RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Fuentes, Ana M. A1 Amábile-Cuevas, Carlos F.YR 1998 T1 Antioxidant vitamins C and E affect the superoxide-mediated induction of the soxRS regulon of Escherichia coli JF Microbiology, VO 144 IS 7 SP 1731 OP 1736 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-144-7-1731 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB The mechanism of activation of Escherichia coli redox sensory protein SoxR still unclear: a [2Fe--25] cluster contained in a SoxR dimer is potentially redo sensitive, but the nature of the signal is unknown. Antioxidant vitamins C (ascorbate) and E (α-tocopherol) were used to explore the mechanism of activation of the SoxR protein in vivo. Treating E. coli cells with ascorbate o α-tocopherol increased their tolerance to paraquat (PQ, a redox-cycling compound), even in the absence of the soxRS locus, suggesting a radical-quenching activity. When using a soxS’:: lacZ fusion, whose expression is governed by activated SoxR, ascorbate and α-tocopherol also prevented the expression of α-galactosidase after PQ treatment. A secondary activity was observed in cells carrying soxR101, a mutation resulting in the constitutive expression of the sox regulon, where the overexpression of soxS’::lacZ was also reduced by ascorbate or α-tocopherol treatment. Additionally, different mechanisms of action were revealed as α-tocopherol was capable of preventing both PQ and menadione (MD) lethality, whilst ascorbate prevent PQ lethality but increased MD-mediated cell death. It is proposed that α-tocopherol, positioned in membranes, can prevent superoxide-dependent membrane damage; however, water-soluble ascorbate is unable to do so an can even increase the concentration of oxygen radicals reacting with release membrane-associated Fe(ll)., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-144-7-1731