Flagellar motility is mutagenic

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bhattacharyya, Souvik; Lopez, Shelby; Singh, Abhyudai; Harshey, Rasika M.
• 署名单位: University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; University of Delaware
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-9974
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2412541121
• 发表日期: 2024-10-03
• 关键词: bacterial; Mutation

摘要

Flagella are highly complex rotary molecular machines that enable bacteria to not only migrate to optimal environments but also to promote range expansion, competitiveness, virulence, and antibiotic survival. Flagellar motility is an energy-demanding process, where the sum of its production (biosynthesis) and operation (rotation) costs has been estimated to total similar to 10% of the entire energy budget of an Escherichia coli cell. The acquisition of such a costly adaptation process is expected to secure short-term benefits by increasing competitiveness and survival, as well as long-term evolutionary fitness gains. While the role of flagellar motility in bacterial survival has been widely reported, its direct influence on the rate of evolution remains unclear. We show here that both production and operation costs contribute to elevated mutation rates. Our findings suggest that flagellar movement may be an important player in tuning the rate of bacterial evolution.