Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

RNA antitoxins.

Kenn Gerdes1, E Gerhart H Wagner

  • 1Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle NE2 4HH, UK. kenn.gerdes@ncl.ac.uk

Current Opinion in Microbiology
|March 23, 2007
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Mono- and multidomain defense toxins of the RelE/ParE superfamily.

mBio·2025
Same author

Diverse genetic contexts of HicA toxin domains propose a role in anti-phage defense.

mBio·2024
Same author

Structural basis for kinase inhibition in the tripartite <i>E. coli</i> HipBST toxin-antitoxin system.

eLife·2023
Same author

The RNA-Binding Protein ProQ Promotes Antibiotic Persistence in Salmonella.

mBio·2022
Same author

A nascent polypeptide sequence modulates DnaA translation elongation in response to nutrient availability.

eLife·2021
Same author

Proteome Dynamics during Antibiotic Persistence and Resuscitation.

mSystems·2021
Same journal

S-layers as natural building blocks for nanobiotechnology and synthetic biology.

Current opinion in microbiology·2026
Same journal

The role of the antimicrobial peptide nisin as a clean label food preservative.

Current opinion in microbiology·2026
Same journal

From coarse-grained metabolic rules to fine-grained control of microbial communities.

Current opinion in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Progress in engineered bacterial cancer therapies.

Current opinion in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Constraints on adaptive loss-of-function mutations during microbial metabolic interactions.

Current opinion in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Discovery of novel antimicrobials within microbiomes.

Current opinion in microbiology·2026
See all related articles

Prokaryotes possess numerous toxin-antitoxin systems. An ancestral antitoxin gene may have evolved into the toxin gene SymE, regulated by RNA antitoxin SymR, suggesting a novel evolutionary pathway for these genetic elements.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Genomics
  • Microbial Genetics

Background:

  • Toxin-antitoxin (TA) loci are abundant in free-living prokaryotes, playing roles in cellular processes.
  • Antitoxins, which neutralize toxins, can be proteins or antisense RNAs.
  • Known antisense RNA-regulated TA systems like hok/sok and ldr share organizational similarities despite sequence divergence.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the evolutionary origins and regulatory mechanisms of toxin-antitoxin systems.
  • To explore the potential for ancestral antitoxin genes to evolve into toxin genes.
  • To characterize the novel SymE toxin and its RNA antitoxin, SymR.

Main Methods:

  • Genomic analysis of prokaryotic toxin-antitoxin loci.
  • Comparative analysis of gene and RNA organization in TA systems.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Biochemical characterization of the SymE toxin and SymR antitoxin interaction.

    • Main Results:

    • Discovery of a large number of TA loci in free-living prokaryotes.
    • Identification of two distinct classes of antisense RNA-regulated TA systems.
    • Characterization of SymE as an SOS-induced toxin that inhibits translation, with similarity to MazE antitoxin.
    • Evidence suggesting SymE evolved from an ancestral antitoxin gene, repressed by SymR RNA.

    Conclusions:

    • Antitoxin genes can evolve into functional toxin genes, representing a novel evolutionary mechanism.
    • RNA antitoxins play a crucial role in regulating toxin expression and function.
    • The SymE/SymR system provides a new model for understanding toxin-antitoxin system evolution and regulation.