Identification and characterization of a family of toxin-antitoxin systems related to the Enterococcus faecalis plasmid pAD1 par addiction module.
The par locus of the Enterococcus faecalis plasmid pAD1 is an RNA-regulated addiction module encoding the peptide toxin Fst. Homology searches revealed that Fst belongs to a family of at least nine related peptides encoded on the chromosomes and plasmids of six different Gram-positive bacterial species. Comparison of an alignment of these peptides with the results of a saturation mutagenesis analysis indicated regions of the peptides important for biological function. Examination of the genetic context of the fst genes revealed that all of these peptides are encoded within par-like loci with conserved features similar to pAD1 par. All four Ent. faecalis family members were demonstrated to produce the expected toxin-encoding and regulatory RNA products. The locus from the Ent. faecalis plasmid pAMS1 was demonstrated to function as an addiction module and Fst was shown to be toxic to Staphylococcus aureus, suggesting that a plasmid-encoded module in that species is performing the same function. Thus, the pAD1-encoded par locus appears to be the prototype of a family of related loci found in several Gram-positive species.
Weaver
Keith E
KE
Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA.
Reddy
Shirisha G
SG
Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA.
Brinkman
Cassandra L
CL
Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA.
Patel
Smita
S
Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Sanford School of Medicine, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD 57069, USA.
Bayles
Kenneth W
KW
Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA.
Endres
Jennifer L
JL
Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198, USA.
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006094:Gram-Positive Bacteria / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010802:Phylogeny; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; C473319:fst toxin, Enterococcus faecalis