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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 6: Bacterial Biophysics I

BP 6.5: Vortrag

Montag, 18. März 2024, 16:15–16:30, H 1028

Beta-lactamase induced social dynamics of E. Coli — •Rotem Gross¹, Muhittin Mungan¹, Suman G. Das², Tobias Bollenbach¹, Joachim Krug¹, and J. Arjan G. M. de Visser³ — ¹Institute for Biological Physics, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany — ²Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland — ³Labaratory of Genetics, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Treating Escherichia coli with the antibiotic cefotaxime at sub-lethal concentration leads to a complex response: cells are filamenting, a known mechanism related to delayed lysis and enhanced antibiotic tolerance. Moreover, near lethal concentrations, the population displays complex dynamics, with a crossover from filamented to normal-sized cells after about 14 hours of exposure. Our experiments show that the filamentation causes an active break-down of the antibiotic by a chromosomally encoded enzyme. In fact, freshly introduced bacteria grow in this spent medium and survive at antibiotic concentrations higher than twice the lethal dose. Combining experimental results with theoretical modeling, we explore the biological and chemical pathway through which the bacterial colony inactivates the antibiotic. We argue that this pathway is ancient and common across a wide range of bacteria and constitutes a first line of defense which is triggered even when it is not necessarily effective against the cause of stress.

Keywords: E. Coli experiments; Antibiotic resistance; Collective resistance mechanisms; Filamentation; Stress response