The bacterial toxin colicin E1 is known to induce voltage-gated currents across a planar bilayer lipid membrane. In the present study, it is shown that the colicin-induced current decreased substantially upon illumination of the membrane in the presence of the photosensitizer, aluminum phthalocyanine. This effect was almost completely abolished by the singlet oxygen quencher, sodium azide. Usin...

DNase colicins E2 and E7, both of which appropriate the BtuB/Tol translocation machinery to cross the outer membrane, undergo a processing step as they enter the cytoplasm. This endoproteolytic cleavage is essential for their killing action. A processed form of the same size, 18.5 kDa, which corresponds to the C-terminal catalytic domain, was detected in the cytoplasm of bacteria treated with e...

The outer membranes of two independent colicin Ia-resistant mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 lack the colicin Ia receptor protein. Such mutants exhibit normal capacity for enterochelin (enterobactin)-mediated iron uptake. It is concluded that the colicin Ia receptor is not involved in iron-enterochelin uptake.

Colicin V-treated Escherichia coli was inhibited in its capacity to carry out active transport of proline and was unable to generate a membrane potential. Colicin V also prevented membrane potential formation by isolated cytoplasmic membrane vesicles. We conclude that a primary effect of this colicin involves the cytoplasmic membrane as a target.

Nuclease colicins bind their target receptor BtuB in the outer membrane of sensitive Escherichia coli cells in the form of a high-affinity complex with their cognate immunity proteins. The release of the immunity protein from the colicin complex is a prerequisite for cell entry of the colicin and occurs via a process that is still relatively poorly understood. We have previously shown that an e...

The mechanism(s) by which nuclease colicins translocate distinct cytotoxic enzymes (DNases, rRNases, and tRNases) to the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli is unknown. Previous in vitro investigations on isolated colicin nuclease domains have shown that they have a strong propensity to associate with anionic phospholipid vesicles, implying that electrostatic interactions with biological membranes pl...

Thirty one out of 153 strains of Shigella sonnei isolated from Thai patients with diarrhoea showed antibacterial activity against S. sonnei by agar well diffusion method. All of them harbor plasmids with the genetic determination of colicin type 7 (Js) gene but without colicin E and colicin U gene. The PCR product obtained from strain 35/44 was shown to be the gene for colicin type 7 lytic prot...

The channel activity of colicin E1 was studied in planar lipid bilayers and liposomes. Colicin E1 pore-forming activity was found to depend on the curvature of the lipid bilayer, as judged by the effect on channel activity of curvature-modulating agents. In particular, the colicin-induced trans-membrane current was augmented by lysophosphatidylcholine and reduced by oleic acid, agents promoting...

Colicins are plasmid-encoded bacteriocins active against Escherichia coli and closely related species of Enterobacteriaceae. They promote microbial diversity and genetic diversity in E. coli populations. Colicin synthesis is characteristically repressed by the LexA protein, the key regulator of the SOS response. As colicins are released by cell lysis, generally two LexA dimers binding to two ov...

Colicin V is a ribosomally synthesized antimicrobial peptide produced by Escherichia coli. Four recently characterized genes, arranged in two convergent operons on the plasmid pCoIV-K30, are required for colicin V synthesis, export and immunity. We report the purification and N-terminal amino acid sequencing of the colicin V protein. Our results demonstrate that the colicin V primary translatio...