Diversity of bacterial type II toxin-antitoxin systems: a comprehensive search and functional analysis of novel families.

ABSTRACT: Type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are generally composed of two genes organized in an operon, encoding a labile antitoxin and a stable toxin. They were first discovered on plasmids where they contribute to plasmid stability by a phenomenon denoted as 'addiction', and subsequently in bacterial chromosomes. To discover novel families of antitoxins and toxins, we developed a bioinformatics approach based on the 'guilt by association' principle. Extensive experimental validation in Escherichia coli of predicted antitoxins and toxins increased significantly the number of validated systems and defined novel toxin and antitoxin families. Our data suggest that toxin families as well as antitoxin families originate from distinct ancestors that were assembled multiple times during evolution. Toxi

SUBMITTER: Leplae R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3141249 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature