scholarly journals Cryo-EM structures of engineered active bc1-cbb3 type CIII2CIV super-complexes and electronic communication between the complexes

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Steimle ◽  
Trevor van Eeuwen ◽  
Yavuz Ozturk ◽  
Hee Jong Kim ◽  
Merav Braitbard ◽  
...  

AbstractRespiratory electron transport complexes are organized as individual entities or combined as large supercomplexes (SC). Gram-negative bacteria deploy a mitochondrial-like cytochrome (cyt) bc1 (Complex III, CIII2), and may have specific cbb3-type cyt c oxidases (Complex IV, CIV) instead of the canonical aa3-type CIV. Electron transfer between these complexes is mediated by soluble (c2) and membrane-anchored (cy) cyts. Here, we report the structure of an engineered bc1-cbb3 type SC (CIII2CIV, 5.2 Å resolution) and three conformers of native CIII2 (3.3 Å resolution). The SC is active in vivo and in vitro, contains all catalytic subunits and cofactors, and two extra transmembrane helices attributed to cyt cy and the assembly factor CcoH. The cyt cy is integral to SC, its cyt domain is mobile and it conveys electrons to CIV differently than cyt c2. The successful production of a native-like functional SC and determination of its structure illustrate the characteristics of membrane-confined and membrane-external respiratory electron transport pathways in Gram-negative bacteria.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Steimle ◽  
Trevor Van Eeuwen ◽  
Yavuz Ozturk ◽  
Hee Jong Kim ◽  
Merav Braitbard ◽  
...  

Abstract Respiratory electron transport complexes are organized as individual entities or combined as large super-complexes (SC). The Gram-negative bacteria deploy a mitochondrial-like cytochrome (cyt) bc1 (Complex III, CIII2), and may have specific cbb3-type cyt c oxidases (Complex IV, CIV) instead of the canonical aa3-type CIV. Electron transfer between these complexes is mediated by soluble (c2) and membrane-anchored (cy) cyts. Here, we report the first structure of a bc1-cbb3 type SC (CIII2CIV, 5.2Å resolution) and three conformers of native CIII2 (3.3Å resolution) of functional relevance. The SC contains all catalytic subunits and cofactors as well as two extra transmembrane helices attributed to cyt cy and the assembly factor CcoH. The cyt cy is integral to SC, its cyt domain is mobile and conveys electrons to CIV differently than cyt c2. For the first time, this work establishes the structural characteristics of membrane-confined and membrane-external electron transport pathways of SCs in Gram-negative bacteria.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Steimle ◽  
Trevor VanEeuwen ◽  
Yavuz Ozturk ◽  
Hee Jong Kim ◽  
Merav Braitbard ◽  
...  

AbstractThe respiratory electron transport complexes convey electrons from nutrients to oxygen and generate a proton-motive force used for energy (ATP) production in cells. These enzymes are conserved among organisms, and organized as individual complexes or combined forming large super-complexes (SC). Bacterial electron transport pathways are more branched than those of mitochondria and contain multiple variants of such complexes depending on their growth modes. The Gram-negative species deploy a mitochondrial-like cytochrome bc1 (Complex III, CIII2), and may have bacteria-specific cbb3-type cytochrome c oxidases (Complex IV, CIV) in addition to, or instead of, the canonical aa3-type CIV. Electron transfer between these complexes is mediated by two different carriers: the soluble cytochrome c2 which is similar to mitochondrial cytochrome c and the membrane-anchored cytochrome cy which is unique to bacteria. Here, we report the first cryo-EM structure of a respiratory bc1-cbb3 type SC (CIII2CIV, 5.2Å resolution) and several conformers of native CIII2 (3.3Å resolution) from the Gram-negative bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus. The SC contains all catalytic subunits and cofactors of CIII2 and CIV, as well as two extra transmembrane helices attributed to cytochrome cy and the assembly factor CcoH. Remarkably, some of the native CIII2 are structural heterodimers with different conformations of their [2Fe-2S] cluster-bearing domains. The unresolved cytochrome c domain of cy suggests that it is mobile, and it interacts with CIII2CIV differently than cytochrome c2. Distance requirements for electron transfer suggest that cytochrome cy and cytochrome c2 donate electrons to heme cp1 and heme cp2 of CIV, respectively. For the first time, the CIII2CIV architecture and its electronic connections establish the structural features of two separate respiratory electron transport pathways (membrane-confined and membrane-external) between its partners in Gram-negative bacteria.


