Chérier Dimitri, Giacomucci Sean, Patin Delphine, Bouhss Ahmed, Touzé Thierry, Blanot Didier, Mengin-Lecreulx Dominique, Barreteau Hélène
Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), CEA, CNRS, Univ Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91198, France.
Antibiotics (Basel). 2016 Oct 8;5(4):36. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics5040036.
Colicins are bacterial toxins produced by some strains. They exhibit either enzymatic or pore-forming activity towards a very limited number of bacterial species, due to the high specificity of their reception and translocation systems. Yet, we succeeded in making the colicin M homologue from , pectocin M1 (PcaM1), capable of inhibiting cell growth by bypassing these reception and translocation steps. This goal was achieved through periplasmic expression of this pectocin. Indeed, when appropriately addressed to the periplasm of , this pectocin could exert its deleterious effects, i.e., the enzymatic degradation of the peptidoglycan lipid II precursor, which resulted in the arrest of the biosynthesis of this essential cell wall polymer, dramatic morphological changes and, ultimately, cell lysis. This result leads to the conclusion that colicin M and its various orthologues constitute powerful antibacterial molecules able to kill any kind of bacterium, once they can reach their lipid II target. They thus have to be seriously considered as promising alternatives to antibiotics.
大肠杆菌素是由某些菌株产生的细菌毒素。由于其受体和转运系统的高度特异性，它们对极少数细菌物种表现出酶活性或成孔活性。然而，我们成功地从果胶杆菌M1（PcaM1）中制备出了大肠杆菌素M的同源物，它能够通过绕过这些受体和转运步骤来抑制细胞生长。这个目标是通过该果胶杆菌素的周质表达实现的。实际上，当适当地靶向到的周质时，这种果胶杆菌素可以发挥其有害作用，即肽聚糖脂质II前体的酶促降解，这导致了这种必需细胞壁聚合物的生物合成停滞、显著的形态变化，并最终导致细胞裂解。这一结果得出结论，大肠杆菌素M及其各种直系同源物构成了强大的抗菌分子，一旦它们能够到达其脂质II靶点，就能杀死任何种类的细菌。因此，它们必须被认真视为抗生素的有前途的替代品。
