Toxin-antitoxin of Rickettsia determines fatal addiction of the host cells

ABSTRACT: Rickettsia spp. can cause mild to severe human disease. These intracellular bacteria are associated with arthropods, nematodes and trematodes, and usually, are efficiently transmitted transovarially to the progeny of the invertebrate host. We recently demonstrated foreign gene acquisition by lateral gene transfer in Rickettsia genomes. The unexpected presence of laterally transferred toxin-antitoxin (TA) genetic elements (including vapBC) in several Rickettsia genomes has not been connected with the pathogenic process or the host-bacteria relationship. We suspect that vapBC are selfish genetic elements that addict eukaryotic hosts to Rickettsia. We identified a statistical link between the transovarial transmission of Rickettsia in invertebrate hosts and the presence of TA operons, specifi

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

SUBMITTER: Gilles Audoly 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-22072 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress