scholarly journals Use of Degradation Tags To Control Protein Levels in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (8) ◽  
pp. 2833-2835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Landry ◽  
Jana Stöckel ◽  
Himadri B. Pakrasi

ABSTRACTWe generated a collection ofssrA-based C-terminal protein degradation tags with different degradation strengths. The steady-state fluorescence levels of different enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) tag variants in aSynechocystissp. indicated a tunable range from 1% to 50% of untagged eYFP.

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celina Frank ◽  
Dieter Jendrossek

ABSTRACT Acidocalcisomes are membrane-enclosed, polyphosphate-containing acidic organelles in lower Eukaryota but have also been described for Agrobacterium tumefaciens (M. Seufferheld, M. Vieira, A. Ruiz, C. O. Rodrigues, S. Moreno, and R. Docampo, J Biol Chem 278:29971–29978, 2003, https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M304548200). This study aimed at the characterization of polyphosphate-containing acidocalcisomes in this alphaproteobacterium. Unexpectedly, fluorescence microscopic investigation of A. tumefaciens cells using fluorescent dyes and localization of constructed fusions of polyphosphate kinases (PPKs) and of vacuolar H+-translocating pyrophosphatase (HppA) with enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) suggested that acidocalcisomes and polyphosphate are different subcellular structures. Acidocalcisomes and polyphosphate granules were frequently located close together, near the cell poles. However, they never shared the same position. Mutant strains of A. tumefaciens with deletions of both ppk genes (Δppk1 Δppk2) were unable to form polyphosphate but still showed cell pole-located eYFP-HppA foci and could be stained with MitoTracker. In conclusion, A. tumefaciens forms polyP granules that are free of a surrounding membrane and thus resemble polyP granules of Ralstonia eutropha and other bacteria. The composition, contents, and function of the subcellular structures that are stainable with MitoTracker and harbor eYFP-HppA remain unclear. IMPORTANCE The uptake of alphaproteobacterium-like cells by ancestors of eukaryotic cells and subsequent conversion of these alphaproteobacterium-like cells to mitochondria are thought to be key steps in the evolution of the first eukaryotic cells. The identification of acidocalcisomes in two alphaproteobacterial species some years ago and the presence of homologs of the vacuolar proton-translocating pyrophosphatase HppA, a marker protein of the acidocalcisome membrane in eukaryotes, in virtually all species within the alphaproteobacteria suggest that eukaryotic acidocalcisomes might also originate from related structures in ancestors of alphaproteobacterial species. Accordingly, alphaproteobacterial acidocalcisomes and eukaryotic acidocalcisomes should have similar features. Since hardly any information is available on bacterial acidocalcisomes, this study aimed at the characterization of organelle-like structures in alphaproteobacterial cells, with A. tumefaciens as an example.


2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Tumlirsch ◽  
Dieter Jendrossek

ABSTRACT On the basis of bioinformatic evidence, we suspected that proteins with a CYTH (CyaB thiamine triphosphatase) domain and/or a CHAD (conserved histidine α-helical domain) motif might represent polyphosphate (polyP) granule-associated proteins. We found no evidence of polyP targeting by proteins with CYTH domains. In contrast, two CHAD motif-containing proteins from Ralstonia eutropha H16 (A0104 and B1017) that were expressed as fusions with enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) colocalized with polyP granules. While the expression of B1017 was not detectable, the A0104 protein was specifically identified in an isolated polyP granule fraction by proteome analysis. Moreover, eYFP fusions with the CHAD motif-containing proteins MGMSRV2-1987 from Magnetospirillum gryphiswaldense and PP2307 from Pseudomonas putida also colocalized with polyP granules in a transspecies-specific manner. These data indicated that CHAD-containing proteins are generally attached to polyP granules. Together with the findings from four previously polyP-attached proteins (polyP kinases), the results of this study raised the number of polyP-associated proteins in R. eutropha to six. We suggest designating polyP granule-bound proteins with CHAD motifs as phosins (phosphate), analogous to phasins and oleosins that are specifically bound to the surface of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) granules in PHA-accumulating bacteria and to oil droplets in oil seed plants, respectively. IMPORTANCE The importance of polyphosphate (polyP) for life is evident from the ubiquitous presence of polyP in all species on earth. In unicellular eukaryotic microorganisms, polyP is located in specific membrane-enclosed organelles, called acidocalcisomes. However, in most prokaryotes, polyP is present as insoluble granules that have been designated previously as volutin granules. Almost nothing is known regarding the macromolecular composition of polyP granules. Particularly, the absence or presence of cellular compounds on the surface of polyP granules has not yet been investigated. In this study, we identified a novel class of proteins that are attached to the surface of polyP granules in three model species of Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria. These proteins are characterized by the presence of a CHAD (conserved histidine α-helical domain) motif that functions as a polyP granule-targeting signal. We suggest designating CHAD motif-containing proteins as phosins [analogous to phasins for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)-associated proteins and to oleosins for oil droplet-associated proteins in oil seed plants]. The expression of phosins in different species confirmed their polyP-targeting function in a transspecies-specific manner. We postulate that polyP granules in prokaryotic species generally have a complex surface structure that consists of one to several polyP kinases and phosin proteins. We suggest differentiating polyP granules from acidocalcisomes by designating them as polyphosphatosomes.


