Journal article
Genome sequencing reveals a large and diverse repertoire of antimicrobial peptides
- Abstract:
- Competition among bacterial members of the same ecological niche is mediated by bacteriocins: antimicrobial peptides produced by bacterial species to kill other bacteria. Bacteriocins are also promising candidates for novel antimicrobials. Streptococcus pneumoniae (the “pneumococcus”) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and a frequent colonizer of the human nasopharynx. Here, 14 newly discovered bacteriocin gene clusters were identified among >6,200 pneumococcal genomes. The molecular epidemiology of the bacteriocin clusters was investigated using a large global and historical pneumococcal dataset dating from 1916. These analyses revealed extraordinary bacteriocin diversity among pneumococci and the majority of bacteriocin clusters were also found in other streptococcal species. Genomic hotspots for the integration of different bacteriocin gene clusters were discovered. Experimentally, bacteriocin genes were transcriptionally active when the pneumococcus was under stress and when two strains were co-cultured in broth. These findings reveal much more diversity among bacterial defense mechanisms than previously appreciated, which fundamentally broaden our understanding of bacteriocins relative to intraspecies and interspecies nasopharyngeal competition and bacterial population structure.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 3.7MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3389/fmicb.2018.02012
Authors
- Publisher:
- Frontiers Media
- Journal:
- Frontiers in Microbiology More from this journal
- Volume:
- 9
- Publication date:
- 2018-08-27
- Acceptance date:
- 2018-08-09
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1664-302X
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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pubs:991201
- UUID:
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uuid:a3afd92f-4992-497f-8237-dcd2bdceb8b4
- Local pid:
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pubs:991201
- Source identifiers:
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991201
- Deposit date:
-
2019-10-20
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Rezaei Javan et al
- Copyright date:
- 2018
- Notes:
- © 2018 Rezaei Javan, van Tonder, King, Harrold and Brueggemann. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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