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What Is the Link between Stringent Response, Endoribonuclease Encoding Type II Toxin-Antitoxin Systems and
Bhaskar C M Ramisetty1, Dimpy Ghosh2, Maoumita Roy Chowdhury2
1School of Chemical and Biotechnology, SASTRA UniversityThanjavur, India; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Southern DenmarkOdense, Denmark.
Bacterial persistence, a tolerance to antibiotics, is not linked to inorganic polyphosphate or ppGpp. Deleting toxin-antitoxin systems (TASs) in E. coli increases antibiotic sensitivity and reduces fitness, invalidating prior persistence studies.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Molecular Biology
- Bacterial Physiology
Background:
- Bacterial persistence is a key factor in antibiotic treatment failure.
- Toxin-antitoxin systems (TASs) are implicated in stress responses and bacterial persistence.
- A previous study proposed a link between ppGpp, inorganic polyphosphate, TASs, and persistence.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of inorganic polyphosphate in the regulation of the yefM/yoeB toxin-antitoxin system.
- To re-evaluate the connection between TASs, stringent response, and bacterial persistence.
Main Methods:
- Investigated transcriptional activation of yefM/yoeB TAS in E. coli.
- Utilized a Δ10 strain lacking 10 chromosomal TASs.
- Assessed bacterial sensitivity to ciprofloxacin and relative fitness compared to wild type.
Main Results:
- Inorganic polyphosphate is not required for yefM/yoeB TAS transcriptional activation.
- The Δ10 strain exhibited increased sensitivity to ciprofloxacin.
- The Δ10 strain showed reduced fitness compared to wild-type E. coli.
Conclusions:
- The transcriptional regulation and activity of YefM/YoeB TAS are independent of ppGpp and inorganic polyphosphate.
- The fitness defect of the Δ10 strain renders it unsuitable for studying persistence mechanisms.
- The proposed link between chromosomal endoribonuclease TAS and persistence requires further investigation.
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