A differential effect of E. coli toxin-antitoxin systems on cell death in liquid media and biofilm formation.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19707553.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0006785 and PMC identifier 2727947.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Toxin-antitoxin (TA) modules are gene pairs specifying for a toxin and its antitoxin and are found on the chromosomes of many bacteria including pathogens. Here we report how each of five such TA systems in E. coli affect bacterial cell death differently in liquid media and during biofilm formation. Of all these systems, only the TA system mazEF mediated cell death both in liquid media and during biofilm formation. At the other extreme, as our results have revealed here, the TA system dinJ-YafQ is unique in that it is involved only in the death process during biofilm formation. Cell death governed by mazEF and dinJ-YafQ seems to participate in biofilm formation through a novel mechanism.
Medical subject headings
- Antitoxins
- Bacterial Toxins
- Biofilms
- Cell Death
- Escherichia coli