Antibiotics Shift the Temperature Response Curve of Escherichia coli Growth
Mauricio Cruz‐Loya, Elif Tekin, Tina Manzhu Kang, Natalya Cardona, Natalie Lozano-Huntelman, Alejandra Rodríguez‐Verdugo, Van M. Savage, Pamela J. Yeh
Abstract
The growth of living organisms varies with temperature. This dependence is described by a temperature response curve that is described by an optimal temperature where growth is maximized and a temperature range (termed breadth) across which the organism can grow. Because an organism's temperature response evolves or acclimates to its environment, it is often assumed to change over only evolutionary or developmental timescales. Counter to this, we show here that antibiotics can quickly (over hours) change the optimal growth temperature and temperature breadth for the bacterium Escherichia coli. Moreover, our results suggest a shared-damage hypothesis: when an antibiotic damages similar cellular components as hot (or cold) temperatures do, this shared damage will combine and compound to more greatly reduce growth when that antibiotic is administered at hot (or cold) temperatures. This hypothesis could potentially also explain how temperature responses are modified by stressors other than antibiotics.