2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (6) ◽  
pp. 2261-2264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hee-Soo Park ◽  
Hyun-Joo Kim ◽  
Min-Jung Seol ◽  
Dong-Rack Choi ◽  
Eung-Chil Choi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT DW-224a showed the most potent in vitro activity among the quinolone compounds tested against clinical isolates of gram-positive bacteria. Against gram-negative bacteria, DW-224a was slightly less active than the other fluoroquinolones. The in vivo activities of DW-224a against gram-positive bacteria were more potent than those of other quinolones.


1980 ◽  
Vol 6 (suppl A) ◽  
pp. 55-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Klastersky ◽  
H. Gaya ◽  
S. H. Zinner ◽  
C. Bernard ◽  
J-C. Ryff ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (34) ◽  
pp. e2101952118
Author(s):  
Inokentijs Josts ◽  
Katharina Veith ◽  
Vincent Normant ◽  
Isabelle J. Schalk ◽  
Henning Tidow

Gram-negative bacteria take up the essential ion Fe3+ as ferric-siderophore complexes through their outer membrane using TonB-dependent transporters. However, the subsequent route through the inner membrane differs across many bacterial species and siderophore chemistries and is not understood in detail. Here, we report the crystal structure of the inner membrane protein FoxB (from Pseudomonas aeruginosa) that is involved in Fe-siderophore uptake. The structure revealed a fold with two tightly bound heme molecules. In combination with in vitro reduction assays and in vivo iron uptake studies, these results establish FoxB as an inner membrane reductase involved in the release of iron from ferrioxamine during Fe-siderophore uptake.


eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Austin Hanson ◽  
Anna Dostálová ◽  
Camilla Ceroni ◽  
Mickael Poidevin ◽  
Shu Kondo ◽  
...  

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are host-encoded antibiotics that combat invading microorganisms. These short, cationic peptides have been implicated in many biological processes, primarily involving innate immunity. In vitro studies have shown AMPs kill bacteria and fungi at physiological concentrations, but little validation has been done in vivo. We utilized CRISPR gene editing to delete most known immune-inducible AMPs of Drosophila, namely: 4 Attacins, 2 Diptericins, Drosocin, Drosomycin, Metchnikowin and Defensin. Using individual and multiple knockouts, including flies lacking these ten AMP genes, we characterize the in vivo function of individual and groups of AMPs against diverse bacterial and fungal pathogens. We found that Drosophila AMPs act primarily against Gram-negative bacteria and fungi, contributing either additively or synergistically. We also describe remarkable specificity wherein certain AMPs contribute the bulk of microbicidal activity against specific pathogens, providing functional demonstrations of highly specific AMP-pathogen interactions in an in vivo setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ni Zhang ◽  
Lichong Zhu ◽  
Qiuhong Ouyang ◽  
Saisai Yue ◽  
Yichun Huang ◽  
...  

Polymyxin B (PMB) exert bactericidal effects on the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria, leading to changes in the permeability of the cytoplasmic membrane and resulting in cell death, which is sensitive to the multi-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. However, the severe toxicity and adverse side effects largely hamper the clinical application of PMB. Although the molecular pathology of PMB neurotoxicity has been adequately studied at the cellular and molecular level. However, the impact of PMB on the physiological states of central nervous system in vivo may be quite different from that in vitro, which need to be further studied. Therefore, in the current study, the biocompatible ultra-uniform Fe3O4 nanoparticles were employed for noninvasively in vivo visualizing the potential impairment of PMB to the central nervous system. Systematic studies clearly reveal that the prepared Fe3O4 nanoparticles can serve as an appropriate magnetic resonance contrast agent with high transverse relaxivity and outstanding biosafety, which thus enables the following in vivo susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) studies on the PMB-treated mice models. As a result, it is first found that the blood-brain barrier (BBB) of mice may be impaired by successive PMB administration, displaying by the discrete punctate SWI signals distributed asymmetrically across brain regions in brain parenchyma. This result may pave a noninvasive approach for in-depth studies of PMB medication strategy, monitoring the BBB changes during PMB treatment, and even assessing the risk after PMB successive medication in multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infected patients from the perspective of medical imaging.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 1489
Author(s):  
Yiying Cai ◽  
Jonathan J. Ng ◽  
Hui Leck ◽  
Jocelyn Q. Teo ◽  
Jia-Xuan Goh ◽  
...  

Traditional in vitro time-kill studies (TKSs) require viable plating, which is tedious and time-consuming. We used ATP bioluminescence, with the removal of extracellular ATP (EC-ATP), as a surrogate for viable plating in TKSs against carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (CR-GNB). Twenty-four-hour TKSs were conducted using eight clinical CR-GNB (two Escherichia coli, two Klebsiella spp., two Acinetobacter baumannii, two Pseudomonas aeruginosa) with multiple single and two-antibiotic combinations. ATP bioluminescence and viable counts were determined at each timepoint (0, 2, 4, 8, 24 h), with and without apyrase treatment. Correlation between ATP bioluminescence and viable counts was determined for apyrase-treated and non-apyrase-treated samples. Receiver operator characteristic curves were plotted to determine the optimal luminescence threshold to discriminate between inhibitory/non-inhibitory and bactericidal/non-bactericidal combinations, compared to viable counts. After treatment of bacteria with 2 U/mL apyrase for 15 min at 37 °C, correlation to viable counts was significantly higher compared to untreated samples (p < 0.01). Predictive accuracies of ATP bioluminescence were also significantly higher for apyrase-treated samples in distinguishing inhibitory (p < 0.01) and bactericidal (p = 0.03) combinations against CR-GNB compared to untreated samples, when all species were collectively analyzed. We found that ATP bioluminescence can potentially replace viable plating in TKS. Our assay also has applications in in vitro and in vivo infection models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1697
Author(s):  
Hongfei Pi ◽  
Abiodun D. Ogunniyi ◽  
Bhumi Savaliya ◽  
Hang Thi Nguyen ◽  
Stephen W. Page ◽  
...  

One approach to combat the increasing incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens involves repurposing existing compounds with known safety and development pathways as new antibacterial classes with potentially novel mechanisms of action. Here, triclabendazole (TCBZ), a drug originally developed to treat Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) in sheep and cattle, and later in humans, was evaluated as an antibacterial alone or in combination with sub-inhibitory concentrations of polymyxin B (PMB) against clinical isolates and reference strains of key Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. We show for the first time that in vitro, TCBZ selectively kills methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius at a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) range of 2–4 µg/mL, and vancomycin-resistant enterococci at a MIC range of 4–8 µg/mL. TCBZ also inhibited key Gram-negative bacteria in the presence of sub-inhibitory concentrations of PMB, returning MIC90 values of 1 µg/mL for Escherichia coli, 8 µg/mL for Klebsiella pneumoniae, 2 µg/mL for Acinetobacter baumannii and 4 µg/mL for Pseudomonasaeruginosa. Interestingly, TCBZ was found to be bacteriostatic against intracellular S. aureus but bactericidal against intracellular S. pseudintermedius. Additionally, TCBZ’s favourable pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) profile was further explored by in vivo safety and efficacy studies using a bioluminescent mouse model of S. aureus sepsis. We show that repeated four-hourly oral treatment of mice with 50 mg/kg TCBZ after systemic S. aureus challenge resulted in a significant reduction in S. aureus populations in the blood to 18 h post-infection (compared to untreated mice) but did not clear the bacterial infection from the bloodstream, consistent with in vivo bacteriostatic activity. These results indicate that additional pharmaceutical development of TCBZ may enhance its PK/PD, allowing it to be an appropriate candidate for the treatment of serious MDR bacterial pathogens.


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