Enteric bacteria have to adapt to environmental stresses in the human gastrointestinal tract such as acid and nutrient stress, oxygen limitation and exposure to antibiotics. Membrane lipid composition has recently emerged as a key factor for stress adaptation. The E. coli ravA-viaA operon is essential for aminoglycoside bactericidal activity under anaerobiosis but its mechanism of action is unclear. Here we characterise the VWA domain-protein ViaA and its interaction with the AAA+ ATPase RavA, and find that both proteins localise at the inner cell membrane. We demonstrate that RavA and ViaA target specific phospholipids and subsequently identify their lipid-binding sites. We further show that mutations abolishing interaction with lipids restore induced changes in cell membrane morphology and lipid composition. Finally we reveal that these mutations render E. coli gentamicin-resistant under fumarate respiration conditions. Our work thus uncovers a ravA-viaA-based pathway which is mobilised in response to aminoglycosides under anaerobiosis and engaged in cell membrane regulation.

Division of Structural Biology The Institute of Cancer Research London UK

EMBL Grenoble 71 Avenue des martyrs Grenoble France

European Synchrotron Radiation Facility 71 Avenue des martyrs Grenoble France

Institut de Biologie Structurale Univ Grenoble Alpes CEA CNRS IBS 71 Avenue des martyrs Grenoble France

Institut Pasteur Université de Paris CNRS UMR6047 Stress Adaptation and Metabolism Unit Department of Microbiology Paris France

Institute of Microbiology The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Videnska 1083 Prague Czech Republic

Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire Végétale Univ Grenoble Alpes CEA CNRS INRAE IRIG 17 Avenue des martyrs Grenoble France

Unit for Structural Biology Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology Ghent University Ghent Belgium

Unit for Structural Biology VIB UGent Center for Inflammation Research Ghent Belgium

Univ Grenoble Alpes CEA CNRS ISBG 71 Avenue des martyrs Grenoble France

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