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Conversion of a defensive toxin-antitoxin system into an offensive T6SS effector in Burkholderia

Bacteria use various kinds of toxins to either inhibit the growth of co-habiting bacteria or when needed control their own growth. Here we report that Burkholderia and certain other bacteria have altered the potential defensive function of Tox-REase-5 domain containing toxins into offensive function. The Burkholderia gladioli strain NGJ1 encodes such toxins as type VI secretion system (T6SS) effectors (Tse) and potentially deploys them to kill co-habiting rice endophytic bacteria. Notably, the immunity (Tsi) proteins associated with Tse effectors demonstrate functional similarity with the antitoxin of type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) system. Genome analysis of diverse bacteria revealed that various Tse orthologs are either encoded as TA or T6SS effectors. In addition, potential evolutionary events associated with conversion of TA into T6SS effectors have been delineated. Our results indicate that the transposition of IS3 elements has led to the operonic fusion of certain T6SS related genes with TA genes resulting in their conversion into T6SS effectors. Such a genetic change has enabled bacteria to utilize novel toxins to precisely target co-habiting bacteria.