scholarly journals Minimal and RNA-free RNase P in Aquifex aeolicus

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (42) ◽  
pp. 11121-11126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid I. Nickel ◽  
Nadine B. Wäber ◽  
Markus Gößringer ◽  
Marcus Lechner ◽  
Uwe Linne ◽  
...  

RNase P is an essential tRNA-processing enzyme in all domains of life. We identified an unknown type of protein-only RNase P in the hyperthermophilic bacterium Aquifex aeolicus: Without an RNA subunit and the smallest of its kind, the 23-kDa polypeptide comprises a metallonuclease domain only. The protein has RNase P activity in vitro and rescued the growth of Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with inactivations of their more complex and larger endogenous ribonucleoprotein RNase P. Homologs of Aquifex RNase P (HARP) were identified in many Archaea and some Bacteria, of which all Archaea and most Bacteria also encode an RNA-based RNase P; activity of both RNase P forms from the same bacterium or archaeon could be verified in two selected cases. Bioinformatic analyses suggest that A. aeolicus and related Aquificaceae likely acquired HARP by horizontal gene transfer from an archaeon.

2010 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 1457-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne K. Cusumano ◽  
Chia S. Hung ◽  
Swaine L. Chen ◽  
Scott J. Hultgren

ABSTRACT Urinary tract infections (UTIs), the majority of which are caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), afflict nearly 60% of women within their lifetimes. Studies in mice and humans have revealed that UPEC strains undergo a complex pathogenesis cycle that involves both the formation of intracellular bacterial communities (IBC) and the colonization of extracellular niches. Despite the commonality of the UPEC pathogenesis cycle, no specific urovirulence genetic profile has been determined; this is likely due to the fluid nature of the UPEC genome as the result of horizontal gene transfer and numerous genes of unknown function. UTI89 has a large extrachromosomal element termed pUTI89 with many characteristics of UPEC pathogenicity islands and that likely arose due to horizontal gene transfer. The pUTI89 plasmid has characteristics of both F plasmids and other known virulence plasmids. We sought to determine whether pUTI89 is important for virulence. Both in vitro and in vivo assays were used to examine the function of pUTI89 using plasmid-cured UTI89. No differences were observed between UTI89 and plasmid-cured UTI89 based on growth, type 1 pilus expression, or biofilm formation. However, in a mouse model of UTI, a significant decrease in bacterial invasion, CFU and IBC formation of the pUTI89-cured strain was observed at early time points postinfection compared to the wild type. Through directed deletions of specific operons on pUTI89, the cjr operon was partially implicated in this observed defect. Our findings implicate pUTI89 in the early aspects of infection.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronak Borana ◽  
Shreya Bari

AbstractMicroorganisms evolve novel mechanisms and pathways to mitigate various stresses. These are developed by the accumulation of beneficial mutations over many generations. Such adaptations are often transferred from mutant microorganisms that develop it intrinsically to wild ones through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). It allows the latter to acquire favourable traits without having to employ resources to natively evolve. We ascertained this in Escherichia coli by first developing tolerance to ethanol, a potent disinfectant, by laboratory evolution and then transmitting it to the wild strain by HGT. Naturally, wild type E. coli cannot survive beyond 35% v/v ethanol in LB media. By serially increasing the concentration of ethanol by 5% v/v and selecting the surviving colonies, we were able to impose an artificial selection pressure. This in vitro microevolution increased the ethanol tolerance in our mutant to 75% v/v. To test if this tolerance could be transferred to the wild strain through HGT, we meticulously exposed the ancestral wild E. coli to the newly tolerant mutants to facilitate the exchange of genetic material. After our exposure, the unadapted wild type E. coli acquired tolerance up to 55% v/v through transformation and 45% v/v through transduction. The baseline tolerance of 35% v/v remained unchanged after conjugation. While our results are still preliminary, they provide interesting insights into the role horizontal gene transfer in developing resistance to bacteriocidal stressors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. i651-i658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adelme Bazin ◽  
Guillaume Gautreau ◽  
Claudine Médigue ◽  
David Vallenet ◽  
Alexandra Calteau

