ArticleFrontiers in microbiology2016
The Streptococcus pneumoniae pezAT Toxin-Antitoxin System Reduces β-Lactam Resistance and Genetic Competence.
Article in Frontiers in microbiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- RelBE-mediated stress responses reshape cellular morphology ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Decoding the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of bacterial virulence gene expression using single-cell approaches.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- The SpxA1-TenA toxin-antitoxin system regulates epigenetic variations of Streptococcus pneumoniae by targeting protein synthesis.PLoS pathogens · 2024Article
- The Clinical and Genetic Characteristics ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Type II bacterial toxin-antitoxins: hypotheses, facts, and the newfound plethora of the PezAT system.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2023Article
- Two putative glutamate decarboxylases of Streptococcus pneumoniae as possible antigens for the production of anti-GAD65 antibodies leading to type 1 diabetes mellitus.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2023Article
- The Mobilome-Enriched Genome of the Competence-DeficientMicroorganisms · 2023Article
- The complex regulation of competence in Staphylococcus aureus under microaerobic conditions.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Clonal Complex 12 Serotype Ib Streptococcus agalactiae Strain Causing Complicated Sepsis in Neonates: Clinical Features and Genetic Characteristics.Microbiology spectrum · 2023Article
- Article
- Interactions of theMicroorganisms · 2021Article
- Review
- Towards Exploring Toxin-Antitoxin Systems inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2019Article
- Genomics and Genetics ofMicrobiology spectrum · 2019Review
- Article
- TheToxins · 2018Article
- The ng_ζ1 toxin of the gonococcal epsilon/zeta toxin/antitoxin system drains precursors for cell wall synthesis.Nature communications · 2018Article
- The Importance of the Expendable: Toxin-Antitoxin Genes in Plasmids and Chromosomes.Frontiers in microbiology · 2017Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chromosomally encoded Type II Toxin-Antitoxin operons are ubiquitous in bacteria and archaea. Antitoxins neutralize the toxic effect of cognate Toxins by protein-protein interactions and sequestering the active residues of the Toxin. Toxins target essential bacterial processes, mostly translation and replication. However, one class apart is constituted by the PezAT pair because the PezT toxin target cell wall biosynthesis. Here, we have examined the role of the pezAT toxin-antitoxin genes in its natural host, the pathogenic bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae. The pezAT operon on Pneumococcal Pathogenicity Island 1 was deleted from strain R6 and its phenotypic traits were compared with those of the wild type. The mutant cells formed shorter chains during exponential phase, leading to increased colony-forming units. At stationary phase, the mutant was more resilient to lysis. Importantly, the mutant exhibited higher resistance to antibiotics targeting cell walls (β-lactams), but not to antibiotics acting at other levels. In addition, the mutants also showed enhanced genetic competence. We suggest that PezAT participates in a subtle equilibrium between loss of functions (resistance to β-lactams and genetic competence) and gain of other traits (virulence).
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