Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Hikaru SUENAGA
Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Kentaro MIYAZAKI
Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Department of Medical Genome Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo
Quinones are potentially toxic agents that generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon reduction. We screened a metagenomic library for a menadione resistance gene to identify UDP-glucose 4-epimerase (UGE). Escherichia coli carrying the gene became resistant to various quinones, but not to ROS. Because UGE is involved in the biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharides, it may have contributed to forming a permeability barrier against lipophilic quinones.
