Deciphering the adaption of bacterial cell wall mechanical integrity and turgor to different chemical or mechanical environments

Bacteria adapt the mechanical properties of their cell envelope, including cell wall stiffness, turgor, and cell wall tension and deformation, to grow and survive in harsh environments. However, it remains a technical challenge to simultaneously determine these mechanical properties at a single cell level. Here we combined theoretical modelling with an experimental approach to quantify the mechanical properties and turgor of Staphylococcus epidermidis. It was found that high osmolarity leads to a decrease in both cell wall stiffness and turgor. We also demonstrated that the turgor change is associated with a change in the viscosity of the bacterial cell. We predicted that the cell wall tension is much higher in deionized (DI) water and it decreases with an increase in osmolality. We also found that an external force increases the cell wall deformation to reinforce its adherence to a surface and this effect can be more significant in lower osmolarity. Overall, our work highlights how bacterial mechanics supports survival in harsh environments and uncovers the adaption of bacterial cell wall mechanical integrity and turgor to osmotic and mechanical challenges.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Bacterial cell wall stiffness and turgor, Bacterial cell wall tensions and deformation, Bacterial viscous properties, Chemical and mechanical stimuli

10.1016/j.jcis.2023.02.100

0021-9797

510-520

Han, Rui

57af6baf-6a3b-40f7-ae28-db89cd3575f8

Feng, Xi-Qiao

39f3af64-9e97-4f73-b2b0-51f367e974d2

Vollmer, Waldemar

9e7142d0-635f-43da-a483-de7fb7e9669a

Stoodley, Paul

08614665-92a9-4466-806e-20c6daeb483f

Chen, Jinju

105a3320-0a27-49fc-83c5-9c07e89b506c

15 June 2023

Han, Rui

57af6baf-6a3b-40f7-ae28-db89cd3575f8

Feng, Xi-Qiao

39f3af64-9e97-4f73-b2b0-51f367e974d2

Vollmer, Waldemar

9e7142d0-635f-43da-a483-de7fb7e9669a

Stoodley, Paul

08614665-92a9-4466-806e-20c6daeb483f

Chen, Jinju

105a3320-0a27-49fc-83c5-9c07e89b506c

Han, Rui, Feng, Xi-Qiao, Vollmer, Waldemar, Stoodley, Paul and Chen, Jinju (2023) Deciphering the adaption of bacterial cell wall mechanical integrity and turgor to different chemical or mechanical environments. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 640, 510-520. (doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.02.100).

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Accepted/In Press date: 19 February 2023

e-pub ahead of print date: 23 February 2023

Published date: 15 June 2023

Additional Information: Funding Information: J. Chen acknowledges funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/R025606/1; EP/V049615/1). W. Vollmer was supported by the UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund (EP/T002778/1) and the BBSRC (BB/W013630/1). R. Han acknowledges the PhD scholarship from Chinese Scholarship Council and Newcastle University. We are very grateful for very constructive comments from Prof. Henk J. Busscher and Dr. Fei Pan. Prof. NS Jakubovic is acknowledged for providing the bacteria used for this study. We thank Ross Laws, Tracey Davey and Yufeng Zhu for their support on SEM imaging. We thank Paul Scott for technical support of Shimadzu test machine. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s)

Keywords: Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Bacterial cell wall stiffness and turgor, Bacterial cell wall tensions and deformation, Bacterial viscous properties, Chemical and mechanical stimuli