No Cover Image

Journal article 354 views 24 downloads

Role is in the eye of the beholder—the multiple functions of the antibacterial compound tropodithietic acid produced by marine Rhodobacteraceae

Nathalie N S E Henriksen Orcid Logo, Laura L Lindqvist Orcid Logo, Mario Wibowo Orcid Logo, Eva C. Sonnenschein Orcid Logo, Mikkel Bentzon-Tilia Orcid Logo, Lone Gram Orcid Logo

FEMS Microbiology Reviews, Volume: 46, Issue: 3

Swansea University Author: Eva C. Sonnenschein Orcid Logo

  • 61713.pdf

    PDF | Version of Record

    Copyright: The Author(s) 2022. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License

    Download (1.79MB)

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.1093/femsre/fuac007

Abstract

Many microbial secondary metabolites have been studied for decades primarily because of their antimicrobial properties. However, several of these metabolites also possess nonantimicrobial functions, both influencing the physiology of the producer and their ecological neighbors. An example of a versa...

Full description

Published in: FEMS Microbiology Reviews
ISSN: 1574-6976
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2022
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61713
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Abstract: Many microbial secondary metabolites have been studied for decades primarily because of their antimicrobial properties. However, several of these metabolites also possess nonantimicrobial functions, both influencing the physiology of the producer and their ecological neighbors. An example of a versatile bacterial secondary metabolite with multiple functions is the tropone derivative tropodithietic acid (TDA). TDA is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial compound produced by several members of the Rhodobacteraceae family, a major marine bacterial lineage, within the genera Phaeobacter, Tritonibacter, and Pseudovibrio. The production of TDA is governed by the mode of growth and influenced by the availability of nutrient sources. The antibacterial effect of TDA is caused by disruption of the proton motive force of target microorganisms and, potentially, by its iron-chelating properties. TDA also acts as a signaling molecule, affecting gene expression in other bacteria, and altering phenotypic traits such as motility, biofilm formation, and antibiotic production in the producer. In microbial communities, TDA-producing bacteria cause a reduction of the relative abundance of closely related species and some fast-growing heterotrophic bacteria. Here, we summarize the current understanding of the chemical ecology of TDA, including the environmental niches of TDA-producing bacteria, and the molecular mechanisms governing the function and regulation of TDA.
Keywords: antimicrobials, secondary metabolites, Rhodobacteraceae, tropodithietic acid, marine microbiomes
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: This work was supported by the Danish National Research Foundation to the Center for Microbial Secondary Metabolites (DNRF137) and The Independent Research Fund Denmark (grant number DFF-8048–00035B) to MBT.
Issue: 3