High-throughput, subpixel precision analysis of bacterial morphogenesis and intracellular spatio-temporal dynamics

In vivo co-localization of enzymes on RNA scaffolds increases metabolic production in a geometrically dependent manner

Co-localization of biochemical processes plays a key role in the directional control of metabolic fluxes toward specific products in cells. Here, we employ in vivo scaffolds made of RNA that can bind engineered proteins fused to specific RNA binding domains. This allows proteins to be co-localized on RNA scaffolds inside living Escherichia coli. We assembled a library of eight aptamers and corresponding RNA binding domains fused to partial fragments of fluorescent proteins. New scaffold designs could co-localize split green fluorescent protein fragments to produce activity as measured by cell-based fluorescence. The scaffolds consisted of either single bivalent RNAs or RNAs designed to polymerize in one or two dimensions. The new scaffolds were used to increase metabolic output from a two-enzyme pentadecane production pathway that contains a fatty aldehyde intermediate, as well as three and four enzymes in the succinate production pathway. Pentadecane synthesis depended on the geometry of enzymes on the scaffold, as determined through systematic reorientation of the acyl-ACP reductase fusion by rotation via addition of base pairs to its cognate RNA aptamer. Together, these data suggest that intra-cellular scaffolding of enzymatic reactions may enhance the direct channeling of a variety of substrates.

The coding and noncoding architecture of the Caulobacter crescentus genome

Caulobacter crescentus undergoes an asymmetric cell division controlled by a genetic circuit that cycles in space and time. We provide a universal strategy for defining the coding potential of bacterial genomes by applying ribosome profiling, RNA-seq, global 5′-RACE, and liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) data to the 4-megabase C. crescentus genome. We mapped transcript units at single base-pair resolution using RNA-seq together with global 5′-RACE. Additionally, using ribosome profiling and LC-MS, we mapped translation start sites and coding regions with near complete coverage. We found most start codons lacked corresponding Shine-Dalgarno sites although ribosomes were observed to pause at internal Shine-Dalgarno sites within the coding DNA sequence (CDS). These data suggest a more prevalent use of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence for ribosome pausing rather than translation initiation in C. crescentus. Overall 19% of the transcribed and translated genomic elements were newly identified or significantly improved by this approach, providing a valuable genomic resource to elucidate the complete C. crescentus genetic circuitry that controls asymmetric cell division.

Caulobacter crescentus is a model system for studying asymmetric cell division, a fundamental process that, through differential gene expression in the two daughter cells, enables the generation of cells with different fates. To explore how the genome directs and maintains asymmetry upon cell division, we performed a coordinated analysis of multiple genomic and proteomic datasets to identify the RNA and protein coding features in the C. crescentus genome. Our integrated analysis identifies many new genetic regulatory elements, adding significant regulatory complexity to the C. crescentus genome. Surprisingly, 75.4% of protein coding genes lack a canonical translation initiation sequence motif (the Shine-Dalgarno site) which hybridizes to the 3′ end of the ribosomal RNA allowing translation initiation. We find Shine-Dalgarno sites primarily inside of genes where they cause translating ribosomes to pause, possibly allowing nascent proteins to correctly fold. With our detailed map of genomic transcription and translation elements, a systems view of the genetic network that controls asymmetric cell division is within reach.

Bacillus subtilis chromosome organization oscillates between two distinct patterns

Bacterial chromosomes have been found to possess one of two distinct patterns of spatial organization. In the first, called "ori-ter" and exemplified by Caulobacter crescentus, the chromosome arms lie side-by-side, with the replication origin and terminus at opposite cell poles. In the second, observed in slow-growing Escherichia coli ("left-ori-right"), the two chromosome arms reside in separate cell halves, on either side of a centrally located origin. These two patterns, rotated 90° relative to each other, appear to result from different segregation mechanisms. Here, we show that the Bacillus subtilis chromosome alternates between them. For most of the cell cycle, newly replicated origins are maintained at opposite poles with chromosome arms adjacent to each other, in an ori-ter configuration. Shortly after replication initiation, the duplicated origins move as a unit to midcell and the two unreplicated arms resolve into opposite cell halves, generating a left-ori-right pattern. The origins are then actively segregated toward opposite poles, resetting the cycle. Our data suggest that the condensin complex and the parABS partitioning system are the principal driving forces underlying this oscillatory cycle. We propose that the distinct organization patterns observed for bacterial chromosomes reflect a common organization-segregation mechanism, and that simple modifications to it underlie the unique patterns observed in different species.

BactImAS: a platform for processing and analysis of bacterial time-lapse microscopy movies

Background

The software available to date for analyzing image sequences from time-lapse microscopy works only for certain bacteria and under limited conditions. These programs, mostly MATLAB-based, fail for microbes with irregular shape, indistinct cell division sites, or that grow in closely packed microcolonies. Unfortunately, many organisms of interest have these characteristics, and analyzing their image sequences has been limited to time consuming manual processing.

