Affiliation:
1. Applied Microbiology, Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany
2. Experimental Plasma Physics, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Christian-Albrechts-Platz 4, 24118 Kiel, Germany
Abstract
Non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasmas are investigated as augmenting therapy to combat bacterial infections. The strong antibacterial effects of plasmas are attributed to the complex mixture of reactive species, (V)UV radiation and electric fields. The experience with antibiotics is that upon their introduction as medicines, resistance occurs in pathogens and spreads. To assess the possibility of bacterial resistance developing against plasma, we investigated intrinsic protective mechanisms that allow
Escherichia coli
to survive plasma stress. We performed a genome-wide screening of single-gene knockout mutants of
E. coli
and identified 87 mutants that are hypersensitive to the effluent of a microscale atmospheric pressure plasma jet. For selected genes (
cysB
,
mntH
,
rep
and
iscS
) we showed in complementation studies that plasma resistance can be restored and increased above wild-type levels upon over-expression. To identify plasma-derived components that the 87 genes confer resistance against, mutants were tested for hypersensitivity against individual stressors (hydrogen peroxide, superoxide, hydroxyl radicals, ozone, HOCl, peroxynitrite, NO•, nitrite, nitrate, HNO
3
, acid stress, diamide, heat stress and detergents). k-means++ clustering revealed that most genes protect from hydrogen peroxide, superoxide and/or nitric oxide. In conclusion, individual bacterial genes confer resistance against plasma providing insights into the antibacterial mechanisms of plasma.
Funder
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Subject
Biomedical Engineering,Biochemistry,Biomaterials,Bioengineering,Biophysics,Biotechnology
Cited by
15 articles.
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