Bacterial adaptation strategies to host-derived fatty acids

Fatty acids (FAs) are potent antimicrobials which hold great promise as viable alternatives or complements to conventional antibiotics. Intriguingly, bacteria are well equipped to use environmental FAs as energy sources and/or building blocks for their membrane lipids. Furthermore, these microbes di...

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Published inTrends in microbiology (Regular ed.) Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 241 - 253
Main Authors Kengmo Tchoupa, Arnaud, Eijkelkamp, Bart A., Peschel, Andreas
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2022
Elsevier Science Ltd
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Summary:Fatty acids (FAs) are potent antimicrobials which hold great promise as viable alternatives or complements to conventional antibiotics. Intriguingly, bacteria are well equipped to use environmental FAs as energy sources and/or building blocks for their membrane lipids. Furthermore, these microbes display a wide array of mechanisms to prevent or mitigate FA toxicity. In this review we discuss strategies that bacteria use to thrive despite extensive exposure to host-derived antimicrobial FAs. We also highlight the altered response of these FA-adapted bacteria to antibiotics. Given the ubiquitous nature of FAs in various host environments, deciphering bacterial adaptation strategies to FAs is of prime importance. This knowledge may pave the way for a rational design of FA-based combination therapies with antibiotics. Long-chain fatty acids (FAs) are used by a wide range of organisms to restrict the proliferation of bacterial pathogens. Bacteria, however, sense, hijack, and resist these antimicrobial FAs.Antimicrobial FAs go through a multilayered, hydrophilic 'shield' to reach the bacterial membrane, their primary target. Depending on the bacterium, this shield can be comprised of the capsule cell wall-anchored proteins and glycopolymers, or lipopolysaccharides.Bacteria have various enzymes and efflux pumps to detoxify and expel antimicrobial FAs, respectively.Exogenous FAs are utilized by bacteria as an energy source and/or building blocks for their membranes.FA incorporation alters bacterial susceptibility to conventional antibiotics. Deciphering how bacteria survive in FA-rich host environments may help to improve antibiotic use.
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ISSN:0966-842X
1878-4380
DOI:10.1016/j.tim.2021.06.002