Structural and functional analysis of the MazEF toxin-antitoxin system.

Bacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems correlate strongly with physiological processes in bacteria, such as growth arrest, survival and apoptosis. Here, the first crystal structure of a type II TA complex structure of at 2.3 Å resolution is presented. The MazEF complex consists of two MazEs and four MazFs in a heterohexameric assembly. It was estimated that MazEF forms a dodecamer with two heterohexameric MazEF complexes in solution, and a truncated complex exists in heterohexameric form. The MazE antitoxin interacts with the MazF toxin via two binding modes, namely, hydro-phobic and hydro-philic interactions. Compared with structural homologs, MazF shows distinct features in loops β1-β2, β3-β4 and β4-β5. It can be inferred that these three loops have the potential to represent the unique characteristics of MazF, especially various substrate recognition sites. In addition, MazF shows ribonuclease activity and the catalytic core of MazF lies in an RNA-binding pocket. Mutation experiments and cell-growth assays confirm Arg28 and Thr51 as critical residues for MazF ribonuclease activity. The findings shown here may contribute to the understanding of the bacterial MazEF TA system and the exploration of antimicrobial candidates to treat drug-resistant .