The Haemophilus influenzae HipBA toxin–antitoxin system adopts an unusual three-component regulatory mechanism

Abstract

Type II toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems encode two proteins: a toxin that inhibits cell growth and an antitoxin that neutralizes the toxin by direct intermolecular protein–protein interactions. The bacterial HipBA TA system is implicated in persister formation. The Haemophilus influenzae HipBA TA system consists of a HipB antitoxin and a HipA toxin, the latter of which is split into two fragments, and here we investigate this novel three-component regulatory HipBA system. Structural and functional analysis revealed that HipAN corresponds to the N-terminal part of HipA from other bacteria and toxic HipAC is inactivated by HipAN, not HipB. This study will be helpful in understanding the detailed regulatory mechanism of the HipBAN+C system, as well as why it is constructed as a three-component system.

Keywords

• hipba
• haemophilus influenzae
• toxin–antitoxin system
• persister formation
• x-ray crystallography