title: Interaction of Type IV Toxin/Antitoxin Systems in Cryptic Prophages of Escherichia coli K-12.
abstract: Toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems are widespread in prokaryotic chromosomes and in mobile genetic elements including plasmids and prophages. The first characterized Type IV TA system CbtA/CbeA was found in cryptic prophage CP4-44 inEscherichia coliK-12. Two homologous TA loci of CbtA/CbeA also reside in cryptic prophages ofE. coliK-12, YkfI/YafW in CP4-6 and YpjF/YfjZ in CP4-57. In this study, we demonstrated that YkfI and YpjF inhibited cell growth and led to the formation of "lemon-shaped" cells. Prolonged overproduction of YkfI led to the formation of "gourd-shaped" cells and immediate cell lysis. YafW and YfjZ can neutralize the toxicity of YkfI or YpjF. Furthermore, we found that YkfI and YpjF interacted with cell division protein FtsZ inE. coli, but ectopic expression inPseudomonasandShewanelladid not cause the formation of "lemon-shaped" cells. Moreover, deletion of all of the three toxin genes together decreased resistance to oxidative stress and deletion of the antitoxin genes increased early biofilm formation. Collectively, these results demonstrated that the homologous Type IV TA systems inE. colimay target cell division protein FtsZ inE. coliand may have different physiological functions inE. coli.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Research Network for Applied Microbiology (RNAM) Center for Marine Microbiology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. zlwen@scsio.ac.cn.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. zlwen@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhongling
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Research Network for Applied Microbiology (RNAM) Center for Marine Microbiology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. wangpengxia@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Pengxia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Research Network for Applied Microbiology (RNAM) Center for Marine Microbiology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. clsun@scsio.ac.cn.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. clsun@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Chenglong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Research Network for Applied Microbiology (RNAM) Center for Marine Microbiology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. yunxueguo@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yunxue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Research Network for Applied Microbiology (RNAM) Center for Marine Microbiology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China. xxwang@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoxue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000992:Antitoxins / Q000235:genetics; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D048168:Escherichia coli K12 / Q000235:genetics; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D039002:Prophages / Q000235:genetics; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000254:growth & development; D016958:Pseudomonas putida / Q000254:growth & development; D020592:Shewanella / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D000992:Antitoxins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; C574929:CbeA protein, E coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C000623291:cbtA protein, E coli
keywords: Escherichia coli; prophage; type IV toxin/antitoxin