Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Community organizers and (bio)filmmaking

Nature Chemical Biology volume 4, pages 653–654 (2008)Cite this article

Bacteria produce and excrete toxic compounds classically categorized as waste products or chemical weapons. New work indicates a role for phenazines and SoxR, a transcription factor known for its role in defense against oxidative stress, in coordinating bacterial community growth.

Microbiologists have long been aware that bacteria produce toxic metabolites. Compounds that are produced actively are often interpreted as chemical weapons against other microbes, which humans have fortuitously used in medicine as antibiotics. Other compounds have been viewed as mere toxic byproducts of metabolism. Dietrich et al.1 now show that phenazines, previously considered a toxic byproduct, are in fact critical chemical mediators of bacterial community growth.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The phenazine metabolic cycle in P. aeruginosa.

Katie Ris-Vicari

References

  1. Dietrich, L.E., Teal, T.K., Price-Whelan, A. & Newman, D.K. Science 321, 1203–1206 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pomposiello, P.J. & Demple, B. Adv. Microb. Physiol. 46, 319–341 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Pollack, M. in Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases (eds. Mandell, G. L., Bennett, J. E. & Dolin, R.) 2310–2335 (Churchill Livingstone, New York, 2000).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Pomposiello, P.J., Bennik, M.H. & Demple, B. J. Bacteriol. 183, 3890–3902 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Palma, M. et al. Infect. Immun. 73, 2958–2966 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Hidalgo, E., Ding, H. & Demple, B. Trends Biochem. Sci. 22, 207–210 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Price-Whelan, A., Dietrich, L.E. & Newman, D.K. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2, 71–78 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Privalle, C.T., Kong, S.E. & Fridovich, I. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90, 2310–2314 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bruce Demple is in the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. bdemple@hsph.harvard.edu,

    Bruce Demple

Authors
  1. Bruce Demple
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Demple, B. Community organizers and (bio)filmmaking. Nat Chem Biol 4, 653–654 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio1108-653

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio1108-653

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing