Global analysis of candidate genes important for fitness in a competitive biofilm using DNA-array-based transposon mapping

Microbiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 152 (8) ◽  
pp. 2233-2245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren M. Junker ◽  
Joseph E. Peters ◽  
Anthony G. Hay

Escherichia coli strain PHL628 was subjected to saturating Tn5 transposon mutagenesis and then grown under competitive planktonic or biofilm conditions. The locations of transposon insertions from the remaining cells were then mapped on a gene array. The results from the array mapping indicated that 4.5 % of the E. coli genome was important under these conditions. Specifically, 114 genes were identified as important for the biofilm lifestyle, whereas 80 genes were important for the planktonic lifestyle. Four broad functional categories were identified as biofilm-important. These included genes encoding cell structures, small-molecule transport, energy metabolism and regulatory functions. For one of these genes, arcA, an insertion mutant was generated and its biofilm-related phenotype was examined. Results from both the transposon array and insertion mutagenesis indicated that arcA, which is known to be a negative response regulator of genes in aerobic pathways, was important for competitiveness in E. coli PHL628 biofilms. This work also demonstrated that ligation-mediated PCR, coupled with array-based transposon mapping, was an effective tool for identifying a large variety of candidate genes that are important for biofilm fitness.

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (20) ◽  
pp. 5421-5425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Zientz ◽  
Johannes Bongaerts ◽  
Gottfried Unden

ABSTRACT In Escherichia coli the genes encoding the anaerobic fumarate respiratory system are transcriptionally regulated by C4-dicarboxylates. The regulation is effected by a two-component regulatory system, DcuSR, consisting of a sensory histidine kinase (DcuS) and a response regulator (DcuR). DcuS and DcuR are encoded by the dcuSR genes (previouslyyjdHG) at 93.7 min on the calculated E. coli map. Inactivation of the dcuR anddcuS genes caused the loss of C4-dicarboxylate-stimulated synthesis of fumarate reductase (frdABCD genes) and of the anaerobic fumarate-succinate antiporter DcuB (dcuB gene). DcuS is predicted to contain a large periplasmic domain as the supposed site for C4-dicarboxylate sensing. Regulation by DcuR and DcuS responded to the presence of the C4-dicarboxylates fumarate, succinate, malate, aspartate, tartrate, and maleate. Since maleate is not taken up by the bacteria under these conditions, the carboxylates presumably act from without. Genes of the aerobic C4-dicarboxylate pathway encoding succinate dehydrogenase (sdhCDAB) and the aerobic succinate carrier (dctA) are only marginally or negatively regulated by the DcuSR system. The CitAB two-component regulatory system, which is highly similar to DcuSR, had no effect on C4-dicarboxylate regulation of any of the genes.


1999 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1506-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Triona O’Keeffe ◽  
Colin Hill ◽  
R. Paul Ross

ABSTRACT Enterocin A is a small, heat-stable, antilisterial bacteriocin produced by Enterococcus faecium DPC1146. The sequence of a 10,879-bp chromosomal region containing at least 12 open reading frames (ORFs), 7 of which are predicted to play a role in enterocin biosynthesis, is presented. The genes entA,entI, and entF encode the enterocin A prepeptide, the putative immunity protein, and the induction factor prepeptide, respectively. The deduced proteins EntK and EntR resemble the histidine kinase and response regulator proteins of two-component signal transducing systems of the AgrC-AgrA type. The predicted proteins EntT and EntD are homologous to ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporters and accessory factors, respectively, of several other bacteriocin systems and to proteins implicated in the signal-sequence-independent export of Escherichia colihemolysin A. Immediately downstream of the entT andentD genes are two ORFs, the product of one of which, ORF4, is very similar to the product of the yteI gene ofBacillus subtilis and to E. coli protease IV, a signal peptide peptidase known to be involved in outer membrane lipoprotein export. Another potential bacteriocin is encoded in the opposite direction to the other genes in the enterocin cluster. This putative bacteriocin-like peptide is similar to LafX, one of the components of the lactacin F complex. A deletion which included one of two direct repeats upstream of the entA gene abolished enterocin A activity, immunity, and ability to induce bacteriocin production. Transposon insertion upstream of the entF gene also had the same effect, but this mutant could be complemented by exogenously supplied induction factor. The putative EntI peptide was shown to be involved in the immunity to enterocin A. Cloning of a 10.5-kb amplicon comprising all predicted ORFs and regulatory regions resulted in heterologous production of enterocin A and induction factor in Enterococcus faecalis, while a four-gene construct (entAITD) under the control of a constitutive promoter resulted in heterologous enterocin A production in both E. faecalis and Lactococcus lactis.


