I am interested in addictive genetic elements and particularly in the plasmid addiction operon from the P1 plasmid of Escherichia. This operon encodes two small proteins: a stable, 126 amino acid toxin and an unstable 73 amino acid antidote. While the plasmid is present, the antidote is expressed in sufficient quantities to bind and neutralize the toxin. Upon plasmid loss, the continuing degradation of the antidote by the host-encoded ClpXP protease unveils the toxin, which then kills the plasmid-free segregant. Current research is focused on the structure and function of antidote and toxin, and on the regulatory circuits that govern the level of antidote and the ratio of antidote and toxin.
Garcia-Pino, A., Y. Sterckx, R.D. Magnuson and R. Loris, 2013. "Type II Toxin- Antitoxin Loci: The phd/doc family". In: Gerdes, K., Ed., 2013. Prokaryotic Toxin-Antitoxins, Springer-Verlag, Berlin & Heidelberg pp.157-176. Garcia-Pino, A., Balasubramanian, S., Wyns, L., Gazit, E., De Greve, H., Magnuson, R.D., Charlieer, D., van Nuland, N.A.J., Loris, R., 2010. "Allostery and Intrinsic Disorder Mediate Transcriptional Regulation by Conditional Cooperativity" Cell. 142(1):101-11.
Garcia-Pino, A., Balasubramanian, S., Wyns, L., Gazit, E., De Greve, H., Magnuson, R.D., Charlieer, D., van Nuland, N.A.J., Loris, R., 2010. "Allosteryand Intrinsic Disorder Mediate Transcriptional Regulation by Conditional Cooperativity" Cell. 142(1):101-11
Garcia-Pino, A., Dao-Thi, M. H., Gazit, E., Magnuson, R. D., Wyns, L., and Loris, R. 2008. Crystallization of Doc and the Phd-Doc toxin-antitoxin complex. Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun 64, 1034-1038.