VapC10 toxin of the legume symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti targets tRNASer and controls intracellular lifestyle.

ABSTRACT: The soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti can establish a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with the model legume Medicago truncatula. The rhizobia induce the formation of a specialized root organ called nodule, where they differentiate into bacteroids and reduce atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia. Little is known on the mechanisms involved in nodule senescence onset and in bacteroid survival inside the infected plant cells. Although toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems have been shown to promote intracellular survival within host cells in human pathogenic bacteria, their role in symbiotic bacteria was rarely investigated. S. meliloti encodes several TA systems, mainly of the VapBC family. Here we present the functional characterization, through a multidisciplinary approach, of the VapBC10 TA system of S.

SUBMITTER: Syska C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10945364 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature