A novel regulatory circuit to control indole biosynthesis protects Escherichia coli from nitrosative damages during the anaerobic respiration of nitrate

Indole is a widely distributed microbial secondary metabolite. It mediates a broad range of physiological processes in both its producing and surrounding species. Yet, indole biosynthesis during the anaerobiosis of bacteria remains largely uncharacterized. Here, we find that while indole production is promoted during fermentation and anaerobic respiration of fumarate and trimethylamine N‐oxide in E. coli, its biosynthesis is repressed during anaerobic respiration of nitrate especially during exponential growth. We show that expression of the indole biosynthetic operon tnaCAB is repressed under this condition by the two component systems NarXL and NarPQ in the global regulator FNR dependent manner. During stationary growth phase of nitrate respiration, indole biosynthesis is derepressed. However, cellular indole concentration remains low. We demonstrate that this is due to the rapid conversion of indole into mutagenic indole nitrosative derivatives under this condition. Consistent with this, a supplement of exogenous indole during nitrate respiration causes elevated mutation frequencies in E. coli cells lacking the detoxifying efflux genes mdtEF, and ectopic over‐expression of tnaAB genes decreases the fitness of E. coli to this physiological condition. Together, these results suggest that indole production is tuned to the bioenergetics activities of E. coli to facilitate its adaptation and fitness.     

SspA, an outer membrane protein, is highly induced under salt-stressed conditions and is essential for growth under salt-stressed aerobic conditions in Rhodobacter sphaeroides f. sp. denitrificans

We have previously shown that an outer membrane protein, SspA, is prominently induced by salt stress in a photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides f. sp. denitrificans IL106 (R. sphaeroides). In this study, we investigated the physiological role of SspA under various stress conditions. Using recombinant SspA expressed in Escherichia coli as an antigen, the polyclonal antiserum of SspA was prepared. Western blot analysis demonstrated that SspA was highly induced by salt stress under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. SspA was also induced, but to a lesser extent, by osmotic and acid stress. It is reduced under heat and cold compared to non-stressed conditions. While sspA-disrupted R. sphaeroides grew normally under anaerobic conditions in either the presence or absence of stress, it displayed significantly retarded growth under aerobic conditions in the dark, especially when osmotic or salt stress were imposed. In addition, the sspA disruptant, but not the wild type, formed cell aggregates when grown under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions, and this phenotype was significantly enhanced under salt-stressed aerobic conditions. Together, our findings suggest that SspA is critical under salt-stressed, aerobic growth conditions.