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Phenotypic bistability in Escherichia coli's central carbon metabolism.
Journal article

Phenotypic bistability in Escherichia coli's central carbon metabolism.

  • Kotte O Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Volkmer B Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
  • Radzikowski JL Molecular Systems Biology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
  • Heinemann M Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland Molecular Systems Biology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands m.heinemann@rug.nl.
  • 2014-07-03
Published in:
  • Molecular systems biology. - 2014
bistability
flux sensing
metabolism
noise
persisters
Adaptation, Physiological
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Carbon
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli Proteins
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
Glucose
Phenotype
Stress, Physiological
English Fluctuations in intracellular molecule abundance can lead to distinct, coexisting phenotypes in isogenic populations. Although metabolism continuously adapts to unpredictable environmental changes, and although bistability was found in certain substrate-uptake pathways, central carbon metabolism is thought to operate deterministically. Here, we combine experiment and theory to demonstrate that a clonal Escherichia coli population splits into two stochastically generated phenotypic subpopulations after glucose-gluconeogenic substrate shifts. Most cells refrain from growth, entering a dormant persister state that manifests as a lag phase in the population growth curve. The subpopulation-generating mechanism resides at the metabolic core, overarches the metabolic and transcriptional networks, and only allows the growth of cells initially achieving sufficiently high gluconeogenic flux. Thus, central metabolism does not ensure the gluconeogenic growth of individual cells, but uses a population-level adaptation resulting in responsive diversification upon nutrient changes.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/187902
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