A regulatory role for Staphylococcus aureus toxin–antitoxin system PemIKSa

Michal Bukowski, Robert Lyzen, Weronika M. Helbin, Emilia Bonar, Agnieszka Szalewska-Palasz, Grzegorz Wegrzyn, Grzegorz Dubin, Adam Dubin and Benedykt Wladyka ()
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Michal Bukowski: Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
Robert Lyzen: University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland
Weronika M. Helbin: Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
Emilia Bonar: Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
Agnieszka Szalewska-Palasz: University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland
Grzegorz Wegrzyn: University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland
Grzegorz Dubin: Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
Adam Dubin: Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
Benedykt Wladyka: Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Toxin–antitoxin systems were shown to be involved in plasmid maintenance when they were initially discovered, but other roles have been demonstrated since. Here we identify and characterize a novel toxin–antitoxin system (pemIKSa) located on Staphylococcus aureus plasmid pCH91. The toxin (PemKSa) is a sequence-specific endoribonuclease recognizing the tetrad sequence U↓AUU, and the antitoxin (PemISa) inhibits toxin activity by physical interaction. Although the toxin–antitoxin system is responsible for stable plasmid maintenance our data suggest the participation of pemIKSa in global regulation of staphylococcal virulence by alteration of the translation of large pools of genes. We propose a common mechanism of reversible activation of toxin–antitoxin systems based on antitoxin transcript resistance to toxin cleavage. Elucidation of this mechanism is particularly interesting because reversible activation is a prerequisite for the proposed general regulatory role of toxin–antitoxin systems.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3012

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