细菌的毒素-抗毒素系统:定时炸弹还是免死金牌

Bacterial toxin-antitoxin systems: yin and yang of death and persistence

毒素-抗毒素系统(Toxin-antitoxin system,TA)在细菌和古菌的染色体和可移动遗传元件中广泛分布,目前分为六大类型(I型-VI型)。研究发现TA能够促进多重耐药菌群的形成,同时参与细菌的程序性死亡、调控生物被膜形成、介导细菌环境适应过程等多个重要的生命过程。TA的研究主要集中在肠道细菌和病原菌中,其中II型TA研究最为深入和广泛。本文综述了近年来新型TA的鉴定、毒素新型作用靶点、抗毒素的调控功能以及TA间的相互作用等进展,并对未来的TA领域的潜在发展趋势和应用前景也进行了评述。

Toxin-Antitoxin Systems（TA） are prevalent in mobile genetic elements and chromosomes of prokaryotes. They have been classified into six different types based on the nature of the antitoxin and the way of activating the toxin. TA systems have been shown to play roles in the formation of dormancy and persister cell formation, and they have also been shown to participate in other important physiological processes such as programmed cell death, biofilm formation and general stresses responses. In the last three decades, the cellular targets and the regulation of TA systems have been revealed in both commensal and pathogenic bacteria; however, they have been largely unexplored in environmental microbes. In addition, most studies have focused on Type II TA systems, and more efforts need to be devoted to other types of TA systems. This review focused on recent discoveries of novel TA systems, their novel targets, the interaction among different TA systems, and the regulatory roles of the antitoxins. Moreover, we discussed the potential future directions for research in the TA field as well as their applications in biotechnology and in medicine.