Description:
Zn 2+ is largely discharged from many industries and poses a severe threat to the environment, making its remediation crucial. Encapsulins, proteinaceous nano-compartments, may protect cells against environmental stresses by sequestering toxic substances. To determine whether hemerythrin-containing encapsulins (cEnc) from anammox bacteria Ca. Brocadia fulgida can help cells deal with toxic substances such as Zn ions, we transferred cEnc into E.coli by molecular biology technologies for massive expression and then cultured them in media with increasing Zn 2+ levels. The engineered bacteria (with cEnc) grew better and entered the apoptosis phase later, while wild bacteria showed poor survival. Furthermore, tandem mass tag-based quantitative proteomic analysis was used to reveal the underlying regulatory mechanism by which the genetically-engineered bacteria (with cEnc) adapted to Zn 2+ stress. When Zn 2+ was sequestered in cEnc as a transition, the engineered bacteria presented a complex network of regulatory systems against Zn 2+ -induced cytotoxicity, including functions related to ribosomes, sulfur metabolism, flagellar assembly, DNA repair, protein synthesis , and Zn 2+ efflux . Our findings offer a novel stress control strategy to enhance the heavy metal tolerance of bacteria for environmental remediation and provide a new application for encapsulins