The role of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae lipoate protein ligase homologue, Lip3, in lipoic acid synthesis

The covalent attachment of lipoate to the lipoyl domains (LDs) of the central metabolism enzymes pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (OGDH) is essential for their activation and thus for respiratory growth in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A third lipoate-dependent enzyme system, the glycine cleavage system (GCV), is required for utilization of glycine as a nitrogen source. Lipoate is synthesized by extraction of its precursor, octanoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP), from the pool of fatty acid biosynthetic intermediates. Alternatively, lipoate is salvaged from previously modified proteins or from growth medium by lipoate protein ligases (Lpls). The first Lpl to be characterized, LplA of Escherichia coli, catalyses two partial reactions: activation of the acyl chain by formation of acyl-AMP, followed by transfer of the acyl chain to lipoyl domains (LDs). There is a surprising diversity within the Lpl family of enzymes, several of which catalyse reactions other than ligation reactions. For example, the Bacillus subtilis Lpl homologue LipM is an octanoyltransferase that transfers the octanoyl moiety from octanoyl-ACP to GCV. Another B. subtilis Lpl homologue, LipL, transfers octanoate from octanoyl-GCV to other LDs in an amido-transfer reaction. Study of eukaryotic Lpls has lagged behind studies of the bacterial enzymes. We report that the Lip3 Lpl homologue of the yeast S. cerevisiae has octanoyl-CoA-protein transferase activity, and discuss implications of this activity on the physiological role of Lip3 in lipoate synthesis.

Profligate biotin synthesis in α-proteobacteria - a developing or degenerating regulatory system?

Biotin (vitamin H) is a key enzyme cofactor required in all three domains of life. Although this cofactor was discovered over 70 years ago and has long been recognized as an essential nutrient for animals, our knowledge of the strategies bacteria use to sense biotin demand is very limited. The paradigm mechanism is that of Escherichia coli in which BirA protein, the prototypical bi-functional biotin protein ligase, both covalently attaches biotin to the acceptor proteins of central metabolism and represses transcription of the biotin biosynthetic pathway in response to biotin demand. However, in other bacteria the biotin protein ligase lacks a DNA-binding domain which raises the question of how these bacteria regulate the synthesis of biotin, an energetically expensive molecule. A bioinformatic study by Rodionov and Gelfand identified a protein termed BioR in α-proteobacteria and predicted that BioR would have the biotin operon regulatory role that in most other bacteria is fulfilled by the BirA DNA-binding domain. We have now tested this prediction in the plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens. As predicted the A. tumefaciens biotin protein ligase is a fully functional ligase that has no role in regulation of biotin synthesis whereas BioR represses transcription of the biotin synthesis genes. Moreover, as determined by electrophoretic mobility shift assays, BioR binds the predicted operator site, which is located downstream of the mapped transcription start site. qPCR measurements indicated that deletion of BioR resulted in a c. 15-fold increase of bio operon transcription in the presence of high biotin levels. Effective repression of a plasmid-borne bioB-lacZ reporter was seen only upon the overproduction of BioR. In contrast to E. coli and Bacillus subtilis where biotin synthesis is tightly controlled, A. tumefaciens synthesizes much more biotin than needed for modification of the biotin-requiring enzymes. Protein-bound biotin constitutes only about 0.5% of the total biotin, most of which is found in the culture medium. To the best of our knowledge, A. tumefaciens represents the first example of profligate biotin synthesis by a wild type bacterium.

Crosstalk of Escherichia coli FadR with global regulators in expression of fatty acid transport genes

Escherichia coli FadR plays two regulatory roles in fatty acid metabolism. FadR represses the fatty acid degradation (fad) system and activates the unsaturated fatty acid synthetic pathway. Cross-talk between E. coli FadR and the ArcA-ArcB oxygen-responsive two-component system was observed that resulted in diverse regulation of certain fad regulon β-oxidation genes. We have extended such analyses to the fadL and fadD genes, the protein products of which are required for long chain fatty acid transport and have also studied the role of a third global regulator, the CRP-cAMP complex. The promoters of both the fadL and fadD genes contain two experimentally validated FadR-binding sites plus binding sites for ArcA and CRP-cAMP. Despite the presence of dual binding sites FadR only modestly regulates expression of these genes, indicating that the number of binding sites does not determine regulatory strength. We report complementary in vitro and in vivo studies indicating that the CRP-cAMP complex directly activates expression of fadL and fadD as well as the β-oxidation gene, fadH. The physiological relevance of the fadL and fadD transcription data was validated by direct assays of long chain fatty acid transport.

The BioC O-methyltransferase catalyzes methyl esterification of malonyl-acyl carrier protein, an essential step in biotin synthesis

Recent work implicated the Escherichia coli BioC protein as the initiator of the synthetic pathway that forms the pimeloyl moiety of biotin (Lin, S., Hanson, R. E., and Cronan, J. E. (2010) Nat. Chem. Biol. 6, 682-688). BioC was believed to be an O-methyltransferase that methylated the free carboxyl of either malonyl-CoA or malonyl-acyl carrier protein based on the ability of O-methylated (but not unmethylated) precursors to bypass the BioC requirement for biotin synthesis both in vivo and in vitro. However, only indirect proof of the hypothesized enzymatic activity was obtained because the activities of the available BioC preparations were too low for direct enzymatic assay. Because E. coli BioC protein was extremely recalcitrant to purification in an active form, BioC homologues of other bacteria were tested. We report that the native form of Bacillus cereus ATCC10987 BioC functionally replaced E. coli BioC in vivo, and the protein could be expressed in soluble form and purified to homogeneity. In disagreement with prior scenarios that favored malonyl-CoA as the methyl acceptor, malonyl-acyl carrier protein was a far better acceptor of methyl groups from S-adenosyl-L-methionine than was malonyl-CoA. BioC was specific for the malonyl moiety and was inhibited by S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine and sinefungin. High level expression of B. cereus BioC in E. coli blocked cell growth and fatty acid synthesis.

Evolution of a new function in an esterase: simple amino acid substitutions enable the activity present in the larger paralog, BioH

Gene duplication and divergence are essential processes for the evolution of new activities. Divergence may be gradual, involving simple amino acid residue substitutions, or drastic, such that larger structural elements are inserted, deleted or rearranged. Vast protein sequence comparisons, supported by some experimental evidence, argue that large structural modifications have been necessary for certain catalytic activities to evolve. However, it is not clear whether these activities could not have been attained by gradual changes. Interestingly, catalytic promiscuity could play a fundamental evolutionary role: a preexistent secondary activity could be increased by simple amino acid residue substitutions that do not affect the enzyme's primary activity. The promiscuous profile of the enzyme may be modified gradually by genetic drift, making a pool of potentially useful activities that can be selected before duplication. In this work, we used random mutagenesis and in vivo selection to evolve the Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 carboxylesterase PA3859, a small protein, to attain the function of BioH, a much larger paralog involved in biotin biosynthesis. BioH was chosen as a target activity because it provides a highly sensitive selection for evolved enzymatic activities by auxotrophy complementation. After only two cycles of directed evolution, mutants with the ability to efficiently complement biotin auxotrophy were selected. The in vivo and in vitro characterization showed that the activity of one of our mutant proteins was similar to that of the wild-type BioH enzyme. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to evolve enzymatic activities present in larger proteins by discrete amino acid substitutions.

The Burkholderia cenocepacia BDSF quorum sensing fatty acid is synthesized by a bifunctional crotonase homologue having both dehydratase and thioesterase activities

Signal molecules of the diffusible signal factor (DSF) family have been shown recently to be involved in regulation of pathogenesis and biofilm formation in diverse Gram-negative bacteria. DSF signals are reported to be active not only on their cognate bacteria, but also on unrelated bacteria and the pathogenic yeast, Candida albicans. DSFs are monounsaturated fatty acids of medium chain length containing an unusual cis-2 double bond. Although genetic analyses had identified genes involved in DSF synthesis, the pathway of DSF synthesis was unknown. The DSF of the important human pathogen Burkholderia cenocepacia (called BDSF) is cis-2-dodecenoic acid. We report that BDSF is synthesized from a fatty acid synthetic intermediate, the acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioester of 3-hydroxydodecanoic acid. This intermediate is intercepted by protein Bcam0581 and converted to cis-2-dodecenoyl-ACP. Bcam0581 is annotated as a homologue of crotonase, the first enzyme of the fatty acid degradation pathway. We demonstrated Bcam0581to be a bifunctional protein that not only catalysed dehydration of 3-hydroxydodecanoyl-ACP to cis-2-dodecenoyl-ACP, but also cleaved the thioester bond to give the free acid. Both activities required the same set of active-site residues. Although dehydratase and thioesterase activities are known activities of the crotonase superfamily, Bcam0581 is the first protein shown to have both activities.

