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Prediction of Type II Toxin-Antitoxin Loci in Klebsiella pneumoniae Genome Sequences

Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences volume 8, pages 143–149 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Klebsiella pneumoniae is an increasingly important bacterial pathogen to human. This Gram-negative bacterium species has become a serious concern due to its dramatic increase in the levels of multiple antibiotic resistances, particularly to carbapenems. The toxin-antitoxin (TA) system has recently been reported to be involved in the formation of drug-tolerant persister cells. The type II TA system is composed of a stable toxin protein and a relatively unstable antitoxin protein that is able to inhibit the toxin. Here, we examine the type II TA locus distribution and compare the TA diversity throughout ten completely sequenced K. pneumoniae genomes by using bioinformatics approaches. Two hundred and twelve putative type II TA loci were identified in 30 replicons of these K. pneumoniae strains. The amino acid sequence similarity-based grouping shows that these loci distribute differently not only among different K. pneumoniae strains isolated from diverse sources, but also between their chromosomes and plasmids.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by partial funding from the 973 program, Ministry of Science and Technology, China (2015CB554202, 2012CB721000); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170082); the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, China (20130073110062).

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  1. State Key Laboratory for Microbial Metabolism and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200030, China

    Yi-Qing Wei, De-Xi Bi, Dong-Qing Wei & Hong-Yu Ou

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  1. Yi-Qing Wei
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  2. De-Xi Bi
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  3. Dong-Qing Wei
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  4. Hong-Yu Ou
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Correspondence to Dong-Qing Wei or Hong-Yu Ou.

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Wei, YQ., Bi, DX., Wei, DQ. et al. Prediction of Type II Toxin-Antitoxin Loci in Klebsiella pneumoniae Genome Sequences. Interdiscip Sci Comput Life Sci 8, 143–149 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12539-015-0135-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12539-015-0135-6

Keywords

  • Type II toxin-antitoxin loci
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae
  • In silico detection