Using mRNA to investigate the effect of low-pressure ultraviolet disinfection on the viability of <i>E. coli</i>

doi:10.1007/s11783-019-1111-x

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2019, Vol. 13

Issue (2) : 26 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-019-1111-x

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Using mRNA to investigate the effect of low-pressure ultraviolet disinfection on the viability of E. coli

Chao Yang, Wenjun Sun(

), Xiuwei Ao

School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

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Abstract

UV can induce damages on mRNA consistently among different genes.

SOS response was more active after UV treatment.

Programmed cell death was not found to be more active after UV treatment.

The efficacy of ultraviolet (UV) disinfection has been analyzed and validated by numerous studies using culture-based methods, yet the discovery of the viable but nonculturable state necessitates the investigation of UV disinfection based on viability parameters. Paired regulators of the SOS response system, recA-lexA, and the programmed cell death system, mazEF, in Escherichia coli were chosen as the target genes, and the effect of UV irradiation on the mRNAs of the four genes was studied. This research showed that, after UV irradiation, the responses of the mRNAs were highly consistent, with reduction percentages of approximately 60% at 20 mJ/cm², 70% at 40 mJ/cm², and 90% at 80 mJ/cm², and these reductions were believed to be the result of direct UV damage to nucleic acids. After 24 h of dark incubation, recA and lexA were both upregulated but to a lesser extent for repressor lexA; and mazE and mazF were both downregulated. This result implies that UV irradiation induces the dark repair system more actively, and the cells will proceed to death at a rate similar to that associated with natural decay.

Keywords UV disinfection Viability mRNA SOS response Programmed cell death

Corresponding Author(s): Wenjun Sun

Issue Date: 21 March 2019

Cite this article:

Chao Yang,Wenjun Sun,Xiuwei Ao. Using mRNA to investigate the effect of low-pressure ultraviolet disinfection on the viability of E. coli[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2019, 13(2): 26.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-019-1111-x
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2019/V13/I2/26

Tab.1 Target genes and primers used in this study

Fig.1 UV dose–response curves of recA, lexA, mazE, and mazF mRNAs. The dotted-dashed line is an exponential model fitted from mRNA reduction data, and the dashed line with diamonds is the UV dose response of log CFU removal.

Fig.2 Expression level changes of SOS system genes after dark incubation: (a) recA; (b) lexA.

Fig.3 Expression level ratios of recA/lexA at different UV fluences and dark incubation times.

Fig.4 Expression level changes of PCD system genes after dark incubation: (a) mazE; (b) mazF.

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