Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli

Abstract In natural environments, bacteria are frequently exposed to sub‐lethal levels of DNA damage, which leads to the induction of a stress response (the SOS response in Escherichia coli). Natural environments also vary in nutrient availability, resulting in distinct physiological changes in bact...

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Main Authors: Sebastián Jaramillo‐Riveri, James Broughton, Alexander McVey, Teuta Pilizota, Matthew Scott, Meriem El Karoui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2022-05-01
Series:Molecular Systems Biology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.202110441
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author Sebastián Jaramillo‐Riveri
James Broughton
Alexander McVey
Teuta Pilizota
Matthew Scott
Meriem El Karoui
author_facet Sebastián Jaramillo‐Riveri
James Broughton
Alexander McVey
Teuta Pilizota
Matthew Scott
Meriem El Karoui
author_sort Sebastián Jaramillo‐Riveri
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In natural environments, bacteria are frequently exposed to sub‐lethal levels of DNA damage, which leads to the induction of a stress response (the SOS response in Escherichia coli). Natural environments also vary in nutrient availability, resulting in distinct physiological changes in bacteria, which may have direct implications on their capacity to repair their chromosomes. Here, we evaluated the impact of varying the nutrient availability on the expression of the SOS response induced by chronic sub‐lethal DNA damage in E. coli. We found heterogeneous expression of the SOS regulon at the single‐cell level in all growth conditions. Surprisingly, we observed a larger fraction of high SOS‐induced cells in slow growth as compared with fast growth, despite a higher rate of SOS induction in fast growth. The result can be explained by the dynamic balance between the rate of SOS induction and the division rates of cells exposed to DNA damage. Taken together, our data illustrate how cell division and physiology come together to produce growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response.
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spelling doaj-art-009f622b5c7e4e0f825dc29f23876cfc2025-08-20T02:11:55ZengSpringer NatureMolecular Systems Biology1744-42922022-05-0118511410.15252/msb.202110441Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coliSebastián Jaramillo‐Riveri0James Broughton1Alexander McVey2Teuta Pilizota3Matthew Scott4Meriem El Karoui5Institute of Cell Biology and SynthSys, University of EdinburghInstitute of Cell Biology and SynthSys, University of EdinburghInstitute of Cell Biology and SynthSys, University of EdinburghInstitute of Cell Biology and SynthSys, University of EdinburghDepartment of Applied Mathematics, University of WaterlooInstitute of Cell Biology and SynthSys, University of EdinburghAbstract In natural environments, bacteria are frequently exposed to sub‐lethal levels of DNA damage, which leads to the induction of a stress response (the SOS response in Escherichia coli). Natural environments also vary in nutrient availability, resulting in distinct physiological changes in bacteria, which may have direct implications on their capacity to repair their chromosomes. Here, we evaluated the impact of varying the nutrient availability on the expression of the SOS response induced by chronic sub‐lethal DNA damage in E. coli. We found heterogeneous expression of the SOS regulon at the single‐cell level in all growth conditions. Surprisingly, we observed a larger fraction of high SOS‐induced cells in slow growth as compared with fast growth, despite a higher rate of SOS induction in fast growth. The result can be explained by the dynamic balance between the rate of SOS induction and the division rates of cells exposed to DNA damage. Taken together, our data illustrate how cell division and physiology come together to produce growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response.https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.202110441bacterial physiologyDNA repairsingle‐cell
spellingShingle Sebastián Jaramillo‐Riveri
James Broughton
Alexander McVey
Teuta Pilizota
Matthew Scott
Meriem El Karoui
Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli
Molecular Systems Biology
bacterial physiology
DNA repair
single‐cell
title Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli
title_full Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli
title_fullStr Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli
title_full_unstemmed Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli
title_short Growth‐dependent heterogeneity in the DNA damage response in Escherichia coli
title_sort growth dependent heterogeneity in the dna damage response in escherichia coli
topic bacterial physiology
DNA repair
single‐cell
url https://doi.org/10.15252/msb.202110441
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