Many toxin–antitoxin (TA) loci are known to strongly repress their own transcription. This auto-inhibition is often called ‘conditional cooperativity’ as it relies on cooperative binding of TA complexes to operator DNA that occurs only when toxins are in a proper stoichiometric relationship with antitoxins. There has recently been an explosion of interest in TA systems due to their role in bacterial persistence, however the role of conditional cooperativity is still unclear. We reveal the biological function of conditional cooperativity by constructing a mathematical model of the well studied TA system, relBE of Escherichia coli . We show that the model with the in vivo and in vitro established parameters reproduces experimentally observed response to nutritional stress. We further demonstrate that conditional cooperativity stabilizes the level of antitoxin in rapidly growing cells such that random induction of relBE is minimized. At the same time it enables quick removal of free toxin when the starvation is terminated.

Many toxin-antitoxin operons are regulated by the toxin/antitoxin ratio by mechanisms collectively coined “conditional cooperativity”. Toxin and antitoxin form heteromers with different stoichiometric ratios, and the complex with the intermediate ratio works best as a transcription repressor. This allows transcription at low toxin level, strong repression at intermediate toxin level, and then again transcription at high toxin level. Such regulation has two interesting features; firstly, it provides a non-monotonous response to the concentration of one of the proteins, and secondly, it opens for ultra-sensitivity mediated by the sequestration of the functioning heteromers. We explore possible functions of conditional regulation in simple feedback motifs, and show that it can provide bistability for a wide range of parameters. We then demonstrate that the conditional cooperativity in toxin-antitoxin systems combined with the growth-inhibition activity of free toxin can mediate bistability between a growing state and a dormant state.

X-Chromosome Inactivation (XCI) is the process whereby one, randomly chosen X becomes transcriptionally silenced in female cells. XCI is governed by the Xic, a locus on the X encompassing an array of genes which interact with each other and with key molecular factors. The mechanism, though, establishing the fate of the X's, and the corresponding alternative modifications of the Xic architecture, is still mysterious. In this study, by use of computer simulations, we explore the scenario where chromatin conformations emerge from its interaction with diffusing molecular factors. Our aim is to understand the physical mechanisms whereby stable, non-random conformations are established on the Xic's, how complex architectural changes are reliably regulated, and how they lead to opposite structures on the two alleles. In particular, comparison against current experimental data indicates that a few key cis-regulatory regions orchestrate the organization of the Xic, and that two major molecular regulators are involved.