Systematic discovery of antibacterial and antifungal bacterial toxins

A computational approach has identified conserved toxin domains of polymorphic toxins within 105,438 microbial genomes. Nine short toxins cause cell death upon heterologous expression in Escherichia coli or Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Five cognate immunity genes neutralize the toxins. These toxins target cell membranes, DNA, or inhibit cell division, potentially having clinical and biotechnological applications.