Systematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics

ABSTRACT The bacterial SOS response is a DNA damage repair network that is strongly implicated in both survival and acquired drug resistance under antimicrobial stress. The two SOS regulators, LexA and RecA, have therefore emerged as potential targets for adjuvant therapies aimed at combating resist...

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Autores principales: Charlie Y. Mo, Sara A. Manning, Manuela Roggiani, Matthew J. Culyba, Amanda N. Samuels, Paul D. Sniegowski, Mark Goulian, Rahul M. Kohli
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Publicado: American Society for Microbiology 2016
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:cd434ad32ed346dbba391515d322b75a2021-11-15T15:21:14ZSystematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics10.1128/mSphere.00163-162379-5042https://doaj.org/article/cd434ad32ed346dbba391515d322b75a2016-08-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mSphere.00163-16https://doaj.org/toc/2379-5042ABSTRACT The bacterial SOS response is a DNA damage repair network that is strongly implicated in both survival and acquired drug resistance under antimicrobial stress. The two SOS regulators, LexA and RecA, have therefore emerged as potential targets for adjuvant therapies aimed at combating resistance, although many open questions remain. For example, it is not well understood whether SOS hyperactivation is a viable therapeutic approach or whether LexA or RecA is a better target. Furthermore, it is important to determine which antimicrobials could serve as the best treatment partners with SOS-targeting adjuvants. Here we derived Escherichia coli strains that have mutations in either lexA or recA genes in order to cover the full spectrum of possible SOS activity levels. We then systematically analyzed a wide range of antimicrobials by comparing the mean inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and induced mutation rates for each drug-strain combination. We first show that significant changes in MICs are largely confined to DNA-damaging antibiotics, with strains containing a constitutively repressed SOS response impacted to a greater extent than hyperactivated strains. Second, antibiotic-induced mutation rates were suppressed when SOS activity was reduced, and this trend was observed across a wider spectrum of antibiotics. Finally, perturbing either LexA or RecA proved to be equally viable strategies for targeting the SOS response. Our work provides support for multiple adjuvant strategies, while also suggesting that the combination of an SOS inhibitor with a DNA-damaging antibiotic could offer the best potential for lowering MICs and decreasing acquired drug resistance. IMPORTANCE Our antibiotic arsenal is becoming depleted, in part, because bacteria have the ability to rapidly adapt and acquire resistance to our best agents. The SOS pathway, a widely conserved DNA damage stress response in bacteria, is activated by many antibiotics and has been shown to play central role in promoting survival and the evolution of resistance under antibiotic stress. As a result, targeting the SOS response has been proposed as an adjuvant strategy to revitalize our current antibiotic arsenal. However, the optimal molecular targets and partner antibiotics for such an approach remain unclear. In this study, focusing on the two key regulators of the SOS response, LexA and RecA, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of how to target the SOS response in order to increase bacterial susceptibility and reduce mutagenesis under antibiotic treatment.Charlie Y. MoSara A. ManningManuela RoggianiMatthew J. CulybaAmanda N. SamuelsPaul D. SniegowskiMark GoulianRahul M. KohliAmerican Society for MicrobiologyarticleDNA damageLexARecASOS pathwayadjuvant therapyantibiotic resistanceMicrobiologyQR1-502ENmSphere, Vol 1, Iss 4 (2016)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic DNA damage
LexA
RecA
SOS pathway
adjuvant therapy
antibiotic resistance
Microbiology
QR1-502
spellingShingle DNA damage
LexA
RecA
SOS pathway
adjuvant therapy
antibiotic resistance
Microbiology
QR1-502
Charlie Y. Mo
Sara A. Manning
Manuela Roggiani
Matthew J. Culyba
Amanda N. Samuels
Paul D. Sniegowski
Mark Goulian
Rahul M. Kohli
Systematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics
description ABSTRACT The bacterial SOS response is a DNA damage repair network that is strongly implicated in both survival and acquired drug resistance under antimicrobial stress. The two SOS regulators, LexA and RecA, have therefore emerged as potential targets for adjuvant therapies aimed at combating resistance, although many open questions remain. For example, it is not well understood whether SOS hyperactivation is a viable therapeutic approach or whether LexA or RecA is a better target. Furthermore, it is important to determine which antimicrobials could serve as the best treatment partners with SOS-targeting adjuvants. Here we derived Escherichia coli strains that have mutations in either lexA or recA genes in order to cover the full spectrum of possible SOS activity levels. We then systematically analyzed a wide range of antimicrobials by comparing the mean inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and induced mutation rates for each drug-strain combination. We first show that significant changes in MICs are largely confined to DNA-damaging antibiotics, with strains containing a constitutively repressed SOS response impacted to a greater extent than hyperactivated strains. Second, antibiotic-induced mutation rates were suppressed when SOS activity was reduced, and this trend was observed across a wider spectrum of antibiotics. Finally, perturbing either LexA or RecA proved to be equally viable strategies for targeting the SOS response. Our work provides support for multiple adjuvant strategies, while also suggesting that the combination of an SOS inhibitor with a DNA-damaging antibiotic could offer the best potential for lowering MICs and decreasing acquired drug resistance. IMPORTANCE Our antibiotic arsenal is becoming depleted, in part, because bacteria have the ability to rapidly adapt and acquire resistance to our best agents. The SOS pathway, a widely conserved DNA damage stress response in bacteria, is activated by many antibiotics and has been shown to play central role in promoting survival and the evolution of resistance under antibiotic stress. As a result, targeting the SOS response has been proposed as an adjuvant strategy to revitalize our current antibiotic arsenal. However, the optimal molecular targets and partner antibiotics for such an approach remain unclear. In this study, focusing on the two key regulators of the SOS response, LexA and RecA, we provide the first comprehensive assessment of how to target the SOS response in order to increase bacterial susceptibility and reduce mutagenesis under antibiotic treatment.
format article
author Charlie Y. Mo
Sara A. Manning
Manuela Roggiani
Matthew J. Culyba
Amanda N. Samuels
Paul D. Sniegowski
Mark Goulian
Rahul M. Kohli
author_facet Charlie Y. Mo
Sara A. Manning
Manuela Roggiani
Matthew J. Culyba
Amanda N. Samuels
Paul D. Sniegowski
Mark Goulian
Rahul M. Kohli
author_sort Charlie Y. Mo
title Systematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics
title_short Systematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics
title_full Systematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics
title_fullStr Systematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics
title_full_unstemmed Systematically Altering Bacterial SOS Activity under Stress Reveals Therapeutic Strategies for Potentiating Antibiotics
title_sort systematically altering bacterial sos activity under stress reveals therapeutic strategies for potentiating antibiotics
publisher American Society for Microbiology
publishDate 2016
url https://doaj.org/article/cd434ad32ed346dbba391515d322b75a
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