Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28970486›Full record

ArticleNature microbiology2017

Contribution of reactive oxygen species to thymineless death in Escherichia coli.

Yuzhi Hong, Liping Li, Gan Luan, Karl Drlica, Xilin Zhao

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature microbiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
63citing papers in PubMed
4.1field-weighted citation impact, top 5% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

63 citing papers in PubMed, 102 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
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  4. Review
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  12. EGCG Alleviates HFood science & nutrition · 2025
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  13. Mechanisms ofmBio · 2024
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  15. A Rhein-Based Derivative TargetsAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Article
  16. Article
  17. How a natural antibiotic uses oxidative stress to kill oxidant-resistant bacteria.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Review

3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Yuzhi HongPublic Health Research Institute and Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
Liping LiPublic Health Research Institute and Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
Gan LuanPublic Health Research Institute and Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
Karl DrlicaPublic Health Research Institute and Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.
Xilin ZhaoPublic Health Research Institute and Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers University, 225 Warren Street, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA. zhaox5@njms.rutgers.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8375-8658
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey · US

Funding

Novel fluoroquinolones for killing dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosisR01AI073491 · NIAID · UNIV OF MED/DENT OF NJ-NJ MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI DRLICA, KARL A, KERNS, ROBERT JOHN · 2007 to 2015
$5.1M
Anaerobic shock as a novel treatment for tuberculosisDP2OD007423 · OD · UNIV OF MED/DENT OF NJ-NJ MEDICAL SCHOOL · PI ZHAO, XILIN · 2010 to 2010
$2.3M
NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI073491NIH HHS DP2 OD007423
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Nutrient starvation usually halts cell growth rather than causing death. Thymine starvation is exceptional, because it kills cells rapidly. This phenomenon, called thymineless death (TLD), underlies the action of several antibacterial, antimalarial, anticancer, and immunomodulatory agents. Many explanations for TLD have been advanced, with recent efforts focused on recombination proteins and replication origin (oriC) degradation. Because current proposals account for only part of TLD and because reactive oxygen species (ROS) are implicated in bacterial death due to other forms of harsh stress, we investigated the possible involvement of ROS in TLD. Here, we show that thymine starvation leads to accumulation of both single-stranded DNA regions and intracellular ROS, and interference with either event protects bacteria from double-stranded DNA breakage and TLD. Elevated levels of single-stranded DNA were necessary but insufficient for TLD, whereas reduction of ROS to background levels largely abolished TLD. We conclude that ROS contribute to TLD by converting single-stranded DNA lesions into double-stranded DNA breaks. Participation of ROS in the terminal phases of TLD provides a specific example of how ROS contribute to stress-mediated bacterial self-destruction.

Indexed as

Microbial ViabilityStarvationChromosomes, BacterialDNA, BacterialDNA Breaks, Double-StrandedDNA, Single-StrandedEscherichia coliEscherichia coli ProteinsModels, GeneticReactive Oxygen SpeciesRecombination, GeneticReplication OriginRNA, BacterialThymineDNA, BacterialDNA, Single-StrandedEscherichia coli ProteinsReactive Oxygen SpeciesRNA, BacterialThymine

Identifiers

PMID28970486
PMCPMC5705385
OpenAlexW2757037223

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.