scholarly journals Requirement of the Lactobacillus casei MaeKR Two-Component System for l-Malic Acid Utilization via a Malic Enzyme Pathway

2009 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
José María Landete ◽  
Luisa García-Haro ◽  
Amalia Blasco ◽  
Paloma Manzanares ◽  
Carmen Berbegal ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Lactobacillus casei can metabolize l-malic acid via malolactic enzyme (malolactic fermentation [MLF]) or malic enzyme (ME). Whereas utilization of l-malic acid via MLF does not support growth, the ME pathway enables L. casei to grow on l-malic acid. In this work, we have identified in the genomes of L. casei strains BL23 and ATCC 334 a cluster consisting of two diverging operons, maePE and maeKR, encoding a putative malate transporter (maeP), an ME (maeE), and a two-component (TC) system belonging to the citrate family (maeK and maeR). Homologous clusters were identified in Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Streptococcus uberis. Our results show that ME is essential for l-malic acid utilization in L. casei. Furthermore, deletion of either the gene encoding the histidine kinase or the response regulator of the TC system resulted in the loss of the ability to grow on l-malic acid, thus indicating that the cognate TC system regulates and is essential for the expression of ME. Transcriptional analyses showed that expression of maeE is induced in the presence of l-malic acid and repressed by glucose, whereas TC system expression was induced by l-malic acid and was not repressed by glucose. DNase I footprinting analysis showed that MaeR binds specifically to a set of direct repeats [5′-TTATT(A/T)AA-3′] in the mae promoter region. The location of the repeats strongly suggests that MaeR activates the expression of the diverging operons maePE and maeKR where the first one is also subjected to carbon catabolite repression.

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (18) ◽  
pp. 5509-5518 ◽  
Author(s):  
José María Landete ◽  
Sergi Ferrer ◽  
Vicente Monedero ◽  
Manuel Zúñiga

ABSTRACTLactobacillus caseiis the only lactic acid bacterium in which two pathways forl-malate degradation have been described: the malolactic enzyme (MLE) and the malic enzyme (ME) pathways. Whereas the ME pathway enablesL. caseito grow onl-malate, MLE does not support growth. Themlegene cluster consists of three genes encoding MLE (mleS), the putativel-malate transporter MleT, and the putative regulator MleR. Themaegene cluster consists of four genes encoding ME (maeE), the putative transporter MaeP, and the two-component system MaeKR. Since both pathways compete for the same substrate, we sought to determine whether they are coordinately regulated and their role inl-malate utilization as a carbon source. Transcriptional analyses revealed that themleandmaegenes are independently regulated and showed that MleR acts as an activator and requires internalization ofl-malate to induce the expression ofmlegenes. Notwithstanding, bothl-malate transporters were required for maximall-malate uptake, although only anmleTmutation caused a growth defect onl-malate, indicating its crucial role inl-malate metabolism. However, inactivation of MLE resulted in higher growth rates and higher final optical densities onl-malate. The limited growth onl-malate of the wild-type strain was correlated to a rapid degradation of the availablel-malate tol-lactate, which cannot be further metabolized. Taken together, our results indicate thatL. caseil-malate metabolism is not optimized for utilization ofl-malate as a carbon source but for deacidification of the medium by conversion ofl-malate intol-lactate via MLE.


2008 ◽  
Vol 190 (6) ◽  
pp. 2183-2197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-Won Lee ◽  
Kyu-Sik Jeong ◽  
Sang-Wook Han ◽  
Seung-Eun Lee ◽  
Bong-Kwan Phee ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The rice pathogen recognition receptor, XA21, confers resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae strains producing the type one system-secreted molecule, AvrXA21. X. oryzae pv. oryzae requires a regulatory two-component system (TCS) called RaxRH to regulate expression of eight rax (required for AvrXA21 activity) genes and to sense population cell density. To identify other key components in this critical regulatory circuit, we assayed proteins expressed in a raxR gene knockout strain. This survey led to the identification of the phoP gene encoding a response regulator that is up-regulated in the raxR knockout strain. Next we generated a phoP knockout strain and found it to be impaired in X. oryzae pv. oryzae virulence and no longer able to activate the response regulator HrpG (hypersensitive reaction and pathogenicity G) in response to low levels of Ca2+. The impaired virulence of the phoP knockout strain can be partially complemented by constitutive expression of hrpG, indicating that PhoP controls a key aspect of X. oryzae pv. oryzae virulence through regulation of hrpG. A gene encoding the cognate putative histidine protein kinase, phoQ, was also isolated. Growth curve analysis revealed that AvrXA21 activity is impaired in a phoQ knockout strain as reflected by enhanced growth of this strain in rice lines carrying XA21. These results suggest that the X. oryzae pv. oryzae PhoPQ TCS functions in virulence and in the production of AvrXA21 in partnership with RaxRH.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (16) ◽  
pp. 5723-5731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Batchelor ◽  
Don Walthers ◽  
Linda J. Kenney ◽  
Mark Goulian

ABSTRACT We performed transposon mutagenesis of a two-color fluorescent reporter strain to identify new regulators of the porin genes ompF and ompC in Escherichia coli. Screening of colonies by fluorescence microscopy revealed numerous mutants that exhibited interesting patterns of porin expression. One mutant harbored an insertion in the gene encoding the histidine kinase CpxA, the sensor for a two-component signaling system that responds to envelope stress. The cpxA mutant exhibited increased transcription of ompC and a very strong decrease in transcription of ompF under conditions in which acetyl phosphate levels were high. Subsequent genetic analysis revealed that this phenotype is dependent on phosphorylation of the response regulator CpxR and that activation of CpxA in wild-type cells results in similar regulation of porin expression. Using DNase I footprinting, we demonstrated that CpxR binds upstream of both the ompF and ompC promoters. It thus appears that two distinct two-component systems, CpxA-CpxR and EnvZ-OmpR, converge at the porin promoters. Within the context of envelope stress, outer membrane beta-barrel proteins have generally been associated with the sigma E pathway. However, at least for the classical porins OmpF and OmpC, our results show that the Cpx envelope stress response system plays a role in regulating their expression.


Microbiology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 151 (6) ◽  
pp. 1769-1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masakuni Serizawa ◽  
Junichi Sekiguchi

The ydfHI genes encode a sensor kinase and a response regulator forming a two-component system. ydfJ is located downstream of ydfHI, and belongs to the RND (resistance-nodulation-cell division) superfamily, which is present in most major organisms. Four genes (secDF, yerP, ydfJ and ydgH) in Bacillus subtilis belong to this family. This study revealed that the YdfHI two-component system regulates ydfJ transcription. A gel shift assay using histidine-tagged YdfI (h-YdfI) showed that it directly binds to the ydfJ promoter region. Moreover, DNase I footprinting analysis revealed a tandem repeat sequence consisting of two conserved 12-mer sequences (GCCCRAAYGTAC) within the h-YdfI-binding site.


2009 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 1109-1122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuming Zhao ◽  
Grisselle E. Montanez ◽  
Pradeep Kumar ◽  
Soma Sannigrahi ◽  
Yih-Ling Tzeng

ABSTRACT Outer membrane iron receptors are some of the major surface entities that are critical for meningococcal pathogenesis. The gene encoding the meningococcal hemoglobin receptor, HmbR, is both independently transcribed and transcriptionally linked to the upstream gene hemO, which encodes a heme oxygenase. The MisR/S two-component system was previously determined to regulate hmbR transcription, and its hemO and hmbR regulatory mechanisms were characterized further here. The expression of hemO and hmbR was downregulated in misR/S mutants under both iron-replete and iron-restricted conditions, and the downregulation could be reversed by complementation. No significant changes in expression of other iron receptors were detected, suggesting that the MisR/S system specifically regulates hmbR. When hemoglobin was the sole iron source, growth defects were detected in the mutants. Primer extension analysis identified a promoter upstream of the hemO-associated Correia element (CE) and another promoter at the proximal end of CE, and processed transcripts previously identified for other cotranscribed CEs were also detected, suggesting that there may be posttranscriptional regulation. MisR directly interacts with sequences upstream of the CE and upstream of the hmbR Fur binding site and thus independently regulates hemO and hmbR. Analysis of transcriptional reporters of hemO and hmbR further demonstrated the positive role of the MisR/S system and showed that the transcription of hmbR initiated from hemO was significantly reduced. A comparison of the effects of the misS mutation under iron-replete and iron-depleted conditions suggested that activation by the MisR/S system and iron-mediated repression by Fur act independently. Thus, the expression of hemO and hmbR is coordinately controlled by multiple independent regulatory mechanisms, including the MisR/S two-component system.


