Toxin-antitoxin pairs in bacteria: killers or stress regulators?

Cell ·Vol. 112 ·No. 1 ·2003-01-10 ·Pages 2-4

Hayes CS, Sauer RT

Abstract

Plasmid toxin-antitoxin systems, which kill daughter cells that fail to inherit the plasmid genome, have chromosomal homologs in eubacteria and archaea. In this issue of Cell, Pederson et al. show that the E. coli RelE toxin cleaves mRNA in the ribosomal A site, potentially allowing it to function as a stress regulator during amino acid starvation.

MeSH Terms

Antitoxins/genetics Bacteria/genetics Bacterial Toxins/genetics Escherichia coli Proteins/genetics Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Genes, Bacterial Heat-Shock Proteins/biosynthesis Operon Plasmids/genetics Protein Biosynthesis RNA, Messenger/metabolism Ribosomes/metabolism Transcription, Genetic

Chemicals

Antitoxins Bacterial Toxins Escherichia coli Proteins Heat-Shock Proteins RNA, Messenger RelE protein, E coli

Authors & Affiliations

2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID

Hayes Christopher S

Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Sauer Robert T

Article Info

Journal

Cell

Abbr.

Cell

ISSN

0092-8674

DOI

10.1016/s0092-8674(02)01282-5

Published

2003-01-10

Pages

2-4

Language

English

Region

United States

NLM ID

0413066

Subset

Corrections

CommentOn

PMID: 12526800

External Links

PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/s0092-8674(02)01282-5 View journal details

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