Abstract Motivation Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a major source of variability in prokaryotic genomes. Regions of genome plasticity (RGPs) are clusters of genes located in highly variable genomic regions. Most of them arise from HGT and correspond to genomic islands (GIs). The study of those regions at the species level has become increasingly difficult with the data deluge of genomes. To date, no methods are available to identify GIs using hundreds of genomes to explore their diversity. Results We present here the panRGP method that predicts RGPs using pangenome graphs made of all available genomes for a given species. It allows the study of thousands of genomes in order to access the diversity of RGPs and to predict spots of insertions. It gave the best predictions when benchmarked along other GI detection tools against a reference dataset. In addition, we illustrated its use on metagenome assembled genomes by redefining the borders of the leuX tRNA hotspot, a well-studied spot of insertion in Escherichia coli. panRPG is a scalable and reliable tool to predict GIs and spots making it an ideal approach for large comparative studies. Availability and implementation The methods presented in the current work are available through the following software: https://github.com/labgem/PPanGGOLiN. Detailed results and scripts to compute the benchmark metrics are available at https://github.com/axbazin/panrgp_supdata.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 525-529
Author(s):  
O Orellana ◽  
L Cooley ◽  
D Söll

In eucaryotes the 5'-terminal guanylate moiety of mature tRNAHis is added posttranscriptionally. To determine whether the same mechanism occurs in procaryotes, we processed in vitro-derived Escherichia coli tRNAHis precursors to mature tRNA, either in E. coli extracts or by using pure M1-RNA, the catalytic component of RNase P. The results show that the extra guanylate at the 5' end of mature E. coli tRNAHis is encoded in the gene and is found in tRNA as the result of an unusual cleavage by RNase P.


RNA ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. rna.078814.121
Author(s):  
Anna Ender ◽  
Nadine Grafl ◽  
Tim Kolberg ◽  
Sven Findeiss ◽  
Peter F. Stadler ◽  
...  

Removal of the 5' leader region is an essential step in the maturation of tRNA molecules in all domains of life. This reaction is catalyzed by various RNase P activities, ranging from ribonucleoproteins with ribozyme activity to protein-only forms. In Escherichia coli, the efficiency of RNase P mediated cleavage can be controlled by computationally designed riboswitch elements in a ligand-dependent way, where the 5' leader sequence of a tRNA precursor is either sequestered in a hairpin structure or presented as a single-stranded region accessible for maturation. In the presented work, the regulatory potential of such artificial constructs is tested on different forms of eukaryotic RNase P enzymes – two protein-only RNase P enzymes (PRORP1 and PRORP2) from Arabidopsis thaliana and the ribonucleoprotein of Homo sapiens. The PRORP enzymes were analyzed in vitro as well as in vivo in a bacterial RNase P complementation system. We also tested in HEK293T cells whether the riboswitches remain functional with human nuclear RNase P. While the regulatory principle of the synthetic riboswitches applies for all tested RNase P enzymes, the results also show differences in the substrate requirements of the individual enzyme versions. Hence, such designed RNase P riboswitches represent a novel tool to investigate the impact of the structural composition of the 5'-leader on substrate recognition by different types of RNase P enzymes.


Blood ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 134 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 3065-3065
Author(s):  
Munevver Cinar ◽  
Steven Flygare ◽  
Marina Mosunjac ◽  
Ganji Nagaraju ◽  
Dongkyoo Park ◽  
...  

