Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)

Editor

Personal info

View

About

Terms

Javascript disabled

Please enable Javascript support in your browser to use this application.

Instructions on how to enable JavaScript on different browsers can be found here: http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=23852.

[edit this page]

Hosoya, Y. et al.

Acquisition of certain streptomycin-resistant (str) mutations enhances antibiotic production in bacteria.

Physiological differentiation (including antibiotic production) in microorganisms usually starts when cells encounter adverse environmental conditions and is frequently accompanied by an increase in the accumulation of intracellular ppGpp. We have found that the acquisition of certain streptomycin-resistant (str) mutations enables cells to overproduce antibiotics, demonstrating an increase in productivity 5- to 50-fold greater than that of wild-type strains. The frequency of such antibiotic-overproducing strains among the str mutants was shown to range from 3 to 46%, as examined with several strains of the genera Streptomyces, Bacillus, and Pseudomonas. Analysis of str mutants from Bacillus subtilis Marburg 168 revealed that a point mutation occurred within the rpsL gene, which encodes the ribosomal protein S12, changing Lys-56 (corresponding to Lys-43 in Escherichia coli) to Asn, Arg, Thr, or Gln. Antibiotic productivity increased in a hierarchical manner depending upon which amino acid residue replaced Lys at this position. The strA1 mutation, a genetic marker frequently used for mapping, had no effect on antibiotic productivity even though it was found to result in an amino acid alteration of Lys-56 to Ile. Gene replacement experiments with the str alleles demonstrated unambiguously that the str mutation is responsible for the antibiotic overproductivity observed. These results offer a rational approach for improving the production of antibiotic (secondary metabolism) from microorganisms.[1]

References

Acquisition of certain streptomycin-resistant (str) mutations enhances antibiotic production in bacteria. Hosoya, Y., Okamoto, S., Muramatsu, H., Ochi, K. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. (1998) [Pubmed]

Annotations and hyperlinks in this abstract are from individual authors of WikiGenes or automatically generated by the WikiGenes Data Mining Engine. The abstract is from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.About WikiGenes Open Access Licence Privacy Policy Terms of Use apsburg

The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.