Bacterial growth under confinement requires transcriptional adaptation to resist turgor pressure build-up
6 affiliations
- 1Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1225, Paris, France
- 2LAAS-CNRS, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France
- 3Institut Pierre Gilles de Gennes, Institut Curie, CNRS, Paris, France
- 4Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Image Analysis Hub, Paris, France
- 5Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1016, CNRS UMR 8104, Institut Cochin, Paris, France
- 6Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, Department of Immunology, Paris, France
Abstract
Bacterial proliferation in confined spaces occurs in biofilms, intracellular compartments, or infection sites, generating mechanical constraints. We investigated how growth-induced mechanical pressure affects bacterial physiology using a microfluidic device ensuring nutrient access. We found that proliferating Escherichia coli cells generate forces in the hundreds of kPa range decoupling growth and division, producing shorter bacteria. Increased cytoplasmic protein concentrations and crowding induce division arrest and decreased protein synthesis. In contrast, growth-induced pressure keeps increasing during confinement. Theoretical modeling predicts this novel regime of steady pressure increase, termed overpressurization, driven by persistent metabolite synthesis. Under confinement, the Rcs pathway is activated, and rcs mutants display abnormal shapes only in the overpressurized state. Therefore, transcriptional adaptation is required to resist pressure build-up. A uropathogenic strain displayed the same confined growth phenotypes in vitro, highlighting the potential relevance of these pressurized regimes during infection. Bacteria often grow in confined spaces within biofilms, host cells or infection sites. Here, Le Blanc et al. show that E. coli growth in confined spaces generates pressures of hundreds of kPa, and is associated with formation of shorter bacterial cells, cytoplasmic crowding, increased turgor pressure, and activation of stress responses.
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BibTeX
@article{blanc2026bacterial,
title = {{Bacterial growth under confinement requires transcriptional adaptation to resist turgor pressure build-up}},
author = {Laure Le Blanc and Baptiste Alric and Romain Rollin and Laura Xénard and Laura Ramirez Finn and Sylvie Goussard and Laurent Mazenq and Molly A. Ingersoll and Matthieu Piel and Jean-Yves Tinevez and Morgan Delarue and Gérard Duménil and Daria Bonazzi},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-76492-6},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-76492-6},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Bacterial growth under confinement requires transcriptional adaptation to resist turgor pressure build-up
AU - Laure Le Blanc
AU - Baptiste Alric
AU - Romain Rollin
AU - Laura Xénard
AU - Laura Ramirez Finn
AU - Sylvie Goussard
AU - Laurent Mazenq
AU - Molly A. Ingersoll
AU - Matthieu Piel
AU - Jean-Yves Tinevez
AU - Morgan Delarue
AU - Gérard Duménil
AU - Daria Bonazzi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-76492-6
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-76492-6
AB - Bacterial proliferation in confined spaces occurs in biofilms, intracellular compartments, or infection sites, generating mechanical constraints. We investigated how growth-induced mechanical pressure affects bacterial physiology using a microfluidic device ensuring nutrient access. We found that proliferating Escherichia coli cells generate forces in the hundreds of kPa range decoupling growth and division, producing shorter bacteria. Increased cytoplasmic protein concentrations and crowding induce division arrest and decreased protein synthesis. In contrast, growth-induced pressure keeps increasing during confinement. Theoretical modeling predicts this novel regime of steady pressure increase, termed overpressurization, driven by persistent metabolite synthesis. Under confinement, the Rcs pathway is activated, and rcs mutants display abnormal shapes only in the overpressurized state. Therefore, transcriptional adaptation is required to resist pressure build-up. A uropathogenic strain displayed the same confined growth phenotypes in vitro, highlighting the potential relevance of these pressurized regimes during infection. Bacteria often grow in confined spaces within biofilms, host cells or infection sites. Here, Le Blanc et al. show that E. coli growth in confined spaces generates pressures of hundreds of kPa, and is associated with formation of shorter bacterial cells, cytoplasmic crowding, increased turgor pressure, and activation of stress responses.
SN - 2041-1723
ER -