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Characteristic and role of chromosomal type II toxin-antitoxin systems locus in Enterococcus faecalis ATCC29212

  • Microbial Genetics, Genomics and Molecular Biology
  • Published:
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Abstract

The Gram-positive bacterium Enterococcus faecalis is currently one of the major pathogens of nosocomial infections. The lifestyle of E. faecalis relies primarily on its remarkable capacity to face and survive in harsh environmental conditions. Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems have been linked to the growth control of bacteria in response to adverse environments but have rarely been reported in Enterococcus. Three functional type II TA systems were identified among the 10 putative TA systems encoded by E. faecalis ATCC29212. These toxin genes have conserved domains homologous to MazF (DR75_1948) and ImmA/IrrE family metallo-endopeptidases (DR75_1673 and DR75_2160). Overexpression of toxin genes could inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli. However, the toxin DR75_1673 could not inhibit bacterial growth, and the bacteriostatic effect occurred only when it was coexpressed with the antitoxin DR75_1672. DR75_1948-DR75_1949 and DR75_160-DR75_2161 could maintain the stable inheritance of the unstable plasmid pLMO12102 in E. coli. Moreover, the transcription levels of these TAs showed significant differences when cultivated under normal conditions and with different temperatures, antibiotics, anaerobic agents and H2O2. When DR75_2161 was knocked out, the growth of the mutant strain at high temperature and oxidative stress was limited. The experimental characterization of these TAs loci might be helpful to investigate the key roles of type II TA systems in the physiology and environmental stress responses of Enterococcus.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Xu Jun of Shanghai Jiao Tong University for providing unstable plasmid pLMO12102 for this study. This work was supported by the Henan Medical Science and Technology Project (LHGJ20190811).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Microbiome Laboratory, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou University People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450003, P. R. China

    Zhen Li, Shanjun Gao, Xiulei Zhang, Di Lu & Guangzhi Liu

  2. Department of Molecular Pathology, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450008, P. R. China

    Chao Shi

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  1. Zhen Li
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  2. Chao Shi
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Correspondence to Zhen Li.

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Li, Z., Shi, C., Gao, S. et al. Characteristic and role of chromosomal type II toxin-antitoxin systems locus in Enterococcus faecalis ATCC29212. J Microbiol. 58, 1027–1036 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-020-0079-3

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