Sensitive bacterial Vm sensors revealed the excitability of bacterial Vm and its role in antibiotic tolerance

As an important free energy source, the membrane voltage (Vm) regulates many essential physiological processes in bacteria. However, in comparison with eukaryotic cells, knowledge of bacterial electrophysiology is very limited. Here, we developed a set of novel genetically encoded bacterial Vm senso...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2023-01, Vol.120 (3), p.1-e2208348120
Main Authors: Jin, Xin, Zhang, Xiaowei, Ding, Xuejing, Tian, Tian, Tseng, Chao-Kai, Luo, Xinwei, Chen, Xiao, Lo, Chien-Jung, Leake, Mark C, Bai, Fan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibiotic tolerance
Antibiotics
Bacteria
Biological Sciences
Cell fate
Electric potential
Electrophysiology
Energy sources
Excitability
Free energy
Genetic code
Heterogeneity
Hyperpolarization
Sensors
Temporal resolution
Voltage
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Summary:As an important free energy source, the membrane voltage (Vm) regulates many essential physiological processes in bacteria. However, in comparison with eukaryotic cells, knowledge of bacterial electrophysiology is very limited. Here, we developed a set of novel genetically encoded bacterial Vm sensors which allow single-cell recording of bacterial Vm dynamics in live cells with high temporal resolution. Using these new sensors, we reveal the electrically "excitable" and "resting" states of bacterial cells dependent on their metabolic status. In the electrically excitable state, frequent hyperpolarization spikes in bacterial Vm are observed, which are regulated by Na+/K+ ratio of the medium and facilitate increased antibiotic tolerance. In the electrically resting state, bacterial Vm displays significant cell-to-cell heterogeneity and is linked to the cell fate after antibiotic treatment. Our findings demonstrate the potential of our newly developed voltage sensors to reveal the underpinning connections between bacterial Vm and antibiotic tolerance.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.2208348120