RalR (a DNase) and RalA (a small RNA) form a type I toxin-antitoxin system in Escherichia coli

Yunxue Guo; Cecilia Quiroga; Qin Chen; Michael J. McAnulty; Michael J. Benedik; Thomas K. Wood; Xiaoxue Wang

doi:10.1093/nar/gku279

RalR (a DNase) and RalA (a small RNA) form a type I toxin-antitoxin system in Escherichia coli

Yunxue Guo, Cecilia Quiroga, Qin Chen, Michael J. McAnulty, Michael J. Benedik, Thomas K. Wood^*, Xiaoxue Wang

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

98 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

For toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems, no toxin has been identified that functions by cleaving DNA. Here, we demonstrate that RalR and RalA of the cryptic prophage rac form a type I TA pair in which the antitoxin RNA is a trans-encoded small RNA with 16 nucleotides of complementarity to the toxin mRNA. We suggest the newly discovered antitoxin gene be named ralA for RalR antitoxin. Toxin RalR functions as a non-specific endonuclease that cleaves methylated and unmethylated DNA. The RNA chaperone Hfq is required for RalA antitoxin activity and appears to stabilize RalA. Also, RalR/RalA is beneficial to the Escherichia coli host for responding to the antibiotic fosfomycin. Hence, our results indicate that cryptic prophage genes can be functionally divergent from their active phage counterparts after integration into the host genome.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	6448-6462
Number of pages	15
Journal	Nucleic Acids Research
Volume	42
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku279
Publication status	Published - 2 Jun 2014
Externally published	Yes

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title = "RalR (a DNase) and RalA (a small RNA) form a type I toxin-antitoxin system in Escherichia coli",

abstract = "For toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems, no toxin has been identified that functions by cleaving DNA. Here, we demonstrate that RalR and RalA of the cryptic prophage rac form a type I TA pair in which the antitoxin RNA is a trans-encoded small RNA with 16 nucleotides of complementarity to the toxin mRNA. We suggest the newly discovered antitoxin gene be named ralA for RalR antitoxin. Toxin RalR functions as a non-specific endonuclease that cleaves methylated and unmethylated DNA. The RNA chaperone Hfq is required for RalA antitoxin activity and appears to stabilize RalA. Also, RalR/RalA is beneficial to the Escherichia coli host for responding to the antibiotic fosfomycin. Hence, our results indicate that cryptic prophage genes can be functionally divergent from their active phage counterparts after integration into the host genome.",

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T1 - RalR (a DNase) and RalA (a small RNA) form a type I toxin-antitoxin system in Escherichia coli

AU - Guo, Yunxue

AU - Quiroga, Cecilia

AU - Chen, Qin

AU - McAnulty, Michael J.

AU - Benedik, Michael J.

AU - Wood, Thomas K.

AU - Wang, Xiaoxue

PY - 2014/6/2

Y1 - 2014/6/2

N2 - For toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems, no toxin has been identified that functions by cleaving DNA. Here, we demonstrate that RalR and RalA of the cryptic prophage rac form a type I TA pair in which the antitoxin RNA is a trans-encoded small RNA with 16 nucleotides of complementarity to the toxin mRNA. We suggest the newly discovered antitoxin gene be named ralA for RalR antitoxin. Toxin RalR functions as a non-specific endonuclease that cleaves methylated and unmethylated DNA. The RNA chaperone Hfq is required for RalA antitoxin activity and appears to stabilize RalA. Also, RalR/RalA is beneficial to the Escherichia coli host for responding to the antibiotic fosfomycin. Hence, our results indicate that cryptic prophage genes can be functionally divergent from their active phage counterparts after integration into the host genome.

AB - For toxin/antitoxin (TA) systems, no toxin has been identified that functions by cleaving DNA. Here, we demonstrate that RalR and RalA of the cryptic prophage rac form a type I TA pair in which the antitoxin RNA is a trans-encoded small RNA with 16 nucleotides of complementarity to the toxin mRNA. We suggest the newly discovered antitoxin gene be named ralA for RalR antitoxin. Toxin RalR functions as a non-specific endonuclease that cleaves methylated and unmethylated DNA. The RNA chaperone Hfq is required for RalA antitoxin activity and appears to stabilize RalA. Also, RalR/RalA is beneficial to the Escherichia coli host for responding to the antibiotic fosfomycin. Hence, our results indicate that cryptic prophage genes can be functionally divergent from their active phage counterparts after integration into the host genome.

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U2 - 10.1093/nar/gku279

DO - 10.1093/nar/gku279

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SN - 0305-1048

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JO - Nucleic Acids Research

JF - Nucleic Acids Research

IS - 10

ER -

RalR (a DNase) and RalA (a small RNA) form a type I toxin-antitoxin system in Escherichia coli

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