Discovery and Function of a General Core Hormetic Stress Response in E. coli Induced by Sublethal Concentrations of Antibiotics
Aurélie Mathieu,
Sébastien Fleurier,
Antoine Frénoy,
Julien Dairou,
Marie-Florence Bredeche,
Pilar Sanchez-Vizuete,
Xiaohu Song,
Ivan Matic
Affiliations
Aurélie Mathieu
Inserm Unit 1001, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris-Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75014 Paris, France
Sébastien Fleurier
Inserm Unit 1001, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris-Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75014 Paris, France
Antoine Frénoy
Inserm Unit 1001, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris-Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75014 Paris, France
Julien Dairou
UMR 8601 CNRS, Laboratoire de Chimie et Biochimie Pharmacologiques et Toxicologiques, Université Paris Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75270 Paris, France
Marie-Florence Bredeche
Inserm Unit 1001, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris-Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75014 Paris, France
Pilar Sanchez-Vizuete
Inserm Unit 1001, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris-Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75014 Paris, France
Xiaohu Song
Inserm Unit 1001, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris-Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75014 Paris, France
Ivan Matic
Inserm Unit 1001, Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes, Université Paris-Descartes–Sorbonne Paris Cité, 75014 Paris, France
A better understanding of the impact of antibiotics on bacteria is required to increase the efficiency of antibiotic treatments and to slow the emergence of resistance. Using Escherichia coli, we examined how bacteria exposed to sublethal concentrations of ampicillin adjust gene expression patterns and metabolism to simultaneously deal with the antibiotic-induced damage and maintain rapid growth. We found that the treated cells increased energy production, as well as translation and macromolecular repair and protection. These responses are adaptive, because they confer increased survival not only to lethal ampicillin treatment but also to non-antibiotic lethal stresses. This robustness is modulated by nutrient availability. Because different antibiotics and other stressors induce the same set of responses, we propose that it constitutes a general core hormetic stress response. It is plausible that this response plays an important role in the robustness of bacteria exposed to antibiotic treatments and constant environmental fluctuations in natural environments.
