Publication detail

What keeps polyhydroxyalkanoates in bacterial cells amorphous? A derivation from stress exposure experiments

SEDLÁČEK, P. SLANINOVÁ, E. ENEV, V. KOLLER, M. NEBESAROVA, J. KRZYZANEK, V. SAMEK, O. MÁROVÁ, I. OBRUČA, S.

Original Title

What keeps polyhydroxyalkanoates in bacterial cells amorphous? A derivation from stress exposure experiments

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are storage polymers accumulated by numerous prokaryotes in form of intracellular granules. Native PHA granules are formed by amorphous polymer which reveals considerably higher elasticity and flexibility as compared to crystalline pure PHA polymers. The fact that bacteria store PHA in amorphous state has great biological consequences. It is not clear which mechanisms protect amorphous polymer in native granules from transition into thermodynamically favorable crystalline state. Here, we demonstrate that exposition of bacterial cells to particular stressors induces granules aggregation, which is the first but not sufficient condition for PHA crystallization. Crystallization of the polymer occurs only when the stressed bacterial cells are subsequently dried. The fact that both granules aggregation and cell drying must occur to induce crystallization of PHA indicates that both previously suggested hypotheses about mechanisms of stabilization of amorphous state of native PHA are valid and, in fact, both effects participate synergistically. It seems that the amorphous state of the polymer is stabilized kinetically by the low rate of crystallization in limited volume in small PHA granules and, moreover, water present in PHA granules seems to function as plasticizer protecting the polymer from crystallization, as confirmed experimentally for the first time by the present work.

Keywords

Polyhydroxyalkanoates; crystallization; Intracellular granules; Stress conditions

Authors

SEDLÁČEK, P.; SLANINOVÁ, E.; ENEV, V.; KOLLER, M.; NEBESAROVA, J.; KRZYZANEK, V.; SAMEK, O.; MÁROVÁ, I.; OBRUČA, S.

Released

8. 1. 2019

Publisher

Springer Berlin Heidelberg

ISBN

0175-7598

Periodical

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY

Year of study

103

Number

4

State

Federal Republic of Germany

Pages from

1905

Pages to

1917

Pages count

13

URL

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-018-09584-z

BibTex

@article{BUT157248,
  author="SEDLÁČEK, P. and SLANINOVÁ, E. and ENEV, V. and KOLLER, M. and NEBESAROVA, J. and KRZYZANEK, V. and SAMEK, O. and MÁROVÁ, I. and OBRUČA, S.",
  title="What keeps polyhydroxyalkanoates in bacterial cells amorphous? A derivation from stress exposure experiments",
  journal="APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY",
  year="2019",
  volume="103",
  number="4",
  pages="1905--1917",
  doi="10.1007/s00253-018-09584-z",
  issn="0175-7598",
  url="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-018-09584-z"
}