interaction between a toxic protein and an RNA antitoxin. The toxic effects of the protein are neutralised by the RNA gene. One example is the ToxIN system from the bacterial plant pathogen Erwinia carotovora. The toxic ToxN protein is approximately 170 amino acids long and has been shown to be toxic to E. coli. The toxic activity of ToxN is inhibited by ToxI RNA, an RNA with 5.5 direct repeats of a 36 nucleotide motif (AGGTGATTTGCTACCTTTAAGTGCAGCTAGAAATTC). Crystallographic analysis of ToxIN has found that ToxN inhibition requires the formation of a trimeric ToxIN complex, whereby three ToxI monomers bind three ToxN monomers; the complex is held together by extensive protein-RNA interactions. Type IV Type IV toxin-antitoxin systems are similar to type II systems, because they consist of two proteins. Unlike type II systems, the antitoxin in type IV toxin-antitoxin systems counteracts the activity of the toxin, and the two proteins do not necessarily interact directly. DarTG is a type IV toxin-antitoxin system where the toxin, DarT, modifies DNA by adding ADP-ribose to thymidine bases, and the antitoxin, DarG, removes the toxic modification. Type V ghoST is a type V toxin-antitoxin system, in which the antitoxin (GhoS) cleaves the ghoT mRNA. This system is regulated by a type II system, mqsRA. Type VI socAB is a type VI toxin-antitoxin system that was discovered in Caulobacter crescentus. The antitoxin, SocA, promotes degradation of the toxin, SocB, by the protease ClpXP. Type VII Type VII has been proposed to include systems hha/tomB, tglT/takA and hepT/mntA, all of which neutralise toxin activity by post-translational chemical modification of amino acid residues. Type VIII Type VIII includes the system creTA. In this system, the antitoxin creA serves as a guide RNA for a CRISPR-Cas system. Due to incomplete complementarity between the creA guide and the creAT promoter, the Cas complex does not cleave the DNA, but instead remains at the site, where it blocks access by RNA polymerase, preventing expression of the creT toxin (a natural instance of CRISPRi). When expressed, the creT RNA will sequester the rare arginine codon tRNAUCU, stalling translation and halting cell metabolism. Biotechnological applications The biotechnological applications of toxin-antitoxin systems have begun to be realised by several biotechnology organisations. A primary usage is in maintaining plasmids in a large bacterial cell culture. In an experiment examining the effectiveness of the hok/sok locus, it was found that segregational stability of an inserted plasmid