Metabolomics reveals differences of metal toxicity in cultures of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 grown on different carbon sources

Abstract

Co-contamination of metals and organic pollutants is a global problem as metals interfere with the metabolism of complex organics by bacteria. Based on a prior observation that metal tolerance was altered by the sole carbon source being used for growth, we sought to understand how metal toxicity specifically affects bacteria using an organic pollutant as their sole carbon source. To this end metabolomics was used to compare cultures of Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707 grown on either biphenyl (Bp) or succinate (Sc) as the sole carbon source in the presence of either aluminum (Al) or copper (Cu). Using multivariate statistical analysis it was found that the metals caused perturbations to more cellular processes in the cultures grown on Bp than those grown on Sc. Al induced many changes that were indicative of increased oxidative stress as metabolites involved in DNA damage and protection, the Krebs cycle and anti-oxidant production were altered. Cu also caused metabolic changes that were indicative of similar stress, as well as appearing to disrupt other key enzymes such as fumarase. Additionally, both metals caused the accumulation of Bp degradation intermediates indicating that they interfered with Bp metabolism. Together these results provide a basic understanding of how metal toxicity specifically affects bacteria at a biochemical level during the degradation of an organic pollutant and implicate the catabolism of this carbon source as a major factor that exacerbates metal toxicity.

Toxicity and Bioremediation of Heavy Metals Contaminated Ecosystem from Tannery Wastewater: A Review

“…This can cause severe injury to cytoplasmic molecules, DNA, lipids, and other proteins [ 33 , 34 ]. Aluminium (Al) could stabilize superoxide radicals, which is responsible for DNA damage [ 35 ]. Heavy metals could stop vital enzymatic functions by competitive or noncompetitive interactions with substrates that will cause configurational changes in enzymes [ 30 ].…”

Microbes used as a tool for bioremediation of heavy metal from the environment

“…This can cause severe injury to cytoplasmic molecules, DNA, lipids, and other proteins (Zhao et al, 2016). Aluminum (Al) can stabilize superoxide radicals, which are responsible for DNA damage (Booth et al, 2015). Heavy metals can stop vital enzymatic functions by competitive or non-competitive interactions with substrates, which will cause configurational changes in enzymes (Gauthier et al, 2014).…”

Deciphering the Duality of Clock and Growth Metabolism in a Cell Autonomous System Using NMR Profiling of the Secretome

“…Therapeutic potential of secreome, specifically in context of metabolomics, were also demonstrated in non-invasive embryo assessment during in vitro fertilization (IVF) [ 23 ]. At a more fundamental level, bacterial culture media was recently used to demonstrate the effect of metal toxicity in Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes [ 24 ]. However, little is known about the metabolic effect of long time course experiment in the media found typically in a setting of circadian metabolic studies.…”