scholarly journals Function of the ςE Regulon in Dead-Cell Lysis in Stationary-Phase Escherichia coli

2000 ◽  
Vol 182 (18) ◽  
pp. 5231-5237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Nitta ◽  
Hiroshi Nagamitsu ◽  
Masayuki Murata ◽  
Hanae Izu ◽  
Mamoru Yamada

ABSTRACT Elevation of active ςE levels in Escherichia coli by either repressing the expression of rseAencoding an anti-ςE factor or cloning rpoE in a multicopy plasmid, led to a large decrease in the number of dead cells and the accumulation of cellular proteins in the medium in the stationary phase. The numbers of CFU, however, were nearly the same as those of the wild type or cells devoid of the cloned gene. In the wild-type cells, rpoE expression was increased in the stationary phase and a low-level release of intracellular proteins was observed. These results suggest that dead cell lysis in stationary-phase E. coli occurs in a ςE-dependent fashion. We propose there is a novel physiological function of the ςE regulon that may guarantee cell survival in prolonged stationary phase by providing nutrients from dead cells for the next generation.

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Weichart ◽  
Nadine Querfurth ◽  
Mathias Dreger ◽  
Regine Hengge-Aronis

ABSTRACT To elucidate the involvement of proteolysis in the regulation of stationary-phase adaptation, the clpA, clpX, and clpP protease mutants of Escherichia coli were subjected to proteome analysis during growth and during carbon starvation. For most of the growth-phase-regulated proteins detected on our gels, the clpA, clpX, or clpP mutant failed to mount the growth-phase regulation found in the wild type. For example, in the clpP and clpA mutant cultures, the Dps protein, the WrbA protein, and the periplasmic lysine-arginine-ornithine binding protein ArgT did not display the induction typical for late-stationary-phase wild-type cells. On the other hand, in the protease mutants, a number of proteins accumulated to a higher degree than in the wild type, especially in late stationary phase. The proteins affected in this manner include the LeuA, TrxB, GdhA, GlnA, and MetK proteins and alkyl hydroperoxide reductase (AhpC). These proteins may be directly degraded by ClpAP or ClpXP, respectively, or their expression could be modulated by a protease-dependent mechanism. From our data we conclude that the levels of most major growth-phase-regulated proteins in E. coli are at some point controlled by the activity of at least one of the ClpP, ClpA, and ClpX proteins. Cultures of the strains lacking functional ClpP or ClpX also displayed a more rapid loss of viability during extended stationary phase than the wild type. Therefore, regulation by proteolysis seems to be more important, especially in resting cells, than previously suspected.


1982 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 534-537
Author(s):  
S Mitra ◽  
B C Pal ◽  
R S Foote

O(6)-Methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase is induced in Escherichia coli during growth in low levels of N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine. We have developed a sensitive assay for quantitating low levels of this activity with a synthetic DNA substrate containing 3H-labeled O(6)-methylguanine as the only modified base. Although both wild-type and adaptation-deficient (ada) mutants of E. coli contained low but comparable numbers (from 13 to 60) of the enzyme molecules per cell, adaptation treatment caused a significant increase of the enzyme in the wild type but not in the ada mutants, suggesting that the ada mutation is in a regulatory locus and not in the structural gene for the methyltransferase.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (11) ◽  
pp. 3708-3712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Nonaka ◽  
Sean R. Connell ◽  
Diane E. Taylor

ABSTRACT Tetracycline resistance in clinical isolates of Helicobacter pylori has been associated with nucleotide substitutions at positions 965 to 967 in the 16S rRNA. We constructed mutants which had different sequences at 965 to 967 in the 16S rRNA gene present on a multicopy plasmid in Escherichia coli strain TA527, in which all seven rrn genes were deleted. The MICs for tetracycline of all mutants having single, double, or triple substitutions at the 965 to 967 region that were previously found in highly resistant H. pylori isolates were higher than that of the mutant exhibiting the wild-type sequence of tetracycline-susceptible H. pylori. The MIC of the mutant with the 965TTC967 triple substitution was 32 times higher than that of the E. coli mutant with the 965AGA967 substitution present in wild-type H. pylori. The ribosomes extracted from the tetracycline-resistant E. coli 965TTC967 variant bound less tetracycline than E. coli with the wild-type H. pylori sequence at this region. The concentration of tetracycline bound to the ribosome was 40% that of the wild type. The results of this study suggest that tetracycline binding to the primary binding site (Tet-1) of the ribosome at positions 965 to 967 is influenced by its sequence patterns, which form the primary binding site for tetracycline.


1977 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 1384-1393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen D. Armstrong ◽  
Hiroshi Yamazaki

A method has been developed for the isolation of Escherichia coli mutants which are resistant to catabolite repression. The method is based on the fact that a mixture of glucose and gluconate inhibits the development of chemotactic motility in the wild type, but not in the mutants. A motile E. coli strain was mutagenized and grown in glucose and gluconate. Mutants which were able to swim into a tube containing a chemotactic attractant (aspartic acid) were isolated. Most of these mutants were able to produce β-galactosidase in the presence of glucose and gluconate and were normal in their ability to degrade adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate. Some of these mutants were defective in the glucose phosphotransferase system.


1982 ◽  
Vol 152 (3) ◽  
pp. 1241-1247
Author(s):  
H Berger ◽  
J Hacker ◽  
A Juarez ◽  
C Hughes ◽  
W Goebel

We have cloned the chromosomal hemolysin determinants from Escherichia coli strains belonging to the four O-serotypes O4, O6, O18, and O75. The hemolysin-producing clones were isolated from gene banks of these strains which were constructed by inserting partial Sau3A fragments of chromosomal DNA into the cosmid pJC74. The hemolytic cosmid clones were relatively stable. The inserts were further subcloned either as SalI fragments in pACYC184 or as BamHI-SalI fragments in a recombinant plasmid (pANN202) containing cistron C (hlyC) of the plasmid-encoded hemolysin determinant. Detailed restriction maps of each of these determinants were constructed, and it was found that, despite sharing overall homology, the determinants exhibited minor specific differences in their structure. These appeared to be restricted to cistron A (hlyA), which is the structural gene for hemolysin. In the gene banks of two of these hemolytic strains, we could also identify clones which carried the genetic determinants for the mannose-resistant hemagglutination antigens Vb and VIc. Both of these fimbrial antigens were expressed in the E. coli K-12 clones to an extent similar to that observed in the wild-type strains. These recombinant cosmids were rather unstable, and, in the absence of selection, segregated at a high frequency.


2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (16) ◽  
pp. 5094-5107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsuyoshi Uehara ◽  
Thuy Dinh ◽  
Thomas G. Bernhardt

ABSTRACT Bacterial cytokinesis is coupled to the localized synthesis of new peptidoglycan (PG) at the division site. This newly generated septal PG is initially shared by the daughter cells. In Escherichia coli and other gram-negative bacteria, it is split shortly after it is made to promote daughter cell separation and allow outer membrane constriction to closely follow that of the inner membrane. We have discovered that the LytM (lysostaphin)-domain containing factors of E. coli (EnvC, NlpD, YgeR, and YebA) are absolutely required for septal PG splitting and daughter cell separation. Mutants lacking all LytM factors form long cell chains with septa containing a layer of unsplit PG. Consistent with these factors playing a direct role in septal PG splitting, both EnvC-mCherry and NlpD-mCherry fusions were found to be specifically recruited to the division site. We also uncovered a role for the LytM-domain factors in the process of β-lactam-induced cell lysis. Compared to wild-type cells, mutants lacking LytM-domain factors were delayed in the onset of cell lysis after treatment with ampicillin. Moreover, rather than lysing from midcell lesions like wild-type cells, LytM− cells appeared to lyse through a gradual loss of cell shape and integrity. Overall, the phenotypes of mutants lacking LytM-domain factors bear a striking resemblance to those of mutants defective for the N-acetylmuramyl-l-alanine amidases: AmiA, AmiB, and AmiC. E. coli thus appears to rely on two distinct sets of putative PG hydrolases to promote proper cell division.


1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1426-1431 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Frothingham ◽  
W A Meeker-O'Connell ◽  
E A Talbot ◽  
J W George ◽  
K N Kreuzer

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is one of the three most important drugs for treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. The antibacterial activity of PZA requires a bacterial enzyme, pyrazinamidase (PZAase), which hydrolyzes PZA to form pyrazinoic acid and ammonia. Most PZA-resistant clinical M. tuberculosis isolates lack PZAase activity. With the goal of eventually identifying and characterizing the M.tuberculosis PZAase gene, we began with the more tractable organism, Escherichia coli, which also has PZAase activity. We screened a transposon-generated E. coli insertion mutant library, using a qualitative PZAase assay. Two PZAase-negative mutants out of 4,000 colonies screened were identified. In each mutant, the transposon interrupted the same 639-bp open reading frame (ORF), ORF1. The expression of ORF1 on a multicopy plasmid complemented a PZAase-negative mutant, leading to PZAase activity levels approximately 10-fold greater than those of the wild type. PZA has a structure similar to that of nicotinamide, a pyridine nucleotide cycle intermediate, so we tested our strains for nicotinamidase activity (EC 3.5.1.19) (genetic locus pncA). The construct with multiple plasmid copies of ORF1 had an approximately 10-fold increase in levels of nicotinamidase activity. This overexpressing strain could utilize nicotinamide as a sole nitrogen source, through wild-type E. coli cannot. We conclude that a single E. coli enzyme accounts for both PZAase and nicotinamidase activities and that ORF1 is the E.coli PZAase and nicotinamidase gene, pncA.


