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Irreversible paraben inhibition of glycolysis by Streptococcus mutans GS‐5
Author(s) -
Ma Y.,
Marquis R.E.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
letters in applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.698
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1472-765X
pISSN - 0266-8254
DOI - 10.1111/j.1472-765x.1996.tb00201.x
Subject(s) - paraben , streptococcus mutans , glycolysis , biochemistry , bacteria , chemistry , pep group translocation , enzyme , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , food science , preservative , phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase , genetics
Parabens were found to inhibit irreversibly glycolysis by the cariogenic dental plaque bacterium Streptococcus mutans GS‐5 and to decrease the capacity of the bacterium to lower the pH in dense cell suspensions containing excess glucose. The hierarchy of effectiveness was butyl > propyl > ethyl > methyl paraben. Results of studies of the nature of glycolytic inhibition by butyl paraben indicated that it could act at millimolar concentrations as an irreversible inhibitor of the phosphotransferase system for sugar uptake and was lethal for the bacterium at these same levels. Butyl paraben acted also as a reversible inhibitor of the F‐ATPase of the organism. Overall, it appeared that the lethal actions of parabens can be interpreted at least in part as due to irreversible damage to key enzymes, such as those of the phosphotransferase system.