Anhydrobiotic engineering for the endophyte bacterium Kosakonia radicincitans by osmoadaptation and providing...

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Biochemistry
• Anhydrobiosis

Background:

• Gram-negative endophytes like Kosakonia radicincitans face desiccation challenges.
• Improving bacterial survival under stress is crucial for various applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To engineer anhydrobiotic capabilities in Kosakonia radicincitans.
• To investigate the role of hydroxyectoine accumulation in desiccation tolerance.

Main Methods:

• Pre-conditioning bacteria under high salinity (4% NaCl).
• Measuring hydroxyectoine accumulation.
• Analyzing changes in bacterial metabolome using microfermentation.

Main Results:

• High salinity pre-conditioning significantly enhanced drying survival.
• Bacteria accumulated over 500 µmol g⁻¹ hydroxyectoine.
• Hydroxyectoine reduced lag phase, alleviated oxygen consumption, and altered metabolic pathways (TCA cycle, metabolite synthesis, amino acid profiles).

Conclusions:

• Hydroxyectoine accumulation is key to desiccation tolerance in K. radicincitans.
• Metabolic reprogramming under high osmolarity contributes to survival.
• Findings provide insights into salt stress response and drying survival mechanisms in Gram-negative endophytes.