2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 6165-6171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vaishali Humnabadkar ◽  
K. R. Prabhakar ◽  
Ashwini Narayan ◽  
Sreevalli Sharma ◽  
Supreeth Guptha ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe Mur ligases play an essential role in the biosynthesis of bacterial peptidoglycan and hence are attractive antibacterial targets. A screen of the AstraZeneca compound library led to the identification of compound A, a pyrazolopyrimidine, as a potent inhibitor ofEscherichia coliandPseudomonas aeruginosaMurC. However, cellular activity againstE. coliorP. aeruginosawas not observed. Compound A was active against efflux pump mutants of both strains. Experiments using anE. colitolCmutant revealed accumulation of the MurC substrate and a decrease in the level of product upon treatment with compound A,indicating inhibition of MurC enzyme in these cells. Such a modulation was not observed in theE. coliwild-type cells. Further, overexpression of MurC in theE. colitolCmutant led to an increase in the compound A MIC by ≥16-fold, establishing a correlation between MurC inhibition and cellular activity. In addition, estimation of the intracellular compound A level showed an accumulation of the compound over time in thetolCmutant strain. A significant compound A level was not detected in the wild-typeE. colistrain even upon treatment with high concentrations of the compound. Therefore, the lack of MIC and absence of MurC inhibition in wild-typeE. coliwere possibly due to suboptimal compound concentration as a consequence of a high efflux level and/or poor permeativity of compound A.


2001 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 1924-1928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gábor Nagy ◽  
Ulrich Dobrindt ◽  
Maren Kupfer ◽  
Levente Emödy ◽  
Helge Karch ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The outer membrane protein ChuA responsible for hemin utilization has been recently identified in several pathogenic Escherichia coli strains. We report that the regulatory protein RfaH influences ChuA expression in the uropathogenic E. colistrain 536. In an rfaH mutant, the chuAtranscript as well as the ChuA protein levels were significantly decreased in comparison with those in the wild-type strain. Within thechuA gene, a consensus motif known as the JUMPStart (just upstream of many polysaccharide associated gene starts) sequence was found, which is shared by RfaH-affected operons. Furthermore, the presence of two different subclasses of thechuA determinant and their distribution in E. coli pathogroups are described.


2015 ◽  
Vol 197 (22) ◽  
pp. 3521-3532 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Wargachuk ◽  
Gregory T. Marczynski

ABSTRACTIt is not known how diverse bacteria regulate chromosome replication. Based onEscherichia colistudies, DnaA initiates replication and the homolog of DnaA (Hda) inactivates DnaA using the RIDA (regulatoryinactivation ofDnaA) mechanism that thereby prevents extra chromosome replication cycles. RIDA may be widespread, because the distantly relatedCaulobacter crescentushomolog HdaA also prevents extra chromosome replication (J. Collier and L. Shapiro, J Bacteriol 191:5706–5715, 2009,http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JB.00525-09). To further study the HdaA/RIDA mechanism, we created aC. crescentusstrain that shuts offhdaAtranscription and rapidly clears HdaA protein. We confirm that HdaA prevents extra replication, since cells lacking HdaA accumulate extra chromosome DNA. DnaA binds nucleotides ATP and ADP, and our results are consistent with the establishedE. colimechanism whereby Hda converts active DnaA-ATP to inactive DnaA-ADP. However, unlikeE. coliDnaA,C. crescentusDnaA is also regulated by selective proteolysis.C. crescentuscells lacking HdaA reduce DnaA proteolysis in logarithmically growing cells, thereby implicating HdaA in this selective DnaA turnover mechanism. Also, wild-typeC. crescentuscells remove all DnaA protein when they enter stationary phase. However, cells lacking HdaA retain stable DnaA protein even when they stop growing in nutrient-depleted medium that induces complete DnaA proteolysis in wild-type cells. Additional experiments argue for a distinct HdaA-dependent mechanism that selectively removes DnaA prior to stationary phase. Related freshwaterCaulobacterspecies also remove DnaA during entry to stationary phase, implying a wider role for HdaA as a novel component of programed proteolysis.IMPORTANCEBacteria must regulate chromosome replication, and yet the mechanisms are not completely understood and not fully exploited for antibiotic development. Based onEscherichia colistudies, DnaA initiates replication, and the homolog of DnaA (Hda) inactivates DnaA to prevent extra replication. The distantly relatedCaulobacter crescentushomolog HdaA also regulates chromosome replication. Here we unexpectedly discovered that unlike theE. coliHda, theC. crescentusHdaA also regulates DnaA proteolysis. Furthermore, this HdaA proteolysis acts in logarithmically growing and in stationary-phase cells and therefore in two very different physiological states. We argue that HdaA acts to help time chromosome replications in logarithmically growing cells and that it is an unexpected component of the programed entry into stationary phase.


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