A bacterial cytokine.

Viable cells of Micrococcus luteus secrete a factor, which promotes the resuscitation and growth of dormant, nongrowing cells of the same organism. The resuscitation-promoting factor (Rpf) is a protein, which has been purified to homogeneity. In picomolar concentrations, it increases the viable cell count of dormant M. luteus cultures at least 100-fold and can also stimulate the growth of viable cells. Rpf also stimulates the growth of several other high G+C Gram-positive organisms, including Mycobacterium avium, Mycobacterium bovis (BCG), Mycobacterium kansasii, Mycobacterium smegmatis, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Similar genes are widely distributed among high G+C Gram-positive bacteria; genome sequencing has uncovered examples in Mycobacterium leprae and Mb. tuberculosis and others have been detected by hybridization in Mb. smegmatis, Corynebacterium glutamicum, and Streptomyces spp. The mycobacterial gene products may provide different targets for the detection and control of these important pathogens. This report is thus a description of a proteinaceous autocrine or paracrine bacterial growth factor or cytokine.

[1]  D. Barstow,et al.  The pMTL nic- cloning vectors. I. Improved pUC polylinker regions to facilitate the use of sonicated DNA for nucleotide sequencing. , 1988, Gene.

[2]  G. Dunny,et al.  Cell-cell communication in gram-positive bacteria. , 1997, Annual review of microbiology.

[3]  C. Franceschi,et al.  Presence and role of cytokines and growth factors in invertebrates , 1996 .

[4]  G. Salmond,et al.  The bacterial ‘enigma’: cracking the code of cell–cell communication , 1995, Molecular microbiology.

[5]  D. Kell,et al.  Dormancy in Stationary-Phase Cultures of Micrococcus luteus: Flow Cytometric Analysis of Starvation and Resuscitation , 1993, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[6]  Michiel Kleerebezem,et al.  Quorum sensing by peptide pheromones and two‐component signal‐transduction systems in Gram‐positive bacteria , 1997, Molecular microbiology.

[7]  D. Morrison,et al.  An unmodified heptadecapeptide pheromone induces competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae. , 1995, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[8]  A. Grafen,et al.  Pheromones, social behaviour and the functions of secondary metabolism in bacteria. , 1995, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[9]  E. Greenberg,et al.  Census and consensus in bacterial ecosystems: the LuxR-LuxI family of quorum-sensing transcriptional regulators. , 1996, Annual review of microbiology.

[10]  D. Kell,et al.  Influence of Viable Cells on the Resuscitation of Dormant Cells in Micrococcus luteus Cultures Held in an Extended Stationary Phase: the Population Effect , 1994, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[11]  G. Pearce,et al.  Structure, expression, and antisense inhibition of the systemin precursor gene. , 1992, Science.

[12]  J. Koella,et al.  Models of the within-host dynamics of persistent mycobacterial infections , 1996, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[13]  D. Kaiser,et al.  How and why bacteria talk to each other , 1993, Cell.

[14]  S. Swift,et al.  Gram-negative bacterial communication by N-acyl homoserine lactones: a universal language? , 1994, Trends in microbiology.

[15]  R. Losick,et al.  An oligopeptide permease responsible for the import of an extracellular signal governing aerial mycelium formation in Streptomyces coelicolor , 1996, Molecular microbiology.

[16]  N. Connell.  Mycobacterium: isolation, maintenance, transformation, and mutant selection. , 1994 .

[17]  A. Grossman,et al.  Convergent sensing pathways mediate response to two extracellular competence factors in Bacillus subtilis. , 1995, Genes & development.

[18]  S. Kaufmann,et al.  Mycobacterial protein antigens: a compilation , 1992, Molecular microbiology.

[19]  D. Wheatley,et al.  Cell survival and multiplication. The overriding need for signals: from unicellular to multicellular systems. , 1996, FEMS microbiology letters.

[20]  K. Kaji,et al.  Purification and identification of a growth factor produced by Paramecium tetraurelia. , 1990, Biochemical and biophysical research communications.

[21]  R. Bradshaw,et al.  Autocrine mitogenic activity of pheromones produced by the protozoan ciliate Euplotes raikovi , 1995, Nature.

[22]  G. Howe,et al.  Polypeptide signaling for plant defensive genes exhibits analogies to defense signaling in animals. , 1996, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[23]  R. Callard,et al.  The cytokine factsbook , 1994 .

[24]  D. Kell,et al.  Estimation of dormant Micrococcus luteus cells by penicillin lysis and by resuscitation in cell-free spent culture medium at high dilution , 1994 .

[25]  D. Campbell,et al.  Cytokine stimulation of parasitic and microbial growth. , 1991, Research in microbiology.

[26]  H. Kinashi,et al.  A set of ordered cosmids and a detailed genetic and physical map for the 8 Mb Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) chromosome , 1996, Molecular microbiology.

[27]  B. Barrell,et al.  Deciphering the biology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the complete genome sequence , 1998, Nature.

[28]  D B Kell,et al.  Dormancy in non-sporulating bacteria. , 1993, FEMS microbiology reviews.

[29]  D. Kell,et al.  Do bacteria need to communicate with each other for growth? , 1996, Trends in microbiology.

[30]  R. Beavis,et al.  Cell density control of staphylococcal virulence mediated by an octapeptide pheromone. , 1995, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[31]  S. Brunak,et al.  SHORT COMMUNICATION Identification of prokaryotic and eukaryotic signal peptides and prediction of their cleavage sites , 1997 .

[32]  D. Young,et al.  Prospects for new interventions in the treatment and prevention of mycobacterial disease. , 1995, Annual review of microbiology.

[33]  M. Horwitz,et al.  Novel insights into the genetics, biochemistry, and immunocytochemistry of the 30-kilodalton major extracellular protein of Mycobacterium tuberculosis , 1996, Infection and immunity.

[34]  E. Campbell,et al.  The com locus controls genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae , 1997, Molecular microbiology.

[35]  B. Bloom,et al.  Tuberculosis Pathogenesis, Protection, and Control , 1994 .

[36]  D. Wheatley,et al.  Signaling in unicellular eukaryotes. , 1998, International review of cytology.

[37]  K. Stephens.  Pheromones among the procaryotes. , 1986, Critical reviews in microbiology.

[38]  Christopher J. L. Murray,et al.  Tuberculosis: Commentary on a Reemergent Killer , 1992, Science.

[39]  A. Grossman,et al.  Purification and characterization of an extracellular peptide factor that affects two different developmental pathways in Bacillus subtilis. , 1996, Genes & development.

[40]  J. Lenard,et al.  Mammalian hormones in microbial cells. , 1992, Trends in biochemical sciences.

[41]  E. Delong.  Marine microbial diversity: the tip of the iceberg. , 1997, Trends in biotechnology.