AUTHOR=Song Yingjie , Tang Hong , Bao Rui 

TITLE=Comparative analysis of five type II TA systems identified in Pseudomonas aeruginosa reveals their contributions to persistence and intracellular survival

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1127786

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2023.1127786

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p><italic>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</italic> is a grave nosocomial pathogen that persistently inhabits the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and causes various chronic infections. The bacterial toxin–antitoxin (TA) system is associated with latent and long-term infections, but the underlying mechanisms remain to be fully characterized.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We here investigated the diversity and function of five genomic type II TA systems widely distributed among <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic> clinical isolates. We also examined the distinct structural features of the toxin protein from different TA systems and characterized their contributions to persistence, invasion ability, and intracellular infection caused by <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic>.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>ParDE, PA1030/PA1029, and HigBA could modulate persister cell formation under treatment with specific antibiotics. Furthermore, cell-based transcriptional and invasion assays revealed that PA1030/PA1029 and HigBA TA systems were critical for intracellular survival.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>Our results highlight the prevalence and diverse roles of type II TA systems in <italic>P. aeruginosa</italic> and evaluate the possibility of using PA1030/PA1029 and HigBA TA pairs as targets for novel antibiotic treatments.</p></sec>