Cloning of a metalloprotease gene involved in the virulence mechanism of Vibrio anguillarum

Sequence of a novel virulence-mediating gene, virC, from Vibrio anguillarum

Previously, the double-transposon (Tn) mutant VAN20 of Vibrio anguillarum (Va) 775.17B was isolated. This mutant lacked a major surface antigen (MSA) suggested to be a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and showed a 10(5)-fold increase in the 50% lethal dose (LD50) when fish were infected intraperitoneally. In this study, the two Tn insertion sites within the chromosome were identified, a plasmid insertion mutation was made at each locus in a more virulent strain of Va, NB10, and the virulence was analyzed. One mutant displayed a 10(4)-fold increase in LD50, whereas the second mutant showed the wild-type (wt) phenotype. However, both mutants still expressed the MSA, suggesting that there may be more than two Tn insertions in VAN20 or that a double mutation is required to prevent production of the MSA. The DNA locus for the virulent phenotype was cloned and sequenced. A potential transcriptional unit consisting of three putative open reading frames (ORFs) was identified. The Tn was located in the second ORF, virC (virulence). The first ORF (34.8 kDa) showed 30% homology to the Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium cysG (cysteine) genes. The virC gene (51.4 kDa) and the third ORF (24 kDa) showed no homology to other proteins in GenBank. Plasmid insertion mutants were made within each of these ORFs and the virulence was assayed. Only the virC mutant showed a loss in virulence, indicating that virC is a novel gene that is essential for the virulence of Va.

The human gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori has a gene encoding an enzyme first classified as a mucinase in Vibrio cholerae

The human bacterial pathogen Helicobacter pylori has been suggested to be the causative agent of the most common chronic infection of man. Since its first isolation in 1982, H. pylori has been associated with gastric and duodenal ulcer disease, and more recently, gastric cancer. The proteolytic digestion of gastric mucus by this microorganism has been suggested as an important mechanism by which its pathogenicity is at least partly exerted. Here we report the detection of protease activity in H. pylori total-cell and supernatant extracts. On the basis that zinc metalloproteases are common microbial pathogenicity factors, we identified a single protein in H. pylori protein extracts with antibodies to the Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase (a secreted zinc metalloprotease). This same protein was identified by pooled serum from patients infected with H. pylori. We used the functional and immunological relationship between the P. aeruginosa elastase and the Vibrio cholerae haemagglutinin/protease (HAP) to clone the H. pylori hap gene, which was over 99% similar to the V. cholerae hap gene in the coding region. A 4 kb DNA fragment containing the entire cloned gene was highly unstable in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis cloning vectors. We also demonstrated that a hap-like gene sequence is present in all nine Helicobacter species so far discovered. The V. cholerae HAP was first classified on the basis of its mucinase activity.

Bacterial extracellular zinc-containing metalloproteases

Extracellular zinc-containing metalloproteases are widely distributed in the bacterial world. The most extensively studied are those which are associated with pathogenic bacteria or bacteria which have industrial significance. They are found practically wherever they are sought in both gram-negative and gram-positive microorganisms, be they aerobic or anaerobic. This ubiquity in itself implies that these enzymes serve important functions for the organisms which produce them. Because of the importance of zinc to enzymatic activity, it is not surprising that there is a pervasive amino acid sequence homology in the primary structure of this family of enzymes regardless of their source. The evidence suggests that both convergent and divergent evolutionary forces are at work. Within the large family of bacterial zinc-containing metalloendopeptidases, smaller family units are observed, such as thermolysin-like, elastase-like, and Serratia protease-like metalloproteases from various bacterial species. While this review was in the process of construction, a new function for zinc-containing metalloproteases was discovered: the neurotoxins of Clostridium tetani and Clostridium botulinum type B have been shown to be zinc metalloproteases with specificity for synaptobrevin, an integral membrane protein of small synaptic vesicles which is involved in neurotransmission. Additional understanding of the mode of action of proteases which contribute to pathogenicity could lead to the development of inhibitors, such as chelators, surrogate substrates, or antibodies, which could prevent or interrupt the disease process. Further studies of this broad family of metalloproteases will provide important additional insights into the pathogenesis and structure-function relationships of enzymes and will lead to the development of products, including "designer proteins," which might be industrially and/or therapeutically useful.