Multifaceted roles of mycobacterial HflX: ribosome splitting, rRNA disordering, and drug resistance

High frequency of lysogenization X (HflX) is an enigmatic protein that has been implicated in rescuing translationally stalled ribosomes and macrolide-lincosamide antibiotic resistance, as well as in ribosome biogenesis. The protein shows significant sequence and structural variation across species, including variation among paralogs within the same organism. Recent cryo-EM structure determination of ribosome-HflX complexes from different eubacterial species has provided important mechanistic clues to HflX function. Mycobacterial HflXs carry a distinct N-terminal extension (NTE) and a small insertion, as compared with their eubacterial homologs, suggesting that the mycobacterial HflX could have distinct functional mechanisms. This article presents a brief overview of these studies highlighting (i) what we have learned from recent multiple mycobacterial ribosome-HflX complex structures and (ii) the roles of mycobacteria-specific segments in ribosomal RNA disordering that leads to ribosome splitting to rescue translation by removing the drug-bound stalled ribosome from the translationally active polysome pool. Future studies needed to resolve some of the outstanding issues related to HflX function and dynamics are also discussed.