The Enzyme Function Initiative

The Enzyme Function Initiative (EFI) was recently established to address the challenge of assigning reliable functions to enzymes discovered in bacterial genome projects; in this Current Topic, we review the structure and operations of the EFI. The EFI includes the Superfamily/Genome, Protein, Structure, Computation, and Data/Dissemination Cores that provide the infrastructure for reliably predicting the in vitro functions of unknown enzymes. The initial targets for functional assignment are selected from five functionally diverse superfamilies (amidohydrolase, enolase, glutathione transferase, haloalkanoic acid dehalogenase, and isoprenoid synthase), with five superfamily specific Bridging Projects experimentally testing the predicted in vitro enzymatic activities. The EFI also includes the Microbiology Core that evaluates the in vivo context of in vitro enzymatic functions and confirms the functional predictions of the EFI. The deliverables of the EFI to the scientific community include (1) development of a large-scale, multidisciplinary sequence/structure-based strategy for functional assignment of unknown enzymes discovered in genome projects (target selection, protein production, structure determination, computation, experimental enzymology, microbiology, and structure-based annotation), (2) dissemination of the strategy to the community via publications, collaborations, workshops, and symposia, (3) computational and bioinformatic tools for using the strategy, (4) provision of experimental protocols and/or reagents for enzyme production and characterization, and (5) dissemination of data via the EFI's Website, http://enzymefunction.org. The realization of multidisciplinary strategies for functional assignment will begin to define the full metabolic diversity that exists in nature and will impact basic biochemical and evolutionary understanding, as well as a wide range of applications of central importance to industrial, medicinal, and pharmaceutical efforts.

The Vibrio cholerae fatty acid regulatory protein, FadR, represses transcription of plsB, the gene encoding the first enzyme of membrane phospholipid biosynthesis

Glycerol-3-phosphate (sn-glycerol-3-P, G3P) acyltransferase catalyses the first committed step in the biosynthesis of membrane phospholipids, the acylation of G3P to form 1-acyl G3P (lysophosphatidic acid). The paradigm G3P acyltransferase is the Escherichia coli plsB gene product which acylates position-1 of G3P using fatty acids in thioester linkage to either acyl carrier protein (ACP) or CoA as acyl donors. Although the E. coli plsB gene was discovered about 30 years ago, no evidence for transcriptional control of its expression has been reported. However A.E. Kazakov and co-workers (J Bacteriol 2009; 191: 52-64) reported the presence of a putative FadR binding site upstream of the candidate plsB genes of Vibrio cholerae and three other Vibrio species suggesting that plsB might be regulated by FadR, a GntR family transcription factor thus far known only to regulate fatty acid synthesis and degradation. We report that the V. cholerae plsB homologue restored growth of E. coli strain BB26-36 which is a G3P auxotroph due to an altered G3P acyltransferase activity. The plsB promoter was also mapped and the predicted FadR-binding palindrome was found to span positions -19 to -35, upstream of the transcription start site. Gel shift assays confirmed that both V. cholerae FadR and E. coli FadR bound the V. cholerae plsB promoter region and binding was reversed upon addition of long-chain fatty acyl-CoA thioesters. The expression level of the V. cholerae plsB gene was elevated two- to threefold in an E. coli fadR null mutant strain indicating that FadR acts as a repressor of V. cholerae plsB expression. In both E. coli and V. cholerae the β-galactosidase activity of transcriptional fusions of the V. cholerae plsB promoter to lacZ increased two- to threefold upon supplementation of growth media with oleic acid. Therefore, V. cholerae co-ordinates fatty acid metabolism with 1-acyl G3P synthesis.

A complex lipoate utilization pathway in Listeria monocytogenes

Although a complete pathway of lipoic acid metabolism has been established in Escherichia coli, lipoic acid metabolism in other bacteria is more complex and incompletely understood. Listeria monocytogenes has been shown to utilize two lipoate-protein ligases for lipoic acid scavenging, whereas only one of the ligases can function in utilization of host-derived lipoic acid-modified peptides. We report that lipoic acid scavenging requires not only ligation of lipoic acid but also a lipoyl relay pathway in which an amidotransferase transfers lipoyl groups to the enzyme complexes that require the cofactor for activity. In addition, we provide evidence for a new lipoamidase activity that could allow utilization of lipoyl peptides by lipoate-protein ligase. These data support a model of an expanded, three-enzyme pathway for lipoic acid scavenging that seems widespread in the Firmicutes phylum of bacteria.

Closing in on complete pathways of biotin biosynthesis

Biotin is an enzyme cofactor indispensable to metabolic fixation of carbon dioxide in all three domains of life. Although the catalytic and physiological roles of biotin have been well characterized, the biosynthesis of biotin remains to be fully elucidated. Studies in microbes suggest a two-stage biosynthetic pathway in which a pimelate moiety is synthesized and used to begin assembly of the biotin bicyclic ring structure. The enzymes involved in the bicyclic ring assembly have been studied extensively. In contrast the synthesis of pimelate, a seven carbon α,ω-dicarboxylate, has long been an enigma. Support for two different routes of pimelate synthesis has recently been obtained in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. The E. coli BioC-BioH pathway employs a methylation and demethylation strategy to allow elongation of a temporarily disguised malonate moiety to a pimelate moiety by the fatty acid synthetic enzymes whereas the B. subtilis BioI-BioW pathway utilizes oxidative cleavage of fatty acyl chains. Both pathways produce the pimelate thioester precursor essential for the first step in assembly of the fused rings of biotin. The enzymatic mechanisms and biochemical strategies of these pimelate synthesis models will be discussed in this review.

Synthesis of the α,ω-dicarboxylic acid precursor of biotin by the canonical fatty acid biosynthetic pathway

Biotin synthesis requires the C7 α,ω-dicarboxylic acid, pimelic acid. Although pimelic acid was known to be primarily synthesized by a head to tail incorporation of acetate units, the synthetic mechanism was unknown. It has recently been demonstrated that in most bacteria the biotin pimelate moiety is synthesized by a modified fatty acid synthetic pathway in which the biotin synthetic intermediates are O-methyl esters disguised to resemble the canonical intermediates of the fatty acid synthetic pathway. Upon completion of the pimelate moiety, the methyl ester is cleaved. A very restricted set of bacteria have a different pathway in which the pimelate moiety is formed by cleavage of fatty acid synthetic intermediates by BioI, a member of the cytochrome P450 family.

A novel two-gene requirement for the octanoyltransfer reaction of Bacillus subtilis lipoic acid biosynthesis

The Bacillus subtilis genome encodes three apparent lipoyl ligase homologues: yhfJ, yqhM and ywfL, which we have renamed lplJ, lipM and lipL respectively. We show that LplJ encodes the sole lipoyl ligase of this bacterium. Physiological and biochemical characterization of a ΔlipM strain showed that LipM is absolutely required for the endogenous lipoylation of all lipoate-dependent proteins, confirming its role as the B. subtilis octanoyltransferase. However, we also report that in contrast to Escherichia coli, B. subtilis requires a third protein for lipoic acid assembly, LipL. B. subtilis ΔlipL strains are unable to synthesize lipoic acid despite the presence of LipM and the sulphur insertion enzyme, LipA, which should suffice for lipoic acid biosynthesis based on the E. coli model. LipM is only required for the endogenous lipoylation pathway, whereas LipL also plays a role in lipoic acid scavenging. Expression of E. coli lipB allows growth of B. subtilisΔlipL or ΔlipM strains in the absence of supplements. In contrast, growth of an E. coliΔlipB strain can be complemented with lipM, but not lipL. These data together with those of the companion article provide evidence that LipM and LipL catalyse sequential reactions in a novel pathway for lipoic acid biosynthesis.

A novel amidotransferase required for lipoic acid cofactor assembly in Bacillus subtilis

In the companion paper we reported that Bacillus subtilis requires three proteins for lipoic acid metabolism, all of which are members of the lipoate protein ligase family. Two of the proteins, LipM and LplJ, have been shown to be an octanoyltransferase and a lipoate : protein ligase respectively. The third protein, LipL, is essential for lipoic acid synthesis, but had no detectable octanoyltransferase or ligase activity either in vitro or in vivo. We report that LipM specifically modifies the glycine cleavage system protein, GcvH, and therefore another mechanism must exist for modification of other lipoic acid requiring enzymes (e.g. pyruvate dehydrogenase). We show that this function is provided by LipL, which catalyses the amidotransfer (transamidation) of the octanoyl moiety from octanoyl-GcvH to the E2 subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase. LipL activity was demonstrated in vitro with purified components and proceeds via a thioester-linked acyl-enzyme intermediate. As predicted, ΔgcvH strains are lipoate auxotrophs. LipL represents a new enzyme activity. It is a GcvH:[lipoyl domain] amidotransferase that probably uses a Cys-Lys catalytic dyad. Although the active site cysteine residues of LipL and LipB are located in different positions within the polypeptide chains, alignment of their structures show these residues occupy similar positions. Thus, these two homologous enzymes have convergent architectures.

Complex binding of the FabR repressor of bacterial unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis to its cognate promoters

Two transcriptional regulators, the FadR activator and the FabR repressor, control biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids in Escherichia coli. FabR represses expression of the two genes, fabA and fabB, required for unsaturated fatty acid synthesis and has been reported to require the presence of an unsaturated thioester (of either acyl carrier protein or CoA) in order to bind the fabA and fabB promoters in vitro. We report in vivo experiments in which unsaturated fatty acid synthesis was blocked in the absence of exogenous unsaturated fatty acids in a ΔfadR strain and found that the rates of transcription of fabA and fabB were unaffected by the lack of unsaturated thioesters. To examine the discrepancy between our in vivo results and the prior in vitro results we obtained active, natively folded forms of the E. coli and Vibrio cholerae FabRs by use of an in vitro transcription-translation system. We report that FabR bound the intact promoter regions of both fabA and fabB in the absence of unsaturated acyl thioesters, but bound the two promoters differently. Native FabR bound the fabA promoter region provided that the canonical FabR binding site is extended by inclusion of flanking sequences that overlap the neighbouring FadR binding site. In contrast, although binding to the fabB operator also required a flanking sequence, a non-specific sequence could suffice. However, unsaturated thioesters did allow FabR binding to the minimal FabR operator sites of both promoters which otherwise were not bound. Thus unsaturated thioester ligands were not essential for FabR/target DNA interaction, but acted to enhance binding. The gel mobility shift data plus in vivo expression data indicate that despite the remarkably similar arrangements of promoter elements, FadR predominately regulates fabA expression whereas FabR is the dominant regulator of fabB expression. We also report that E. coli fabR expression is not autoregulated. Complementation, qRT-PCR and fatty acid composition analyses demonstrated that V. cholerae FabR was a functional repressor of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis. However, in contrast to E. coli, gel mobility shift assays indicated that neither E. coli nor V. cholerae FabRs bound the V. cholerae fabB promoter, although both proteins efficiently bound the V. cholerae fabA promoter. This asymmetry was shown to be due to the lack of a FabR binding site within the V. cholerae fabB promoter region.

Protein-protein interactions in assembly of lipoic acid on the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenases of aerobic metabolism

Lipoic acid is a covalently attached cofactor essential for the activity of 2-oxoacid dehydrogenases and the glycine cleavage system. In the absence of lipoic acid modification, the dehydrogenases are inactive, and aerobic metabolism is blocked. In Escherichia coli, two pathways for the attachment of lipoic acid exist, a de novo biosynthetic pathway dependent on the activities of the LipB and LipA proteins and a lipoic acid scavenging pathway catalyzed by the LplA protein. LipB is responsible for octanoylation of the E2 components of 2-oxoacid dehydrogenases to provide the substrates of LipA, an S-adenosyl-L-methionine radical enzyme that inserts two sulfur atoms into the octanoyl moiety to give the active lipoylated dehydrogenase complexes. We report that the intact pyruvate and 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complexes specifically copurify with both LipB and LipA. Proteomic, genetic, and dehydrogenase activity data indicate that all of the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenase components are present. In contrast, LplA, the lipoate protein ligase enzyme of lipoate salvage, shows no interaction with the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenases. The interaction is specific to the dehydrogenases in that the third lipoic acid-requiring enzyme of Escherichia coli, the glycine cleavage system H protein, does not copurify with either LipA or LipB. Studies of LipB interaction with engineered variants of the E2 subunit of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase indicate that binding sites for LipB reside both in the lipoyl domain and catalytic core sequences. We also report that LipB forms a very tight, albeit noncovalent, complex with acyl carrier protein. These results indicate that lipoic acid is not only assembled on the dehydrogenase lipoyl domains but that the enzymes that catalyze the assembly are also present "on site."

Lipoic acid synthesis: a new family of octanoyltransferases generally annotated as lipoate protein ligases

Bacillus subtilis lacks a recognizable homologue of the LipB octanoyltransferase, an enzyme essential for lipoic acid synthesis in Escherichia coli. LipB transfers the octanoyl moiety from octanoyl-acyl carrier protein to the lipoyl domains of the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenases via a thioester-linked octanoyl-LipB intermediate. The octanoylated dehydrogenase is then converted to the enzymatically active lipoylated species by insertion of two sulfur atoms into the octanoyl moiety by the S-adenosyl-l-methionine radical enzyme, LipA (lipoate synthase). B. subtilis synthesizes lipoic acid and contains a LipA homologue that is fully functional in E. coli. Therefore, the lack of a LipB homologue presented the puzzle of how B. subtilis synthesizes the LipA substrate. We report that B. subtilis encodes an octanoyltransferase that has virtually no sequence resemblance to E. coli LipB but instead has a sequence that resembles that of the E. coli lipoate ligase, LplA. On the basis of this resemblance, these genes have generally been annotated as encoding a lipoate ligase, an enzyme that in E. coli scavenges lipoic acid from the environment but plays no role in de novo synthesis. We have named the B. subtilis octanoyltransferase LipM and find that, like LipB, the LipM reaction proceeds through a thioester-linked acyl enzyme intermediate. The LipM active site nucleophile was identified as C150 by the finding that this thiol becomes modified when LipM is expressed in E. coli. The level of the octanoyl-LipM intermediate can be significantly decreased by blocking fatty acid synthesis during LipM expression, and C150 was confirmed as an essential active site residue by site-directed mutagenesis. LipM homologues seem the sole type of octanoyltransferase present in the firmicutes and are also present in the cyanobacteria. LipM type octanoyltransferases represent a new clade of the PF03099 protein family, suggesting that octanoyl transfer activity has evolved at least twice within this superfamily.

Biotin synthesis begins by hijacking the fatty acid synthetic pathway

Although biotin is an essential enzyme cofactor found in all three domains of life, our knowledge of its biosynthesis remains fragmentary. Most of the carbon atoms of biotin are derived from pimelic acid, a seven-carbon dicarboxylic acid, but the mechanism whereby this intermediate is assembled remains unknown. Genetic analysis in Escherichia coli identified only two genes of unknown function required for pimelate synthesis, bioC and bioH. We report in vivo and in vitro evidence that the pimeloyl moiety is synthesized by a modified fatty acid synthetic pathway in which the omega-carboxyl group of a malonyl-thioester is methylated by BioC, which allows recognition of this atypical substrate by the fatty acid synthetic enzymes. The malonyl-thioester methyl ester enters fatty acid synthesis as the primer and undergoes two reiterations of the fatty acid elongation cycle to give pimeloyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) methyl ester, which is hydrolyzed to pimeloyl-ACP and methanol by BioH.

An Escherichia coli mutant deficient in pyruvate oxidase activity due to altered phospholipid activation of the enzyme

The pyruvate oxidase (pyruvate:ferricytochrome b(1) oxidoreductase, EC 1.2.2.2) of Escherichia coli is markedly activated by phospholipids in vitro. To test the physiological relevance of this activation, we isolated an E. coli mutant producing an oxidase that is deficient in activation by (and binding to) phospholipids. The mutant oxidase could be fully activated by a specific proteolytic cleavage, indicating that the catalytic site is normal. The mutant enzyme functions poorly in vivo, indicating that activation of the oxidase by phospholipids plays an important physiological role.

Expression of Vibrio harveyi acyl-ACP synthetase allows efficient entry of exogenous fatty acids into the Escherichia coli fatty acid and lipid A synthetic pathways

Although the Escherichia coli fatty acid synthesis (FAS) pathway is the best studied type II fatty acid synthesis system, a major experimental limitation has been the inability to feed intermediates into the pathway in vivo because exogenously supplied free fatty acids are not efficiently converted to the acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesters required by the pathway. We report that expression of Vibrio harveyi acyl-ACP synthetase (AasS), a soluble cytosolic enzyme that ligates free fatty acids to ACP to form acyl-ACPs, allows exogenous fatty acids to enter the E. coli fatty acid synthesis pathway. The free fatty acids are incorporated intact and can be elongated or directly incorporated into complex lipids by acyltransferases specific for acyl-ACPs. Moreover, expression of AasS strains and supplementation with the appropriate fatty acid restored growth to E. coli mutant strains that lack essential fatty acid synthesis enzymes. Thus, this strategy provides a new tool for circumventing the loss of enzymes essential for FAS function.

Transcriptional patterns in both host and bacterium underlie a daily rhythm of anatomical and metabolic change in a beneficial symbiosis

Mechanisms for controlling symbiont populations are critical for maintaining the associations that exist between a host and its microbial partners. We describe here the transcriptional, metabolic, and ultrastructural characteristics of a diel rhythm that occurs in the symbiosis between the squid Euprymna scolopes and the luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri. The rhythm is driven by the host's expulsion from its light-emitting organ of most of the symbiont population each day at dawn. The transcriptomes of both the host epithelium that supports the symbionts and the symbiont population itself were characterized and compared at four times over this daily cycle. The greatest fluctuation in gene expression of both partners occurred as the day began. Most notable was an up-regulation in the host of >50 cytoskeleton-related genes just before dawn and their subsequent down-regulation within 6 h. Examination of the epithelium by TEM revealed a corresponding restructuring, characterized by effacement and blebbing of its apical surface. After the dawn expulsion, the epithelium reestablished its polarity, and the residual symbionts began growing, repopulating the light organ. Analysis of the symbiont transcriptome suggested that the bacteria respond to the effacement by up-regulating genes associated with anaerobic respiration of glycerol; supporting this finding, lipid analysis of the symbionts' membranes indicated a direct incorporation of host-derived fatty acids. After 12 h, the metabolic signature of the symbiont population shifted to one characteristic of chitin fermentation, which continued until the following dawn. Thus, the persistent maintenance of the squid-vibrio symbiosis is tied to a dynamic diel rhythm that involves both partners.

Intein-mediated cyclization of bacterial acyl carrier protein stabilizes its folded conformation but does not abolish function

Bacterial acyl carrier protein (ACP) is essential for the synthesis of fatty acids and serves as the major acyl donor for the formation of phospholipids and other lipid products. Acyl-ACP encloses attached fatty acyl groups in a hydrophobic pocket within a four-helix bundle, but must at least partially unfold to present the acyl chain to the active sites of its multiple enzyme partners. To further examine the constraints of ACP structure and function, we have constructed a cyclic version of Vibrio harveyi ACP, using split-intein technology to covalently join its closely apposed N and C termini. Cyclization stabilized ACP in a folded helical conformation as indicated by gel electrophoresis, circular dichroism, fluorescence, and mass spectrometry. Molecular dynamics simulations also indicated overall decreased polypeptide chain mobility in cyclic ACP, although no major conformational rearrangements over a 10-ns period were noted. In vivo complementation assays revealed that cyclic ACP can functionally replace the linear wild-type protein and support growth of an Escherichia coli ACP-null mutant strain. Cyclization of a folding-deficient ACP mutant (F50A) both restored its ability to adopt a folded conformation and enhanced complementation of growth. Our results thus suggest that ACP must be able to adopt a folded conformation for biological activity, and that its function does not require complete unfolding of the protein.

Escherichia coli unsaturated fatty acid synthesis: complex transcription of the fabA gene and in vivo identification of the essential reaction catalyzed by FabB

Although the unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) synthetic pathway of Escherichia coli is the prototype of such pathways, several unresolved issues have accumulated over the years. The key players are the fabA and fabB genes. Earlier studies of fabA transcription showed that the gene was transcribed from two promoters, with one being positively regulated by the FadR protein. The other weaker promoter (which could not be mapped with the technology then available) was considered constitutive because its function was independent of FadR. However, the FabR negative regulator was recently shown to represses fabA transcription. We report that the weak promoter overlaps the FadR-dependent promoter and is regulated by FabR. This promoter is strictly conserved in all E. coli and Salmonella enterica genomes sequenced to date and is thought to provide insurance against inappropriate regulation of fabA transcription by exogenous saturated fatty acids. Also, the fabAup promoter, a mutant promoter previously isolated by selection for increased FabA activity, was shown to be a promoter created de novo by a four-base deletion within the gene located immediately upstream of fabA. Demonstration of the key UFA synthetic reaction catalyzed by FabB has been elusive, although it was known to catalyze an elongation reaction. Strains lacking FabB are UFA auxotrophs indicating that the enzyme catalyzes an essential step in UFA synthesis. Using thioesterases specific for hydrolysis of short chain acyl-ACPs, the intermediates of the UFA synthetic pathway have been followed in vivo for the first time. These experiments showed that a fabB mutant strain accumulated less cis-5-dodecenoic acid than the parental wild-type strain. These data indicate that the key reaction in UFA synthesis catalyzed by FabB is elongation of the cis-3-decenoyl-ACP produced by FabA.

A new member of the Escherichia coli fad regulon: transcriptional regulation of fadM (ybaW)

Recently, Nie and coworkers (L. Nie, Y. Ren, A. Janakiraman, S. Smith, and H. Schulz, Biochemistry 47:9618-9626, 2008) reported a new Escherichia coli thioesterase encoded by the ybaW gene that cleaves the thioester bonds of inhibitory acyl-coenzyme A (CoA) by-products generated during beta-oxidation of certain unsaturated fatty acids. These authors suggested that ybaW expression might be regulated by FadR, the repressor of the fad (fatty acid degradation) regulon. We report mapping of the ybaW promoter and show that ybaW transcription responded to FadR in vivo. Moreover, purified FadR bound to a DNA sequence similar to the canonical FadR binding site located upstream of the ybaW coding sequence and was released from the promoter upon the addition of long-chain acyl-CoA thioesters. We therefore propose the designation fadM in place of ybaW. Although FadR regulation of fadM expression had the pattern typical of fad regulon genes, its modulation by the cyclic AMP (cAMP) receptor protein-cAMP complex (CRP-cAMP) global regulator was the opposite of that normally observed. CRP-cAMP generally acts as an activator of fad gene expression, consistent with the low status of fatty acids as carbon sources. However, glucose growth stimulated fadM expression relative to acetate growth, as did inactivation of CRP-cAMP, indicating that the complex acts as a negative regulator of this gene. The stimulation of fadM expression seen upon deletion of the gene encoding adenylate cyclase (Deltacya) was reversed by supplementation of the growth medium with cAMP. Nie and coworkers also reported that growth on a conjugated linoleic acid isomer yields much higher levels of FadM thioesterase activity than does growth on oleic acid. In contrast, we found that the conjugated linoleic acid isomer was only a weak inducer of fadM expression. Although the gene is not essential for growth, the high basal level of fadM expression under diverse growth conditions suggests that the encoded thioesterase has functions in addition to beta-oxidation.

The Thermoplasma acidophilum LplA-LplB complex defines a new class of bipartite lipoate-protein ligases

Lipoic acid is a covalently bound cofactor found throughout the domains of life that is required for aerobic metabolism of 2-oxoacids and for C(1) metabolism. Utilization of exogenous lipoate is catalyzed by a ligation reaction that proceeds via a lipoyl-adenylate intermediate to attach the cofactor to the epsilon-amino group of a conserved lysine residue of protein lipoyl domains. The lipoyl ligases of demonstrated function have a large N-terminal catalytic domain and a small C-terminal accessory domain. Half of the members of the LplA family detected in silico have only the large catalytic domain. Two x-ray structures of the Thermoplasma acidophilum LplA structure have been reported, although the protein was reported to lack ligase activity. McManus et al. (McManus, E., Luisi, B. F., and Perham, R. N. (2006) J. Mol. Biol. 356, 625-637) hypothesized that the product of an adjacent gene was also required for ligase activity. We have shown this to be the case and have named the second protein, LplB. We found that complementation of Escherichia coli strains lacking lipoate ligase with T. acidophilum LplA was possible only when LplB was also present. LplA had no detectable ligase activity in vitro in the absence of LplB. Moreover LplA and LplB were shown to interact and were purified as a heterodimer. LplB was required for lipoyl-adenylate formation but was not required for transfer of the lipoyl moiety of lipoyl-adenylate to acceptor proteins. Surveys of sequenced genomes show that most lipoyl ligases of the kingdom Archaea are heterodimeric. We propose that the presence of an accessory domain provides a diagnostic to distinguish lipoyl ligase homologues from other members of the lipoate/biotin attachment enzyme family.