title: The mazEF toxin-antitoxin system as a novel antibacterial target in Acinetobacter baumannii.
abstract: Although analysis of toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems can be instructive, to date, there is no information on the prevalence and identity of TA systems based on a large panel of Acinetobacter baumannii clinical isolates. The aim of the current study was to screen for functional TA systems among clinical isolates of A. baumannii and to identify the systems' locations. For this purpose, we screened 85 A. baumannii isolates collected from different clinical sources for the presence of the mazEF, relBE and higBA TA genes. The results revealed that the genes coding for the mazEF TA system were commonly present in all clinical isolates of A. baumannii. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that transcripts were produced in the clinical isolates. Our findings showed that TA genes are prevalent, harboured by chromosomes and transcribed within A. baumannii. Hence, activation of the toxin proteins in the mazEF TA system should be investigated further as an effective antibacterial strategy against this bacterium.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sobhan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghafourian
authors.affiliation: Pathology and Pathogen Biology, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Liam
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Good
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Zamberi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sekawi
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Rukman Awang
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hamat
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soheili
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Research Center, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran.
authors.forename: Nourkhoda
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sadeghifard
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Vasanthakumari
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Neela
mesh_terms: D040981:Acinetobacter baumannii / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000992:Antitoxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D000992:Antitoxins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins