Bacteriocin Production by Gram-Positive Bacteria and the Mechanisms of Transcriptional Regulation

The mechanisms of production of bacteriocins in Gram-positive bacteria and the main distinctions of these bacteriocins from the bacteriocins of Gram-negative bacteria (colicins) are outlined. A classification of antibacterial peptides is presented, and most of known class I and II peptides are pointed out. In Gram-positive bacteria, the cases of bacteriocin-associated quorum sensing are examined. For these cases, the structure of loci containing the genes of regulatory systems, transport, immunity, processing, and posttranslational modification of antibacterial peptides are described. All known regulatory sites for class II bacteriocins are presented. A description of the putative regulatory sites found by us and their classification are provided. The evolutionary tree of transcriptional response regulators is shown to correspond to the tree of their recognition sites.