Bacterial resistance to arsenic protects against protist killing

Hao, Xiuli; Li, Xuanji; Pal, Chandan; Hobman, Jon L.; Larsson, D.G. Joakim; Saquib, Quaiser; Alwathnani, Hend A.; Rosen, Barry P.; Zhu, Yong-Guan; Rensing, Christopher

Abstract

Protists kill their bacterial prey using toxic metals such as copper. Here we hypothesize that the metalloid arsenic has a similar role. To test this hypothesis, we examined intracellular survival of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum (D. discoideum). Deletion of the E. coli ars operon led to significantly lower intracellular survival compared to wild type E. coli. This suggests that protists use arsenic to poison bacterial cells in the phagosome, similar to their use of copper. In response to copper and arsenic poisoning by protists, there is selection for acquisition of arsenic and copper resistance genes in the bacterial prey to avoid killing. In agreement with this hypothesis, both copper and arsenic resistance determinants are widespread in many bacterial taxa and environments, and they are often found together on plasmids. A role for heavy metals and arsenic in the ancient predator–prey relationship between protists and bacteria could explain the widespread presence of metal resistance determinants in pristine environments.

Citation

Hao, X., Li, X., Pal, C., Hobman, J. L., Larsson, D. J., Saquib, Q., …Rensing, C. (2017). Bacterial resistance to arsenic protects against protist killing. BioMetals, 30(2), 307-311. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-017-0003-4

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 10, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Feb 16, 2017
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 30, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: May 30, 2017
• Journal: BioMetals
• Print ISSN: 0966-0844
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-8773
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 307-311
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-017-0003-4
• Keywords: Protist; Grazing; Arsenic
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/969943
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10534-017-0003-4
• Additional Information: The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10534-017-0003-4
• Contract Date: May 30, 2017