A Primary Physiological Role of Toxin/Antitoxin Systems Is Phage Inhibition

Song, Sooyeon; Wood, Thomas K.

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.01895

Cited by 120 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 90 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Hence, the decrease of persister cell formation by undecanoic acid, lauric acid, and N-tridecanoic acid was not associated with the work of antitoxin HipB. However, because E. coli possesses multiple TA systems [45], the possibility remains that undecanoic acid, lauric acid, and N-tridecanoic acid might influence TA-related cellular regulation and consequently could enhance persister cell control.…”

Section: Undecanoic Acid Lauric Acid and N-tridecanoic Acid Inhibit Enterohemorrhagic E Coli (Ehec) Persister Formationmentioning

confidence: 95%

Undecanoic Acid, Lauric Acid, and N-Tridecanoic Acid Inhibit Escherichia coli Persistence and Biofilm Formation

Jin

Zhou

Richey

et al. 2021

J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Persister cell formation and biofilms of pathogens are extensively involved in the development of chronic infectious diseases. Eradicating persister cells is challenging, owing to their tolerance to conventional antibiotics, which cannot kill cells in a metabolically dormant state. A high frequency of persisters in biofilms makes inactivating biofilm cells more difficult, because the biofilm matrix inhibits antibiotic penetration. Fatty acids may be promising candidates as antipersister or antibiofilm agents, because some fatty acids exhibit antimicrobial effects. We previously reported that fatty acid ethyl esters effectively inhibit Escherichia coli persister formation by regulating an antitoxin. In this study, we screened a fatty acid library consisting of 65 different fatty acid molecules for altered persister formation. We found that undecanoic acid, lauric acid, and N-tridecanoic acid inhibited E. coli BW25113 persister cell formation by 25-, 58-, and 44-fold, respectively. Similarly, these fatty acids repressed persisters of enterohemorrhagic E. coli EDL933. These fatty acids were all medium-chain saturated forms. Furthermore, the fatty acids repressed Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) biofilm formation (for example, by 8-fold for lauric acid) without having antimicrobial activity. This study demonstrates that medium-chain saturated fatty acids can serve as antipersister and antibiofilm agents that may be applied to treat bacterial infections.

show abstract

Section: Undecanoic Acid Lauric Acid and N-tridecanoic Acid Inhibit Enterohemorrhagic E Coli (Ehec) Persister Formationmentioning

confidence: 95%

Undecanoic Acid, Lauric Acid, and N-Tridecanoic Acid Inhibit Escherichia coli Persistence and Biofilm Formation

Jin

Zhou

Richey

et al. 2021

J. Microbiol. Biotechnol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Currently, bacterial Type I TA systems are hypothesized to function in numerous processes including plasmid maintenance, phage abortive infection, chromosome stabilization, persistence, and virulence ( Gerdes, 2016 ; Kędzierska and Hayes, 2016 ; Sierra et al., 2019 ; Peltier et al., 2020 ). While it is clear that Type I TA systems play an important role in the physiology and virulence of many bacterial species, much is left to learn about these diverse systems ( Wang and Wood, 2011 ; Germain-Amiot et al., 2019 ; Ma et al., 2019 ; Song and Wood, 2020a ).…”

Section: Section 1: Type I Toxin Antitoxin Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

RNA Regulated Toxin-Antitoxin Systems in Pathogenic Bacteria

Sarpong

Murphy

2021

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The dynamic host environment presents a significant hurdle that pathogenic bacteria must overcome to survive and cause diseases. Consequently, these organisms have evolved molecular mechanisms to facilitate adaptation to environmental changes within the infected host. Small RNAs (sRNAs) have been implicated as critical regulators of numerous pathways and systems in pathogenic bacteria, including that of bacterial Toxin-Antitoxin (TA) systems. TA systems are typically composed of two factors, a stable toxin, and a labile antitoxin which functions to protect against the potentially deleterious activity of the associated toxin. Of the six classes of bacterial TA systems characterized to date, the toxin component is always a protein. Type I and Type III TA systems are unique in that the antitoxin in these systems is an RNA molecule, whereas the antitoxin in all other TA systems is a protein. Though hotly debated, the involvement of TA systems in bacterial physiology is recognized by several studies, with the Type II TA system being the most extensively studied to date. This review focuses on RNA-regulated TA systems, highlighting the role of Type I and Type III TA systems in several pathogenic bacteria.

show abstract

“…Furthermore, contrary to what is indicated by Mu et al ., toxin/antitoxin systems of all types have not been related in any credible way to the formation or resuscitation of VBNCs or persister cells (Song and Wood, 2020a), and VBNCs do not resuscitate since they are dead husks, whereas persister cells resuscitate (i) heterogeneously (with growth rates equivalent to exponentially growing cells) based on their ribosome content (Kim et al ., 2018b), (ii) based on their detection of nutrients using membrane proteins for chemotaxis and nutrient uptake (Yamasaki et al ., 2020) and (iii) based on reactivating inactivated ribosomes with proteins like HflX (Wood and Song, 2020; Yamasaki et al ., 2020; Song and Wood, 2020b).…”

Section: Responsementioning

confidence: 99%

Mostly dead and all dead: response to ‘what do we mean by viability in terms of “viable but non‐culturable cells”’

Song

Wood

2021

Environ Microbiol Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ResponseWe appreciate the feedback of Mu et al. (2021); however, we take issue with their claim that we 'assumed that if cells lost their ability to grow or form visible colonies on media, they were not viable, i.e. dead.' In fact we pointed out in our opinion piece (Song and Wood, 2021a) that our conclusion that VBNCs are dead is based not on a single criterion but, instead, is based on four viability criteria from our research with E. coli K-12 and

show abstract

A Primary Physiological Role of Toxin/Antitoxin Systems Is Phage Inhibition

Cited by 120 publications

References 90 publications

Undecanoic Acid, Lauric Acid, and N-Tridecanoic Acid Inhibit Escherichia coli Persistence and Biofilm Formation

Undecanoic Acid, Lauric Acid, and N-Tridecanoic Acid Inhibit Escherichia coli Persistence and Biofilm Formation

RNA Regulated Toxin-Antitoxin Systems in Pathogenic Bacteria

Mostly dead and all dead: response to ‘what do we mean by viability in terms of “viable but non‐culturable cells”’

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About