mazEF: a chromosomal toxin-antitoxin module that triggers programmed cell death in bacteria
- 1 October 2005
- journal article
- Published by The Company of Biologists in Journal of Cell Science
- Vol. 118 (19), 4327-4332
- https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.02619
Abstract
mazEF is a toxin-antitoxin module located on the Escherichia coli chromosome and that of some other bacteria, including pathogens. mazF specifies for a stable toxin, MazF, and mazE specifies for a labile antitoxin, MazE, that antagonizes MazF. MazF is a sequence-specific mRNA endoribonuclease that initiates a programmed cell death pathway in response to various stresses. The mazEF-mediated death pathway can act as a defense mechanism that prevents the spread of bacterial phage infection, allowing bacterial populations to behave like multicellular organisms.Keywords
This publication has 58 references indexed in Scilit:
- Prokaryotic toxin–antitoxin stress response lociNature Reviews Microbiology, 2005
- Insights into the specificity of RNA cleavage by the Escherichia coli MazF toxinFEBS Letters, 2004
- The Bacterial Toxin RelE Displays Codon-Specific Cleavage of mRNAs in the Ribosomal A SiteCell, 2003
- Quorum Sensing in BacteriaAnnual Review of Microbiology, 2001
- The Regulation of the Escherichia coli mazEF Promoter Involves an Unusual Alternating PalindromeJournal of Biological Chemistry, 2001
- THYMINE METABOLISM AND THYMINELESS DEATH IN PROKARYOTES AND EUKARYOTESAnnual Review of Microbiology, 1998
- THINKING ABOUT BACTERIAL POPULATIONS AS MULTICELLULAR ORGANISMSAnnual Review of Microbiology, 1998
- Apoptosis by Death FactorCell, 1997
- Programmed Cell Death in Animal DevelopmentCell, 1997
- Thymine starvation-induced structural changes in Escherichia coli DNA Detection by pulsed field gel electrophoresis and evidence for involvement of homologous recombinationJournal of Molecular Biology, 1994