Bacterial Toxicity of Potassium Tellurite: Unveiling an Ancient Enigma

Perez, JM; Calderon, IL; Arenas FA; Fuentes DE; Pradenas, GA; Fuentes, EL; Sandoval, JM; Castro ME; Elias, AO; Vásquez CC

Abstract

Biochemical, genetic, enzymatic and molecular approaches were used to demonstrate, for the first time, that tellurite (TeO3 2-) toxicity in E. coli involves superoxide formation. This radical is derived, at least in part, from enzymatic TeO3 2- reduction. This conclusion is supported by the following observations made in K2TeO3-treated E. coli BW25113: i) induction of the ibpA gene encoding for the small heat shock protein IbpA, which has been associated with resistance to superoxide, ii) increase of cytoplasmic reactive oxygen species (ROS) as determined with ROS-specific probe 2′7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA), iii) increase of carbonyl content in cellular proteins, iv) increase in the generation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARs), v) inactivation of oxidative stress-sensitive [Fe-S] enzymes such as aconitase, vi) increase of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, vii) increase of sodA, sodB and soxS mRNA transcription, and viii) generation of superoxide radical during in vitro enzymatic reduction of potassium tellurite. © 2007 Pérez et al.

Más información

Título según WOS: Bacterial Toxicity of Potassium Tellurite: Unveiling an Ancient Enigma
Título según SCOPUS: Bacterial toxicity of potassium tellurite: Unveiling an ancient enigma
Título de la Revista: PLOS ONE
Volumen: 2
Número: 2
Editorial: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
Fecha de publicación: 2007
Idioma: English
URL: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000211
DOI:

10.1371/journal.pone.0000211

Notas: ISI, SCOPUS