang
Kerwyn Casey Huang
spellingShingle Pascal D. Odermatt
Heidi A. Arjes
Fred Chang
Kerwyn Casey Huang
Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial Stiffness
mBio
Pseudomonas
high-throughput screening
mechanical genomics
author_facet Pascal D. Odermatt
Heidi A. Arjes
Fred Chang
Kerwyn Casey Huang
author_sort Pascal D. Odermatt
title Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial Stiffness
title_short Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial Stiffness
title_full Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial Stiffness
title_fullStr Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial Stiffness
title_full_unstemmed Who's Your DadA? d-Alanine Levels Regulate Bacterial Stiffness
title_sort who's your dada? d-alanine levels regulate bacterial stiffness
publisher American Society for Microbiology
series mBio
issn 2150-7511
publishDate 2018-10-01
description A central question in mechanobiology is how cellular-scale structures are established and regulated. In bacteria, the cell envelope is essential for mechanical integrity, protecting against environmental stresses and bearing the load from high turgor pressures.A central question in mechanobiology is how cellular-scale structures are established and regulated. In bacteria, the cell envelope is essential for mechanical integrity, protecting against environmental stresses and bearing the load from high turgor pressures. Trivedi et al. (mBio 9:e01340-18, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.01340-18) screened a Pseudomonas aeruginosa transposon library and identified genes that influence cell stiffness by measuring cell growth while cells were embedded in an agarose gel. Their findings provide a broad knowledge base for how biochemical pathways regulate cellular mechanical properties in this pathogen. Dozens of genes across diverse functional categories were implicated, suggesting that cellular mechanics is a systems-level emergent property. Furthermore, changes in d-alanine levels in a dadA (d-alanine dehydrogenase) mutant resulted in decreases in the expression of cell wall enzymes, cross-linking density, and cell stiffness. These insights into the biochemical and mechanical roles of dadA highlight the importance of systems-level investigations into the physical properties of cells.
topic Pseudomonas
high-throughput screening
mechanical genomics
url https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02127-18
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