A DNA-Damage Inducible Gene Promotes the Formation of Antibiotic Persisters in Response to the Quorum Sensing Signaling Peptide in Streptococcus mutans.

ABSTRACT: Bacteria use quorum sensing (QS) to communicate with each other via secreted small autoinducers produced by individuals. QS allows bacteria to display a unified response that benefits the species during adaptation to environment, colonization, and defense against competitors. In oral streptococci, the CSP-ComDE QS is an inducible DNA damage repair system that is pivotal for bacterial survival. In the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans, the QS system positively influences the formation of antibiotic persisters, cells that can survive antibiotic attack by entering a non-proliferative state. We recently identified a novel gene, pep299, that is activated in the persister cell fraction induced by QS. In this study, we focused our investigation on the role of pep299, a gene encoding a bacterioci

SUBMITTER: Dufour D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9408444 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature