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Rethinking 'secondary' metabolism: physiological roles for phenazine antibiotics

Nature Chemical Biology volume 2, pages 71–78 (2006)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 April 2006

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Abstract

Microorganisms exist in the environment as multicellular communities that face the challenge of surviving under nutrient-limited conditions. Chemical communication is an essential part of the way in which these populations coordinate their behavior, and there has been an explosion of understanding in recent years regarding how this is accomplished. Much less, however, is understood about the way these communities sustain their metabolism. Bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas are ubiquitous, and are distinguished by their production of colorful secondary metabolites called phenazines. In this article, we suggest that phenazines, which are produced under conditions of high cell density and nutrient limitation, may be important for the persistence of pseudomonads in the environment.

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Figure 1: Phenazines are colorful, diffusible bacterial metabolites.
Figure 2: Pseudomonads stimulate phenazine reduction.
Figure 3: Model of the quorum-sensing network in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Figure 4: Key structural elements of secondary metabolites resemble those of cofactors that have critical roles in energy metabolism.

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Change history

  • 07 March 2006

    In the version of this article initially published, some of the values in Table 1 were incorrect and three chemical names were misspelled. The errors have been corrected in the PDF version of the article.

Notes

  1. *Note: In the version of this article initially published, some of the values in Table 1 were incorrect and three chemical names were misspelled. The errors have been corrected in the PDF version of the article.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by an NIH training grant (A.-P.-W.) and a postdoctoral EMBO fellowship (L.E.P.D.) administered by the California Institute of Technology, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (D.K.N.) and the Packard Foundation.

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  1. Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Alexa Price-Whelan

  2. Divisions of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Lars E P Dietrich & Dianne K Newman

  3. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125, California, USA

    Dianne K Newman

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Price-Whelan, A., Dietrich, L. & Newman, D. Rethinking 'secondary' metabolism: physiological roles for phenazine antibiotics. Nat Chem Biol 2, 71–78 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio764

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