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Journal of Bacteriology, November 2001, p. 6288-6293, Vol. 183, No. 21
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.21.6288-6293.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

DNA as a Nutrient: Novel Role for Bacterial Competence Gene Homologs

Steven E. Finkel1,* and Roberto Kolter2

Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1340,1 and Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 021152

Received 5 April 2001/Accepted 7 August 2001

The uptake and stable maintenance of extracellular DNA, genetic transformation, is universally recognized as a major force in microbial evolution. We show here that extracellular DNA, both homospecific and heterospecific, can also serve as the sole source of carbon and energy supporting microbial growth. Mutants unable to consume DNA suffer a significant loss of fitness during stationary-phase competition. In Escherichia coli, the use of DNA as a nutrient depends on homologs of proteins involved in natural genetic competence and transformation in Haemophilus influenzae and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Homologs of these E. coli genes are present in many members of the gamma  subclass of Proteobacteria, suggesting that the mechanisms for consumption of DNA may have been widely conserved during evolution.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, Program in Molecular Biology, SHS 172, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-1340. Phone: (213) 821-1498. Fax: (213) 740-8631. E-mail: sfinkel{at}usc.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, November 2001, p. 6288-6293, Vol. 183, No. 21
0021-9193/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JB.183.21.6288-6293.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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