In-Cell NMR spectroscopy: inhibition of autologous protein expression reduces Escherichia coli lysis

Structural studies by in-cell nuclear magnetic resonance are a developing new field of research, and their objective is to obtain structural information of proteins and other biological macromolecules in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli cells. The major limitation of in-cell experiments is cell lysis that occurs during the experiments. In this article, we describe how inhibition of autologous expression by rifampicin at a high concentration decreases cell lysis in E. coli. We suggest that rifampicin is acting in the programmed cell death gene system MazEF, which is triggered by stress conditions and ultimately leads to cell lysis.