scholarly journals Control of teichoic acid and teichuronic acid biosynthesis in chemostat cultures of Bacillus subtilis var. niger

1969 ◽  
Vol 111 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
D C Ellwood ◽  
D. W. Tempest
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Extracellular Fluid ◽  
Acid Synthesis ◽  
Growth Cycle ◽  
Wall Material ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acid ◽  
Anionic Polymers ◽  
Teichuronic Acid

1. Quantitative determination of the anionic polymers present in the walls of Bacillus subtilis var. niger organisms undergoing transition, in a chemostat culture, from either Mg2+-limitation to PO43−-limitation or K+-limitation to PO43−-limitation showed that teichuronic acid synthesis started immediately the culture became PO43−-limited and proceeded at a rate substantially faster than the rate of biomass synthesis. 2. Simultaneously, the cell-wall teichoic acid content diminished at a rate greater than that due to dilution by newly synthesized wall material, and fragments of teichoic acid and mucopeptide accumulated in the culture extracellular fluid. 3. Equally rapid reverse changes occurred when a PO43−-limited B. subtilis var. niger culture was returned to being Mg2+-limited. 4. It is concluded that in this organism both teichoic acid and teichuronic acid syntheses are expressions of a single genotype, and a mechanism for the control of synthesis of both polymers is suggested. 5. These results are discussed with reference to the constantly changing environmental conditions that obtain in a batch culture and the variation in bacterial cell-wall composition that is reported to occur throughout the growth cycle.

scholarly journals Analysis of Bacillus subtilis tagAB andtagDEF Expression during Phosphate Starvation Identifies a Repressor Role for PhoP∼P

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (3) ◽  
pp. 753-758 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Liu ◽  
Stephen Eder ◽  
F. Marion Hulett
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Phosphate Starvation ◽  
Acid Synthesis ◽  
Pho Regulon ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acid ◽  
Negative Role ◽  
First Time ◽  
Starvation Conditions

ABSTRACT The tagAB and tagDEF operons, which are adjacent and divergently transcribed, encode genes responsible for cell wall teichoic acid synthesis in Bacillus subtilis. TheBacillus data presented here suggest that PhoP and PhoR are required for direct repression of transcription of the two operons under phosphate starvation conditions but have no regulatory role under phosphate-replete conditions. These data identify for the first time that PhoP∼P has a negative role in Pho regulon gene regulation.

scholarly journals Role of PhoP∼P in Transcriptional Regulation of Genes Involved in Cell Wall Anionic Polymer Biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (15) ◽  
pp. 4007-4010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Qi ◽  
F. Marion Hulett
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Acid Synthesis ◽  
In Vitro Transcription ◽  
Anionic Polymer ◽  
Transcription System ◽  
Teichuronic Acid

ABSTRACT tagA, tagD, and tuaA operons are responsible for the synthesis of cell wall anionic polymer, teichoic acid, and teichuronic acid, respectively, in Bacillus subtilis. Under phosphate starvation conditions, teichuronic acid is synthesized while teichoic acid synthesis is inhibited. Expression of these genes is controlled by PhoP-PhoR, a two-component system. It has been proposed that PhoP∼P plays a key role in the activation oftuaA and the repression of tagA andtagD. In this study, we demonstrated the role of PhoP∼P in the switch process from teichoic acid synthesis to teichuronic acid synthesis, by using an in vitro transcription system. The results indicate that PhoP∼P is sufficient to repress the transcription of the tagA and tagD promoters and also to activate the transcription of the tuaA promoter.

scholarly journals Wall Teichoic Acid Polymers Are Dispensable for Cell Viability in Bacillus subtilis

2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (23) ◽  
pp. 8313-8316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. D'Elia ◽  
Kathryn E. Millar ◽  
Terry J. Beveridge ◽  
Eric D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Cell Viability ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Acid Synthesis ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acid ◽  
First Time ◽  
Similar Gene

ABSTRACT An extensive literature has established that the synthesis of wall teichoic acid in Bacillus subtilis is essential for cell viability. Paradoxically, we have recently shown that wall teichoic acid biogenesis is dispensable in Staphylococcus aureus (M. A. D'Elia, M. P. Pereira, Y. S. Chung, W. Zhao, A. Chau, T. J. Kenney, M. C. Sulavik, T. A. Black, and E. D. Brown, J. Bacteriol. 188:4183-4189, 2006). A complex pattern of teichoic acid gene dispensability was seen in S. aureus where the first gene (tarO) was dispensable and later acting genes showed an indispensable phenotype. Here we show, for the first time, that wall teichoic acid synthesis is also dispensable in B. subtilis and that a similar gene dispensability pattern is seen where later acting enzymes display an essential phenotype, while the gene tagO, whose product catalyzes the first step in the pathway, could be deleted to yield viable mutants devoid of teichoic acid in the cell wall.

scholarly journals Teichoic Acid Is an Essential Polymer in Bacillus subtilis That Is Functionally Distinct from Teichuronic Acid

2004 ◽  
Vol 186 (23) ◽  
pp. 7865-7873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit P. Bhavsar ◽  
Laura K. Erdman ◽  
Jeffrey W. Schertzer ◽  
Eric D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Wall Thickening ◽  
Glycerol Phosphate ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acid ◽  
Teichoic Acids ◽  
Gram Positive Bacteria ◽  
Teichuronic Acid ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acids

