{
  "abstract": "Bacteria rapidly initiate growth when entering warm-blooded hosts to ensure reproductive success. We investigated the temperature-dependent stimulation of the specific growth rate at the onset of the logarithmic phase (defined as μ at ODratio = 0.2) in Escherichia coli. High-frequency automated monitoring revealed that this stimulation peaks near 37°C and is strain-specific. Comparative analysis between MG1655 and W3110 type A identified the Rac prophage as a primary genomic determinant for this acceleration. However, growth stimulation is uniquely dependent on H-NS, which we redefine as a nucleoid structural organizer. Genetic complementation and comparative analysis of nucleoid-associated proteins (NAPs), and single-cell nucleoid imaging confirmed that H-NS provides a mandatory physical scaffold specifically at host temperatures. We propose that H-NS undergoes a conformational switch to a parallel dimer form around 37°C, enabling the nucleoid to adopt the highly condensed state required for managing replication-transcription conflicts during rapid growth bursts. Notably, while MG1655 relies primarily on H-NS for this stimulation, W3110 type A requires a distributed network of NAPs, including HU and StpA, to maintain its growth velocity. This effect is environment-specific, becoming particularly significant under minimal media conditions where metabolic and structural coordination requirements are more stringent, but less pronounced in nutrient-rich conditions. These findings resolve the silencing paradox: hns-deficient mutants grow slowly at 37°C because they lack the structural infrastructure required to physically coordinate the rapid onset of growth, regardless of the de-repression of growth-promoting genes. We conclude that H-NS-mediated physical organization of the genome is a fundamental prerequisite for temperature-dependent growth adaptation and successful host colonization.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Frontier Bioscience, Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan.",
    "Research Institute of Micro-Nano Technology, Hosei University, Tokyo, Japan."
  ],
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  "author_total": 4,
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    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Erika Yamauchi"
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    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Hayato Fujita"
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    {
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Yukari Miyake",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6607-1456"
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    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kaneyoshi Yamamoto",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0696-8939"
    }
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  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0346655",
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  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Animal Studies"
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    [
      "heading",
      "Bacteria"
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      "heading",
      "Bacterial Genetics"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Bacterial Genomics"
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      "heading",
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      "heading",
      "Bacteriology"
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      "heading",
      "Biology and Life Sciences"
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    [
      "heading",
      "Biology and life sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
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    ],
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      "heading",
      "Condensation"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Condensed Matter Physics"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "DNA construction"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Enterobacteriaceae"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Escherichia"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Escherichia Coli"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Experimental Organism Systems"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Genetics"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Genomics"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Gut Bacteria"
    ],
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      "heading",
      "Materials Physics"
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    [
      "heading",
      "Materials Science"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Medical Microbiology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Medicine and Health Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Microbial Genetics"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Microbial Genomics"
    ],
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      "heading",
      "Microbial Pathogens"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Microbiology"
    ],
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      "heading",
      "Model Organisms"
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    [
      "heading",
      "Molecular biology"
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      "heading",
      "Molecular biology techniques"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Mutant Strains"
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      "heading",
      "Mutation"
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    [
      "heading",
      "Organisms"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Pathogens"
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      "heading",
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    [
      "heading",
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    ],
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      "heading",
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    ],
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      "heading",
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      "heading",
      "Research and Analysis Methods"
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      "/Research and analysis methods/Animal studies/Experimental organism systems/Model organisms/Escherichia coli"
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      "/Research and analysis methods/Animal studies/Experimental organism systems/Prokaryotic models/Escherichia coli"
    ],
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      "/Research and analysis methods/Molecular biology techniques/DNA construction/Plasmid construction"
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  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13716232?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13716232",
  "pmid": "42949856",
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "plos:biophysics",
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    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:genomics",
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      "field": "physics",
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  "title": "Structural basis of H-NS-mediated temperature-dependent stimulation of initial growth in Escherichia coli",
  "title_text": "Structural basis of H-NS-mediated temperature-dependent stimulation of initial growth in Escherichia coli",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:23:16Z",
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