The Prophages of Represent a Conserved Family of Horizontally Acquired Mobile Genetic Elements Associated with Enteric Evolution towards Pathogenicity.

Prophage-mediated horizontal gene transfer (HGT) plays a key role in the evolution of bacteria, enabling access to new environmental niches, including pathogenicity. is a host-adapted intestinal mouse pathogen and important model organism for attaching and effacing (A/E) pathogens, including the clinically significant enterohaemorrhagic and enteropathogenic (EHEC and EPEC, respectively). Even though contains 10 prophage genomic regions, including an active temperate phage, ΦNP, little was known regarding the nature of prophages in the bacterium's evolution toward pathogenicity.

Structure, Evolution, and Functions of Bacterial Type III Toxin-Antitoxin Systems.

Toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are small genetic modules that encode a toxin (that targets an essential cellular process) and an antitoxin that neutralises or suppresses the deleterious effect of the toxin. Based on the molecular nature of the toxin and antitoxin components, TA systems are categorised into different types. Type III TA systems, the focus of this review, are composed of a toxic endoribonuclease neutralised by a non-coding RNA antitoxin in a pseudoknotted configuration.