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Bacterial toxin RelE induces apoptosis in human cells
Author(s) -
Yamamoto T.-A.M,
Gerdes K,
Tunnacliffe A
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(02)02764-3
Subject(s) - antitoxin , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , apoptosis , escherichia coli , translation (biology) , relb , programmed cell death , cell , gene , toxin , genetics , transcription factor , messenger rna , nfkb1
The bacterial protein RelE severely restricts prokaryotic cell growth, probably by acting as a global inhibitor of translation. It is ubiquitous in prokaryotes as part of the RelE–RelB toxin–antitoxin system, and may be activated by nutritional stress. When the relE gene from Escherichia coli was expressed inducibly in a human osteosarcoma cell line, it was shown to retard growth and to lead to cell death by apoptosis. RelE is therefore unusual among bacterial toxins in possessing broad activity against both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, perhaps by acting on evolutionarily conserved components of the translation machinery.