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Type II Toxin-Antitoxins: Structural and Functional Aspects of Type II Loci in Mycobacteria

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Abstract

Several prokaryotes have genomes that are densely populated with toxin–antitoxin (TA) loci. For example, the aquatic bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa habours more than 110 TA loci, and the nematode symbiont Photorhabdus luminescens has at least 58 TAs encoded in its genome. Amongst this group of unrelated bacteria lies Mycobacterium tuberculosis whose genome encodes more than 68 TAs. M. tuberculosis causes the devastating human disease tuberculosis (TB) and is, therefore, the subject of intense research. The presence of so many TAs begs the question as to their evolutionary origin, contemporary biological functions and their potential as therapeutic targets in this important human pathogen. This chapter reviews the distribution of TAs in the mycobacterial genus and the experimental results that provide clues to TA function in M. tuberculosis.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Valerie Mizrahi for helpful discussions. We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Marsden Fund that has supported research in the Arcus and Cook laboratories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Waikato, Private Bag 3105, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand

    Vickery L. Arcus

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Otago School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand

    Gregory M. Cook

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  1. Vickery L. Arcus
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Correspondence to Vickery L. Arcus .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inst. for Cell and Molecular Bioscience, Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Newcastle University, Richardson Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AX, United Kingdom

    Kenn Gerdes

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Arcus, V.L., Cook, G.M. (2013). Type II Toxin-Antitoxins: Structural and Functional Aspects of Type II Loci in Mycobacteria. In: Gerdes, K. (eds) Prokaryotic Toxin-Antitoxins. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33253-1_8

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