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Are all VapC toxins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis endowed with enigmatic RNase activity?

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Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) employs an extensive network of more than 90 toxin–antitoxin systems, and among them, VapC toxins are the most abundant. While most VapCs function as classical RNases with toxic effects, a significant number of them do not exhibit toxicity. However, these non-toxic VapCs may retain specific RNA binding abilities as seen in case of VapC16, leading to ribosome stalling at specific codons and reprofiling M. tb's proteome to aid in the bacterium's survival under different stressful conditions within the host. Here, we challenge the conventional classification of all VapC toxins as RNases and highlight the complexity of M. tb's strategies for survival and adaptation during infection.

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Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Medicine, Jamia Hamdard, Hamdard Nagar, New Delhi, 110 062, India

    Sheeba Zarin

  2. Department of Life Science, School of Basic Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Greater Noida, 201 310, India

    Sheeba Zarin, Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain & Nasreen Zafar Ehtesham

  3. Department of Biotechnology, School of Engineering and Technology, Sharda University, Greater Noida, 201 310, India

    Anwar Alam

  4. Department of Biochemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, 110 016, India

    Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain

Authors
  1. Sheeba Zarin
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  2. Anwar Alam
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  3. Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain
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  4. Nasreen Zafar Ehtesham
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and preparation of the manuscript. AA, SZ, SEH and NZE read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain or Nasreen Zafar Ehtesham.

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Corresponding editor: Umesh Varshney

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Zarin, S., Alam, A., Hasnain, S.E. et al. Are all VapC toxins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis endowed with enigmatic RNase activity?. J Biosci 49, 35 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-024-00420-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-024-00420-3

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