Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232-2363, USA.
Mol Microbiol. 2011 Oct;82(1):1-3. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2011.07808.x. Epub 2011 Sep 2.
Polyamines are ubiquitous compounds thought to be synthesized by and required for all life. The manuscript published in this issue by Joshi and colleagues upsets this dogma by identifying several bacterial species that do not make polyamines, and in some cases do not require polyamines for growth. One such species is the significant human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, which is shown to be uniquely sensitive to polyamines. By unravelling the mechanisms of staphylococcal polyamine toxicity and tolerance, Joshi et al. (2011) provide insights into how the most virulent strains of S. aureus have evolved to be more fit during infection.
多胺是一种普遍存在的化合物，被认为是所有生命合成和必需的。乔希及其同事在本期发表的论文颠覆了这一教条，他们鉴定出几种不能合成多胺的细菌，在某些情况下，细菌的生长也不需要多胺。其中一个物种是重要的人类病原体金黄色葡萄球菌，研究表明它对多胺特别敏感。通过揭示金黄色葡萄球菌多胺毒性和耐受性的机制，乔希等人（2011）提供了一些见解，说明金黄色葡萄球菌最具毒性的菌株是如何在感染过程中进化得更适应环境的。
