Nature Communications (Aug 2020)

Mammalian histones facilitate antimicrobial synergy by disrupting the bacterial proton gradient and chromosome organization

  • Tory Doolin,
  • Henry M. Amir,
  • Leora Duong,
  • Rachel Rosenzweig,
  • Lauren A. Urban,
  • Marta Bosch,
  • Albert Pol,
  • Steven P. Gross,
  • Albert Siryaporn

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17699-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 16

Abstract

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Histones have a role in antimicrobial defense. Here, the authors show that the histone H2A and the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 exert synergistic effects by enhancing bacterial membrane pores and enabling H2A entry into the bacterial cytoplasm, where it reorganizes DNA and inhibits transcription.