Exploring the Metabolic Response of Pseudomonas putida to L-arginine

Beyond their role as protein-building units, amino acids are modulators of multiple behaviours in different microorganisms. In the root-colonizing beneficial bacterium Pseudomonas putida (recently proposed to be reclassified as alloputida) KT2440, current evidence suggests that arginine functions both as a metabolic indicator and as an environmental signal molecule, modulating processes such as chemotactic responses, siderophore-mediated iron uptake or the levels of the intracellular second messenger cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP). Using microcalorimetry and extracellular flux analysis, in this work we have studied the metabolic adaptation of P. putida KT2440 to the presence of L-arginine in the growth medium, and the influence of mutations related to arginine metabolism. Arginine causes rapid changes in the respiratory activity of P. putida, particularly magnified in a mutant lacking the transcriptional regulator ArgR. The metabolic activity of mutants affected in arginine transport and metabolism is also altered during biofilm formation in the presence of the amino acid. The results obtained here further support the role of arginine as a metabolic signal in P. putida and the relevance of ArgR in the adaptation to the amino acid. They also serve as proof of concept on the use of calorimetric and extracellular flux techniques to analyse metabolic responses in bacteria and the impact of different mutant backgrounds on such responses.