Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 May 10:12:660134.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.660134. eCollection 2021.

Leveraging Pseudomonas Stress Response Mechanisms for Industrial Applications

Kelly Craig  1 , Brant R Johnson  1 , Amy Grunden  2
Affiliations
Review

Leveraging Pseudomonas Stress Response Mechanisms for Industrial Applications

Kelly Craig et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Members of the genus Pseudomonas are metabolically versatile and capable of adapting to a wide variety of environments. Stress physiology of Pseudomonas strains has been extensively studied because of their biotechnological potential in agriculture as well as their medical importance with regards to pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance. This versatility and scientific relevance led to a substantial amount of information regarding the stress response of a diverse set of species such as Pseudomonas chlororaphis, P. fluorescens, P. putida, P. aeruginosa, and P. syringae. In this review, environmental and industrial stressors including desiccation, heat, and cold stress, are cataloged along with their corresponding mechanisms of survival in Pseudomonas. Mechanisms of survival are grouped by the type of inducing stress with a focus on adaptations such as synthesis of protective substances, biofilm formation, entering a non-culturable state, enlisting chaperones, transcription and translation regulation, and altering membrane composition. The strategies Pseudomonas strains utilize for survival can be leveraged during the development of beneficial strains to increase viability and product efficacy.

Keywords: Pseudomonas; biofilm; chaperone; cold; desiccation; formulation; heat; stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

KC and BJ are employed by the company AgBiome Inc. The remaining author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Examples of cellular damage caused by desiccation, heat, and cold stress. Figure created with BioRender.com.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Examples of bacterial strategies to survive desiccation stress. Trehalose-P-synthase and trehalose-P-phosphatase synthesize trehalose. Trehalose protects the cell by encasing biomolecules in a glass sugar matrix and replacing water hydrogen bonds during desiccation. Alpha ketoglutarate molecules protect the cell by scavenging reactive oxygen species. Alginate, levan, and PSI polysaccharides support biofilm architecture. Figure created with BioRender.com.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Examples of bacterial strategies to survive heat stress. Chaperones alter aggregated or misfolded proteins into functional proteins. RNA thermosensors regulate the heat shock sigma factor (σ32). Proteasomes break down denatured proteins into polypeptides. Figure created with BioRender.com.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Examples of bacterial strategies to survive cold stress. The membrane is altered by increasing the ratio of unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids. Antifreeze proteins are produced to prevent ice recrystallization. Cold shock proteins (Csps) and cold adaptive proteins (Caps) destabilize RNA to prevent premature transcription termination. Figure created with BioRender.com.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Examples of bacterial general stress response. Stringent response is triggered by the accumulation of uncharged tRNA. The alarmone ppGpp is synthesized and binds to RNA polymerase leading to upregulation of nutrient acquisition and stress survival and downregulation of translation machinery. Polyphosphate kinase catalyzes the formation of polyphosphate which accumulates and is stored for energy. The cell will convert to the viable but non-culturable state with low metabolic activity to survive until hospitable conditions return. Figure created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aiello D., Restuccia C., Stefani E., Vitale A., Cirvilleri G. (2019). Postharvest biocontrol ability of Pseudomonas synxantha against Monilinia fructicola and Monilinia fructigena on stone fruit. Postharv. Biol. Technol. 149 83–89. 10.1016/j.postharvbio.2018.11.020 - DOI
    1. Alderson T., Kim J., Markley J. (2016). Dynamical structures of Hsp70 and Hsp70-Hsp40 complexes. Structure 24 1014–1030. 10.1016/j.str.2016.05.011 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ali S. Z., Sandhya V., Venkateswar Rao L. (2013). Isolation and characterization of drought-tolerant ACC deaminase and exopolysaccharide-producing fluorescent Pseudomonas sp. Ann. Microbiol. 64 493–502. 10.1007/s13213-013-0680-3 - DOI
    1. Alix J. −H. (2006). “The Work of Chaperones,” in Protein Synthesis and Ribosome Structure, eds Nierhaus K. H., Wilson D. N. (New Jersey, NJ: Wiley; ), 10.1002/3527603433.ch13 - DOI
    1. Anderson A. J., Kim Y. C. (2018). Biopesticides produced by plant-probiotic Pseudomonas chlororaphis isolates. Crop Protect. 105 62–69. 10.1016/j.cropro.2017.11.009 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources