scholarly journals Ligands of Thermophilic ABC Transporters Encoded in a Newly Sequenced Genomic Region of Thermotoga maritima MSB8 Screened by Differential Scanning Fluorimetry

2011 ◽  
Vol 77 (18) ◽  
pp. 6395-6399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Boucher ◽  
Kenneth M. Noll

ABSTRACTThe chromosome ofThermotoga maritimastrain MSB8 was found to have an 8,870-bp region that is not present in its published sequence. The isolate that was sequenced by The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in 1999 is apparently a laboratory variant of the isolate deposited at the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSM 3109) in 1986. This newly sequenced region from the DSMZ culture was located between TM1848 (cbp, cellobiose phosphorylase) and TM1847 (the 3′ end of a truncated ROK regulator). The new region contained seven genes: a beta glucosidase gene (bglA), three trehalose ABC transporter genes (treEFG), three xylose ABC transporter genes (xylE2F2K2), and the 5′ end of a gene encoding the ROK regulator TM1847. We present a new differential scanning fluorimetry method using a low pH that was necessary to screen potential ligands of these exceptionally thermostable periplasmic substrate-binding proteins. This method showed that trehalose, sucrose, and glucose stabilized TreE, and their binding was confirmed by measuring changes in intrinsic fluorescence upon ligand binding. Binding constants of 0.024 μM, 0.300 μM, and 56.78 μM at 60°C, respectively, were measured. XylE2 ligands were similarly determined and xylose, glucose, and fucose bound withKd(dissociation constant) values of 0.042 μM, 0.059 μM, and 1.436 μM, respectively. Since there is no discernible phenotypic difference between the TIGR isolate and the DSMZ isolate despite the variance in their genomes, we propose that they be called genomovars:T. maritimaMSB8 genomovar TIGR andT. maritimaMSB8 genomovar DSM 3109, respectively.

2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (7) ◽  
pp. 3934-3941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hansjürg Engel ◽  
Moana Mika ◽  
Dalia Denapaite ◽  
Regine Hakenbeck ◽  
Kathrin Mühlemann ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHeteroresistance to penicillin inStreptococcus pneumoniaeis the ability of subpopulations to grow at a higher antibiotic concentration than expected from the MIC. This may render conventional resistance testing unreliable and lead to therapeutic failure. We investigated the role of the primary β-lactam resistance determinants, penicillin-binding protein 2b (PBP2b) and PBP2x, and the secondary resistance determinant PBP1a in heteroresistance to penicillin. Transformants containing PBP genes from the heteroresistant strain Spain23F2349in the nonheteroresistant strain R6 background were tested for heteroresistance by population analysis profiling (PAP). We found thatpbp2x, but notpbp2borpbp1aalone, conferred heteroresistance to R6. However, a change ofpbp2xexpression was not observed, and therefore, expression does not correlate with an increased proportion of resistant subpopulations. In addition, the influence of the CiaRH system, mediating PBP-independent β-lactam resistance, was assessed by PAP onciaRdisruption mutants but revealed no heteroresistant phenotype. We also showed that the highly resistant subpopulations (HOM*) of transformants containing low-affinitypbp2xundergo an increase in resistance upon selection on penicillin plates that partially reverts after passaging on selection-free medium. Shotgun proteomic analysis showed an upregulation of phosphate ABC transporter subunit proteins encoded bypstS,phoU,pstB, andpstCin these highly resistant subpopulations. In conclusion, the presence of low-affinitypbp2xenables certain pneumococcal colonies to survive in the presence of β-lactams. Upregulation of phosphate ABC transporter genes may represent a reversible adaptation to antibiotic stress.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (12) ◽  
pp. 4173-4183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Watanabe ◽  
Kazumi Hiraga ◽  
Masako Suda ◽  
Hideaki Yukawa ◽  
Masayuki Inui

ABSTRACTTheCorynebacterium alkanolyticumxylEFGDgene cluster comprises thexylDgene that encodes an intracellular β-xylosidase next to thexylEFGoperon encoding a substrate-binding protein and two membrane permease proteins of a xyloside ABC transporter. Cloning of the cluster revealed a recombinant β-xylosidase of moderately high activity (turnover forp-nitrophenyl-β-d-xylopyranoside of 111 ± 4 s−1), weak α-l-arabinofuranosidase activity (turnover forp-nitrophenyl-α-l-arabinofuranoside of 5 ± 1 s−1), and high tolerance to product inhibition (Kifor xylose of 67.6 ± 2.6 mM). Heterologous expression of the entire cluster under the control of the strong constitutivetacpromoter in theCorynebacterium glutamicumxylose-fermenting strain X1 enabled the resultant strain X1EFGD to rapidly utilize not only xylooligosaccharides but also arabino-xylooligosaccharides. The ability to utilize arabino-xylooligosaccharides depended oncgR_2369, a gene encoding a multitask ATP-binding protein. Heterologous expression of the contiguousxylDgene in strain X1 led to strain X1D with 10-fold greater β-xylosidase activity than strain X1EFGD, albeit with a total loss of arabino-xylooligosaccharide utilization ability and only half the ability to utilize xylooligosaccharides. The findings suggest some inherent ability ofC. glutamicumto take up xylooligosaccharides, an ability that is enhanced by in the presence of a functionalxylEFG-encoded xyloside ABC transporter. The finding thatxylEFGimparts nonnative ability to take up arabino-xylooligosaccharides should be useful in constructing industrial strains with efficient fermentation of arabinoxylan, a major component of lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates.


2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (16) ◽  
pp. 5477-5485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haythem Latif ◽  
Merve Sahin ◽  
Janna Tarasova ◽  
Yekaterina Tarasova ◽  
Vasiliy A. Portnoy ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThermotoga maritimais a hyperthermophilic anaerobe that utilizes a vast network of ABC transporters to efficiently metabolize a variety of carbon sources to produce hydrogen. For unknown reasons, this organism does not metabolize glucose as readily as it does glucose di- and polysaccharides. The leading hypothesis implicates the thermolability of glucose at the physiological temperatures at whichT. maritimalives. After a 25-day laboratory evolution, phenotypes were observed with growth rates up to 1.4 times higher than and glucose utilization rates exceeding 50% those of the wild type. Genome resequencing revealed mutations in evolved cultures related to glucose-responsive ABC transporters. The native glucose ABC transporter, GluEFK, has more abundant transcripts either as a result of gene duplication-amplification or through mutations to the operator sequence regulating this operon. Conversely, BglEFGKL, a transporter of beta-glucosides, is substantially downregulated due to a nonsense mutation to the solute binding protein or due to a deletion of the upstream promoter. Analysis of the ABC2 uptake porter families for carbohydrate and peptide transport revealed that the solute binding protein, often among the transcripts detected at the highest levels, is predominantly downregulated in the evolved cultures, while the membrane-spanning domain and nucleotide binding components are less varied. Similar trends were observed in evolved strains grown on glycerol, a substrate that is not dependent on ABC transporters. Therefore, improved growth on glucose is achieved through mutations favoring GluEFK expression over BglEFGKL, and in lieu of carbon catabolite repression, the ABC transporter network is modulated to achieve improved growth fitness.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (7) ◽  
pp. 2133-2141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujie Men ◽  
Erica C. Seth ◽  
Shan Yi ◽  
Robert H. Allen ◽  
Michiko E. Taga ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCorrinoids are essential cofactors of reductive dehalogenases inDehalococcoides mccartyi, an important bacterium in bioremediation, yet sequencedD. mccartyistrains do not possess the complete pathway forde novocorrinoid biosynthesis.Pelosinussp. andDesulfovibriosp. have been detected in dechlorinating communities enriched from contaminated groundwater without exogenous cobalamin corrinoid. To investigate the corrinoid-related interactions among key members of these communities, we constructed consortia by growingD. mccartyistrain 195 (Dhc195) in cobalamin-free, trichloroethene (TCE)- and lactate-amended medium in cocultures withDesulfovibrio vulgarisHildenborough (DvH) orPelosinus fermentansR7 (PfR7) and with both in tricultures. Only the triculture exhibited sustainable dechlorination and cell growth when a physiological level of 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole (DMB), the lower ligand of cobalamin, was provided. In the triculture, DvH provided hydrogen while PfR7 provided corrinoids to Dhc195, and the initiation of dechlorination and Dhc195 cell growth was highly dependent on the growth of PfR7. Corrinoid analysis indicated that Dhc195 imported and remodeled the phenolic corrinoids produced by PfR7 into cobalamin in the presence of DMB. Transcriptomic analyses of Dhc195 showed the induction of the CbiZ-dependent corrinoid-remodeling pathway and BtuFCD corrinoid ABC transporter genes during corrinoid salvaging and remodeling. In contrast, another operon annotated to encode a putative iron/cobalamin ABC transporter (DET1174-DET1176) was induced when cobalamin was exogenously provided. Interestingly, a global upregulation of phage-related genes was observed when PfR7 was present. These findings provide insights into both the gene regulation of corrinoid salvaging and remodeling in Dhc195 when it is grown without exogenous cobalamin and microbe-to-microbe interactions in dechlorinating microbial communities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 1852-1860 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sélène Ferrari ◽  
Maurizio Sanguinetti ◽  
Flavia De Bernardis ◽  
Riccardo Torelli ◽  
Brunella Posteraro ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTMitochondrial dysfunction is one of the possible mechanisms by which azole resistance can occur inCandida glabrata. Cells with mitochondrial DNA deficiency (so-called “petite mutants”) upregulate ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter genes and thus display increased resistance to azoles. Isolation of suchC. glabratamutants from patients receiving antifungal therapy or prophylaxis has been rarely reported. In this study, we characterized two sequential and relatedC. glabrataisolates recovered from the same patient undergoing azole therapy. The first isolate (BPY40) was azole susceptible (fluconazole MIC, 4 μg/ml), and the second (BPY41) was azole resistant (fluconazole MIC, >256 μg/ml). BPY41 exhibited mitochondrial dysfunction and upregulation of the ABC transporter genesC. glabrata CDR1(CgCDR1),CgCDR2, andCgSNQ2. We next assessed whether mitochondrial dysfunction conferred a selective advantage during host infection by testing the virulence of BPY40 and BPY41 in mice. Surprisingly, even within vitrogrowth deficiency compared to BPY40, BPY41 was more virulent (as judged by mortality and fungal tissue burden) than BPY40 in both systemic and vaginal murine infection models. The increased virulence of the petite mutant correlated with a drastic gain of fitness in mice compared to that of its parental isolate. To understand this unexpected feature, genome-wide changes in gene expression driven by the petite mutation were analyzed by use of microarrays duringin vitrogrowth. Enrichment of specific biological processes (oxido-reductive metabolism and the stress response) was observed in BPY41, all of which was consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction. Finally, some genes involved in cell wall remodelling were upregulated in BPY41 compared to BPY40, which may partially explain the enhanced virulence of BPY41. In conclusion, this study shows for the first time that mitochondrial dysfunction selectedin vivounder azole therapy, even if strongly affectingin vitrogrowth characteristics, can confer a selective advantage under host conditions, allowing theC. glabratamutant to be more virulent than wild-type isolates.


