Metabolomic rearrangement controls the intrinsic microbial response to temperature changes

Link to bioRxiv paper: http://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2023.07.22.550177v1?rss=1 Authors: Knapp, B., Willis, L., Gonzalez, C., Vashistha, H., Touma, J. J., Tikhonov, M., Ram, J., Salman, H., Elias, J. E., Huang, K. C. Abstract: The impact of temperature on growth is typically considered under heat- or cold-shock conditions that elicit specific regulation. In between, cellular growth rate varies according to the Arrhenius law of thermodynamics. Here, we use growth-rate dynamics during transitions between temperatures to discover how this behavior arises and what determines the temperature sensitivity of growth. Using a device that enables single-cell tracking across a wide range of temperatures, we show that bacteria exhibit a highly conserved, slow response to temperatures upshifts with a time scale of ~1.5 doublings at the higher temperature, regardless of initial/final temperature or nutrient source. We rule out transcriptional, translational, and membrane reconfiguration as potential mechanisms. Instead, we demonstrate that an autocatalytic enzyme network incorporating temperature-sensitive Michaelis-Menten kinetics recapitulates all temperature-shift dynamics, reveals that import dictates steady-state Arrhenius growth behavior, and successfully predicts alterations in the upshift response observed under simple-sugar or low-nutrient conditions or in fungi. These findings indicate that metabolome rearrangement dictates how temperature affects microbial growth. Copy rights belong to original authors. Visit the link for more info Podcast created by Paper Player, LLC