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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
2
pubmed:dateCreated
2004-9-27
pubmed:abstractText
The Escherichia coli gene pair mazEF is a regulatable chromosomal toxin-antitoxin module: mazF encodes a stable toxin and mazE encodes for a labile antitoxin that overcomes the lethal effect of MazF. Because MazE is labile, inhibition of mazE expression results in cell death. We studied the effect of mazEF on the development of bacteriophage P1 upon thermoinduction of the prophage P1CM c1ts and upon infection with virulent phage particles (P1vir). In several E. coli strains, we showed that the Delta mazEF derivative strains produced significantly more phages than did the parent strain. In addition, upon induction of K38(P1CM c1ts), nearly all of the Delta mazEF mutant cells lysed; in contrast, very few of the parental mazEF + K38 cells underwent lysis. However, most of these cells did not remain viable. Thus, while the Delta mazEF cells die as a result of the lytic action of the phage, most of the mazEF+ cells are killed by a different mechanism, apparently through the action of the chromosomal mazEF system itself. Furthermore, the introduction of lysogens into a growing non-lysogenic culture is lethal to Delta mazEF but not for mazEF+ cultures. Thus, although mazEF action causes individual cells to die, upon phage growth this is generally beneficial to the bacterial culture because it causes P1 phage exclusion from the bacterial population. These results provide additional support for the view that bacterial cultures may share some of the characteristics of multicellular organisms.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
1617-4615
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
272
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
227-34
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2004
pubmed:articleTitle
Escherichia coli mazEF-mediated cell death as a defense mechanism that inhibits the spread of phage P1.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Molecular Biology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, 91120, Jerusalem, Israel.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't