title: Strain ŽP - the first bacterial conjugation-based "kill"-"anti-kill" antimicrobial system.
abstract: As multidrug resistant bacteria pose one of the greatest risks to human health new alternative antibacterial agents are urgently needed. One possible mechanism that can be used as an alternative to traditional antibiotic therapy is transfer of killing agents via conjugation. Our work was aimed at providing a proof of principle that conjugation-based antimicrobial systems are possible. We constructed a bacterial conjugation-based "kill"-"anti-kill" antimicrobial system employing the well known Escherichia coli probiotic strain Nissle 1917 genetically modified to harbor a conjugative plasmid carrying the "kill" gene (colicin ColE7 activity gene) and a chromosomally encoded "anti-kill" gene (ColE7 immunity gene). The constructed strain acts as a donor in conjugal transfer and its efficiency was tested in several types of conjugal assays. Our results clearly demonstrate that conjugation-based antimicrobial systems can be highly efficient.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: marjanca.starcic.erjavec@bf.uni-lj.si.
authors.forename: Marjanca
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Starčič Erjavec
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: ziva.petkovsek@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Živa
authors.initials: Ž
authors.lastname: Petkovšek
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology and Genetics of Microorganisms, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Science, 13 Golev Street, 614081 Perm, Russia. Electronic address: mar19719@yandex.ru.
authors.forename: Marina V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Kuznetsova
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ecology and Genetics of Microorganisms, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Science, 13 Golev Street, 614081 Perm, Russia. Electronic address: i.maslennikova@rambler.ru.
authors.forename: Irina L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Maslennikova
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Jamnikarjeva 101, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. Electronic address: darja.zgur@bf.uni-lj.si.
authors.forename: Darja
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Žgur-Bertok
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000628:therapy; D003087:Colicins / Q000235:genetics*; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; C508089:ColE7 protein, E coli; D003087:Colicins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Bacterial conjugation-based technologies; Bacteriocin; Colicin E7; Escherichia coli; Nissle 1917; Plasmid