Spatial genetic heterogeneity is a characteristic phenomenon that influences multiple myeloma's (MM) phenotype and drug sensitivity (Rasche L. et al and Bolli N et al.). Hence, the branch model of tumor evolution is not sufficient to explain the disorganized architecture observed in MM. In this study, we investigated whether MM ctDNA horizontal gene transfer (HGT) affect tumor genetic architecture and drug sensitivity, resembling what is seen in prokaryotes, and elucidated the mechanisms involved in the mobilization of genetic material from one cell to another. We identified that plasma from patients with MM transmits drug sensitivity or resistance to cells in culture. This transmission of drug sensitivity is mediated by ctDNA transfer of oncogenes to a host cell. Importantly, in vitro and in vivo demonstrated that ctDNA mainly targets cells resembling the cell of origin (tropism). Karyotype spreads and whole genome sequencing demonstrated that once patients ctDNA encounters host cells, it migrates into the nucleus where it ultimately integrates into the cell's genome. Integration to the genome was confirmed to be targeted to myeloma cells. Further sequencing analysis of multiple MM samples identified ctDNA tropism and integration is dependent on the 5' and 3' end presence of transposable elements (TE), particularly of the MIR and ALUsq family. These results were further validated by TE mediated delivery of GFP into MM cells in vitro and HSVTK in tumors of mouse xenografts. In conclusion, this data indicates for the first time that TE mediates MM ctDNA HGT into homologous tumor cells shaping the hierarchical architecture of tumor clones and affecting tumor response to treatment. Therapeutically, this unique quality of ctDNA can be exploited for targeted gene therapeutic approaches in MM and potentially other cancers. Disclosures Bernal-Mizrachi: Kodikas Therapeutic Solutions, Inc: Equity Ownership; TAKEDA: Research Funding; Winship Cancer Institute: Employment, Patents & Royalties.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (7A) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rama Bhatia ◽  
Hande Kirit ◽  
Jonathan Bollback

The evolutionary fate of a horizontal gene transfer (HGT) event is determined by its fitness on the recipient cell, i.e., whether it is beneficial, neutral or deleterious. The distribution of fitness effects (DFE), thus is a fundamental predictor of the outcome of an HGT event. The environment plays a considerable role in determining the fitness cost of a horizontally transferred gene. We have studied the fitness effects of genes transferred from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to Escherichia coli in six environments, that potentially represent the conditions experienced by the two species. The data suggests high variability of genes in different environments. Genes, whose fitness varies substantially between environments, may be able to persist in populations while being deleterious in one environment, they may be neutral or even beneficial in another environment, suggesting that environmental fluctuations may increase the likelihood of HGT. In addition to the in vitro environments, we are also looking at, how changes in the intrinsic environment of a cell, after an HGT event, could affect fitness. An increase in protein dosage due to functional similarity of the horizontally transferred gene to the endogenous gene can cause an imbalance in the cell, thereby leading to a negative fitness effect. By comparing the growth rates of each ortholog gene with the wild type strain, we can elucidate when gene dosage acts as a barrier to HGT.


2017 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. E273-E282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changhan Lee ◽  
Kamila B. Franke ◽  
Shady Mansour Kamal ◽  
Hyunhee Kim ◽  
Heinrich Lünsdorf ◽  
...  

AAA+ disaggregases solubilize aggregated proteins and confer heat tolerance to cells. Their disaggregation activities crucially depend on partner proteins, which target the AAA+ disaggregases to protein aggregates while concurrently stimulating their ATPase activities. Here, we report on two potent ClpG disaggregase homologs acquired through horizontal gene transfer by the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa and subsequently abundant P. aeruginosa clone C. ClpG exhibits high, stand-alone disaggregation potential without involving any partner cooperation. Specific molecular features, including high basal ATPase activity, a unique aggregate binding domain, and almost exclusive expression in stationary phase distinguish ClpG from other AAA+ disaggregases. Consequently, ClpG largely contributes to heat tolerance of P. aeruginosa primarily in stationary phase and boosts heat resistance 100-fold when expressed in Escherichia coli. This qualifies ClpG as a potential persistence and virulence factor in P. aeruginosa.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document