scholarly journals Lipoate-binding proteins and specific lipoate-protein ligases in microbial sulfur oxidation reveal an atpyical role for an old cofactor

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyun Cao ◽  
Tobias Koch ◽  
Lydia Steffens ◽  
Julia Finkensieper ◽  
Renate Zigann ◽  
...  

Many Bacteria and Archaea employ the heterodisulfide reductase (Hdr)-like sulfur oxidation pathway. The relevant genes are inevitably associated with genes encoding lipoate-binding proteins (LbpA). Here, deletion of the gene identified LbpA as an essential component of the Hdr-like sulfur-oxidizing system in the Alphaproteobacterium Hyphomicrobium denitrificans. Thus, a biological function was established for the universally conserved cofactor lipoate that is markedly different from its canonical roles in central metabolism. LbpAs likely function as sulfur-binding entities presenting substrate to different catalytic sites of the Hdr-like complex, similar to the substrate-channeling function of lipoate in carbon-metabolizing multienzyme complexes, for example pyruvate dehydrogenase. LbpAs serve a specific function in sulfur oxidation, cannot functionally replace the related GcvH protein in Bacillus subtilis and are not modified by the canonical E. coli and B. subtilis lipoyl attachment machineries. Instead, LplA-like lipoate-protein ligases encoded in or in immediate vicinity of hdr-lpbA gene clusters act specifically on these proteins.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Qun Chen ◽  
Shweta Chhajed ◽  
Tong Zhang ◽  
Joseph M. Collins ◽  
Qiuying Pang ◽  
...  

AbstractDuring the past two decades, glucosinolate (GLS) metabolic pathways have been under extensive studies because of the importance of the specialized metabolites in plant defense against herbivores and pathogens. The studies have led to a nearly complete characterization of biosynthetic genes in the reference plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Before methionine incorporation into the core structure of aliphatic GLS, it undergoes chain-elongation through an iterative three-step process recruited from leucine biosynthesis. Although enzymes catalyzing each step of the reaction have been characterized, the regulatory mode is largely unknown. In this study, using three independent approaches, yeast two-hybrid (Y2H), coimmunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC), we uncovered the presence of protein complexes consisting of isopropylmalate isomerase (IPMI) and isopropylmalate dehydrogenase (IPMDH). In addition, simultaneous decreases in both IPMI and IPMDH activities in a leuc:ipmdh1 double mutants resulted in aggregated changes of GLS profiles compared to either leuc or ipmdh1 single mutants. Although the biological importance of the formation of IPMI and IPMDH protein complexes has not been documented in any organisms, these complexes may represent a new regulatory mechanism of substrate channeling in GLS and/or leucine biosynthesis. Since genes encoding the two enzymes are widely distributed in eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes, such complexes may have universal significance in the regulation of leucine biosynthesis.


Marine Drugs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 298
Author(s):  
Despoina Konstantinou ◽  
Rafael V. Popin ◽  
David P. Fewer ◽  
Kaarina Sivonen ◽  
Spyros Gkelis

Sponges form symbiotic relationships with diverse and abundant microbial communities. Cyanobacteria are among the most important members of the microbial communities that are associated with sponges. Here, we performed a genus-wide comparative genomic analysis of the newly described marine benthic cyanobacterial genus Leptothoe (Synechococcales). We obtained draft genomes from Le. kymatousa TAU-MAC 1615 and Le. spongobia TAU-MAC 1115, isolated from marine sponges. We identified five additional Leptothoe genomes, host-associated or free-living, using a phylogenomic approach, and the comparison of all genomes showed that the sponge-associated strains display features of a symbiotic lifestyle. Le. kymatousa and Le. spongobia have undergone genome reduction; they harbored considerably fewer genes encoding for (i) cofactors, vitamins, prosthetic groups, pigments, proteins, and amino acid biosynthesis; (ii) DNA repair; (iii) antioxidant enzymes; and (iv) biosynthesis of capsular and extracellular polysaccharides. They have also lost several genes related to chemotaxis and motility. Eukaryotic-like proteins, such as ankyrin repeats, playing important roles in sponge-symbiont interactions, were identified in sponge-associated Leptothoe genomes. The sponge-associated Leptothoe stains harbored biosynthetic gene clusters encoding novel natural products despite genome reduction. Comparisons of the biosynthetic capacities of Leptothoe with chemically rich cyanobacteria revealed that Leptothoe is another promising marine cyanobacterium for the biosynthesis of novel natural products.


1999 ◽  
Vol 181 (13) ◽  
pp. 3981-3993 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia A. Denome ◽  
Pamela K. Elf ◽  
Thomas A. Henderson ◽  
David E. Nelson ◽  
Kevin D. Young

ABSTRACT The penicillin binding proteins (PBPs) synthesize and remodel peptidoglycan, the structural component of the bacterial cell wall. Much is known about the biochemistry of these proteins, but little is known about their biological roles. To better understand the contributions these proteins make to the physiology ofEscherichia coli, we constructed 192 mutants from which eight PBP genes were deleted in every possible combination. The genes encoding PBPs 1a, 1b, 4, 5, 6, and 7, AmpC, and AmpH were cloned, and from each gene an internal coding sequence was removed and replaced with a kanamycin resistance cassette flanked by two ressites from plasmid RP4. Deletion of individual genes was accomplished by transferring each interrupted gene onto the chromosome of E. coli via λ phage transduction and selecting for kanamycin-resistant recombinants. Afterwards, the kanamycin resistance cassette was removed from each mutant strain by supplying ParA resolvase in trans, yielding a strain in which a long segment of the original PBP gene was deleted and replaced by an 8-bpres site. These kanamycin-sensitive mutants were used as recipients in further rounds of replacement mutagenesis, resulting in a set of strains lacking from one to seven PBPs. In addition, thedacD gene was deleted from two septuple mutants, creating strains lacking eight genes. The only deletion combinations not produced were those lacking both PBPs 1a and 1b because such a combination is lethal. Surprisingly, all other deletion mutants were viable even though, at the extreme, 8 of the 12 known PBPs had been eliminated. Furthermore, when both PBPs 2 and 3 were inactivated by the β-lactams mecillinam and aztreonam, respectively, several mutants did not lyse but continued to grow as enlarged spheres, so that one mutant synthesized osmotically resistant peptidoglycan when only 2 of 12 PBPs (PBPs 1b and 1c) remained active. These results have important implications for current models of peptidoglycan biosynthesis, for understanding the evolution of the bacterial sacculus, and for interpreting results derived by mutating unknown open reading frames in genome projects. In addition, members of the set of PBP mutants will provide excellent starting points for answering fundamental questions about other aspects of cell wall metabolism.


2005 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 621-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-Wei Chen ◽  
Cheng-Ying Jiang ◽  
Qunxin She ◽  
Shuang-Jiang Liu ◽  
Pei-Jin Zhou

ABSTRACT Analysis of known sulfur oxygenase-reductases (SORs) and the SOR-like sequences identified from public databases indicated that they all possess three cysteine residues within two conserved motifs (V-G-P-K-V-C31 and C101-X-X-C104; numbering according to the Acidianus tengchongensis numbering system). The thio-modifying reagent N-ethylmaleimide and Zn2+ strongly inhibited the activities of the SORs of A. tengchongensis, suggesting that cysteine residues are important. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to construct four mutant SORs with cysteines replaced by serine or alanine. The purified mutant proteins were investigated in parallel with the wild-type SOR. Replacement of any cysteine reduced SOR activity by 98.4 to 100%, indicating that all the cysteine residues are crucial to SOR activities. Circular-dichroism and fluorescence spectrum analyses revealed that the wild-type and mutant SORs have similar structures and that none of them form any disulfide bond. Thus, it is proposed that three cysteine residues, C31 and C101-X-X-C104, in the conserved domains constitute the putative binding and catalytic sites of SOR. Furthermore, enzymatic activity assays of the subcellular fractions and immune electron microscopy indicated that SOR is not only present in the cytoplasm but also associated with the cytoplasmic membrane of A. tengchongensis. The membrane-associated SOR activity was colocalized with the activities of sulfite:acceptor oxidoreductase and thiosulfate:acceptor oxidoreductase. We tentatively propose that these enzymes are located in close proximity on the membrane to catalyze sulfur oxidation in A. tengchongensis.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 4717-4725
Author(s):  
Y S Cheng ◽  
C E Patterson ◽  
P Staeheli

The primary structures of interferon (IFN)-induced guanylate-binding proteins (GBPs) were deduced from cloned human and murine cDNAs. These proteins contained only two of the three sequence motifs typically found in GTP/GDP-binding proteins. The N(T)KXD motif, which is believed to confer guanine specificity in other nucleotide-binding proteins, was absent. Nevertheless, the IFN-induced GBPs exhibited a high degree of selectivity for binding to agarose-immobilized guanine nucleotides. An interesting feature of IFN-induced GBPs is that they strongly bound to GMP agarose in addition to GDP and GTP agaroses but failed to bind to ATP agarose and all other nucleotide agaroses tested. Both GTP and GMP, but not ATP, competed for binding of murine GBP-1 to agarose-immobilized GMP. The IFN-induced GBPs thus define a distinct novel family of proteins with GTP-binding activity. We further demonstrate that human and murine cells contain at least two genes encoding IFN-induced GBPs. The cloned murine cDNA codes for GBP-1, an IFN-induced protein previously shown to be absent from mice of Gbp-1b genotype.


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