Mitomycin C-induced synthesis of cloacin DF13 and lethality in cloacinogenic Escherichia coli cells.

Treatment of cloacinogenic cultures with increasing concentrations of mitomycin C induced an increasing synthesis of cloacin DF13 accompanied by a decreasing number of colony-forming cells. Cells grown in the presence of glucose required a 10-fold-higher concentration of mitomycin C for optimal induction of cloacin production than did cells grown with lactate. Release of the cloacin was hampered in glucose-grown cells. Experiments with various CloDF13 insertion and deletion mutants revealed that the transcription of CloDF13 deoxyribonucleic acid sequences adjacent to the cloacin structural gene was essential for mitomycin C-induced lethality.