Effects of sound exposure on the growth and intracellular macromolecular synthesis of E. coli k-12

Abstract

Microbes, as one of the primary producers of the biosphere, play an important role in ecosystems. Exploring the mechanism of adaptation and resistance of microbial population to various environmental factors has come into focus in the fields of modern microbial ecology and molecular ecology. However, facing the increasingly serious problem of acoustic pollution, very few efforts have been put forth into studying the relation of single cell organisms and sound field exposure. Herein, we studied the biological effects of sound exposure on the growth of E. coli K-12 with different acoustic parameters. The effects of sound exposure on the intracellular macromolecular synthesis and cellular morphology of E. coli K-12 were also analyzed and discussed. Experimental results indicated that E. coli K-12 exposed to sound waves owned a higher biomass and a faster specific growth rate compared to the control group. Also, the average length of E. coli K-12 cells increased more than 27.26%. The maximum biomass and maximum specific growth rate of the stimulation group by 8000 Hz, 80dB sound wave was about 1.7 times and 2.5 times that of the control group, respectively. Moreover, it was observed that E. coli K-12 can respond rapidly to sound stress at both the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels by promoting the synthesis of intracellular RNA and total protein. Some potential mechanisms may be involved in the responses of bacterial cells to sound stress.

Keywords

• Sound exposure
• E. coli K-12
• Biomass
• Cellular morphology