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.


2006 ◽  
Vol 189 (4) ◽  
pp. 1342-1350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. McKessar ◽  
Regine Hakenbeck

ABSTRACT The two-component system TCS08 is one of the regulatory systems that is important for virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae. In order to investigate the TCS08 regulon, we have analyzed transcription profiles of mutants derived from S. pneumoniae R6 by microarray analysis. Since deletion mutants are often without a significant phenotype, we constructed a mutation in the histidine kinase HK08, T133P, in analogy to the phosphatase mutation T230P in the H box of the S. pneumoniae CiaH kinase described recently (D. Zähner, K. Kaminski, M. van der Linden, T. Mascher, M. Merai, and R. Hakenbeck, J. Mol. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 4:211-216, 2002). In addition, a deletion mutation was constructed in rr08, encoding the cognate response regulator. The most heavily suppressed genes in the hk08 mutant were spr0276 to spr0282, encoding a putative cellobiose phosphoenolpyruvate sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS). Whereas the R6 Smr parent strain and the Δrr08 mutant readily grew on cellobiose, the hk08 mutant and selected mutants with deletions in the PTS cluster did not, strongly suggesting that TCS08 is involved in the catabolism of cellobiose. Homologues of the TCS08 system were found in closely related streptococci and other gram-positive cocci. However, the genes spr0276 to spr0282, encoding the putative cellobiose PTS, represent a genomic island in S. pneumoniae and homologues were found in Streptococcus gordonii only, suggesting that this system might contribute to the pathogenicity potential of the pneumococcus.


Microbiology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 149 (9) ◽  
pp. 2331-2343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierry Doan ◽  
Pascale Servant ◽  
Shigeo Tojo ◽  
Hirotake Yamaguchi ◽  
Guillaume Lerondel ◽  
...  

A transcriptome comparison of a wild-type Bacillus subtilis strain growing under glycolytic or gluconeogenic conditions was performed. In particular, it revealed that the ywkA gene, one of the four paralogues putatively encoding a malic enzyme, was more transcribed during gluconeogenesis. Using a lacZ reporter fusion to the ywkA promoter, it was shown that ywkA was specifically induced by external malate and not subject to glucose catabolite repression. Northern analysis confirmed this expression pattern and demonstrated that ywkA is cotranscribed with the downstream ywkB gene. The ywkA gene product was purified and biochemical studies demonstrated its malic enzyme activity, which was 10-fold higher with NAD than with NADP (k cat/K m 102 and 10 s−1 mM−1, respectively). However, physiological tests with single and multiple mutant strains affected in ywkA and/or in ywkA paralogues showed that ywkA does not contribute to efficient utilization of malate for growth. Transposon mutagenesis allowed the identification of the uncharacterized YufL/YufM two-component system as being responsible for the control of ywkA expression. Genetic analysis and in vitro studies with purified YufM protein showed that YufM binds just upstream of ywkA promoter and activates ywkA transcription in response to the presence of malate in the extracellular medium, transmitted by YufL. ywkA and yufL/yufM could thus be renamed maeA for malic enzyme and malK/malR for malate kinase sensor/malate response regulator, respectively.


