Yang Qiu E, Walsh Timothy R
Division of Infection and Immunity, Heath Park Hospital, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK.
FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2017 May 1;41(3):343-353. doi: 10.1093/femsre/fux006.
Toxin-antitoxin systems (TAs) are ubiquitous among bacteria and play a crucial role in the dissemination and evolution of antibiotic resistance, such as maintaining multi-resistant plasmids and inducing persistence formation. Generally, activities of the toxins are neutralised by their conjugate antitoxins. In contrast, antitoxins are more liable to degrade under specific conditions such as stress, and free active toxins interfere with essential cellular processes including replication, translation and cell-wall synthesis. TAs have also been shown to be responsible for plasmid maintenance, stress management, bacterial persistence and biofilm formation. We discuss here the recent findings of these multifaceted TAs (type I-VI) and in particular examine the role of TAs in augmenting the dissemination and maintenance of multi-drug resistance in bacteria.
毒素-抗毒素系统（TAs）在细菌中广泛存在，在抗生素耐药性的传播和进化中发挥着关键作用，例如维持多重耐药质粒和诱导持留菌形成。一般来说，毒素的活性会被其共轭抗毒素中和。相比之下，抗毒素在诸如应激等特定条件下更容易降解，游离的活性毒素会干扰包括复制、翻译和细胞壁合成在内的基本细胞过程。毒素-抗毒素系统还被证明与质粒维持、应激管理、细菌持留和生物膜形成有关。我们在此讨论这些多方面的毒素-抗毒素系统（I-VI型）的最新发现，尤其考察毒素-抗毒素系统在增强细菌多重耐药性传播和维持方面的作用。
