Labelling strategy and membrane characterization of marine bacteria Vibrio splendidus by in vivo 2H NMR

Vibrio splendidus is a marine bacterium often considered as a threat in aquaculture hatcheries where it is responsible for mass mortality events, notably of bivalves' larvae. This bacterium is highly adapted to dynamic salty ecosystems where it has become an opportunistic and resistant species. To characterize their membranes as a first and necessary step toward studying bacterial interactions with diverse molecules, we established a labelling protocol for in vivo 2 H solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SS-NMR) analysis of V. splendidus . 2 H SS-NMR is a useful tool to study the organization and dynamics of phospholipids at the molecular level, and its application to intact bacteria is further advantageous as it allows probing acyl chains in their natural environment and study membrane interactions. In this study, we showed that V. splendidus can be labelled using deuterated palmitic acid, and demonstrated the importance of surfactant choice in the labelling protocol. Moreover, we assessed the impact of lipid deuteration on the general fitness of the bacteria, as well as the saturated-to-unsaturated fatty acid chains ratio and its impact on the membrane properties. We further characterize the evolution of V. splendidus membrane fluidity during different growth stages and relate it to fatty acid chain composition. Our results show larger membrane fluidity during the stationary growth phase compared to the exponential growth phase under labelling conditions - an information to take into account for future in vivo SS-NMR studies. Our lipid deuteration protocol optimized for V. splendidus is likely applicable other microorganisms for in vivo NMR studies. • Marine bacteria are studied by in vivo solid-state NMR for the first time. • 2 H isotopic labelling of marine bacteria membranes is optimized. • Membrane fluidity measured by NMR changes with bacterial growth time. • Fatty acid analysis shows bacterial adaptation to labelling conditions. • Labelled bacteria harvested in the late exponential phase are in a native state.