Effects of Colicins E1 and K on Cellular Metabolism
Description:
Discovered in the 1920s by Andre Gratia, colicins are water-soluble proteins that are produced by certain proteins and which kill similar kinds of bacteria. In 1963, Masayasu Nomura demonstrated that colicins kill bacteria by damaging the membrane of the bacterial cell. As a result of Nomura's work, Luria turned his focus to colicins. On leave from MIT while at the Institut Pasteur in Paris in 1963, Luria found that the particular colicin with which he worked, E1, made bacterial cells incapable of accumulating the substances they required to maintain the cell. The colicin effectively blocked the function of transport of proteins through the membrane. After he returned to MIT, the colicin work became the focus of his laboratory. Following up on their initial findings, Luria and Fields proceeded to study the fate of glucose in colicin-treated cells, determined the specific alteration of membrane permeability and found that the production of pyruvate indicated pyruvate oxidation. Their observations suggested that an early effect of these colicins on bacterial cells may be an alteration of the cytoplasmic membrane, requiring the presence of some oxygen and leading to a block in ATP-dependent processes by limiting ATP availability.
Item is a photocopy.
Number of Image Pages:
14 (1,671,949 Bytes)
Date:
1969-01 (January 1969)
Creator:
Fields, Kay L.
Luria, Salvador E.
Source:
Periodical: Fields, Kay L., and Salvador E. Luria. "Effects of Colicins E1 and K on Cellular Metabolism." Journal of Bacteriology 97, 1 (January 1969): 64-77. Article. 14 Images.
Publisher:
American Society for Microbiology
Rights:
Reproduced with permission of the American Society for Microbiology.
Reproduced with permission of the American Philosophical Society.