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (19) ◽  
pp. 6006-6015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meike Baumgart ◽  
Simon Unthan ◽  
Christian Rückert ◽  
Jasintha Sivalingam ◽  
Alexander Grünberger ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe activity of bacteriophages and phage-related mobile elements is a major source for genome rearrangements and genetic instability of their bacterial hosts. The genome of the industrial amino acid producerCorynebacterium glutamicumATCC 13032 contains three prophages (CGP1, CGP2, and CGP3) of so far unknown functionality. Several phage genes are regularly expressed, and the large prophage CGP3 (∼190 kbp) has recently been shown to be induced under certain stress conditions. Here, we present the construction of MB001, a prophage-free variant ofC. glutamicumATCC 13032 with a 6% reduced genome. This strain does not show any unfavorable properties during extensive phenotypic characterization under various standard and stress conditions. As expected, we observed improved growth and fitness of MB001 under SOS-response-inducing conditions that trigger CGP3 induction in the wild-type strain. Further studies revealed that MB001 has a significantly increased transformation efficiency and produced about 30% more of the heterologous model protein enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP), presumably as a consequence of an increased plasmid copy number. These effects were attributed to the loss of the restriction-modification system (cg1996-cg1998) located within CGP3. The deletion of the prophages without any negative effect results in a novel platform strain for metabolic engineering and represents a useful step toward the construction of aC. glutamicumchassis genome of strain ATCC 13032 for biotechnological applications and synthetic biology.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (24) ◽  
pp. 8277-8293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Tumlirsch ◽  
Anna Sznajder ◽  
Dieter Jendrossek

ABSTRACTA protein (PhaX) that interacted with poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) depolymerase PhaZa1 and with PHB granule-associated phasin protein PhaP2 was identified by two-hybrid analysis. Deletion ofphaXresulted in an increase in the level of polyphosphate (polyP) granule formation and in impairment of PHB utilization in nutrient broth-gluconate cultures. A procedure for enrichment of polyP granules from cell extracts was developed. Twenty-seven proteins that were absent in other cell fractions were identified in the polyP granule fraction by proteome analysis. One protein (A2437) harbored motifs characteristic of type 1 polyphosphate kinases (PPK1s), and two proteins (A1212, A1271) had PPK2 motifs.In vivocolocalization with polyP granules was confirmed by expression of C- and N-terminal fusions of enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) with the three polyphosphate kinases (PPKs). Screening of the genome DNA sequence for additional proteins with PPK motifs revealed one protein with PPK1 motifs and three proteins with PPK2 motifs. Construction and subsequent expression of C- and N-terminal fusions of the four new PPK candidates with eYFP showed that only A1979 (PPK2 motif) colocalized with polyP granules. The other three proteins formed fluorescent foci near the cell pole (apart from polyP) (A0997, B1019) or were soluble (A0226). Expression of theRalstonia eutropha ppk(ppkReu) genes in anEscherichia coliΔppkbackground and construction of a set of single and multiple chromosomal deletions revealed that both A2437 (PPK1a) and A1212 (PPK2c) contributed to polyP granule formation. Mutants with deletion of both genes were unable to produce polyP granules. The formation and utilization of PHB and polyP granules were investigated in different chromosomal backgrounds.


2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 1847-1858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sznajder ◽  
Daniel Pfeiffer ◽  
Dieter Jendrossek

ABSTRACTIdentification of proteins that were present in a polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) granule fraction isolated fromRalstonia eutrophabut absent in the soluble, membrane, and membrane-associated fractions revealed the presence of only 12 polypeptides with PHB-specific locations plus 4 previously known PHB-associated proteins with multiple locations. None of the previously postulated PHB depolymerase isoenzymes (PhaZa2 to PhaZa5, PhaZd1, and PhaZd2) and none of the two known 3-hydroxybutyrate oligomer hydrolases (PhaZb and PhaZc) were significantly present in isolated PHB granules. Four polypeptides were found that had not yet been identified in PHB granules. Three of the novel proteins are putative α/β-hydrolases, and two of those (A0671 and B1632) have a PHB synthase/depolymerase signature. The third novel protein (A0225) is a patatin-like phospholipase, a type of enzyme that has not been described for PHB granules of any PHB-accumulating species. No function has been ascribed to the fourth protein (A2001), but its encoding gene forms an operon withphaB2(acetoacetyl-coenzyme A [CoA] reductase) andphaC2(PHB synthase), and this is in line with a putative function in PHB metabolism. The localization of the four new proteins at the PHB granule surface was confirmedin vivoby fluorescence microscopy of constructed fusion proteins with enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP). Deletion of A0671 and B1632 had a minor but detectable effect on the PHB mobilization ability in the stationary growth phase of nutrient broth (NB)-gluconate cells, confirming the functional involvement of both proteins in PHB metabolism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (19) ◽  
pp. 6857-6863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew H. Ng ◽  
Bertram M. Berla ◽  
Himadri B. Pakrasi

