1. Systematic discovery of antibacterial and antifungal bacterial toxins.
- Author
-
Nachmias N, Dotan N, Rocha MC, Fraenkel R, Detert K, Kluzek M, Shalom M, Cheskis S, Peedikayil-Kurien S, Meitav G, Rivitz A, Shamash-Halevy N, Cahana I, Deouell N, Klein J, Oren-Suissa M, Schmidt H, Schlezinger N, Tzarum N, Oppenheimer-Shaanan Y, and Levy A
- Subjects
- Fungi drug effects, Fungi genetics, Anti-Bacterial Agents pharmacology, Bacteria drug effects, Bacteria genetics, Animals, Computational Biology methods, Antifungal Agents pharmacology, Antifungal Agents chemistry, Bacterial Toxins metabolism, Bacterial Toxins genetics, Saccharomyces cerevisiae genetics, Saccharomyces cerevisiae drug effects, Escherichia coli drug effects, Escherichia coli genetics
- Abstract
Microorganisms use toxins to kill competing microorganisms or eukaryotic cells. Polymorphic toxins are proteins that encode carboxy-terminal toxin domains. Here we developed a computational approach to identify previously undiscovered, conserved toxin domains of polymorphic toxins within 105,438 microbial genomes. We validated nine short toxins, showing that they cause cell death upon heterologous expression in either Escherichia coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Five cognate immunity genes that neutralize the toxins were also discovered. The toxins are encoded by 2.2% of sequenced bacteria. A subset of the toxins exhibited potent antifungal activity against various pathogenic fungi but not against two invertebrate model organisms or macrophages. Experimental validation suggested that these toxins probably target the cell membrane or DNA or inhibit cell division. Further characterization and structural analysis of two toxin-immunity protein complexes confirmed DNase activity. These findings expand our knowledge of microbial toxins involved in inter-microbial competition that may have the potential for clinical and biotechnological applications., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF