scholarly journals Supercoil Levels in E. coli and Salmonella Chromosomes Are Regulated by the C-Terminal 35–38 Amino Acids of GyrA

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolay Rovinskiy ◽  
Andrews Agbleke ◽  
Olga Chesnokova ◽  
N. Higgins

Prokaryotes have an essential gene—gyrase—that catalyzes negative supercoiling of plasmid and chromosomal DNA. Negative supercoils influence DNA replication, transcription, homologous recombination, site-specific recombination, genetic transposition and sister chromosome segregation. Although E. coli and Salmonella Typhimurium are close relatives with a conserved set of essential genes, E. coli DNA has a supercoil density 15% higher than Salmonella, and E. coli cannot grow at the supercoil density maintained by wild type (WT) Salmonella. E. coli is addicted to high supercoiling levels for efficient chromosomal folding. In vitro experiments were performed with four gyrase isoforms of the tetrameric enzyme (GyrA2:GyrB2). E. coli gyrase was more processive and faster than the Salmonella enzyme, but Salmonella strains with chromosomal swaps of E. coli GyrA lost 40% of the chromosomal supercoil density. Reciprocal experiments in E. coli showed chromosomal dysfunction for strains harboring Salmonella GyrA. One GyrA segment responsible for dis-regulation was uncovered by constructing and testing GyrA chimeras in vivo. The six pinwheel elements and the C-terminal 35–38 acidic residues of GyrA controlled WT chromosome-wide supercoiling density in both species. A model of enzyme processivity modulated by competition between DNA and the GyrA acidic tail for access to β-pinwheel elements is presented.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6865
Author(s):  
Eun Seon Lee ◽  
Joung Hun Park ◽  
Seong Dong Wi ◽  
Ho Byoung Chae ◽  
Seol Ki Paeng ◽  
...  

The thioredoxin-h (Trx-h) family of Arabidopsis thaliana comprises cytosolic disulfide reductases. However, the physiological function of Trx-h2, which contains an additional 19 amino acids at its N-terminus, remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the molecular function of Trx-h2 both in vitro and in vivo and found that Arabidopsis Trx-h2 overexpression (Trx-h2OE) lines showed significantly longer roots than wild-type plants under cold stress. Therefore, we further investigated the role of Trx-h2 under cold stress. Our results revealed that Trx-h2 functions as an RNA chaperone by melting misfolded and non-functional RNAs, and by facilitating their correct folding into active forms with native conformation. We showed that Trx-h2 binds to and efficiently melts nucleic acids (ssDNA, dsDNA, and RNA), and facilitates the export of mRNAs from the nucleus to the cytoplasm under cold stress. Moreover, overexpression of Trx-h2 increased the survival rate of the cold-sensitive E. coli BX04 cells under low temperature. Thus, our data show that Trx-h2 performs function as an RNA chaperone under cold stress, thus increasing plant cold tolerance.


2006 ◽  
Vol 393 (3) ◽  
pp. 767-777 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Guo ◽  
Liqiang Zhang ◽  
Hongjie Zhang ◽  
Yanming Feng ◽  
Guozhong Jing

RRF (ribosome recycling factor) consists of two domains, and in concert with EF-G (elongation factor-G), triggers dissociation of the post-termination ribosomal complex. However, the function of the individual domains of RRF remains unclear. To clarify this, two RRF chimaeras, EcoDI/TteDII and TteDI/EcoDII, were created by domain swaps between the proteins from Escherichia coli and Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis. The ribosome recycling activity of the RRF chimaeras was compared with their wild-type RRFs by using in vivo and in vitro activity assays. Like wild-type TteRRF (T. tengcongensis RRF), the EcoDI/TteDII chimaera is non-functional in E. coli, but both wild-type TteRRF, and EcoDI/TteDII can be activated by coexpression of T. tengcongensis EF-G in E. coli. By contrast, like wild-type E. coli RRF (EcoRRF), TteDI/EcoDII is fully functional in E. coli. These findings suggest that domain II of RRF plays a crucial role in the concerted action of RRF and EF-G for the post-termination complex disassembly, and the specific interaction between RRF and EF-G on ribosomes mainly depends on the interaction between domain II of RRF and EF-G. This study provides direct genetic and biochemical evidence for the function of the individual domains of RRF.


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 1251-1260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glen E. Cronan ◽  
Elena A. Kouzminova ◽  
Andrei Kuzminov

In vitro, purified replisomes drive model replication forks to synthesize continuous leading strands, even without ligase, supporting the semidiscontinuous model of DNA replication. However, nascent replication intermediates isolated from ligase-deficientEscherichia colicomprise only short (on average 1.2-kb) Okazaki fragments. It was long suspected that cells replicate their chromosomal DNA by the semidiscontinuous mode observed in vitro but that, in vivo, the nascent leading strand was artifactually fragmented postsynthesis by excision repair. Here, using high-resolution separation of pulse-labeled replication intermediates coupled with strand-specific hybridization, we show that excision-proficientE. coligenerates leading-strand intermediates >10-fold longer than lagging-strand Okazaki fragments. Inactivation of DNA-repair activities, including ribonucleotide excision, further increased nascent leading-strand size to ∼80 kb, while lagging-strand Okazaki fragments remained unaffected. We conclude that in vivo, repriming occurs ∼70× less frequently on the leading versus lagging strands, and that DNA replication inE. coliis effectively semidiscontinuous.


2001 ◽  
Vol 183 (7) ◽  
pp. 2259-2264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wei ◽  
Amy C. Vollmer ◽  
Robert A. LaRossa

ABSTRACT Mitomycin C (MMC), a DNA-damaging agent, is a potent inducer of the bacterial SOS response; surprisingly, it has not been used to select resistant mutants from wild-type Escherichia coli. MMC resistance is caused by the presence of any of four distinctE. coli genes (mdfA, gyrl, rob, andsdiA) on high-copy-number vectors. mdfAencodes a membrane efflux pump whose overexpression results in broad-spectrum chemical resistance. The gyrI (also called sbmC) gene product inhibits DNA gyrase activity in vitro, while the rob protein appears to function in transcriptional activation of efflux pumps. SdiA is a transcriptional activator of ftsQAZ genes involved in cell division.


2001 ◽  
Vol 276 (50) ◽  
pp. 47046-47051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin J. Sakamoto ◽  
Miho Sasaki ◽  
Tetsuaki Tsuchido

We purified and characterized a 39-kDaBacillus subtilis168 nuclease that has been suggested in this laboratory to be involved in chromosomal DNA degradation induced by lethal heat and cold shock treatmentsin vivo. The nuclease activity was inhibitedin vitroby aurintricalboxylic acid but not by Zn2+. By the mutant analysis, we identified the 39-kDa nuclease as a product ofyokFgene. TheyokFgene contained a putative lipoprotein signal peptide motif. Afterin vivoexposure to lethal heat and cold stresses, the chromosomal DNA fragmentation was reduced in theyokFmutant, which demonstrated about a 2–10-fold higher survival rate than the wild type. TheyokFmutant was found to be more sensitive to mitomycin C than the wild type. The transformation efficiency of theyokFmutant was about 10 times higher than that of the wild type. It is suggested that whenB. subtiliscells are exposed to a stressful thermal shock resulting in membrane perturbation, YokF nuclease consequently dislocates into the cytoplasm and then attacks DNA.


2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 459-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Rowley ◽  
Andrew Stevenson ◽  
Jan Kormanec ◽  
Mark Roberts

ABSTRACT The alternative sigma factor (RpoE σE) enables Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to adapt to stressful conditions, such as oxidative stress, nutrient deprivation, and growth in mammalian tissues. Infection of mice by Salmonella serovar Typhimurium also requires σE. In Escherichia coli, activation of the σE pathway is dependent on proteolysis of the anti-sigma factor RseA and is initiated by DegS. DegS is also important in order for E. coli to cause extraintestinal infection in mice. We constructed a degS mutant of the serovar Typhimurium strain SL1344 and compared its behavior in vitro and in vivo with those of its wild-type (WT) parent and an isogenic rpoE mutant. Unlike E. coli degS strains, the Salmonella serovar Typhimurium degS strain grew as well as the WT strain at 42°C. The degS mutant survived very poorly in murine macrophages in vitro and was highly attenuated compared with the WT strain for both the oral and parenteral routes of infection in mice. However, the degS mutant was not as attenuated as the serovar Typhimurium rpoE mutant: 100- to 1,000-fold more degS bacteria than rpoE bacteria were present in the livers and spleens of mice 24 h after intraperitoneal challenge. In most assays, the rpoE mutant was more severely affected than the degS mutant and a σE-dependent reporter gene was more active in the degS mutant than the rpoE strain. These findings indicate that degS is important for activation of the σE pathway in serovar Typhimurium but that alternative pathways for σE activation probably exist.


2005 ◽  
Vol 389 (2) ◽  
pp. 541-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh K. Soni ◽  
Parul Mehra ◽  
Gauranga Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Suman Kumar Dhar

In Escherichia coli, DnaC is essential for loading DnaB helicase at oriC (the origin of chromosomal DNA replication). The question arises as to whether this model can be generalized to other species, since many eubacterial species fail to possess dnaC in their genomes. Previously, we have reported the characterization of HpDnaB (Helicobacter pylori DnaB) both in vitro and in vivo. Interestingly, H. pylori does not have a DnaC homologue. Using two different E. coli dnaC (EcdnaC) temperature-sensitive mutant strains, we report here the complementation of EcDnaC function by HpDnaB in vivo. These observations strongly suggest that HpDnaB can bypass EcDnaC activity in vivo.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (22) ◽  
pp. 7773-7783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenhua Pang ◽  
Ray Chen ◽  
Dipankar Manna ◽  
N. Patrick Higgins

ABSTRACT When a mutation in an essential gene shows a temperature-sensitive phenotype, one usually assumes that the protein is inactive at nonpermissive temperature. DNA gyrase is an essential bacterial enzyme composed of two subunits, GyrA and GyrB. The gyrB652 mutation results from a single base change that substitutes a serine residue for arginine 436 (R436-S) in the GyrB protein. At 42°C, strains with the gyrB652 allele stop DNA replication, and at 37°C, such strains grow but have RecA-dependent SOS induction and show constitutive RecBCD-dependent DNA degradation. Surprisingly, the GyrB652 protein is not inactive at 42°C in vivo or in vitro and it doesn't directly produce breaks in chromosomal DNA. Rather, this mutant has a low k cat compared to wild-type GyrB subunit. With more than twice the normal mean number of supercoil domains, this gyrase hypomorph is prone to fork collapse and topological chaos near the terminus of DNA replication.


2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 501-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Dong ◽  
Brian K. Coombes ◽  
Herb E. Schellhorn

ABSTRACT Citrobacter rodentium is a mouse enteropathogen that is closely related to Escherichia coli and causes severe colonic hyperplasia and bloody diarrhea. C. rodentium infection requires expression of genes of the locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) pathogenicity island, which simulates infection by enteropathogenic E. coli and enterohemorrhagic E. coli in the human intestine, providing an effective model for studying enteropathogenesis. In this study we investigated the role of RpoS, the stationary phase sigma factor, in virulence in C. rodentium. Sequence analysis showed that the rpoS gene is highly conserved in C. rodentium and E. coli, exhibiting 92% identity. RpoS was critical for survival under heat shock conditions and during exposure to H2O2 and positively regulated the expression of catalase KatE (HPII). The development of the RDAR (red dry and rough) morphotype, an important virulence trait in E. coli, was also mediated by RpoS in C. rodentium. Unlike E. coli, C. rodentium grew well in the mouse colon, and the wild-type strain colonized significantly better than rpoS mutants. However, a mutation in rpoS conferred a competitive growth advantage over the wild type both in vitro in Luria-Bertani medium and in vivo in the mouse colon. Survival analysis showed that the virulence of an rpoS mutant was attenuated. The expression of genes on the LEE pathogenicity island, which are essential for colonization and virulence, was reduced in the rpoS mutant. In conclusion, RpoS is important for the stress response and is required for full virulence in C. rodentium.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinlei Zhao ◽  
Shahista Nisa ◽  
Michael S. Donnenberg

AbstractType IV pili (T4Ps) are multifunctional protein fibers found in many bacteria and archaea. All T4P systems have an extension ATPase, which provides the energy required to push structural subunits out of the membrane. We previously reported that the BfpD T4P ATPase from enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) has the expected hexameric structure and ATPase activity, the latter enhanced by the presence of the N-terminal cytoplasmic domains of its partner proteins BfpC and BfpE. In this study, we further investigated the kinetics of the BfpD ATPase. Despite high purity of the proteins, the reported enhanced ATPase activity was found to be from (an) ATPase(s) contaminating the N-BfpC preparation. Furthermore, although two mutations in highly conserved bfpD sites led to loss of function in vivo, the purified mutant proteins retained some ATPase activity, albeit less than the wild-type protein. Therefore, the observed ATPase activity of BfpD was also affected by (a) contaminating ATPase(s). Expression of the mutant bfpD alleles did not interfere with BfpD function in bacteria that also expressed wild-type BfpD. However, a similar mutation of bfpF, which encodes the retraction ATPase, blocked the function of wild-type BfpF when both were present. These results highlight similarities and differences in function and activity of T4P extension and retraction ATPases in EPEC.


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