Expression profile for higA mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14

The previously uncharacterized proteins HigB (unannotated) and HigA (PA4674) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 were found to form a type II TA system in which antitoxin HigA masks the RNase activity of toxin HigB through direct binding. To determine the physiological role of HigB/HigA in P. aeruginosa, a whole-transcriptome experiment was performed for the higA antitoxin deletion mutant of the PA14 strain compared to the wild-type PA14 strain. The rationale was that for the strain that lacks the antitoxin, the effect of the toxin could be discerned due to enhanced activity of the toxin. Furthermore, toxin HigB reduces production of the virulence factors pyochelin, pyocyanin, swarming, and biofilm formation. The higA mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14 compared to the P. aeruginosa PA14 wild-type