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Quorum sensing peptides mediating interspecies bacterial cell death as a novel class of antimicrobial agents

Sathish Kumar1, Hanna Engelberg-Kulka1

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, IMRIC, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.

Current Opinion in Microbiology
|September 23, 2014
PubMed

Insights

The MazEF toxin-antitoxin system induces bacterial cell death via quorum-sensing peptides called Extracellular Death Factors (EDFs). These interspecies EDFs could form the basis of novel antimicrobial agents for external bacterial cell death induction.

Area of Science:

  • Bacteriology
  • Microbial Genetics
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • The MazEF system is a stress-induced toxin-antitoxin module found in most bacteria, including pathogens like Escherichia coli.
  • Bacterial cell death mediated by E. coli MazEF is a population-dependent process requiring quorum-sensing (QS) signals.
  • Specific QS peptides, known as Extracellular Death Factors (EDFs), mediate this interspecies cell death.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of Extracellular Death Factors (EDFs) in MazEF-mediated bacterial cell death.
  • To explore the potential of EDFs as a novel class of antimicrobial agents.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of the MazEF toxin-antitoxin system in Escherichia coli.
  • Investigation of quorum-sensing (QS) peptides, including the E. coli EDF (NNWNN).
  • Examination of interspecies cell death triggered by QS peptides from Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Main Results:

  • E. coli MazEF-mediated cell death is dependent on the quorum-sensing peptide NNWNN (EDF).
  • QS peptides from other bacterial species (B. subtilis, P. aeruginosa) can also trigger E. coli MazEF-mediated cell death.
  • EDFs represent a family of QS peptides mediating interspecies cell death.

Conclusions:

  • The MazEF system and its associated EDFs play a crucial role in bacterial population control.
  • EDFs represent a conserved mechanism for interspecies communication and cell death induction.
  • Members of the EDF family hold promise as a new class of antimicrobial agents targeting bacterial cells externally.

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