Bacterial programmed cell death is regulated by the toxin-antitoxin (TA) system. YhaV (toxin) and Pr1F (antitoxin) have been recently identified as a type II TA system in Escherichia coli. YhaV homologs have conserved active residues within the C-terminus, and to characterize the function of this region, we purified native YhaV protein (without denaturing) and constructed YhaV proteins of varying lengths. Here, we report a new low-temperature method of purifying native YhaV, which is notable given the existing challenges of purifying this highly toxic protein. The secondary structures and thermostability of the purified native protein were characterized and no significant structural destruction was observed, suggesting that the observed inhibition of cell growth in vivo was not the result of structural protein damage. However, it has been reported that excessive levels of protein expression may result in protein misfolding and changes in cell growth and mRNA stability. To exclude this possibility, we used an [³⁵S]-methionine prokaryotic cell-free protein synthesis system in vitro in the presence of purified YhaV, and two C-terminal truncated forms of this protein (YhaV-L and YhaV-S). Our results suggest that the YhaV C-terminal region is essential for mRNA interferase activity, and the W143 or H154 residues may play an analogous role to Y87 of RelE.
Keywords: Escherichia coli; PrlF; Toxin-antitoxin system; YhaV; circular dichroism; truncation.