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  • Title: The structure of a contact-dependent growth-inhibition (CDI) immunity protein from Neisseria meningitidis MC58.
    Author: Tan K, Johnson PM, Stols L, Boubion B, Eschenfeldt W, Babnigg G, Hayes CS, Joachimiak A, Goulding CW.
    Journal: Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun; 2015 Jun; 71(Pt 6):702-9. PubMed ID: 26057799.
    Abstract:
    Contact-dependent growth inhibition (CDI) is an important mechanism of intercellular competition between neighboring Gram-negative bacteria. CDI systems encode large surface-exposed CdiA effector proteins that carry a variety of C-terminal toxin domains (CdiA-CTs). All CDI(+) bacteria also produce CdiI immunity proteins that specifically bind to the cognate CdiA-CT and neutralize its toxin activity to prevent auto-inhibition. Here, the X-ray crystal structure of a CdiI immunity protein from Neisseria meningitidis MC58 is presented at 1.45 Å resolution. The CdiI protein has structural homology to the Whirly family of RNA-binding proteins, but appears to lack the characteristic nucleic acid-binding motif of this family. Sequence homology suggests that the cognate CdiA-CT is related to the eukaryotic EndoU family of RNA-processing enzymes. A homology model is presented of the CdiA-CT based on the structure of the XendoU nuclease from Xenopus laevis. Molecular-docking simulations predict that the CdiA-CT toxin active site is occluded upon binding to the CdiI immunity protein. Together, these observations suggest that the immunity protein neutralizes toxin activity by preventing access to RNA substrates.
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