title: Toxin-antitoxin pairs in bacteria: killers or stress regulators?
abstract: Plasmid toxin-antitoxin systems, which kill daughter cells that fail to inherit the plasmid genome, have chromosomal homologs in eubacteria and archaea. In this issue of Cell, Pederson et al. show that the E. coli RelE toxin cleaves mRNA in the ribosomal A site, potentially allowing it to function as a stress regulator during amino acid starvation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D000992:Antitoxins / Q000235:genetics*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009876:Operon; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D000992:Antitoxins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C465566:RelE protein, E coli