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Comment
. 2018 Nov 15;175(5):1182-1184.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.10.051.

Evolving to End a Toxic Relationship: ADP Ribosylation in Interbacterial Warfare

Elizabeth A Mueller  1 , Petra Anne Levin  2
Affiliations
Comment

Evolving to End a Toxic Relationship: ADP Ribosylation in Interbacterial Warfare

Elizabeth A Mueller et al. Cell. .

Abstract

Long before pathogenic interactions with eukaryotic cells evolved, bacteria were competing with one another for limited resources. In this issue, Ting et al. (2018) identify previously unappreciated players in the interbacterial arms race that may be the evolutionary ancestors of eukaryotic cell-targeting ADP-ribosyltransferase toxins.

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Conflict of interest statement

DECLARATION OF INTERESTS

The authors declare no competing interests

Figures

None
ART/ARH enzymes modulate FtsZ assembly.
The cellular FtsZ pool exists in two states: unpolymerized monomers and treadmilling filaments. Although donor cells (blue background) encode a toxic ADP ribosyltransferase (ART) effector capable of introducing a toxic adduct on FtsZ, they also encode a cognate ADP hydrolase (ARH) immunity protein, which neutralizes effector activity enzymatically and physically. ART translocation into recipient cells (yellow background) results in ADP-ribosylation of FtsZ monomers, leading to impaired polymerization, cell division failure, and intoxication. However, some recipient cells encode a non-cognate, promiscuous ARH enzyme and are able to hydrolyze the toxic modification, restoring wild-type FtsZ assembly dynamics and broadly protecting against ART activity.
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