Hok/sok system

The hok/sok system is a postsegregational killing mechanism employed by the R1 plasmid in Escherichia coli. It was the first type I toxin-antitoxin pair to be identified through characterisation of a plasmid-stabilising locus.[1] It is a type I system because the toxin is neutralised by a complementary RNA, rather than a partnered protein (type II toxin-antitoxin).[2]

The conserved secondary structure of sok non-coding RNA transcript which binds with hok mRNA.
  1. ^ Gerdes K, Larsen JE, Molin S (January 1985). "Stable inheritance of plasmid R1 requires two different loci". J. Bacteriol. 161 (1): 292–8. doi:10.1128/JB.161.1.292-298.1985. PMC 214870. PMID 2981804.
  2. ^ Hayes F (September 2003). "Toxins-antitoxins: plasmid maintenance, programmed cell death, and cell cycle arrest". Science. 301 (5639): 1496–9. Bibcode:2003Sci...301.1496H. doi:10.1126/science.1088157. PMID 12970556. S2CID 10028255.