Spectral snapshots of bacterial cell-wall composition and the influence of antibiotics by whole-cell NMR.
 

Spectral snapshots of bacterial cell-wall composition and the influence of antibiotics by whole-cell NMR.

Spectral snapshots of bacterial cell-wall composition and the influence of antibiotics by whole-cell NMR.

Biophys J. 2015 Mar 24;108(6):1380-9

Authors: Nygaard R, Romaniuk JA, Rice DM, Cegelski L

Abstract
Gram-positive bacteria surround themselves with a thick cell wall that is essential to cell survival and is a major target of antibiotics. Quantifying alterations in cell-wall composition are crucial to evaluating drug modes of action, particularly important for human pathogens that are now resistant to multiple antibiotics such as Staphylococcus aureus. Macromolecular and whole-cell NMR spectroscopy allowed us to observe the full panel of carbon and nitrogen pools in S.*aureus cell walls and intact whole cells. We discovered that one-dimensional (13)C and (15)N NMR spectra, together with spectroscopic selections based on dipolar couplings as well as two-dimensional spin-diffusion measurements, revealed the dramatic compositional differences between intact cells and cell walls and allowed the identification of cell-wall signatures in whole-cell samples. Furthermore, the whole-cell NMR approach exhibited the sensitivity to detect distinct compositional changes due to treatment with the antibiotics fosfomycin (a cell-wall biosynthesis inhibitor) and chloramphenicol (a protein synthesis inhibitor). Whole cells treated with fosfomycin exhibited decreased peptidoglycan contributions while those treated with chloramphenicol contained a higher percentage of peptidoglycan as cytoplasmic protein content was reduced. Thus, general antibiotic modes of action can be identified by profiling the total carbon pools in intact whole cells.


PMID: 25809251 [PubMed - in process]



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