scholarly journals Probing Direct Interactions between CodY and the oppD Promoter of Lactococcus lactis

2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (2) ◽  
pp. 512-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris D. den Hengst ◽  
Peter Curley ◽  
Rasmus Larsen ◽  
Girbe Buist ◽  
Arjen Nauta ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT CodY of Lactococcus lactis MG1363 is a transcriptional regulator that represses the expression of several genes encoding proteins of the proteolytic system. These genes include pepN, pepC, opp-pepO1, and probably prtPM, pepX, and pepDA2, since the expression of the latter three genes relative to nitrogen availability is similar to that of the former. By means of in vitro DNA binding assays and DNase I footprinting techniques, we demonstrate that L. lactis CodY interacts directly with a region upstream of the promoter of its major target known so far, the opp system. Our results indicate that multiple molecules of CodY interact with this promoter and that the amount of bound CodY molecules is affected by the presence of branched-chain amino acids and not by GTP. Addition of these amino acids strongly affects the extent of the region protected by CodY in DNase I footprints. Random and site-directed mutagenesis of the upstream region of oppD yielded variants that were derepressed in a medium with an excess of nitrogen sources. Binding studies revealed the importance of specific bases in the promoter region required for recognition by CodY.

2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (22) ◽  
pp. 6865-6876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuradha C. Villapakkam ◽  
Luke D. Handke ◽  
Boris R. Belitsky ◽  
Vladimir M. Levdikov ◽  
Anthony J. Wilkinson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Bacillus subtilis CodY protein is a DNA-binding global transcriptional regulator that responds to branched-chain amino acids (isoleucine, leucine, and valine) and GTP. Crystal structure studies have shown that the N-terminal region of the protein includes a GAF domain that contains a hydrophobic pocket within which isoleucine and valine bind. This region is well conserved in CodY homologs. Site-directed mutagenesis was employed to understand the roles of some of the residues in the GAF domain and hydrophobic pocket in interaction with isoleucine and GTP. The F40A, F71E, and F98A forms of CodY were inactive in vivo. They were activatable by GTP but to a much lesser extent by branched-chain amino acids in vitro. The CodY mutant R61A retained partial repression of target promoters in vivo and was able to respond to GTP in vitro but also responded poorly to branched-chain amino acids in vitro unless GTP was simultaneously present. Thus, the GAF domain includes residues essential for full activation of CodY by branched-chain amino acids, but these residues are not critical for activation by GTP. Binding studies with branched-chain amino acids and their analogs revealed that an amino group at position 2 and a methyl group at position 3 of valine are critical components of the recognition of the amino acids by CodY.


2020 ◽  
pp. jbc.RA120.015524
Author(s):  
Alexandra P Breslawec ◽  
Shaochi Wang ◽  
Crystal Li ◽  
Myles B Poulin

The exopolysaccharide poly-β-(1→6)-N-acetylglucosamine (PNAG) is a major structural determinant of bacterial biofilms responsible for persistent and nosocomial infections. The enzymatic dispersal of biofilms by PNAG-hydrolyzing glycosidase enzymes, such as Dispersin B (DspB), is a possible approach to treat biofilm dependent bacterial infections. The cationic charge resulting from partial de-N-acetylation of native PNAG is critical for PNAG-dependent biofilm formation. We recently demonstrated that DspB has increased catalytic activity on de-N-acetylated PNAG oligosaccharides, but the molecular basis for this increased activity is not known. Here, we analyze the role of anionic amino acids surrounding the catalytic pocket of DspB in PNAG substrate recognition and hydrolysis using a combination of site directed mutagenesis, activity measurements using synthetic PNAG oligosaccharide analogs, and in vitro biofilm dispersal assays. The results of these studies support a model in which bound PNAG is weakly associated with a shallow anionic groove on the DspB protein surface with recognition driven by interactions with the –1 GlcNAc residue in the catalytic pocket. An increased rate of hydrolysis for cationic PNAG was driven, in part, by interaction with D147 on the anionic surface. Moreover, we identified that a DspB mutant with improved hydrolysis of fully acetylated PNAG oligosaccharides correlates with improved in vitro dispersal of PNAG dependent Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms. These results provide insight into the mechanism of substrate recognition by DspB and suggest a method to improve DspB biofilm dispersal activity by mutation of the amino acids within the anionic binding surface.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 3252-3259
Author(s):  
T Prezant ◽  
K Pfeifer ◽  
L Guarente

Regulation of the CYC7 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, encoding iso-2-cytochrome c, was studied. Expression was induced about 20-fold by heme and derepressed 4- to 8-fold by a shift from glucose medium to one containing a nonfermentable carbon source. Deletion analysis showed that induction by heme depends upon sequences between -250 and -228 (from the coding sequence) and upon the HAP1 activator gene, previously shown to be required for CYC1 expression (L. Guarente et al., Cell 36:503-511, 1984). Thus, HAP1 coordinates expression of CYC7 and CYC1, the two genes encoding isologs of cytochrome c in S. cerevisiae. HAP1-18, a mutant allele of HAP1, which increased CYC7 expression more than 10-fold, also acted through sequences between -250 and -228. In vitro binding studies showed that the HAP1 product binds to these sequences (see also K. Pfeifer, T. Prezant, and L. Guarente, Cell 49:19-28, 1987) and an additional factor binds to distal sequences that lie between -201 and -165. This latter site augmented CYC7 expression in vivo. Derepression of CYC7 expression in a medium containing nonfermentable carbon sources depended upon sequences between -354 and -295. The interplay of these multiple sites and the factors that bind to them are discussed.


