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Escherichia coli Induces DNA Double-Strand Breaks in Eukaryotic Cells

2006; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 313; Issue: 5788 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.1127059

1095-9203

Jean‐Philippe Nougayrède, Stefan Homburg, Frédéric Taïeb, Michèle Boury, Elżbieta Brzuszkiewicz, Gerhard Gottschalk, Carmen Buchrieser, Jörg Hacker, Ulrich Dobrindt, Éric Oswald,

Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

Transient infection of eukaryotic cells with commensal and extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli of phylogenetic group B2 blocks mitosis and induces megalocytosis. This trait is linked to a widely spread genomic island that encodes giant modular nonribosomal peptide and polyketide synthases. Contact with E. coli expressing this gene cluster causes DNA double-strand breaks and activation of the DNA damage checkpoint pathway, leading to cell cycle arrest and eventually to cell death. Discovery of hybrid peptide-polyketide genotoxins in E. coli will change our view on pathogenesis and commensalism and open new biotechnological applications.