What is it about?
We discuss the recent advances in our understanding of the mechanisms involved in solvent tolerance.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Bacteria have been found in all niches explored on Earth, their ubiquity derives from their enormous metabolic diversity and their capacity to adapt to changes in the environment. Some bacterial strains are able to thrive in the presence of high concentrations of toxic organic chemicals, such as aromatic compounds, aliphatic alcohols and solvents. The extrusion of these toxic compounds from the cell to the external médium represents the most relevant aspect in the solvent tolerance of bacteria, however, solvent tolerance is a multifactorial process that involves a wide range of genetic and physiological changes to overcome solvent damage. These additional elements include reduced membrane permeabilization, implementation of a stress response programme, and in some cases degradation of the toxic compound.
Perspectives
Improvement of solvent-tolerant strains for the production of fine chemicals should also blossom in the near future because bacteria can use inexpensive materials for the synthesitic processes. Some of the responses depicted above, such as cell surface changes, general stress responses or efflux of solvents has been proposed in Gram-positive bacteria, however, the mechanisms are yet to be elucidated and thus some unique, specific systems are to be expected
Ph. D. Jesús Munoz-Rojas
Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Solvent tolerance in Gram-negative bacteria, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, June 2012, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2011.11.015.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
