How do Cyclopropane Fatty Acids Protect the Cell Membrane of Escherichia coli in Cold Shock?

30 January 2023, Version 1
This content is a preprint and has not undergone peer review at the time of posting.

Abstract

The cyclopropanation of unsaturated lipid acyl chains of some bacterial cell membranes is an important survival strategy to protect the same against drastic cooling. To elucidate the role of cyclopropane ring containing lipids, we have simulated the lipid membrane of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and two modified membranes by replacing the cyclopropane rings with either single or double bonds at widely different temperatures. It has been observed that the cyclopropane rings provide more rigid kinks in the lipid acyl chain compared to the double bonds and therefore further reduce the packing density of the membrane and subsequently enhance the membrane fluidity at low temperatures. They also inhibit the close packing of other lipids and deleterious phase separation by strongly interacting with them. Therefore, this study has explained why E. coli bacterial strain, susceptible to freezing environment, relies on the cyclopropanation of an unsaturated chain.

Keywords

E. coli
Cell membrane
Homeoviscous Adaptation
cyclopropane lipid

Supplementary materials

Title
Description
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Title
How do Cyclopropane Fatty Acids Protect the Cell Membrane of Escherichia coli in Cold Shock?
Description
The Supporting Information (SI) is available free of charge at___. The SI contains four sections. S1. consists of composition of the membrane; S2. contains method of analysis; S3. includes additional CG-results; S4. contains additional AA-results.
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