Costafrolaz 2026 — Asymmetric Envelope Surface Disposition of Secreted Protein YjbI Controls Bimodal Antibiotic Susceptibilities in C. crescentus

Reveals that zinc stress doesn't merely inhibit cytoplasmic enzymes but triggers outer membrane proteome remodeling, exposing normally-impermeable antibiotic binding sites (TonB-dependent receptor BugA) that confer vancomycin and bacitracin susceptibility. WikiBiome uses this evidence to explain why zinc-restricted environments (nutritional immunity response, dysbiotic low-zinc states) become selective for zinc-efflux-pump-expressing pathogens while paradoxically increasing antibiotic vulnerability—a mechanism enabling zinc-based ecological engineering.