This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Sat, B.
Right arrow Articles by Engelberg-Kulka, H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Sat, B.
Right arrow Articles by Engelberg-Kulka, H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2003, p. 1803-1807, Vol. 185, No. 6
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.6.1803-1807.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The Escherichia coli mazEF Suicide Module Mediates Thymineless Death

Boaz Sat, Myriam Reches, and Hanna Engelberg-Kulka*

Department of Molecular Biology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel

Received 2 August 2002/ Accepted 18 December 2002

In 1954, Cohen and Barner discovered that a thymine auxotrophic (thyA) mutant of Escherichia coli undergoes cell death in response to thymine starvation. This phenomenon, called thymineless death (TLD), has also been found in many other organisms, including prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Though TLD has been studied intensively, its molecular mechanism has not yet been explained. Previously we reported on the E. coli mazEF system, a regulatable chromosomal suicide module that can be triggered by various stress conditions. MazF is a stable toxin, and MazE is an unstable antitoxin. Here, we show that cell death that is mediated by the mazEF module can also be activated by thymine starvation. We found that TLD depends on E. coli mazEF and that under thymine starvation, the activity of the mazEF promoter P2 is significantly reduced. Our results, which describe thymine starvation as a trigger for a built-in death program, have implications for programmed cell death in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, P.O. Box 12272, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. Phone: 972-2-675-8250. Fax: 972-2-678-4010. E-Mail: hanita{at}cc.huji.ac.il.

Journal of Bacteriology, March 2003, p. 1803-1807, Vol. 185, No. 6
0021-9193/03/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.185.6.1803-1807.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Kolodkin-Gal, I., Engelberg-Kulka, H. (2009). The Stationary-Phase Sigma Factor {sigma}S Is Responsible for the Resistance of Escherichia coli Stationary-Phase Cells to mazEF-Mediated Cell Death. J. Bacteriol. 191: 3177-3182 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Korch, S. B., Contreras, H., Clark-Curtiss, J. E. (2009). Three Mycobacterium tuberculosis Rel Toxin-Antitoxin Modules Inhibit Mycobacterial Growth and Are Expressed in Infected Human Macrophages. J. Bacteriol. 191: 1618-1630 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kolodkin-Gal, I., Engelberg-Kulka, H. (2008). The Extracellular Death Factor: Physiological and Genetic Factors Influencing Its Production and Response in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 190: 3169-3175 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Rice, K. C., Bayles, K. W. (2008). Molecular Control of Bacterial Death and Lysis. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 72: 85-109 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tsilibaris, V., Maenhaut-Michel, G., Mine, N., Van Melderen, L. (2007). What Is the Benefit to Escherichia coli of Having Multiple Toxin-Antitoxin Systems in Its Genome?. J. Bacteriol. 189: 6101-6108 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Guarino, E., Salguero, I., Jimenez-Sanchez, A., Guzman, E. C. (2007). Double-Strand Break Generation under Deoxyribonucleotide Starvation in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 189: 5782-5786 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wilbaux, M., Mine, N., Guerout, A.-M., Mazel, D., Van Melderen, L. (2007). Functional Interactions between Coexisting Toxin-Antitoxin Systems of the ccd Family in Escherichia coli O157:H7. J. Bacteriol. 189: 2712-2719 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Budde, P. P., Davis, B. M., Yuan, J., Waldor, M. K. (2007). Characterization of a higBA Toxin-Antitoxin Locus in Vibrio cholerae. J. Bacteriol. 189: 491-500 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Moritz, E. M., Hergenrother, P. J. (2007). Toxin-antitoxin systems are ubiquitous and plasmid-encoded in vancomycin-resistant enterococci. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 311-316 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lioy, V. S., Martin, M. T., Camacho, A. G., Lurz, R., Antelmann, H., Hecker, M., Hitchin, E., Ridge, Y., Wells, J. M., Alonso, J. C. (2006). pSM19035-encoded {zeta} toxin induces stasis followed by death in a subpopulation of cells.. Microbiology 152: 2365-2379 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Morganroth, P. A., Hanawalt, P. C. (2006). Role of DNA Replication and Repair in Thymineless Death in Escherichia coli.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 5286-5288 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kolodkin-Gal, I., Engelberg-Kulka, H. (2006). Induction of Escherichia coli Chromosomal mazEF by Stressful Conditions Causes an Irreversible Loss of Viability. J. Bacteriol. 188: 3420-3423 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zaritsky, A., Woldringh, C. L., Einav, M., Alexeeva, S. (2006). Use of thymine limitation and thymine starvation to study bacterial physiology and cytology.. J. Bacteriol. 188: 1667-1679 [Full Text]  
  • Engelberg-Kulka, H., Hazan, R., Amitai, S. (2005). mazEF: a chromosomal toxin-antitoxin module that triggers programmed cell death in bacteria. J. Cell Sci. 118: 4327-4332 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Lah, J., Simic, M., Vesnaver, G., Marianovsky, I., Glaser, G., Engelberg-Kulka, H., Loris, R. (2005). Energetics of Structural Transitions of the Addiction Antitoxin MazE: IS A PROGRAMMED BACTERIAL CELL DEATH DEPENDENT ON THE INTRINSICALLY FLEXIBLE NATURE OF THE ANTITOXINS?. J. Biol. Chem. 280: 17397-17407 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Strauss, B., Kelly, K., Ekiert, D. (2005). Cytochrome Oxidase Deficiency Protects Escherichia coli from Cell Death but Not from Filamentation Due to Thymine Deficiency or DNA Polymerase Inactivation. J. Bacteriol. 187: 2827-2835 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Pandey, D. P., Gerdes, K. (2005). Toxin-antitoxin loci are highly abundant in free-living but lost from host-associated prokaryotes. Nucleic Acids Res 33: 966-976 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Amitai, S., Yassin, Y., Engelberg-Kulka, H. (2004). MazF-Mediated Cell Death in Escherichia coli: a Point of No Return. J. Bacteriol. 186: 8295-8300 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hazan, R., Sat, B., Engelberg-Kulka, H. (2004). Escherichia coli mazEF-Mediated Cell Death Is Triggered by Various Stressful Conditions. J. Bacteriol. 186: 3663-3669 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Strauss, B., Kelly, K., Dincman, T., Ekiert, D., Biesieda, T., Song, R. (2004). Cell Death in Escherichia coli dnaE(Ts) Mutants Incubated at a Nonpermissive Temperature Is Prevented by Mutation in the cydA Gene. J. Bacteriol. 186: 2147-2155 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hayes, F. (2003). Toxins-Antitoxins: Plasmid Maintenance, Programmed Cell Death, and Cell Cycle Arrest. Science 301: 1496-1499 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Zhang, J., Zhang, Y., Inouye, M. (2003). Characterization of the Interactions within the mazEF Addiction Module of Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 278: 32300-32306 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»