ABSTRACT Wall teichoic acids are anionic, phosphate-rich polymers linked to the peptidoglycan of gram-positive bacteria. In Bacillus subtilis, the predominant wall teichoic acid types are poly(glycerol phosphate) in strain 168 and poly(ribitol phosphate) in strain W23, and they are synthesized by the tag and tar gene products, respectively. Growing evidence suggests that wall teichoic acids are essential in B. subtilis; however, it is widely believed that teichoic acids are dispensable under phosphate-limiting conditions. In the work reported here, we carefully studied the dispensability of teichoic acid under phosphate-limiting conditions by constructing three new mutants. These strains, having precise deletions in tagB, tagF, and tarD, were dependent on xylose-inducible complementation from a distal locus (amyE) for growth. The tarD deletion interrupted poly(ribitol phosphate) synthesis in B. subtilis and represents a unique deletion of a tar gene. When teichoic acid biosynthetic proteins were depleted, the mutants showed a coccoid morphology and cell wall thickening. The new wall teichoic acid biogenesis mutants generated in this work and a previously reported tagD mutant were not viable under phosphate-limiting conditions in the absence of complementation. Cell wall analysis of B. subtilis grown under phosphate-limited conditions showed that teichoic acid contributed approximately one-third of the wall anionic content. These data suggest that wall teichoic acid has an essential function in B. subtilis that cannot be replaced by teichuronic acid.

scholarly journals Genome-Wide Analysis of Phosphorylated PhoP Binding to Chromosomal DNA Reveals Several Novel Features of the PhoPR-Mediated Phosphate Limitation Response in Bacillus subtilis

2015 ◽  
Vol 197 (8) ◽  
pp. 1492-1506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Letal I. Salzberg ◽  
Eric Botella ◽  
Karsten Hokamp ◽  
Haike Antelmann ◽  
Sandra Maaß ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Wall ◽  
Bacillus Subtilis ◽  
Response Regulator ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Phosphate Limitation ◽  
Chromosomal Dna ◽  
Cell Wall Metabolism ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acid ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Two Component

ABSTRACTThe PhoPR two-component signal transduction system controls one of three responses activated byBacillus subtilisto adapt to phosphate-limiting conditions (PHO response). The response involves the production of enzymes and transporters that scavenge for phosphate in the environment and assimilate it into the cell. However, inB. subtilisand some otherFirmicutesbacteria, cell wall metabolism is also part of the PHO response due to the high phosphate content of the teichoic acids attached either to peptidoglycan (wall teichoic acid) or to the cytoplasmic membrane (lipoteichoic acid). Prompted by our observation that the phosphorylated WalR (WalR∼P) response regulator binds to more chromosomal loci than are revealed by transcriptome analysis, we established the PhoP∼P bindome in phosphate-limited cells. Here, we show that PhoP∼P binds to the chromosome at 25 loci: 12 are within the promoters of previously identified PhoPR regulon genes, while 13 are newly identified. We extend the role of PhoPR in cell wall metabolism showing that PhoP∼P binds to the promoters of four cell wall-associated operons (ggaAB,yqgS,wapA, anddacA), although none show PhoPR-dependent expression under the conditions of this study. We also show that positive autoregulation ofphoPRexpression and full induction of the PHO response upon phosphate limitation require PhoP∼P binding to the 3′ end of thephoPRoperon.IMPORTANCEThe PhoPR two-component system controls one of three responses mounted byB. subtilisto adapt to phosphate limitation (PHO response). Here, establishment of the phosphorylated PhoP (PhoP∼P) bindome enhances our understanding of the PHO response in two important ways. First, PhoPR plays a more extensive role in adaptation to phosphate-limiting conditions than was deduced from transcriptome analyses. Among 13 newly identified binding sites, 4 are cell wall associated (ggaAB,yqgS,wapA, anddacA), revealing that PhoPR has an extended involvement in cell wall metabolism. Second, amplification of the PHO response must occur by a novel mechanism since positive autoregulation ofphoPRexpression requires PhoP∼P binding to the 3′ end of the operon.

scholarly journals LcpB Is a Pyrophosphatase Responsible for Wall Teichoic Acid Synthesis and Virulence in Staphylococcus aureus Clinical Isolate ST59

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Pan ◽  
Jing Guan ◽  
Yujie Li ◽  
Baolin Sun
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Teichoic Acid ◽  
Acid Synthesis ◽  
Cell Wall Synthesis ◽  
Wall Teichoic Acid ◽  
Independent Manner ◽  
Methicillin Resistant

The community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) causes severe pandemics primarily consisting of skin and soft tissue infections. However, the underlying pathomechanisms of the bacterium are yet to fully understood. The present study identifies LcpB protein, which belongs to the LytR-A-Psr (LCP) family, is crucial for cell wall synthesis and virulence in S. aureus. The findings revealed that LcpB is a pyrophosphatase responsible for wall teichoic acid synthesis. The results also showed that LcpB regulates enzyme activity through specific key arginine sites in its LCP domain. Furthermore, knockout of lcpB in the CA-MRSA isolate ST59 resulted in enhanced hemolytic activity, enlarged of abscesses, and increased leukocyte infiltration. Meanwhile, we also found that LcpB regulates virulence in agr-independent manner and the key sites for pyrophosphatase of LcpB play critical roles in regulating the virulence. In addition, the results showed that the role of LcpB was different between methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA). This study therefore highlights the dual role of LcpB in cell wall synthesis and regulation of virulence. These insights on the underlying molecular mechanisms can thus guide the development of novel anti-infective strategies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document