ArticlePloS one2017
Zinc blocks SOS-induced antibiotic resistance via inhibition of RecA in Escherichia coli.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.
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Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inhibition of the SOS response by olivetol improves the efficacy of DNA-damaging antibiotics in Escherichia coli.The Journal of antibiotics · 2026Article
- The Dual Role of Zinc Homeostasis in Gram-Negative Bacterial Pathogenicity and Host Immune Defense.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Dietary iron and metal-based growth promoters differentially modulate the gut resistome and Escherichia coli virulome in weaned pigs.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Mechanistic insights into plasmid transfer inhibition in Enterobacterales by nucleoside analogues.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2026Article
- Article
- Effect of Mutations on the Evolution of Extended Spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL).The protein journal · 2025Review
- Antibiotic-induced stress responses in Gram-negative bacteria and their role in antibiotic resistance.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2025Review
- Rapid assembly of biofilms from DNA released by SOS-inducing drugs in enteric bacteria.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Disrupting antimicrobial resistance: unveiling the potential of vitamin C in combating biofilm formation in drug-resistant bacteria.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- Cooperative mechanisms of LexA and HtpG in the regulation of virulence gene expression inCurrent research in microbial sciences · 2025Article
- Review
- Intraspecific variation in antibiotic resistance potential withinMicrobiology spectrum · 2024Article
- The Multifaceted Actions of PVP-Curcumin for Treating Infections.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- SOS-Inducing Drugs Trigger Nucleic Acid Release and Biofilm Formation in Gram-Negative Bacteria.Biomolecules · 2024Article
- The impact of zinc pre-exposure on ciprofloxacin resistance development inFrontiers in microbiology · 2024Article
- Effect of Zinc Oxide and Copper Sulfate on Antibiotic Resistance Plasmid Transfer inMicroorganisms · 2023Article
- Drugging evolution of antibiotic resistance at a regulatory network hub.Science advances · 2023Article
- Role of Extracellular DNA in Bacterial Response to SOS-Inducing Drugs.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- The Synergy between Zinc and Antimicrobial Peptides: An Insight into Unique Bioinorganic Interactions.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Defects in DNA double-strand break repair resensitize antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli to multiple bactericidal antibiotics.MicrobiologyOpen · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Zinc inhibits the virulence of diarrheagenic E. coli by inducing the envelope stress response and inhibiting the SOS response. The SOS response is triggered by damage to bacterial DNA. In Shiga-toxigenic E. coli, the SOS response strongly induces the production of Shiga toxins (Stx) and of the bacteriophages that encode the Stx genes. In E. coli, induction of the SOS response is accompanied by a higher mutation rate, called the mutator response, caused by a shift to error-prone DNA polymerases when DNA damage is too severe to be repaired by canonical DNA polymerases. Since zinc inhibited the other aspects of the SOS response, we hypothesized that zinc would also inhibit the mutator response, also known as hypermutation. We explored various different experimental paradigms to induce hypermutation triggered by the SOS response, and found that hypermutation was induced not just by classical inducers such as mitomycin C and the quinolone antibiotics, but also by antiviral drugs such as zidovudine and anti-cancer drugs such as 5-fluorouracil, 6-mercaptopurine, and azacytidine. Zinc salts inhibited the SOS response and the hypermutator phenomenon in E. coli as well as in Klebsiella pneumoniae, and was more effective in inhibiting the SOS response than other metals. We then attempted to determine the mechanism by which zinc, applied externally in the medium, inhibits hypermutation. Our results show that zinc interferes with the actions of RecA, and protects LexA from RecA-mediated cleavage, an early step in initiation of the SOS response. The SOS response may play a role in the development of antibiotic resistance and the effect of zinc suggests ways to prevent it.
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Registered trials
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