The wonders of the indole pulse
Published in Scientific reports, 2015
Recommended citation: ZARKAN, Ashraf, et al. Indole pulse signalling regulates the cytoplasmic pH of E. coli in a memory-like manner. Scientific Reports, 2019, vol. 9, no 1, p. 1-10. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1038/s41598-019-40560-3.pdf
This paper is the result of some work that I did when I was working in the Summers Lab (Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge). The research is about pH homeostasis in bacteria. They - Just like humans - they need to maintain the proper pH balance in their cells to survive. It turns out that when bacteria is running out of food and approaches the stationary phase, they trigger a spike in indole production. This indole pulse comes pretty handy when it comes to conducting protons across the cell membrane and by doing so, it helps to lower the pH inside the cell. In away, this helps to cool-down the metabolic machinery before entering the stationary phase.
To read more, please download paper here