Marimon…Pons {Nat Commun 7: 13634}
An artist view of oxygen approaching a channel on the surface of YmoB anttitoxin that reduces Hha to non-toxic levels by activating molecular oxygen. Marimon et al have solved the structure of the antitoxin by NMR and uncovered a new class of toxin-antitoxin system relevant for biofilm formation
An oxygen-sensitive toxin-antitoxin system
Marimon O, Teixeira JM, Cordeiro TN, Soo VW, Wood TL, Mayzel M, Amata I, García J, Morera A, Gay M, Vilaseca M, Orekhov VY, Wood TK, Pons M.
Nat Commun 2016 Dec.; 7: 13634.
The Hha and TomB proteins from Escherichia coli form an oxygen-dependent toxin-antitoxin (TA) system. Here we show that YmoB, the Yersinia orthologue of TomB, and its single cysteine variant [C117S]YmoB can replace TomB as antitoxins in E. coli. In contrast to other TA systems, [C117S]YmoB transiently interacts with Hha (rather than forming a stable complex) and enhances the spontaneous oxidation of the Hha conserved cysteine residue to a -SOxH-containing species (sulfenic, sulfinic or sulfonic acid), which destabilizes the toxin. The nuclear magnetic resonance structure of [C117S]YmoB and the homology model of TomB show that the two proteins form a four-helix bundle with a conserved buried cysteine connected to the exterior by a channel with a diameter comparable to that of an oxygen molecule. The Hha interaction site is located on the opposite side of the helix bundle.
PubMed: 27929062. Doi: 10.1038/ncomms13634. free PMC article