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 163 (4) ◽  
pp. 1287-1298
Author(s):  
James B Anderson ◽  
Caroline Sirjusingh ◽  
Ainslie B Parsons ◽  
Charles Boone ◽  
Claire Wickens ◽  
...  

Abstract We show that mode of selection, degree of dominance of mutations, and ploidy are determining factors in the evolution of resistance to the antifungal drug fluconazole in yeast. In experiment 1, yeast populations were subjected to a stepwise increase in fluconazole concentration over 400 generations. Under this regimen, two mutations in the same two chromosomal regions rose to high frequency in parallel in three replicate populations. These mutations were semidominant and additive in their effect on resistance. The first of these mutations mapped to PDR1 and resulted in the overexpression of the ABC transporter genes PDR5 and SNQ2. These mutations had an unexpected pleiotropic effect of reducing the residual ability of the wild type to reproduce at the highest concentrations of fluconazole. In experiment 2, yeast populations were subjected to a single high concentration of fluconazole. Under this regimen, a single recessive mutation appeared in each of three replicate populations. In a genome-wide screen of ∼4700 viable deletion strains, 13 were classified as resistant to fluconazole (ERG3, ERG6, YMR102C, YMR099C, YPL056C, ERG28, OSH1, SCS2, CKA2, SML1, YBR147W, YGR283C, and YLR407W). The mutations in experiment 2 all mapped to ERG3 and resulted in the overexpression of the gene encoding the drug target ERG11, but not PDR5 and SNQ2. Diploid hybrids from experiments 1 and 2 were less fit than the parents in the presence of fluconazole. In a variation of experiment 2, haploids showed a higher frequency of resistance than diploids, suggesting that degree of dominance and ploidy are important factors in the evolution of antifungal drug resistance.


mSphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Egon A. Ozer ◽  
Lauren L. Prister ◽  
Shaohui Yin ◽  
Billy H. Ward ◽  
Stanimir Ivanov ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Gene diversification is a common mechanism pathogens use to alter surface structures to aid in immune avoidance. Neisseria gonorrhoeae uses a gene conversion-based diversification system to alter the primary sequence of the gene encoding the major subunit of the pilus, pilE. Antigenic variation occurs when one of the nonexpressed 19 silent copies donates part of its DNA sequence to pilE. We have developed a method using Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) amplicon sequencing and custom software to determine pilin antigenic variation frequencies. The program analyzes 37 variable regions across the strain FA1090 1-81-S2 pilE gene and can be modified to determine sequence variation from other starting pilE sequences or other diversity generation systems. Using this method, we measured pilin antigenic variation frequencies for various derivatives of strain FA1090 and showed we can also analyze pilin antigenic variation frequencies during macrophage infection. IMPORTANCE Diversity generation systems are used by many unicellular organism to provide subpopulations of cell with different properties that are available when needed. We have developed a method using the PacBio DNA sequencing technology and a custom computer program to analyze the pilin antigenic variation system of the organism that is the sole cause of the sexually transmitted infection, gonorrhea.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1055-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Kretschmer ◽  
Jana Klose ◽  
James W. Kronstad

ABSTRACTAn understanding of metabolic adaptation during the colonization of plants by phytopathogenic fungi is critical for developing strategies to protect crops. Lipids are abundant in plant tissues, and fungal phytopathogens in the phylum basidiomycota possess both peroxisomal and mitochondrial β-oxidation pathways to utilize this potential carbon source. Previously, we demonstrated a role for the peroxisomal β-oxidation enzyme Mfe2 in the filamentous growth, virulence, and sporulation of the maize pathogenUstilago maydis. However,mfe2mutants still caused disease symptoms, thus prompting a more detailed investigation of β-oxidation. We now demonstrate that a defect in thehad1gene encoding hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase for mitochondrial β-oxidation also influences virulence, although its paralog,had2, makes only a minor contribution. Additionally, we identified a gene encoding a polypeptide with similarity to the C terminus of Mfe2 and designated it Mfe2b; this gene makes a contribution to virulence only in the background of anmfe2Δ mutant. We also show that short-chain fatty acids induce cell death inU. maydisand that a block in β-oxidation leads to toxicity, likely because of the accumulation of toxic intermediates. Overall, this study reveals that β-oxidation has a complex influence on the formation of disease symptoms byU. maydisthat includes potential metabolic contributions to proliferationin plantaand an effect on virulence-related morphogenesis.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (20) ◽  
pp. 6465-6472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah L. Robinson ◽  
Daniel G. Panaccione

ABSTRACTDifferent lineages of fungi produce distinct classes of ergot alkaloids. Lysergic acid-derived ergot alkaloids produced by fungi in the Clavicipitaceae are particularly important in agriculture and medicine. The pathway to lysergic acid is partly elucidated, but the gene encoding the enzyme that oxidizes the intermediate agroclavine is unknown. We investigated two candidate agroclavine oxidase genes from the fungusEpichloë festucaevar.lolii×Epichloë typhinaisolate Lp1 (henceforth referred to asEpichloësp. Lp1), which produces lysergic acid-derived ergot alkaloids. Candidate geneseasHandcloAwere expressed in a mutant strain of the moldAspergillus fumigatus, which typically produces a subclass of ergot alkaloids not derived from agroclavine or lysergic acid. Candidate genes were coexpressed with theEpichloësp. Lp1 allele ofeasA, which encodes an enzyme that catalyzed the synthesis of agroclavine from anA. fumigatusintermediate; the agroclavine then served as the substrate for the candidate agroclavine oxidases. Strains expressingeasAandcloAfromEpichloësp. Lp1 produced lysergic acid from agroclavine, a process requiring a cumulative six-electron oxidation and a double-bond isomerization. Strains that accumulated excess agroclavine (as a result ofEpichloësp. Lp1easAexpression in the absence ofcloA) metabolized it into two novel ergot alkaloids for which provisional structures were proposed on the basis of mass spectra and precursor feeding studies. Our data indicate that CloA catalyzes multiple reactions to produce lysergic acid from agroclavine and that combining genes from different ergot alkaloid pathways provides an effective strategy to engineer important pathway molecules and novel ergot alkaloids.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document