Fatty Acid Metabolism and The Oxidative Stress Response Support Bacterial Predation

Despite growing awareness for their importance in soil ecology, the genetic and physiological traits of bacterial predators are still relatively poorly understood. In the course of a Myxococcus xanthus predator evolution experiment, we discovered a class of genotypes leading to enhanced predation against evolutionary-diverse species. Genetics and RNAseq analyses link this improved predation capacity to the fine-tuned control of intracellular Acetyl-CoA pools following increased activation of fatty acid beta-oxidation. Notably, these metabolic changes led to the constitutive expression of antioxidant genes. This is critical to the predatory advantage of the evolved strain because this response shields predatory cells against Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which arise following contact-dependent killing of the prey cells. Globally, these findings suggest that predators turning on lipid metabolism serves two purposes: energy production and adaptation to oxidative stress originating from interaction with their prey. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.