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Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon

The production of bacteriocins in response to worsening environmental conditions is one means of bacteria to outcompete other microorganisms. Colicins, one class of bacteriocins in Escherichia coli, are effective against closely related Enterobacteriaceae. Current research focuses on production, rel...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Mader, Andreas, von Bronk, Benedikt, Ewald, Benedikt, Kesel, Sara, Schnetz, Karin, Frey, Erwin, Opitz, Madeleine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
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Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4353708/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25751274
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119124
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author Mader, Andreas
von Bronk, Benedikt
Ewald, Benedikt
Kesel, Sara
Schnetz, Karin
Frey, Erwin
Opitz, Madeleine
author_facet Mader, Andreas
von Bronk, Benedikt
Ewald, Benedikt
Kesel, Sara
Schnetz, Karin
Frey, Erwin
Opitz, Madeleine
author_sort Mader, Andreas
collection PubMed
description The production of bacteriocins in response to worsening environmental conditions is one means of bacteria to outcompete other microorganisms. Colicins, one class of bacteriocins in Escherichia coli, are effective against closely related Enterobacteriaceae. Current research focuses on production, release and uptake of these toxins by bacteria. However, little is known about the quantitative aspects of these dynamic processes. Here, we quantitatively study expression dynamics of the Colicin E2 operon in E. coli on a single cell level using fluorescence time-lapse microscopy. DNA damage, triggering SOS response leads to the heterogeneous expression of this operon including the cea gene encoding the toxin, Colicin E2, and the cel gene coding for the induction of cell lysis and subsequent colicin release. Advancing previous whole population investigations, our time-lapse experiments reveal that at low exogenous stress levels all cells eventually respond after a given time (heterogeneous timing). This heterogeneous timing is lost at high stress levels, at which a synchronized stress response of all cells 60 min after induction via stress can be observed. We further demonstrate, that the amount of colicin released is dependent on cel (lysis) gene expression, independent of the applied exogenous stress level. A heterogeneous response in combination with heterogeneous timing can be biologically significant. It might enable a bacterial population to endure low stress levels, while at high stress levels an immediate and synchronized population wide response can give single surviving cells of the own species the chance to take over the bacterial community after the stress has ceased.
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spelling pubmed-43537082015-03-17 Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon Mader, Andreas von Bronk, Benedikt Ewald, Benedikt Kesel, Sara Schnetz, Karin Frey, Erwin Opitz, Madeleine PLoS One Research Article The production of bacteriocins in response to worsening environmental conditions is one means of bacteria to outcompete other microorganisms. Colicins, one class of bacteriocins in Escherichia coli, are effective against closely related Enterobacteriaceae. Current research focuses on production, release and uptake of these toxins by bacteria. However, little is known about the quantitative aspects of these dynamic processes. Here, we quantitatively study expression dynamics of the Colicin E2 operon in E. coli on a single cell level using fluorescence time-lapse microscopy. DNA damage, triggering SOS response leads to the heterogeneous expression of this operon including the cea gene encoding the toxin, Colicin E2, and the cel gene coding for the induction of cell lysis and subsequent colicin release. Advancing previous whole population investigations, our time-lapse experiments reveal that at low exogenous stress levels all cells eventually respond after a given time (heterogeneous timing). This heterogeneous timing is lost at high stress levels, at which a synchronized stress response of all cells 60 min after induction via stress can be observed. We further demonstrate, that the amount of colicin released is dependent on cel (lysis) gene expression, independent of the applied exogenous stress level. A heterogeneous response in combination with heterogeneous timing can be biologically significant. It might enable a bacterial population to endure low stress levels, while at high stress levels an immediate and synchronized population wide response can give single surviving cells of the own species the chance to take over the bacterial community after the stress has ceased. Public Library of Science 2015-03-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4353708/ /pubmed/25751274 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119124 Text en © 2015 Mader et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Mader, Andreas
von Bronk, Benedikt
Ewald, Benedikt
Kesel, Sara
Schnetz, Karin
Frey, Erwin
Opitz, Madeleine
Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon
title Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon
title_full Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon
title_fullStr Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon
title_full_unstemmed Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon
title_short Amount of Colicin Release in Escherichia coli Is Regulated by Lysis Gene Expression of the Colicin E2 Operon
title_sort amount of colicin release in escherichia coli is regulated by lysis gene expression of the colicin e2 operon
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4353708/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25751274
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119124
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