Almost all bacteria including human pathogens contain suicide or toxin genes encoded by the toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems, which are induced under various growth and stress conditions leading to cell growth arrest and eventual cell death in a way similar to apoptosis or programmed cell death in higher systems. Surprisingly, many bacteria, particularly human pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis contain a large number of independent toxin genes on their genomes. The importance of these toxin genes in medical science has not been fully appreciated until most recently when our laboratory and others started to decipher the cellular targets of these toxins and demonstrated how these toxins inhibit cell growth leading to cell death. Bacterial physiology is tightly regulated by these toxins or by the toxin networks under stress conditions. The prolonged dormancy of M. tuberculosis in human tissues, biofilm formation, and persistent multi-drug resistance of various other human pathogens are presumed to be closely associated with toxin expression in these pathogens. Furthermore, taking advantage of suicidal properties of these toxins, it is possible to develop novel unprecedented antibiotics against human pathogens. Therefore, all-out comprehensive investigation in this emerging field is urgently needed. For this reason, I propose to carry out thorough investigation of the toxin-antitoxin systems in Escherichia coli as a model bacterium, which surprisingly contains as many as twenty two independent toxin-antitoxin systems on its genome. As these toxins are functionally highly diversified and yet are conserved in many other bacteria, they are ideal paradigms for the study of not only bacterial toxins, but also previously unknown bacterial physiology governed by the TA network. Our goal is to decipher cellular targets of individual E. coli toxins and their mechanisms of action. I will explore to elucidate how the TA systems are coordinated to from the TA network in the cell.
In Aim #1, a combination of genetic, biochemical and structural approaches will be used to decipher new TA systems including identification of cellular targets and mechanism of action of toxins.
In Aim #2, with help of TA deletion strains we will investigate possible roles of individual TA systems and a group of the TA systems in bacterial physiology under different growth or stress conditions and how the expression of individual TA systems is coordinated in the overall TA network system. Identification of cell death determinants which will be also carried out in this proposal will provide important insights into the mechanism of bacterial cell death. Relevance in public heath: The present studies will provide new insights into the role of suicide genes present in human bacterial pathogens in their pathogenicity and drug-resistant persistence, providing important clues for development of novel antibiotics targeting the TA systems.

Public Health Relevance

Bacteria, including most of human pathogens, contain the TA (toxin-antitoxin) systems, which regulate their own cell growth and determine their own life and death. Research on the TA Systems has revealed their important roles in persisting drug-resistance and pathogenicity of human pathogens. The proposed search is to characterize all the TA systems in E. coli elucidating cellular targets of individual toxins, their mechanisms of action and their roles in bacterial physiology. The outcome from this research has a wide, important implication to our understanding of the basic principle of bacterial physiology, the roles of the TA systems in human pathogens and provides crucial insights into a novel technology to suppress cell growth of human pathogens or to lead them to death.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01GM081567-02S1
Application #
8079855
Study Section
Prokaryotic Cell and Molecular Biology Study Section (PCMB)
Program Officer
Anderson, James J
Project Start
2010-06-18
Project End
2011-11-30
Budget Start
2010-06-18
Budget End
2011-11-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$175,400
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Medicine & Dentistry of NJ
Department
Biochemistry
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
617022384
City
Piscataway
State
NJ
Country
United States
Zip Code
08854
Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro; Inouye, Masayori (2015) An endogenous protein inhibitor, YjhX (TopAI), for topoisomerase I from Escherichia coli. Nucleic Acids Res 43:10387-96
Ishida, Yojiro; Park, Jung-Ho; Mao, Lili et al. (2013) Replacement of all arginine residues with canavanine in MazF-bs mRNA interferase changes its specificity. J Biol Chem 288:7564-71
Schuster, Christopher F; Park, Jung-Ho; Prax, Marcel et al. (2013) Characterization of a mazEF toxin-antitoxin homologue from Staphylococcus equorum. J Bacteriol 195:115-25
Park, Jung-Ho; Yoshizumi, Satoshi; Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro et al. (2013) ACA-specific RNA sequence recognition is acquired via the loop 2 region of MazF mRNA interferase. Proteins 81:874-83
Lin, Chun-Yi; Awano, Naoki; Masuda, Hisako et al. (2013) Transcriptional repressor HipB regulates the multiple promoters in Escherichia coli. J Mol Microbiol Biotechnol 23:440-7
Masuda, Hisako; Tan, Qian; Awano, Naoki et al. (2012) A novel membrane-bound toxin for cell division, CptA (YgfX), inhibits polymerization of cytoskeleton proteins, FtsZ and MreB, in Escherichia coli. FEMS Microbiol Lett 328:174-81
Park, Jung-Ho; Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro; Inouye, Masayori (2012) Intramolecular regulation of the sequence-specific mRNA interferase activity of MazF fused to a MazE fragment with a linker cleavable by specific proteases. Appl Environ Microbiol 78:3794-9
Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro; Nariya, Hirofumi; Park, Jung-Ho et al. (2012) Inhibition of specific gene expressions by protein-mediated mRNA interference. Nat Commun 3:607
Masuda, Hisako; Tan, Qian; Awano, Naoki et al. (2012) YeeU enhances the bundling of cytoskeletal polymers of MreB and FtsZ, antagonizing the CbtA (YeeV) toxicity in Escherichia coli. Mol Microbiol 84:979-89
Yamaguchi, Yoshihiro; Inouye, Masayori (2011) Regulation of growth and death in Escherichia coli by toxin-antitoxin systems. Nat Rev Microbiol 9:779-90

Showing the most recent 10 out of 20 publications