Membrane Lipid Composition of Bacillus stearothermophilus as Affected by Lipophilic Environmental Pollutants: An Approach to Membrane Toxicity Assessment
0301 basic medicine
Calorimetry, Differential Scanning
Dichlorodiphenyl Dichloroethylene
Cell Membrane
Fatty Acids
Fluorescence Polarization
DDT
3. Good health
Geobacillus stearothermophilus
03 medical and health sciences
Solubility
13. Climate action
Liposomes
Toxicity Tests
Environmental Pollutants
Diphenylhexatriene
Cell Division
Phospholipids
DOI:
10.1007/s002440010090
Publication Date:
2002-07-25T06:52:29Z
AUTHORS (4)
ABSTRACT
The thermophilic eubacterium Bacillus stearothermophilus is used as a model to identify membrane perturbing effects of lipophilic compounds. A parallelism has been established between the toxicity of the organochlorine insecticide DDT and its metabolite, DDE, in bacterial growth and the effects on cell functions and physical perturbations induced at the membrane (Donato et al. 1997a, Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 33:109-116; Donato et al. 1997b, Appl Environ Microbiol 63:4948-495). In the present work, the use of B. stearothermophilus as a model of screening for chemical toxicity has been implemented. Because the regulation of the lipid composition of the membrane is a common strategy in response to adverse growth conditions, we studied the effects of DDE on the lipid composition and the consequent alterations of membrane physical properties in comparison to the parental compound DDT. As expected, different adaptation responses were induced by the compounds, being DDT more effective as compared with DDE. Collected data are consistent with the stronger perturbations induced by DDT on growth and membrane functions. It is concluded that the membrane lipid composition of the bacterium is a very sensitive criterium to detect membrane-mediated toxic effects at low concentrations of lipophilic xenobiotics.
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