Exopolysaccharide defects cause hyper-thymineless death in Escherichia coli via massive loss of chromosomal DNA and cell lysis
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: Significance The thyA mutants of Escherichia coli cannot synthesize their own thymidine (dT) and rapidly die without dT supplementation. Confusingly, this thymineless death has an integral resistance phase, as if chromosomal damage has to accumulate before eventually becoming irreparable. Here we show that during the resistance phase, the thyA mutants survive by deriving dT from a significant pool of endogenous dTDP-sugar conjugates. Inability to synthesize dTDP-sugars shortens the resistance phase, while inability to recover dTTP from this pool eliminates the resistance phase altogether. Moreover, the resulting dT-hyperstarvation causes catastrophic chromosome loss and cell lysis. We conclude that the resistance phase, rather than being a part of thymineless death, delays acute starvation, while dT-hyperstarvation has the second, cell envelope dimension.
Authors: T. V. Pritha Rao, Andrei Kuzminov
Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Language: English
Subfield: Genetics
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3112440603