Microbiology ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 150 (7) ◽  
pp. 2289-2300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinayak Kapatral ◽  
John W. Campbell ◽  
Scott A. Minnich ◽  
Nicholas R. Thomson ◽  
Philip Matsumura ◽  
...  

This paper focuses on global gene regulation by FlhD/FlhC in enteric bacteria. Even though Yersinia enterocolitica FlhD/FlhC can complement an Escherichia coli flhDC mutant for motility, it is not known if the Y. enterocolitica FlhD/FlhC complex has an effect on metabolism similar to E. coli. To study metabolic gene regulation, a partial Yersinia enterocolitica 8081c microarray was constructed and the expression patterns of wild-type cells were compared to an flhDC mutant strain at 25 and 37 °C. The overlap between the E. coli and Y. enterocolitica FlhD/FlhC regulated genes was 25 %. Genes that were regulated at least fivefold by FlhD/FlhC in Y. enterocolitica are genes encoding urocanate hydratase (hutU), imidazolone propionase (hutI), carbamoylphosphate synthetase (carAB) and aspartate carbamoyltransferase (pyrBI). These enzymes are part of a pathway that is involved in the degradation of l-histidine to l-glutamate and eventually leads into purine/pyrimidine biosynthesis via carbamoylphosphate and carbamoylaspartate. A number of other genes were regulated at a lower rate. In two additional experiments, the expression of wild-type cells grown at 4 or 25 °C was compared to the same strain grown at 37 °C. The expression of the flagella master operon flhD was not affected by temperature, whereas the flagella-specific sigma factor fliA was highly expressed at 25 °C and reduced at 4 and 37 °C. Several other flagella genes, all of which are under the control of FliA, exhibited a similar temperature profile. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that temperature regulation of flagella genes might be mediated by the flagella-specific sigma factor FliA and not the flagella master regulator FlhD/FlhC.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Sirine Werghi ◽  
Charfeddine Gharsallah ◽  
Nishi Kant Bhardwaj ◽  
Hatem Fakhfakh ◽  
Faten Gorsane

AbstractDuring recent decades, global warming has intensified, altering crop growth, development and survival. To overcome changes in their environment, plants undergo transcriptional reprogramming to activate stress response strategies/pathways. To evaluate the genetic bases of the response to heat stress, Conserved DNA-derived Polymorphism (CDDP) markers were applied across tomato genome of eight cultivars. Despite scattered genotypes, cluster analysis allowed two neighbouring panels to be discriminate. Tomato CDDP-genotypic and visual phenotypic assortment permitted the selection of two contrasting heat-tolerant and heat-sensitive cultivars. Further analysis explored differential expression in transcript levels of genes, encoding heat shock transcription factors (HSFs, HsfA1, HsfA2, HsfB1), members of the heat shock protein (HSP) family (HSP101, HSP17, HSP90) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzymes (APX1, APX2). Based on discriminating CDDP-markers, a protein functional network was built allowing prediction of candidate genes and their regulating miRNA. Expression patterns analysis revealed that miR156d and miR397 were heat-responsive showing a typical inverse relation with the abundance of their target gene transcripts. Heat stress is inducing a set of candidate genes, whose expression seems to be modulated through a complex regulatory network. Integrating genetic resource data is required for identifying valuable tomato genotypes that can be considered in marker-assisted breeding programmes to improve tomato heat tolerance.


Author(s):  
Fatma Ben Abid ◽  
Clement K. M. Tsui ◽  
Yohei Doi ◽  
Anand Deshmukh ◽  
Christi L. McElheny ◽  
...  

AbstractOne hundred forty-nine carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales from clinical samples obtained between April 2014 and November 2017 were subjected to whole genome sequencing and multi-locus sequence typing. Klebsiella pneumoniae (81, 54.4%) and Escherichia coli (38, 25.5%) were the most common species. Genes encoding metallo-β-lactamases were detected in 68 (45.8%) isolates, and OXA-48-like enzymes in 60 (40.3%). blaNDM-1 (45; 30.2%) and blaOXA-48 (29; 19.5%) were the most frequent. KPC-encoding genes were identified in 5 (3.6%) isolates. Most common sequence types were E. coli ST410 (8; 21.1%) and ST38 (7; 18.4%), and K. pneumoniae ST147 (13; 16%) and ST231 (7; 8.6%).


Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 500
Author(s):  
Jeeyong Lee ◽  
Junhye Kwon ◽  
DaYeon Kim ◽  
Misun Park ◽  
KwangSeok Kim ◽  
...  

LARC patients were sorted according to their radio-responsiveness and patient-derived organoids were established from the respective cancer tissues. Expression profiles for each group were obtained using RNA-seq. Biological and bioinformatic analysis approaches were used in deciphering genes and pathways that participate in the radio-resistance of LARC. Thirty candidate genes encoding proteins involved in radio-responsiveness–related pathways, including the immune system, DNA repair and cell-cycle control, were identified. Interestingly, one of the candidate genes, cathepsin E (CTSE), exhibited differential methylation at the promoter region that was inversely correlated with the radio-resistance of patient-derived organoids, suggesting that methylation status could contribute to radio-responsiveness. On the basis of these results, we plan to pursue development of a gene chip for diagnosing the radio-responsiveness of LARC patients, with the hope that our efforts will ultimately improve the prognosis of LARC patients.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (17) ◽  
pp. 4666-4671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron J. Tooley ◽  
Alexander N. Glazer

ABSTRACT The entire pathway for the biosynthesis of the phycobiliviolin-bearing His-tagged holo-α subunit of the cyanobacterial photosynthetic accessory protein phycoerythrocyanin was reconstituted in Escherichia coli. Cyanobacterial genes encoding enzymes required for the conversion of heme to 3Z-phycocyanobilin, a precursor of phycobiliviolin (namely, heme oxygenase 1 and 3Z-phycocyanobilin:ferredoxin oxidoreductase), were expressed from a plasmid under the control of the hybrid trp-lac (trc) promoter. Genes for the apo-phycoerythrocyanin α subunit (pecA) and the heterodimeric lyase/isomerase (pecE and pecF), which catalyzes both the covalent attachment of phycocyanobilin and its concurrent isomerization to phycobiliviolin, were expressed from the trc promoter on a second plasmid. Upon induction, recombinant E. coli used endogenous heme to produce holo-PecA with absorbance and fluorescence properties similar to those of the same protein produced in cyanobacteria. About two-thirds of the apo-PecA was converted to holo-PecA. No significant bilin addition took place in a similarly engineered E. coli strain that lacks pecE and pecF. By using immobilized metal affinity chromatography, both apo-PecA and holo-PecA were isolated as ternary complexes with PecE and PecF. The identities of all three components in the ternary complexes were established unambiguously by protein and tryptic peptide analyses performed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (13) ◽  
pp. 3931-3938 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Upton ◽  
J. R. Tagg ◽  
P. Wescombe ◽  
H. F. Jenkinson

ABSTRACT Streptococcus salivarius 20P3 produces a 22-amino-acid residue lantibiotic, designated salivaricin A (SalA), that inhibits the growth of a range of streptococci, including all strains ofStreptococcus pyogenes. Lantibiotic production is associated with the sal genetic locus comprisingsalA, the lantibiotic structural gene; salBCTXgenes encoding peptide modification and export machinery proteins; andsalYKR genes encoding a putative immunity protein and two-component sensor-regulator system. Insertional inactivation ofsalB in S. salivarius 20P3 resulted in abrogation of SalA peptide production, of immunity to SalA, and ofsalA transcription. Addition of exogenous SalA peptide tosalB mutant cultures induced dose-dependent expression ofsalA mRNA (0.2 kb), demonstrating that SalA production was normally autoregulated. Inactivation of salR encoding the response regulator of the SalKR two-component system led to reduced production of, and immunity to, SalA. The sal genetic locus was also present in S. pyogenes SF370 (M type 1), but because of a deletion across the salBCT genes, the corresponding lantibiotic peptide, designated SalA1, was not produced. However, in S. pyogenes T11 (M type 4) the sallocus gene complement was apparently complete, and active SalA1 peptide was synthesized. Exogenously added SalA1 peptide from S. pyogenes T11 induced salA1 transcription in S. pyogenes SF370 and in an isogenic S. pyogenes T11salB mutant and salA transcription in S. salivarius 20P3 salB. Thus, SalA and SalA1 are examples of streptococcal lantibiotics whose production is autoregulated. These peptides act as intra- and interspecies signaling molecules, modulating lantibiotic production and possibly influencing streptococcal population ecology in the oral cavity.


2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangiliyandi Gurunathan ◽  
Paramasamy Gunasekaran

The sacB and sacC genes encoding levansucrase and extracellular sucrase respectively were independently subcloned in pBluescript (high copy number) and in Z. mobilis-E. coli shuttle vector, pZA22 (low copy number). The expression of these genes were compared under identical background of E. coli and Z. mobilis host. The level of sacB gene expression in E. coli was almost ten fold less than the expression of sacC gene, irrespective of the growth medium or the host strain. In Z. mobilis the expression of sacB and sacC genes was shown to be subject to carbon source dependent regulation. The transcript of sacB and sacC was three fold higher in cells grown on sucrose than in cells grown on glucose/fructose. Northern blot analysis revealed that the transcript levels of sacC was approximately 2-3 times higher than that of sacB. These results suggested that the expression of sacC gene was more pronounced than sacB.


2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (46) ◽  
pp. 15454-15463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsey R. Fontenot ◽  
Homyra Tasnim ◽  
Kathryn A. Valdes ◽  
Codrina V. Popescu ◽  
Huangen Ding

The ferric uptake regulator (Fur) is a global transcription factor that regulates intracellular iron homeostasis in bacteria. The current hypothesis states that when the intracellular “free” iron concentration is elevated, Fur binds ferrous iron, and the iron-bound Fur represses the genes encoding for iron uptake systems and stimulates the genes encoding for iron storage proteins. However, the “iron-bound” Fur has never been isolated from any bacteria. Here we report that the Escherichia coli Fur has a bright red color when expressed in E. coli mutant cells containing an elevated intracellular free iron content because of deletion of the iron–sulfur cluster assembly proteins IscA and SufA. The acid-labile iron and sulfide content analyses in conjunction with the EPR and Mössbauer spectroscopy measurements and the site-directed mutagenesis studies show that the red Fur protein binds a [2Fe-2S] cluster via conserved cysteine residues. The occupancy of the [2Fe-2S] cluster in Fur protein is ∼31% in the E. coli iscA/sufA mutant cells and is decreased to ∼4% in WT E. coli cells. Depletion of the intracellular free iron content using the membrane-permeable iron chelator 2,2´-dipyridyl effectively removes the [2Fe-2S] cluster from Fur in E. coli cells, suggesting that Fur senses the intracellular free iron content via reversible binding of a [2Fe-2S] cluster. The binding of the [2Fe-2S] cluster in Fur appears to be highly conserved, because the Fur homolog from Hemophilus influenzae expressed in E. coli cells also reversibly binds a [2Fe-2S] cluster to sense intracellular iron homeostasis.


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