The MazEF Toxin-Antitoxin System Alters the β-Lactam Susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus.

ABSTRACT: Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are genetic elements of prokaryotes which encode a stable toxin and an unstable antitoxin that can counteract toxicity. TA systems residing on plasmids are often involved in episomal maintenance whereas those on chromosomes can have multiple functions. The opportunistic pathogen Staphylococcus aureus possesses at least four different families of TA systems but their physiological roles are elusive. The chromosomal mazEF system encodes the RNase toxin MazF and the antitoxin MazE. In the light of ambiguity regarding the cleavage activity, we here verify that MazF specifically targets UACAU sequences in S. aureus in vivo. In a native strain background and under non-stress conditions, cleavage was observed in the absence or presence of mazE. Transcripts of spa (sta

SUBMITTER: Schuster CF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4428803 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature