The communication factor EDF and the toxin-antitoxin module mazEF determine the mode of action of antibiotics.

ABSTRACT: It was recently reported that the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) is a common mechanism of cell death induced by bactericidal antibiotics. Here we show that triggering the Escherichia coli chromosomal toxin-antitoxin system mazEF is an additional determinant in the mode of action of some antibiotics. We treated E. coli cultures by antibiotics belonging to one of two groups: (i) Inhibitors of transcription and/or translation, and (ii) DNA damaging. We found that antibiotics of both groups caused: (i) mazEF-mediated cell death, and (ii) the production of ROS through MazF action. However, only antibiotics of the first group caused mazEF-mediated cell death that is ROS-dependent, whereas those of the second group caused mazEF-mediated cell death by an ROS-independent pathway. Furth

SUBMITTER: Kolodkin-Gal I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2602726 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature