| Title: | Peptide alarmone signalling triggers an auto-active bacteriocin necessary for genetic competence |
| Author(s): | Perry JA; Jones MB; Peterson SN; Cvitkovitch DG; Levesque CM; |
| Address: | "Dental Research Institute, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada" |
| DOI: | 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2009.06693.x |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1365-2958 (Electronic) 0950-382X (Print) 0950-382X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The induction of genetic competence is a strategy used by bacteria to increase their genetic repertoire under stressful environmental conditions. Recently, Streptococcus pneumoniae has been shown to co-ordinate the uptake of transforming DNA with fratricide via increased expression of the peptide pheromone responsible for competence induction. Here, we document that environmental stress-induced expression of the peptide pheromone competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) in the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans. We showed that CSP is involved in the stress response and determined the CSP-induced regulon in S. mutans by microarray analysis. Contrary to pneumococcus, S. mutans responds to increased concentrations of CSP by cell lysis in only a fraction of the population. We have focused on the mechanism of cell lysis and have identified a novel bacteriocin as the 'death effector'. Most importantly, we showed that this bacteriocin causes cell death via a novel mechanism of action: intracellular action against self. We have also identified the cognate bacteriocin immunity protein, which resides in a separate unlinked genetic locus to allow its differential regulation. The role of the lytic response in S. mutans competence is also discussed. Together, these findings reveal a novel autolytic pathway in S. mutans which may be involved in the dissemination of fitness-enhancing genes in the oral biofilm" |
| Keywords: | "Bacterial Proteins/*metabolism Bacteriocins/*metabolism Gene Expression Profiling Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis Pheromones/*metabolism Regulon Streptococcus mutans/*genetics/growth & development/metabolism;" |
| Notes: | "MedlinePerry, Julie A Jones, Marcus B Peterson, Scott N Cvitkovitch, Dennis G Levesque, Celine M eng N01AI15447/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ R01 DE013230/DE/NIDCR NIH HHS/ R01 DE013230-09/DE/NIDCR NIH HHS/ R01 DE013230-08/DE/NIDCR NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2009/04/30 Mol Microbiol. 2009 May; 72(4):905-17. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2009.06693.x. Epub 2009 Apr 14" |
