Xinxin Zhao, Wenyu Wang, Xiaoli Zeng, Rong Xu, Bing Yuan, Wenyao Yu, Mingshu Wang, Renyong Jia, Shun Chen, Dekang Zhu, Mafeng Liu, Qiao Yang, Ying Wu, Shaqiu Zhang, Juan Huang, Xumin Ou, Di Sun, Anchun Cheng
Bacteriocins, which have narrow-spectrum activity and limited adverse effects, are promising alternatives to antibiotics. In this study, we identified klebicin E (KlebE), a small bacteriocin derived from Klebsiella pneumoniae. KlebE exhibited strong efficacy against multidrug-resistant K. pneumoniae isolates and conferred a significant growth advantage to the producing strain during intraspecies competition. A giant unilamellar vesicle leakage assay demonstrated the unique membrane permeabilization effect of KlebE, suggesting it is a pore-forming toxin...
January 30, 2024: Journal of Biological Chemistry