ABSTRACTCyanobacteria are photosynthetic cell factories that use solar energy to convert CO2into useful products. Despite this attractive feature, the development of tools for engineering cyanobacterial chassis has lagged behind that for heterotrophs such asEscherichia coliorSaccharomyces cerevisiae. Heterologous genes in cyanobacteria are often integrated at presumptively “neutral” chromosomal sites, with unknown effects. We used transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) data for the model cyanobacteriumSynechocystissp. strain PCC 6803 to identify neutral sites from which no transcripts are expressed. We characterized the two largest such sites on the chromosome, a site on an endogenous plasmid, and a shuttle vector by integrating an enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) expression cassette expressed from either the Pcpc560or the Ptrc1Opromoter into each locus. Expression from the endogenous plasmid was as much as 14-fold higher than that from the chromosome, with intermediate expression from the shuttle vector. The expression characteristics of each locus correlated predictably with the promoters used. These findings provide novel, characterized tools for synthetic biology and metabolic engineering in cyanobacteria.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (16) ◽  
pp. 4936-4946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Sznajder ◽  
Dieter Jendrossek

ABSTRACTThe putative physiological functions of two related intracellular poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) depolymerases, PhaZd1 and PhaZd2, ofRalstonia eutrophaH16 were investigated. Purified PhaZd1 and PhaZd2 were active with native PHB granulesin vitro. Partial removal of the proteinaceous surface layer of native PHB granules by trypsin treatment or the use of PHB granules isolated from ΔphaP1or ΔphaP1-phaP5mutant strains resulted in increased specific PHB depolymerase activity, especially for PhaZd2. Constitutive expression of PhaZd1 or PhaZd2 reduced or even prevented the accumulation of PHB under PHB-permissive conditionsin vivo. Expression of translational fusions of enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (EYFP) with PhaZd1 and PhaZd2 in which the active-site serines (S190 and Ser193) were replaced with alanine resulted in the colocalization of only PhaZd1 fusions with PHB granules. C-terminal fusions of inactive PhaZd2(S193A) with EYFP revealed the presence of spindle-like structures, and no colocalization with PHB granules was observed. Chromosomal deletion ofphaZd1,phaZd2, or both depolymerase genes had no significant effect on PHB accumulation and mobilization during growth in nutrient broth (NB) or NB-gluconate medium. Moreover, neither proteome analysis of purified native PHB granules norlacZfusion studies gave any indication that PhaZd1 or PhaZd2 was detectably present in the PHB granule fraction or expressed at all during growth on NB-gluconate medium. In conclusion, PhaZd1 and PhaZd2 are two PHB depolymerases with a high capacity to degrade PHB when artificially expressed but are apparently not involved in PHB mobilization in the wild type. The truein vivofunctions of PhaZd1 and PhaZd2 remain obscure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 7100
Author(s):  
Yohan Seo ◽  
Sung Baek Jeong ◽  
Joo Han Woo ◽  
Oh-Bin Kwon ◽  
Sion Lee ◽  
...  

Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality; thus, therapeutic targets continue to be developed. Anoctamin1 (ANO1), a novel drug target considered for the treatment of NSCLC, is a Ca2+-activated chloride channel (CaCC) overexpressed in various carcinomas. It plays an important role in the development of cancer; however, the role of ANO1 in NSCLC is unclear. In this study, diethylstilbestrol (DES) was identified as a selective ANO1 inhibitor using high-throughput screening. We found that DES inhibited yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) fluorescence reduction caused by ANO1 activation but did not inhibit cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator channel activity or P2Y activation-related cytosolic Ca2+ levels. Additionally, electrophysiological analyses showed that DES significantly reduced ANO1 channel activity, but it more potently reduced ANO1 protein levels. DES also inhibited the viability and migration of PC9 cells via the reduction in ANO1, phospho-ERK1/2, and phospho-EGFR levels. Moreover, DES induced apoptosis by increasing caspase-3 activity and PARP-1 cleavage in PC9 cells, but it did not affect the viability of hepatocytes. These results suggest that ANO1 is a crucial target in the treatment of NSCLC, and DES may be developed as a potential anti-NSCLC therapeutic agent.


2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David L. Stern ◽  
Justin Crocker ◽  
Yun Ding ◽  
Nicolas Frankel ◽  
Gretchen Kappes ◽  
...  

AbstractSpecies of the Drosophila melanogaster species subgroup, including the species D. simulans, D. mauritiana, D. yakuba, and D. santomea, have long served as model systems for studying evolution. Studies in these species have been limited, however, by a paucity of genetic and transgenic reagents. Here we describe a collection of transgenic and genetic strains generated to facilitate genetic studies within and between these species. We have generated many strains of each species containing mapped piggyBac transposons including an enhanced yellow fluorescent protein gene expressed in the eyes and a phiC31 attP site-specific integration site. We have tested a subset of these lines for integration efficiency and reporter gene expression levels. We have also generated a smaller collection of other lines expressing other genetically encoded fluorescent molecules in the eyes and a number of other transgenic reagents that will be useful for functional studies in these species. In addition, we have mapped the insertion locations of 58 transposable elements in D. virilis that will be useful for genetic mapping studies.


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