New connections in the prokaryotic toxin-antitoxin network: relationship with the eukaryotic nonsense-mediated RNA decay system.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several prokaryotic plasmids maintain themselves in their hosts by means of diverse post-segregational cell killing systems. Recent findings suggest that chromosomally encoded copies of toxins and antitoxins of post-segregational cell killing systems - such as the RelE system - might function as regulatory switches under stress conditions. The RelE toxin cleaves ribosome-associated transcripts, whereas another post-segregational cell killing toxin, ParE, functions as a gyrase inhibitor.

Results

Using sequence profile analysis we were able unify the RelE- and ParE-type toxins with several families of small, uncharacterized proteins from diverse bacteria and archaea into a single superfamily. Gene neighborhood analysis showed that the majority of these proteins were

SUBMITTER: Anantharaman V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC329420 | biostudies-literature | 2003

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature