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The origin and the evolution of toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems remain to be uncovered. TA systems are abundant in bacterial chromosomes and are thought to be part of the flexible genome that originates from horizontal gene transfer. To gain insight into TA system evolution, we analyzed the distribution of the chromosomally encoded ccdO157 system in 395 natural isolates of Escherichia coli. It was discovered in the E. coli O157:H7 strain in which it constitutes a genomic islet between two core genes (folA and apaH). Our study revealed that the folA-apaH intergenic region is plastic and subject to insertion of foreign DNA. It could be composed (i) of a repetitive extragenic palindromic (REP) sequence, (ii) of the ccdO157 system or subtle variants of it, (iii) of a large DNA piece that contained a ccdAO157 antitoxin remnant in association with ORFs of unknown function, or (iv) of a variant of it containing an insertion sequence in the ccdAO157 remnant. Sequence analysis and functional tests of the ccdO157 variants revealed that 69% of the variants were composed of an active toxin and antitoxin, 29% were composed of an active antitoxin and an inactive toxin, and in 2% of the cases both ORFs were inactive. Molecular evolution analysis showed that ccdBO157 is under neutral evolution, suggesting that this system is devoid of any biological role in the E. coli species.

The Escherichia coli K-12 chromosome encodes at least five proteic toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems. The mazEF and relBE systems have been extensively characterized and were proposed to be general stress response modules. On one hand, mazEF was proposed to act as a programmed cell death system that is triggered by a variety of stresses. On the other hand, relBE and mazEF were proposed to serve as growth modulators that induce a dormancy state during amino acid starvation. These conflicting hypotheses led us to test a possible synergetic effect of the five characterized E. coli TA systems on stress response. We compared the behavior of a wild-type strain and its derivative devoid of the five TA systems under various stress conditions. We were unable to detect TA-dependent programmed cell death under any of these conditions, even under conditions previously reported to induce it. Thus, our results rule out the programmed-cell-death hypothesis. Moreover, the presence of the five TA systems advantaged neither recovery from the different stresses nor cell growth under nutrient-limited conditions in competition experiments. This casts a doubt on whether TA systems significantly influence bacterial fitness and competitiveness during non-steady-state growth conditions.

In Escherichia coli, the Lon ATP-dependent protease is responsible for degradation of several regulatory proteins and for the elimination of abnormal proteins. Previous studies have shown that the overproduction of Lon is lethal. Here, we showed that Lon overproduction specifically inhibits translation through at least two different pathways. We have identified one of the pathways as being the chromosomal yefM-yoeB toxin-antitoxin system. The existence of a second pathway is demonstrated by the observation that the deletion of the yefM-yoeB system did not completely suppress lethality and translation inhibition. We also showed that the YoeB toxin induces cleavage of translated mRNAs and that Lon overproduction specifically activates YoeB-dependent mRNAs cleavage. Indeed, none of the other identified chromosomal toxin-antitoxin systems (relBE, mazEF, chpB and dinJ-yafQ) was involved in Lon-dependent lethality, translation inhibition and mRNA cleavage even though the RelB and MazE antitoxins are known to be Lon substrates. Based on our results and other studies, translation inhibition appears to be the key element that triggers chromosomal toxin-antitoxin systems. We propose that under Lon overproduction conditions, translation inhibition is mediated by Lon degradation of a component of the YoeB-independent pathway, in turn activating the YoeB toxin by preventing synthesis of its unstable YefM antidote.

Type II toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems are considered as protein pairs in which a specific toxin is associated with a specific antitoxin. We have identified a novel antitoxin family ( paaA) that is associated with parE toxins. The paaA–parE gene pairs form an operon with a third component ( paaR) encoding a transcriptional regulator. Two paralogous paaR–paaA–parE systems are found in E. coli O157:H7. Deletions of the paaA–parE pairs in O157:H7 allowed us to show that these systems are expressed in their natural host and that PaaA antitoxins specifically counteract toxicity of their associated ParE toxin. For the paaR2–paaA2–parE2 system, PaaR2 and Paa2–ParE2 complex are able to regulate the operon expression and both are necessary to ensure complete repression. The paaR2–paaA2–parE2 system mediates ClpXP-dependent post-segregational killing. The PaaR2 regulator appears to be essential for this function, most likely by maintaining an appropriate antitoxin : toxin ratio in steady-state conditions. Ectopic overexpression of ParE2 is bactericidal and is not resuscitated by PaaA2 expression. ParE2 colocalizes with the nucleoid, while it is diffusely distributed in the cytoplasm when PaaA2 is coexpressed. This indicates that ParE2 interacts with DNA-gyrase cycling on DNA and that coexpression of PaaA2 antitoxin sequesters ParE2 away from its target by protein–protein complex formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ccd toxin–antitoxin module from the Escherichia coli F plasmid has a homologue on the Vibrio fischeri integron. The homologue of the toxin (CcdBVfi) was crystallized in two different crystal forms. The first form belongs to space group I23 or I213, with unit-cell parameter a = 84.5 Å, and diffracts to 1.5 Å resolution. The second crystal form belongs to space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 58.5, b = 43.6, c = 37.5 Å, β = 110.0°, and diffracts to 1.7 Å resolution. The complex of CcdBVfi with the GyrA14Vfi fragment of V. fischeri gyrase crystallizes in space group P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 53.5, b = 94.6, c = 58.1 Å, and diffracts to 2.2 Å resolution. The corresponding mixed complex with E. coli GyrA14Ec crystallizes in space group C2, with unit-cell parameters a = 130.1, b = 90.8, c = 58.1 Å, β = 102.6°, and diffracts to 1.95 Å. Finally, a complex between CcdBVfi and part of the F-plasmid antitoxin CcdAF crystallizes in space group P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 46.9, b = 62.6, c = 82.0 Å, and diffracts to 1.9 Å resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are widely represented on mobile genetic elements as well as in bacterial chromosomes. TA systems encode a toxin and an antitoxin neutralizing it. We have characterized a homolog of the ccd TA system of the F plasmid (ccdF) located in the chromosomal backbone of the pathogenic O157:H7 Escherichia coli strain (ccdO157). The ccdF and the ccdO157 systems coexist in O157:H7 isolates, as these pathogenic strains contain an F-related virulence plasmid carrying the ccdF system. We have shown that the chromosomal ccdO157 system encodes functional toxin and antitoxin proteins that share properties with their plasmidic homologs: the CcdBO157 toxin targets the DNA gyrase, and the CcdAO157 antitoxin is degraded by the Lon protease. The ccdO157 chromosomal system is expressed in its natural context, although promoter activity analyses revealed that its expression is weaker than that of ccdF. ccdO157 is unable to mediate postsegregational killing when cloned in an unstable plasmid, supporting the idea that chromosomal TA systems play a role(s) other than stabilization in bacterial physiology. Our cross-interaction experiments revealed that the chromosomal toxin is neutralized by the plasmidic antitoxin while the plasmidic toxin is not neutralized by the chromosomal antitoxin, whether expressed ectopically or from its natural context. Moreover, the ccdF system is able to mediate postsegregational killing in an E. coli strain harboring the ccdO157 system in its chromosome. This shows that the plasmidic ccdF system is functional in the presence of its chromosomal counterpart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]