ReviewCurrent research in microbial sciences2023
Bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems: Novel insights on toxin activation across populations and experimental shortcomings.
Review in Current research in microbial sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- A haloarchaeal VapBC toxin-antitoxin system: regulatory mechanism and role in establishing population heterogeneity to facilitate survival of subpopulations under stress conditions.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2026Article
- Review
- UnderstandingMicroorganisms · 2026Review
- Protein-Protein Interactions as Promising Molecular Targets for Novel Antimicrobials Aimed at Gram-Negative Bacteria.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Development of a Potent and FunctionalJournal of medicinal chemistry · 2025Article
- Toxin-antitoxins and sigma factors may optimize the fitness of free-living bacteria throughout the life cycle via an integrated nutrient-responsive cybernetic system.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Review
- The Characterization of a Gonococcal HicAB Toxin-Antitoxin System Capable of Causing Bacteriostatic Growth Arrest.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Carbapenem-ResistantAntibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- From Dormancy to Eradication: Strategies for Controlling Bacterial Persisters in Food Settings.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Understanding the physiological role and cross-interaction network of VapBC35 toxin-antitoxin system from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Communications biology · 2025Article
- A noncanonical intrinsic terminator in the HicAB toxin-antitoxin operon promotes the transmission of conjugative antibiotic resistance plasmids.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs): A Review and Proposal for Clinicians.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Friend or Foe: Protein Inhibitors of DNA Gyrase.Biology · 2024Review
- Editorial for Special Issue "Bacterial Toxin-Antitoxin Systems".Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Bacterial Persister Cells and Development of Antibiotic Resistance in Chronic Infections: An Update.British journal of biomedical science · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The alarming rise in hard-to-treat bacterial infections is of great concern to human health. Thus, the identification of molecular mechanisms that enable the survival and growth of pathogens is of utmost urgency for the development of more efficient antimicrobial therapies. In challenging environments, such as presence of antibiotics, or during host infection, metabolic adjustments are essential for microorganism survival and competitiveness. Toxin-antitoxin systems (TASs) consisting of a toxin with metabolic modulating activity and a cognate antitoxin that antagonizes that toxin are important elements in the arsenal of bacterial stress defense. However, the exact physiological function of TA systems is highly debatable and with the exception of stabilization of mobile genetic elements and phage inhibition, other proposed biological functions lack a broad consensus. This review aims at gaining new insights into the physiological effects of TASs in bacteria and exploring the experimental shortcomings that lead to discrepant results in TAS research. Distinct control mechanisms ensure that only subsets of cells within isogenic cultures transiently develop moderate levels of toxin activity. As a result, TASs cause phenotypic growth heterogeneity rather than cell stasis in the entire population. It is this feature that allows bacteria to thrive in diverse environments through the creation of subpopulations with different metabolic rates and stress tolerance programs.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.