scholarly journals The ComQXPA Quorum Sensing System May Play an Important Role in the Synthesis of Bacillomycin D in Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens Q-426

Author(s):  
chunshan quan ◽  
liming jin ◽  
wei zhou ◽  
jialu liu ◽  
xian shi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Bacillus amyloliquefaciens Q-426 can secrete numerous cyclic lipopeptides that have antifungal and antitumor activities. ComQXPA is a common quorum sensing (QS) system in Bacillus species. Most B. amyloliquefaciens strains are encoding the QS gene cluster comQXPA, however, the biological function of the ComQXPA system in B. amyloliquefaciens has not been well studied. In this study, we identified the comQXPA gene locus and the chemical structure of ComXQ-426 in B. amyloliquefaciens Q-426, and explored the function of ComXQ-426 in regulating lipopeptide production.Results: We identified and analyzed the comQXPA locus in Q-426. The full length of the comQXPA gene cluster was 4,014 bp, including 912 bp of comQ, 165 bp of comX, 2292 bp of comP, and 645 bp of comA. The comQXPA locus belongs to group B, as comQ and comX overlap by only one base pair. ComXQ-426 consists of six amino acids (GGDWKY) that contain a modified tryptophan residue. The antifungal activity of Q426ΔcomX was significantly affected, and almost no antifungal activity was observed, while the antifungal activity of strain Q426ΔcomX /comQX was restored to the same level as that of the wild-type strain. When the ComXQ-426 was added to the culture medium at a final concentration of 8 μg/L at the early stage of the log-phase, the antifungal activity of the wild-type strain Q-426 was significantly improved. Knocking out the comX gene did not affect the growth of the bacteria, however, the strain Q426ΔcomX lost its swimming ability, was unable to form colonies when spread on a solid surface, and could not form biofilms on the interface between the gas and liquid medium.Conclusions: Disruption of the ComPA signaling pathway in the Q-426 strain resulted in significant effects on bacillomycin D production, morphology, and motility.

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. 2899-2905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan-Chih Chen ◽  
Akshaya Ravichandran ◽  
Adam Guerrero ◽  
Peng Deng ◽  
Sonya M. Baird ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBurkholderia contaminansstrain MS14 produces the antifungal compound occidiofungin, which is responsible for significant antifungal activities against a broad range of plant and animal fungal pathogens. Occidiofungin is a cyclic glycolipopeptide made up of eight amino acids and one xylose. A 56-kbocfgene cluster was determined to be essential for occidiofungin production. In this study, theocfCgene, which is located downstream ofocfDand upstream of theocfBgene in theocfgene cluster, was examined. Antifungal activity of theocfCgene mutant MS14KC1 was reduced against the indicator fungusGeotrichum candidumcompared with that of the wild-type strain. Furthermore, the analysis of the protein sequence suggests that theocfCgene encodes a glycosyltransferase. Biochemical analyses using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy revealed that theocfCmutant produced the occidiofungin without the xylose. The purifiedocfCmutant MS14KC1 product had a level of bioactivity similar to that of the wild-type product. The revertant MS14KC1-R of theocfCmutant produced the same antifungal activity level on plate assays and the same antifungal compound based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy analysis as wild-type strain MS14. Collectively, the study demonstrates that theocfCgene encodes a glycosyltransferase responsible to add a xylose to the occidiofungin molecule and that the presence of the xylose is not important for antifungal activity againstCandidaspecies. The finding provides a novel variant for future studies aimed at evaluating its use for inhibiting clinical and agricultural fungi, and the finding could also simplify the chemical synthesis of occidiofungin variants.


2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (5) ◽  
pp. 1708-1714 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-Sik Kim ◽  
Ae Ran Choi ◽  
Seong Hyuk Lee ◽  
Hae-Chang Jung ◽  
Seung Seob Bae ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTGenome analysis revealed the existence of a putative transcriptional regulatory system governing CO metabolism inThermococcus onnurineusNA1, a carboxydotrophic hydrogenogenic archaeon. The regulatory system is composed of CorQ with a 4-vinyl reductase domain and CorR with a DNA-binding domain of the LysR-type transcriptional regulator family in close proximity to the CO dehydrogenase (CODH) gene cluster. Homologous genes of the CorQR pair were also found in the genomes ofThermococcusspecies and “CandidatusKorarchaeum cryptofilum” OPF8. In-frame deletion of eithercorQorcorRcaused a severe impairment in CO-dependent growth and H2production. WhencorQandcorRdeletion mutants were complemented by introducing thecorQRgenes under the control of a strong promoter, the mRNA and protein levels of the CODH gene were significantly increased in a ΔCorR strain complemented with integratedcorQR(ΔCorR/corQR↑) compared with those in the wild-type strain. In addition, the ΔCorR/corQR↑strain exhibited a much higher H2production rate (5.8-fold) than the wild-type strain in a bioreactor culture. The H2production rate (191.9 mmol liter−1h−1) and the specific H2production rate (249.6 mmol g−1h−1) of this strain were extremely high compared with those of CO-dependent H2-producing prokaryotes reported so far. These results suggest that thecorQRgenes encode a positive regulatory protein pair for the expression of a CODH gene cluster. The study also illustrates that manipulation of the transcriptional regulatory system can improve biological H2production.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (17) ◽  
pp. 5187-5197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Sperandio ◽  
Alfredo G. Torres ◽  
Jorge A. Girón ◽  
James B. Kaper

ABSTRACT Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7 is responsible for outbreaks of bloody diarrhea and hemolytic-uremic syndrome in many countries. EHEC virulence mechanisms include the production of Shiga toxins (Stx) and formation of attaching and effacing (AE) lesions on intestinal epithelial cells. We recently reported that genes involved in the formation of the AE lesion were regulated by quorum sensing through autoinducer-2, which is synthesized by the product of the luxS gene. In this study we hybridized an E. coli gene array with cDNA synthesized from RNA that was extracted from EHEC strain 86-24 and its isogenicluxS mutant. We observed that 404 genes were regulated by luxS at least fivefold, which comprises approximately 10% of the array genes; 235 of these genes were up-regulated and 169 were down-regulated in the wild-type strain compared to in theluxS mutant. Down-regulated genes included several involved in cell division, as well as ribosomal and tRNA genes. Consistent with this pattern of gene expression, theluxS mutant grows faster than the wild-type strain (generation times of 37.5 and 60 min, respectively, in Dulbecco modified Eagle medium). Up-regulated genes included several involved in the expression and assembly of flagella, motility, and chemotaxis. Using operon::lacZ fusions to class I, II, and III flagellar genes, we were able to confirm this transcriptional regulation. We also observed fewer flagella by Western blotting and electron microscopy and decreased motility halos in semisolid agar in the luxS mutant. The average swimming speeds for the wild-type strain and the luxS mutant are 12.5 and 6.6 μm/s, respectively. We also observed an increase in the production of Stx due to quorum sensing. Genes encoding Stx, which are transcribed along with λ-like phage genes, are induced by an SOS response, and genes involved in the SOS response were also regulated by quorum sensing. These results indicate that quorum sensing is a global regulatory mechanism for basic physiological functions of E. coli as well as for virulence factors.


2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 2991-2995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Baños ◽  
Rosario Pérez-Redondo ◽  
Bert Koekman ◽  
Paloma Liras

ABSTRACT The Streptomyces clavuligerus ATCC 27064 glycerol cluster gylR-glpF1K1D1 is induced by glycerol but is not affected by glucose. S. clavuligerus growth and clavulanic acid production are stimulated by glycerol, but this does not occur in a glpK1-deleted mutant. Amplification of glpK1D1 results in transformants yielding larger amounts of clavulanic acid in the wild-type strain and in overproducer S. clavuligerus Gap15-7-30 or S. clavuligerus ΔrelA strains.


2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 2048-2053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-Sik Kim ◽  
Seung Seob Bae ◽  
Yun Jae Kim ◽  
Tae Wan Kim ◽  
Jae Kyu Lim ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTHydrogenogenic CO oxidation (CO + H2O → CO2+ H2) has the potential for H2production as a clean renewable fuel.Thermococcus onnurineusNA1, which grows on CO and produces H2, has a unique gene cluster encoding the carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODH) and the hydrogenase. The gene cluster was identified as essential for carboxydotrophic hydrogenogenic metabolism by gene disruption and transcriptional analysis. To develop a strain producing high levels of H2, the gene cluster was placed under the control of a strong promoter. The resulting mutant, MC01, showed 30-fold-higher transcription of the mRNA encoding CODH, hydrogenase, and Na+/H+antiporter and a 1.8-fold-higher specific activity for CO-dependent H2production than did the wild-type strain. The H2production potential of the MC01 mutant in a bioreactor culture was 3.8-fold higher than that of the wild-type strain. The H2production rate of the engineered strain was severalfold higher than those of any other CO-dependent H2-producing prokaryotes studied to date. The engineered strain also possessed high activity for the bioconversion of industrial waste gases created as a by-product during steel production. This work represents the first demonstration of H2production from steel mill waste gas using a carboxydotrophic hydrogenogenic microbe.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 557-565 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Zúñiga ◽  
Raúl A. Donoso ◽  
Daniela Ruiz ◽  
Gonzalo A. Ruz ◽  
Bernardo González

Quorum-sensing systems play important roles in host colonization and host establishment of Burkholderiales species. Beneficial Paraburkholderia species share a conserved quorum-sensing (QS) system, designated BraI/R, that controls different phenotypes. In this context, the plant growth-promoting bacterium Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN possesses two different homoserine lactone QS systems BpI.1/R.1 and BpI.2/R.2 (BraI/R-like QS system). The BpI.1/R.1 QS system was previously reported to be important to colonize and produce beneficial effects in Arabidopsis thaliana plants. Here, we analyzed the temporal variations of the QS gene transcript levels in the wild-type strain colonizing plant roots. The gene expression patterns showed relevant differences in both QS systems compared with the wild-type strain in the unplanted control treatment. The gene expression data were used to reconstruct a regulatory network model of QS systems in P. phytofirmans PsJN, using a Boolean network model. Also, we examined the phenotypic traits and transcript levels of genes involved in QS systems, using P. phytofirmans mutants in homoserine lactone synthases genes. We observed that the BpI.1/R.1 QS system regulates biofilm formation production in strain PsJN and this phenotype was associated with the lower expression of a specific extracytoplasmic function sigma factor ecf26.1 gene (implicated in biofilm formation) in the bpI.1 mutant strain.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (2) ◽  
pp. 528-535 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsien-Ming Lee ◽  
Shiaw-Wei Tyan ◽  
Wei-Ming Leu ◽  
Ling-Yun Chen ◽  
David Chanhen Chen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The xps gene cluster is required for the second step of type II protein secretion in Xanthomonas campestrispv. campestris. Deletion of the entire gene cluster caused accumulation of secreted proteins in the periplasm. By analyzing protein abundance in the chromosomal mutant strains, we observed mutual dependence for normal steady-state levels between the XpsL and the XpsM proteins. The XpsL protein was undetectable in total lysate prepared from thexpsM mutant strain, and vice versa. Introduction of the wild-type xpsM gene carried on a plasmid into thexpsM mutant strain was sufficient for reappearance of the XpsL protein, and vice versa. Moreover, both XpsL and XpsM proteins were undetectable in the xpsN mutant strain. They were recovered either by reintroducing the wild-type xpsNgene or by introducing extra copies of wild-type xpsL orxpsM individually. Overproduction of wild-type XpsL and -M proteins simultaneously, but not separately, in the wild-type strain of X. campestris pv. campestris caused inhibition of secretion. Complementation of an xpsL orxpsM mutant strain with a plasmid-borne wild-type gene was inhibited by coexpression of XpsL and XpsM. The presence of the xpsN gene on the plasmid along with thexpsL and the xpsM genes caused more severe inhibition in both cases. Furthermore, complementation of thexpsN mutant strain was also inhibited. In both the wild-type strain and a strain with the xps gene cluster deleted (XC17433), carrying pCPP-LMN, which encodes all three proteins, each protein coprecipitated with the other two upon immunoprecipitation. Expression of pairwise combinations of the three proteins in XC17433 revealed that the XpsL-XpsM and XpsM-XpsN pairs still coprecipitated, whereas the XpsL-XpsN pair no longer coprecipitated.


2007 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 4519-4527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey N. Shaw ◽  
Ing-Marie Jonsson ◽  
Vineet K. Singh ◽  
Andrej Tarkowski ◽  
George C. Stewart

ABSTRACT The success of Staphylococcus aureus as a pathogen can largely be attributed to the plethora of genetic regulators encoded within its genome that temporally regulate its arsenal of virulence determinants throughout its virulence lifestyle. Arguably the most important of these is the two-component, quorum-sensing system agr. Over the last decade, the controversial presence of a second quorum-sensing system (the TRAP system) has been proposed, and it has been mooted to function as the master regulator of virulence in S. aureus by modulating agr. Mutants defective in TRAP are reported to be devoid of agr expression, lacking in hemolytic activity, essentially deficient in the secretion of virulence determinants, and avirulent in infection models. A number of research groups have questioned the validity of the TRAP findings in recent years; however, a thorough and independent analysis of its role in S. aureus physiology and pathogenesis has not been forthcoming. Therefore, we have undertaken such an analysis of the TRAP locus of S. aureus. We found that a traP mutant was equally hemolytic as the wild-type strain. Furthermore, transcriptional profiling found no alterations in the traP mutant in expression levels of agr or in expression levels of multiple agr-regulated genes (hla, sspA, and spa). Analysis of secreted and surface proteins of the traP mutant revealed no deviation in comparison to the parent. Finally, analysis conducted using a murine model of S. aureus septic arthritis revealed that, in contrast to an agr mutant, the traP mutant was just as virulent as the wild-type strain.


2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 682-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Quiñones ◽  
Glenn Dulla ◽  
Steven E. Lindow

The N-acyl homoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated quorumsensing system in the phytopathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae requires the AHL synthase AhlI and the regulator AhlR, and is additionally subject to regulation by AefR. The contribution of quorum sensing to the expression of a variety of traits expected to be involved in epiphytic fitness and virulence of P. syringae were examined. Both an aefR- mutant and an ahlR- double mutant, deficient in AHL production, were significantly impaired in alginate production and had an increased susceptibility to hydrogen peroxide compared with the wild-type strain. These mutants were hypermotile in culture, invaded leaves more rapidly, and caused an increased incidence of brown spot lesions on bean leaves after a 48-h moist incubation. Interestingly, an aefR- mutant was both the most motile and virulent. Like the wild-type strain, the AHL-deficient mutant strains incited water-soaked lesions on bean pods. However, lesions caused by an ahlI- ahlR- double mutant were larger, whereas those incited by an aefR- mutant were smaller. In contrast, tissue maceration of pods, which occurs at a later stage of infection, was completely abolished in the AHL-deficient mutants. Both the incidence of disease and in planta growth of P. syringae pv. tabaci were greatly reduced in transgenic tobacco plants that produced AHL compared with wild-type plants. These results demonstrate that quorum sensing in P. syringae regulates traits that contribute to epiphytic fitness as well as to distinct stages of disease development during plant infection.


2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (23) ◽  
pp. 7253-7259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte A. Perrett ◽  
Michail H. Karavolos ◽  
Suzanne Humphrey ◽  
Pietro Mastroeni ◽  
Isabel Martinez-Argudo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Bacterial species can communicate by producing and sensing small autoinducer molecules by a process known as quorum sensing. Salmonella enterica produces autoinducer 2 (AI-2) via the luxS synthase gene, which is used by some bacterial pathogens to coordinate virulence gene expression with population density. We investigated whether the luxS gene might affect the ability of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to invade epithelial cells. No differences were found between the wild-type strain of S. Typhimurium, SL1344, and its isogenic luxS mutant with respect to the number and morphology of the membrane ruffles induced or their ability to invade epithelial cells. The dynamics of the ruffling process were also similar in the wild-type strain (SL1344) and the luxS mutant. Furthermore, comparing the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) type 3 secretion profiles of wild-type SL1344 and the luxS mutant by Western blotting and measuring the expression of a single-copy green fluorescent protein fusion to the prgH (an essential SPI-1 gene) promoter indicated that SPI-1 expression and activity are similar in the wild-type SL1344 and luxS mutant. Genetic deletion of luxS did not alter the virulence of S. Typhimurium in the mouse model, and therefore, it appears that luxS does not play a significant role in regulating invasion of Salmonella in vitro or in vivo.


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