A triclosan-resistant bacterial enzyme (original) (raw)
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- Published: 13 July 2000
Microbiology
Nature volume 406, pages 145–146 (2000) Cite this article
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An Erratum to this article was published on 24 August 2000
Abstract
Triclosan is an antimicrobial agent that is widely used in a variety of consumer products and acts by inhibiting one of the highly conserved enzymes (enoyl-ACP reductase, or FabI) of bacterial fatty-acid biosynthesis. But several key pathogenic bacteria do not possess FabI, and here we describe a unique triclosan-resistant flavoprotein, FabK, that can also catalyse this reaction in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Our finding has implications for the development of FabI-specific inhibitors as antibacterial agents.
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Figure 1: FabK is an enoyl-ACP reductase.

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References
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Authors and Affiliations
- Department of Biochemistry, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, 38105, Tennessee, USA
Richard J. Heath & Charles O. Rock - Department of Biochemistry, University of Tennessee, Memphis, 38105, Tennessee, USA
Charles O. Rock
Authors
- Richard J. Heath
- Charles O. Rock
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Correspondence toCharles O. Rock.
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Heath, R., Rock, C. A triclosan-resistant bacterial enzyme.Nature 406, 145–146 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35018162
- Issue date: 13 July 2000
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35018162