Oxidative stress resistance of Escherichia coli strains deficient in glutathione biosynthesis.

Sensitivity to various oxidants was determined for Escherichia coli strains JTG10 and 821 deficient in biosynthesis of glutathione (gsh-) and their common parental strain AB1157 (gsh+). The three strains showed identical sensitivity to H2O2. E. coli 821 was more resistant than AB1157 and JTG10 to menadione, cumene hydroperoxide, and N-ethylmaleimide. This resistance was not related to the gsh mutation because the other gsh- mutant and the parental strain showed similar sensitivity to these oxidants. The measured activities of NADPH:menadione diaphorase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and the extracellular level of menadione suggested that the enhanced resistance of E. coli 821 to menadione might be due to decreased diaphorase activity, but not to a lowered rate of menadione uptake.