Staphylococcus aureus YoeB Homologues Inhibit Translation Initiation

YoeB is a bacterial toxin encoded by the yefM-yoeB toxin-antitoxin system found in various bacterial genomes. Here, we show that Staphylococcus aureus contains two YoeB homologues, both of which function as ribosome-dependent mRNA interferases to inhibit translation initiation in a manner identical to that of YoeB-ec from Escherichia coli.