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Metabolic Profiling to Determine Bactericidal or Bacteriostatic Effects of New Natural Products using Isothermal Microcalorimetry
Published on: October 29, 2020
Transcriptomic signature of bacteria exposed to benzalkonium chloride
Samantha J McCarlie1, Louis L du Preez2, Julio Castillo Hernandez1
1Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, University of the Free State, South Africa.
None:
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted our reliance on biocides, the increasing prevalence of resistance to biocides is a risk to public health. Bacterial exposure to the biocide, benzalkonium chloride (BAC), resulted in a unique transcriptomic profile, characterised by both a short and long-term response. Differential gene expression was observed in four main areas: motility, membrane composition, proteostasis, and the stress response. A metabolism shift to protect the proteome and the stress response were prioritised suggesting these are main resistance mechanisms. Whereas "well-established" mechanisms, such as biofilm formation, were not found to be differentially expressed after exposure to BAC.
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