1980 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. BOILA ◽  
L. P. MILLIGAN

Rumen papillae from cattle were incubated aerobically with combinations of NH4Cl, amino acids and salts of organic acids, the latter including propionate, pyruvate, α-ketoglutarate and glyoxylate. Amino acids in the incubation media were analyzed using a gas-liquid chromatographic technique entailing separation of the isobutyl-N(0)-heptafluorobutyryl esters: glutamine was recovered with glutamate, asparagine with aspartate, and citrulline with ornithine. Rumen papillae incubated with pyruvate or propionate released alanine, but with the latter substrate only glutamate was effective as a nitrogen source. Glycine and glutamate plus glutamine were released in the presence of glyoxylate and α-ketoglutarate, respectively. Serine and aspartate plus asparagine were not quantitatively major products released by rumen papillae. Glutamate was an effective source of nitrogen for the release of alanine and glycine with pyruvate and glyoxylate, respectively, as carbon sources. When rumen papillae were incubated with pyruvate or glyoxylate as the added carbon source, glutamine nitrogen disappeared and was not accounted for by the amino acids measured. With arginine as a substrate, there was a release of ornithine by rumen papillae indicating urea production. The tissues of rumen papillae appear to synthesize amino acids from expected carbon sources with ammonia or glutamate as nitrogen sources and to catabolize glutamine and arginine. The metabolism of amino acids by rumen papillae would contribute to the interchange of nitrogen between the rumen and the host.


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (14) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirai Tanigawa ◽  
Tatsuya Maeda

ABSTRACT Evolutionarily conserved target of rapamycin (TOR) complex 1 (TORC1) responds to nutrients, especially amino acids, to promote cell growth. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, various nitrogen sources activate TORC1 with different efficiencies, although the mechanism remains elusive. Leucine, and perhaps other amino acids, was reported to activate TORC1 via the heterodimeric small GTPases Gtr1-Gtr2, the orthologues of the mammalian Rag GTPases. More recently, an alternative Gtr-independent TORC1 activation mechanism that may respond to glutamine was reported, although its molecular mechanism is not clear. In studying the nutrient-responsive TORC1 activation mechanism, the lack of an in vitro assay hinders associating particular nutrient compounds with the TORC1 activation status, whereas no in vitro assay that shows nutrient responsiveness has been reported. In this study, we have developed a new in vitro TORC1 kinase assay that reproduces, for the first time, the nutrient-responsive TORC1 activation. This in vitro TORC1 assay recapitulates the previously predicted Gtr-independent glutamine-responsive TORC1 activation mechanism. Using this system, we found that this mechanism specifically responds to l-glutamine, resides on the vacuolar membranes, and involves a previously uncharacterized Vps34-Vps15 phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase complex and the PI-3-phosphate [PI(3)P]-binding FYVE domain-containing vacuolar protein Pib2. Thus, this system was proved to be useful for dissecting the glutamine-responsive TORC1 activation mechanism.


2001 ◽  
Vol 359 (3) ◽  
pp. 557-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin MILLOT ◽  
Marie-Louise FONTAINE ◽  
Dominique THEPOT ◽  
Eve DEVINOY

The aim of the present study was to identify the functional domains of the upstream region of the rabbit whey acidic protein (WAP) gene, which has been used with considerable efficacy to target the expression of several foreign genes to the mammary gland. We have shown that this region exhibits three sites hypersensitive to DNase I digestion in the lactating mammary gland, and that all three sites harbour elements which can bind to Stat5 in vitro in bandshift assays. However, not all hypersensitive regions are detected at all stages from pregnancy to weaning, and the level of activated Stat5 detected in the rabbit mammary gland is low except during lactation. We have studied the role of the distal site, which is only detected during lactation, in further detail. It is located within a 849bp region that is required to induce a strong expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene in transfected mammary cells. Taken together, these results suggest that this region, centred around a Stat5-binding site and surrounded by a variable chromatin structure during the pregnancy–lactation cycle, may play a key role in regulating the expression of this gene in vivo. Furthermore, this distal region exhibits sequence similarity with a region located around 3kb upstream of the mouse WAP gene. The existence of such a distal region in the mouse WAP gene may explain the differences in expression between 4.1 and 2.1kb mouse WAP constructs.


2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (6) ◽  
pp. 3061-3068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie Chambellon ◽  
Mireille Yvon

ABSTRACT Aminotransferases, which catalyze the last step of biosynthesis of most amino acids and the first step of their catabolism, may be involved in the growth of Lactococcus lactis in milk. Previously, we isolated two aminotransferases from L. lactis, AraT and BcaT, which are responsible for the transamination of aromatic amino acids, branched-chain amino acids, and methionine. In this study, we demonstrated that double inactivation of AraT and BcaT strongly reduced the growth of L. lactis in milk. Supplementation of milk with amino acids and keto acids that are substrates of both aminotransferases did not improve the growth of the double mutant. On the contrary, supplementation of milk with isoleucine or a dipeptide containing isoleucine almost totally inhibited the growth of the double mutant, while it did not affect or only slightly affected the growth of the wild-type strain. These results suggest that AraT and BcaT play a major role in the growth of L. lactis in milk by degrading the intracellular excess isoleucine, which is responsible for the growth inhibition. The growth inhibition by isoleucine is likely to be due to CodY repression of the proteolytic system, which is necessary for maximal growth of L. lactis in milk, since the growth of the CodY mutant was not affected by addition of isoleucine to milk. Moreover, we demonstrated that AraT and BcaT are part of the CodY regulon and therefore are regulated by nutritional factors, such as the carbohydrate and nitrogen sources.


2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffery Tuckis ◽  
Sherin Smallwood ◽  
Joyce A. Feller ◽  
Sue A. Moyer

ABSTRACT The Sendai virus P-L polymerase complex binds the NP-encapsidated nucleocapsid (NC) template through a P-NP interaction. To identify P amino acids responsible for binding we performed site-directed mutagenesis on the C-terminal 88 amino acids in the NC binding domain. The mutant P proteins expressed from plasmids were assayed for viral RNA synthesis and for various protein-protein interactions. All the mutants formed P oligomers and bound to L protein. While two mutants, JT3 and JT8, retained all P functions at or near the levels of wild-type (wt) P, three others—JT4, JT6, and JT9—were completely defective for both transcription and genome replication in vitro. Each of the inactive mutants retained significant NC binding but had a different spectrum of other binding interactions and activities, suggesting that the NC binding domain also affects the catalytic function of the polymerase. NC binding was inhibited by combinations of the inactive mutations. The remaining P mutants were active in transcription but defective in various aspects of genome replication. Some P mutants were defective in NP0 binding and abolished the reconstitution of replication from separate P-L and NP0-P complexes. In some of these cases the coexpression of the wt polymerase with the mutant NP0-P complex could rescue the defect in replication, suggesting an interaction between these complexes. For some P mutants replication occurred in vivo, but not in vitro, suggesting that the intact cell is providing an unknown function that cannot be reproduced in extracts of cells. Thus, the C-terminal region of P is complex and possesses multiple functions besides NC binding that can be separated by mutation.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 5910-5918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y L Yuan ◽  
S Fields

The STE12 protein of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae binds to the pheromone response element (PRE) present in the upstream region of genes whose transcription is induced by pheromone. Using DNase I footprinting assays with bacterially made STE12 fragments, we localized the DNA-binding domain to 164 amino acids near the amino terminus. Footprinting of oligonucleotide-derived sequences containing one PRE, or two PREs in head-to-tail or tail-to-tail orientation, showed that the N-terminal 215 amino acids of STE12 has similar binding affinity to either of the dimer sites and a binding affinity 5- to 10-fold lower for the monomer site. This binding cooperativity was also evident on a fragment from the MFA2 gene, which encodes the a-factor pheromone. On this fragment, the 215-amino-acid STE12 fragment protected both a consensus PRE as well as a degenerate PRE containing an additional residue. Mutation of the degenerate site led to a 5- to 10-fold decrease in binding; mutation of the consensus site led to a 25-fold decrease in binding. The ability of PREs to function as pheromone-inducible upstream activation sequences in yeast correlated with their ability to bind the STE12 domain in vitro. The sequence of the STE12 DNA-binding domain contains similarities to the homeodomain, although it is highly diverged from other known examples of this motif. Moreover, the alignment between STE12 and the homeodomain postulates loops after both the putative helix 1 and helix 2 of the STE12 sequence.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khushboo Borah ◽  
Martin Beyss ◽  
Axel Theorell ◽  
Huihai Wu ◽  
Piyali Basu ◽  
...  

Nitrogen metabolism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is crucial for the survival and virulence of this pathogen inside host macrophages but little is known about the nitrogen sources acquired from the host or their route of assimilation. Here we performed a systems-based analysis of nitrogen metabolism in intracellullar Mtb and developed 15N-Flux Spectral Ratio Analysis (FSRA) to probe the metabolic cross-talk between the host cell and Mtb. We demonstrate that intracellular Mtb acquires nitrogen from multiple amino acids in the macrophage including glutamate, glutamine, aspartate, alanine, glycine and valine, with glutamine being the predominant nitrogen donor. Each nitrogen source is uniquely assimilated into specific intracellular pools indicating compartmentalised metabolism. This was not observed for in vitro-grown Mtb indicating that there is a switch in nitrogen metabolism when the pathogen enters the intracellular environment. These results provide clues about the potential metabolic targets for development of innovative anti-tuberculosis therapies.


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