Novel type II toxin-antitoxin systems with VapD-like proteins
Genes encoding virulence-associated protein D (VapD) homologs are found in many pathogens such as <i>Helicobacter pylori</i>, <i>Haemophilus influenzae</i>, and <i>Xylella fastidiosa</i>. There are many indications that VapD proteins contribute to virulence, even though the exact mechanism is not known. VapD proteins are either encoded by stand-alone genes or form toxin-antitoxin pairs with VapX. We performed a comprehensive census of vapD-like genes and found two new antitoxins, VapW and VapY. The VapW antitoxins are catalytically inactivated variants of VapD, revealing a new evolutionary mechanism for the appearance of toxin-antitoxin pairs.
Authors
- Konstantin Gilep (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2319-2213)
- Anastasiia Rusanova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1674-5635)
- Svetlana Dubiley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9225-5534)
- Shunsuke Tagami (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1720-3627)
- Dmitry Bikmetov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6788-9156)
- Konstantin Severinov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9706-450X)
- Aleksandr Popov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7888-8458)
Institutions
- Hiroshima University (JP)
- Russian Academy of Sciences (RU)
- Shinshu University (JP)
- Kurchatov Institute (RU)
- Institute of Gene Biology (RU)
- RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research (JP)
- Koltzov Institute of Developmental Biology (RU)
- Institute for Sustainability (GB)
- Genetic Technologies (Australia) (AU)
- Waksman Foundation for Microbiology (US)
- Yokohama City University (JP)
Publication Details
- Journal
- mBio
- Published
- 2025-03-07
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00003-25
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Toxin Mechanisms and Immunotoxins
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.59
Funders
- Russian Science Foundation
- Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation