Role of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the membrane transport in bacteria

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To investigate the function of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in the bacterial cell membrane, Escherichia coli lacking either tolC, acrA, or acrB gene was transformed with the EPA biosynthesis pfa genes. The susceptibility of these recombinants possessing EPA against antibiotics was compared with that of their reference cells without EPA. Recombinants with EPA were more resistant to antibiotics than their references without EPA. Electrophoresis of the hydrophobic protein fraction of the recombinants indicated that more AcrA protein was accumulated in the cells with EPA than in those without EPA, suggesting that EPA might be involved in the exclusion of antibiotics by the TolC-AcrAB system in the bacterial cell membranes.