453: Phenazine Faciliates Phosphorus Feeding

This episode: Some bacteria produce antibiotics that can also
help them gather more nutrients!


Download Episode (5.0 MB, 7.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Diadromus pulchellus toursvirus


 


News item 1

 


Takeaways




Antibiotics have saved a lot of lives since they were
discovered and used to treat many previously untreatable
bacterial infections. But bacteria themselves have been
making antibiotics much longer than we have, to help
compete in their environment. However, sometimes these
compounds are not produced in large enough concentrations
to act as antibiotics, killing or inhibiting rival
bacteria. Why waste energy on this sublethal production?
Are there other functions these molecules can perform?


 


In this study, bacteria produce an antibiotic called
phenazine that can damage cell components by redox
reactions, transferring electrons. But it can also help
liberate the essential nutrient phosphorus from being bound
to insoluble particles, allowing the bacteria to grow
better even in the absence of competitors.



 
Journal Paper:
McRose DL, Newman DK. 2021. Redox-active antibiotics enhance
phosphorus bioavailability. Science 371:1033–1037.



Other interesting stories:



Bacterial proteins stuck to tumor cells could be targeted




 


Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot
com. Thanks for listening!


Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Android, or RSS.
Support the show at Patreon, or check out the show
at Twitter or Facebook.