ArticleJournal of bacteriology2013
Cell death of Streptococcus mutans induced by a quorum-sensing peptide occurs via a conserved streptococcal autolysin.
Article in Journal of bacteriology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sodium ion stress accelerates cell lysis inApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Quorum sensing in streptococci and its peptide-mediated modulation.Bioscience reports · 2026Review
- LytF contributes to pilus extrusion during natural competence inJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Quorum sensing in oral multispecies biofilms: from interkingdom communication to therapeutic targeting.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- Fluoride triggers lysis inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- LytF contributes to pilus extrusion during natural competence inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Membrane vesicle production via cell-to-cell communication-induced autolysis inMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Bacterial extracellular vesicles target different bacterial species, impairing cell division and diminishing their pathogenicity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Decoding Adenine DNA Methylation Effects in Streptococcus Mutans: Insights Into Self-DNA Protection and Autoaggregation.Molecular oral microbiology · 2025Article
- Identification of a Novel Gene Involved in Cell-to-cell Communication-induced Cell Death and eDNA Production in Streptococcus mutans.Microbes and environments · 2023Article
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- In silico insight of cell-death-related proteins in photosynthetic cyanobacteria.Archives of microbiology · 2022Review
- Modification of cell wall polysaccharide guides cell division in Streptococcus mutans.Nature chemical biology · 2021Article
- Quorum Sensing Inhibitors: Curbing Pathogenic Infections through Inhibition of Bacterial Communication.Iranian journal of pharmaceutical research : IJPR · 2021Review
- Competence-Stimulating-Peptide-Dependent Localized Cell Death and Extracellular DNA Production in Streptococcus mutans Biofilms.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2020Article
- Potential Risk of Spreading Resistance Genes within Extracellular-DNA-Dependent Biofilms of Streptococcus mutans in Response to Cell Envelope Stress Induced by Sub-MICs of Bacitracin.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2020Article
- Genetic Analysis of Mutacin B-Ny266, a Lantibiotic Active against Caries Pathogens.Journal of bacteriology · 2020Article
- Biofilm Formation by Streptococcus mutans is Enhanced by Indole via the Quorum Sensing Pathway.Microbes and environments · 2020Article
- Hidden Gems in the Transcriptome Maps of Competent Streptococci.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Streptococcus mutans, a member of the human indigenous oral microbiome, produces a quorum-sensing peptide called the competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) pheromone. We previously demonstrated that S. mutans expresses its CSP pheromone under specific stresses and responds to high levels of CSP by inducing cell death in a fraction of the bacterial population. Streptococci lack the classical SOS response, and the induction of the SigX regulon has been proposed to act as a general stress response in Gram-positive bacteria. We show here that inactivation of SigX abolished the CSP-induced cell death phenotype. Among SigX-regulated genes, SMU.836 (now named lytF(Sm)), encoding a conserved streptococcal protein, is a functional peptidoglycan hydrolase involved in CSP-induced cell lysis. We also demonstrated that LytF(Sm) is most likely a self-acting autolysin, since LytF(Sm) produced by attacker cells cannot trigger CSP-induced lysis of LytF(Sm)-deficient target cells present in the same environment. Electron microscopy revealed important morphological changes accompanying autolysis of CSP-induced wild-type cultures that were absent in the LytF(Sm)-deficient mutant. The LytF(Sm) promoter was activated in the physiological context of elevated concentrations of the CSP pheromone under stress conditions, such as exposure to heat, hydrogen peroxide, and acid. In a long-term survival assay, the viability of a mutant deficient in LytF(Sm) autolysin was significantly lower than that observed for the wild-type strain. The results of this study suggest that cell death of S. mutans induced by its quorum-sensing CSP pheromone may represent a kind of altruistic act that provides a way for the species to survive environmental stresses at the expense of some of its cells.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.