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A metabolomic approach to characterize the acid-tolerance response in Sinorhizobium meliloti

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Abstract

Introduction

Sinorhizobium meliloti establishes a symbiosis with Medicago species where the bacterium fixes atmospheric nitrogen for plant nutrition. To achieve a successful symbiosis, however, both partners need to withstand biotic and abiotic stresses within the soil, especially that of excess acid, to which the Medicago-Sinorhizobium symbiotic system is widely recognized as being highly sensitive.

Objective

To cope with low pH, S. meliloti can undergo an acid-tolerance response (ATR(+)) that not only enables a better survival but also constitutes a more competitive phenotype for Medicago sativa nodulation under acid and neutral conditions. To characterize this phenotype, we employed metabolomics to investigate the biochemical changes operating in ATR(+) cells.

Methods

A gas chromatography/mass spectrometry approach was used on S. meliloti 2011 cultures showing ATR(+) and ATR(−) phenotypes. After an univariate and multivariate statistical analysis, enzymatic activities and/or reserve carbohydrates characterizing ATR(+) phenotypes were determined.

Results

Two distinctive populations were clearly defined in cultures grown in acid and neutral pH based on the metabolites present. A shift occurred in the carbon-catabolic pathways, potentially supplying NAD(P)H equivalents for use in other metabolic reactions and/or for maintaining intracellular-pH homeostasis. Furthermore, among the mechanisms related to acid resistance, the ATR(+) phenotype was also characterized by lactate production, envelope modification, and carbon-overflow metabolism.

Conclusions

Acid-challenged S. meliloti exhibited several changes in different metabolic pathways that, in specific instances, could be identified and related to responses observed in other bacteria under various abiotic stresses. Some of the observed changes included modifications in the pentose-phosphate pathway (PPP), the exopolysaccharide biosynthesis, and in the myo-inositol degradation intermediates. Such modifications are part of a metabolic adaptation in the rhizobia that, as previously reported, is associated to improved phenotypes of acid tolerance and nodulation competitiveness.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by the National Science and Technology Research Council (PIP2014/0420, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas—CONICET, Argentina) and National Agency for Science and Technology Promotion (PICT 2012/1719). W.O.D., M.F.D.P., F.A., M.J.L., and A.L. are members of CONICET. The authors are grateful to Dr. Donald F. Haggerty for editing the final version of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBBM - Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular, CCT La Plata, CONICET - Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Calles 47 y 115, 1900, La Plata, Argentina

    Walter Omar Draghi, María Florencia Del Papa, Francisco J. Albicoro, Mauricio J. Lozano & Antonio Lagares

  2. CeBiTec - Centrum für Biotechnologie, Universität Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Aiko Barsch, Alfred Pühler & Karsten Niehaus

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  1. Walter Omar Draghi
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  2. María Florencia Del Papa
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  3. Aiko Barsch
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Correspondence to Walter Omar Draghi.

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Draghi, W.O., Del Papa, M.F., Barsch, A. et al. A metabolomic approach to characterize the acid-tolerance response in Sinorhizobium meliloti . Metabolomics 13, 71 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11306-017-1210-2

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