2014 ◽  
Vol 197 (5) ◽  
pp. 861-871 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumiko Kurabayashi ◽  
Yuko Hirakawa ◽  
Koichi Tanimoto ◽  
Haruyoshi Tomita ◽  
Hidetada Hirakawa

Particular interest in fosfomycin has resurfaced because it is a highly beneficial antibiotic for the treatment of refractory infectious diseases caused by pathogens that are resistant to other commonly used antibiotics. The biological cost to cells of resistance to fosfomycin because of chromosomal mutation is high. We previously found that a bacterial two-component system, CpxAR, induces fosfomycin tolerance in enterohemorrhagicEscherichia coli(EHEC) O157:H7. This mechanism does not rely on irreversible genetic modification and allows EHEC to relieve the fitness burden that results from fosfomycin resistance in the absence of fosfomycin. Here we show that another two-component system, TorSRT, which was originally characterized as a regulatory system for anaerobic respiration utilizing trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), also induces fosfomycin tolerance. Activation of the Tor regulatory pathway by overexpression oftorR, which encodes the response regulator, or addition of TMAO increased fosfomycin tolerance in EHEC. We also show that phosphorylated TorR directly represses the expression ofglpT, a gene that encodes a symporter of fosfomycin and glycerol-3-phosphate, and activation of the TorR protein results in the reduced uptake of fosfomycin by cells. However, cells in which the Tor pathway was activated had an impaired growth phenotype when cultured with glycerol-3-phosphate as a carbon substrate. These observations suggest that the TorSRT pathway is the second two-component system to reversibly control fosfomycin tolerance and glycerol-3-phosphate uptake in EHEC, and this may be beneficial for bacteria by alleviating the biological cost. We expect that this mechanism could be a potential target to enhance the utility of fosfomycin as chemotherapy against multidrug-resistant pathogens.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Novoa-Aponte ◽  
Fernando C. Soncini ◽  
José M. Argüello

ABSTRACTTwo component systems control periplasmic Cu+ homeostasis in Gram-negative bacteria. In characterized systems such as Escherichia coli CusRS, upon Cu+ binding to the periplasmic sensing domain of CusS, a cytoplasmic phosphotransfer domain phosphorylates the response regulator CusR. This drives the expression of efflux transporters, chaperones, and redox enzymes to ameliorate metal toxic effects. Here, we show that the Pseudomonas aeruginosa two component sensor histidine kinase CopS exhibits a Cu-dependent phosphatase activity that maintains a non-phosphorylated CopR when the periplasmic Cu levels are below its activation threshold. Upon Cu+ binding to the sensor, the phosphatase activity is blocked and the phosphorylated CopR activates transcription of the CopRS regulon. Supporting the model, mutagenesis experiments revealed that the ΔcopS strain showed constitutive high expression of the CopRS regulon, lower intracellular Cu+ levels, and larger Cu tolerance when compared to wild type cells. The invariant phospho-acceptor residue His235 of CopS was not required for the phosphatase activity itself, but necessary for its Cu-dependency. To sense the metal, the periplasmic domain of CopS binds two Cu+ ions at its dimeric interface. Homology modeling of CopS based on CusS structure (four Ag+ binding sites) clearly explains the different binding stoichiometries in both systems. Interestingly, CopS binds Cu+/2+ with 30 × 10−15 M affinities, pointing to the absence of free (hydrated) Cu+/2+ in the periplasm.IMPORTANCECopper is a micronutrient required as cofactor in redox enzymes. When free, copper is toxic, mismetallating proteins, and generating damaging free radicals. Consequently, copper overload is a strategy that eukaryotic cells use to combat pathogens. Bacteria have developed copper sensing transcription factors to control copper homeostasis. The cell envelope is the first compartment that has to cope with copper stress. Dedicated two component systems control the periplasmic response to metal overload. This manuscript shows that the copper sensing two component system present in Pseudomonadales exhibits a signal-dependent phosphatase activity controlling the activation of the response regulator, distinct from previously described periplasmic Cu sensors. Importantly, the data show that the sensor is activated by copper levels compatible with the absence of free copper in the cell periplasm. This emphasizes the diversity of molecular mechanisms that have evolved in various bacteria to manage the copper cellular distribution.


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