The ng_ζ1 toxin of the gonococcal epsilon/zeta toxin/antitoxin system drains precursors for cell wall synthesis
| Autor: | Roman Sakson, Anton Meinhart, Madeleine Peschke, Andrea Rocker, Tiia Kittilä, Clara Brieke |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Programmed cell death Science Bacterial Toxins General Physics and Astronomy Virulence Peptidoglycan medicine.disease_cause General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Article Substrate Specificity Cell wall 03 medical and health sciences chemistry.chemical_compound Cell Wall medicine Phosphorylation lcsh:Science Pathogen Multidisciplinary biology Chemistry Toxin Toxin-Antitoxin Systems General Chemistry biology.organism_classification Toxin-antitoxin system Adaptation Physiological Neisseria gonorrhoeae 030104 developmental biology Biochemistry lcsh:Q Bacteria |
| Zdroj: | Nature Communications, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2018) Nature Communications |
| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
| Popis: | Bacterial toxin–antitoxin complexes are emerging as key players modulating bacterial physiology as activation of toxins induces stasis or programmed cell death by interference with vital cellular processes. Zeta toxins, which are prevalent in many bacterial genomes, were shown to interfere with cell wall formation by perturbing peptidoglycan synthesis in Gram-positive bacteria. Here, we characterize the epsilon/zeta toxin–antitoxin (TA) homologue from the Gram-negative pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae termed ng_ɛ1 / ng_ζ1. Contrary to previously studied streptococcal epsilon/zeta TA systems, ng_ɛ1 has an epsilon-unrelated fold and ng_ζ1 displays broader substrate specificity and phosphorylates multiple UDP-activated sugars that are precursors of peptidoglycan and lipopolysaccharide synthesis. Moreover, the phosphorylation site is different from the streptococcal zeta toxins, resulting in a different interference with cell wall synthesis. This difference most likely reflects adaptation to the individual cell wall composition of Gram-negative and Gram-positive organisms but also the distinct involvement of cell wall components in virulence. Toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems are important modulators of bacterial physiology. Here, the authors structurally characterize the epsilon/zeta TA system from the Gram-negative pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae and show that the toxin interferes with peptidoglycan and lipopolysaccharide synthesis by phosphorylating the UDP-activated sugar-precursors. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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