Levante Alessia, Lazzi Camilla, Vatsellas Giannis, Chatzopoulos Dimitris, Dionellis Vasilis S, Makrythanasis Periklis, Neviani Erasmo, Folli Claudia
Department of Food and Drug, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy.
Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens (BRFAA), 115 27 Athens, Greece.
Microorganisms. 2021 Mar 21;9(3):648. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms9030648.
The analysis of bacterial genomes is a potent tool to investigate the distribution of specific traits related to the ability of surviving in particular environments. Among the traits associated with the adaptation to hostile conditions, toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems have recently gained attention in lactic acid bacteria. In this work, genome sequences of strains of dairy origin were compared, focusing on the distribution of type I TA systems homologous to Lpt/RNAII and of the most common type II TA systems. A high number of TA systems have been identified spread in all the analyzed strains, with type I TA systems mainly located on plasmid DNA. The type II TA systems identified in these strains highlight the diversity of encoded toxins and antitoxins and their organization. This study opens future perspectives on the use of genomic data as a resource for the study of TA systems distribution and prevalence in microorganisms of industrial relevance.
细菌基因组分析是研究与在特定环境中生存能力相关的特定性状分布的有力工具。在与适应恶劣条件相关的性状中，毒素-抗毒素（TA）系统最近在乳酸菌中受到关注。在这项工作中，比较了源自乳制品的菌株的基因组序列，重点关注与Lpt/RNAII同源的I型TA系统和最常见的II型TA系统的分布。已在所有分析的菌株中鉴定出大量TA系统，其中I型TA系统主要位于质粒DNA上。在这些菌株中鉴定出的II型TA系统突出了编码的毒素和抗毒素及其组织的多样性。这项研究为利用基因组数据作为研究工业相关微生物中TA系统分布和流行情况的资源开辟了未来的前景。