Results

Here we describe BactImAS – a modular, multi-platform, open-source, Java-based software delivered both as a standalone program and as a plugin for Icy. The software is designed for extracting and visualizing quantitative data from bacterial time-lapse movies. BactImAS uses a semi-automated approach where the user defines initial cells, identifies cell division events, and, if necessary, manually corrects cell segmentation with the help of user-friendly GUI and incorporated ImageJ application. The program segments and tracks cells using a newly-developed algorithm designed for movies with difficult-to-segment cells that exhibit small frame-to-frame differences. Measurements are extracted from images in a configurable, automated fashion and an SQLite database is used to store, retrieve, and exchange all acquired data. Finally, the BactImAS can generate configurable lineage tree visualizations and export data as CSV files. We tested BactImAS on time-lapse movies of Mycobacterium smegmatis and achieved at least 10-fold reduction of processing time compared to manual analysis. We illustrate the power of the visualization tool by showing heterogeneity of both icl expression and cell growth atop of a lineage tree.

Conclusions

The presented software simplifies quantitative analysis of time-lapse movies overall and is currently the only available software for the analysis of mycobacteria-like cells. It will be of interest to the community of both end-users and developers of time-lapse microscopy software.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2105-15-251) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Single-particle tracking reveals that free ribosomal subunits are not excluded from the Escherichia coli nucleoid

Biochemical and genetic data show that ribosomes closely follow RNA polymerases that are transcribing protein-coding genes in bacteria. At the same time, electron and fluorescence microscopy have revealed that ribosomes are excluded from the Escherichia coli nucleoid, which seems to be inconsistent with fast translation initiation on nascent mRNA transcripts. The apparent paradox can be reconciled if translation of nascent mRNAs can start throughout the nucleoid before they relocate to the periphery. However, this mechanism requires that free ribosomal subunits are not excluded from the nucleoid. Here, we use single-particle tracking in living E. coli cells to determine the fractions of free ribosomal subunits, classify individual subunits as free or mRNA-bound, and quantify the degree of exclusion of bound and free subunits separately. We show that free subunits are not excluded from the nucleoid. This finding strongly suggests that translation of nascent mRNAs can start throughout the nucleoid, which reconciles the spatial separation of DNA and ribosomes with cotranscriptional translation. We also show that, after translation inhibition, free subunit precursors are partially excluded from the compacted nucleoid. This finding indicates that it is active translation that normally allows ribosomal subunits to assemble on nascent mRNAs throughout the nucleoid and that the effects of translation inhibitors are enhanced by the limited access of ribosomal subunits to nascent mRNAs in the compacted nucleoid.

De novo morphogenesis in L-forms via geometric control of cell growth

In virtually all bacteria, the cell wall is crucial for mechanical integrity and for determining cell shape. Escherichia coli's rod-like shape is maintained via the spatiotemporal patterning of cell-wall synthesis by the actin homologue MreB. Here, we transiently inhibited cell-wall synthesis in E. coli to generate cell-wall-deficient, spherical L-forms, and found that they robustly reverted to a rod-like shape within several generations after inhibition cessation. The chemical composition of the cell wall remained essentially unchanged during this process, as indicated by liquid chromatography. Throughout reversion, MreB localized to inwardly curved regions of the cell, and fluorescent cell wall labelling revealed that MreB targets synthesis to those regions. When exposed to the MreB inhibitor A22, reverting cells regrew a cell wall but failed to recover a rod-like shape. Our results suggest that MreB provides the geometric measure that allows E. coli to actively establish and regulate its morphology.

Identification of essential alphaproteobacterial genes reveals operational variability in conserved developmental and cell cycle systems

The cell cycle of Caulobacter crescentus is controlled by a complex signalling network that co-ordinates events. Genome sequencing has revealed many C. crescentus cell cycle genes are conserved in other Alphaproteobacteria, but it is not clear to what extent their function is conserved. As many cell cycle regulatory genes are essential in C. crescentus, the essential genes of two Alphaproteobacteria, Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Rhizobiales) and Brevundimonas subvibrioides (Caulobacterales), were elucidated to identify changes in cell cycle protein function over different phylogenetic distances as demonstrated by changes in essentiality. The results show the majority of conserved essential genes are involved in critical cell cycle processes. Changes in component essentiality reflect major changes in lifestyle, such as divisome components in A. tumefaciens resulting from that organism's different growth pattern. Larger variability of essentiality was observed in cell cycle regulators, suggesting regulatory mechanisms are more customizable than the processes they regulate. Examples include variability in the essentiality of divJ and divK spatial cell cycle regulators, and non-essentiality of the highly conserved and usually essential DNA methyltransferase CcrM. These results show that while essential cell functions are conserved across varying genetic distance, much of a given organism's essential gene pool is specific to that organism.

The two Cis-acting sites, parS1 and oriC1, contribute to the longitudinal organisation of Vibrio cholerae chromosome I

The segregation of bacterial chromosomes follows a precise choreography of spatial organisation. It is initiated by the bipolar migration of the sister copies of the replication origin (ori). Most bacterial chromosomes contain a partition system (Par) with parS sites in close proximity to ori that contribute to the active mobilisation of the ori region towards the old pole. This is thought to result in a longitudinal chromosomal arrangement within the cell. In this study, we followed the duplication frequency and the cellular position of 19 Vibrio cholerae genome loci as a function of cell length. The genome of V. cholerae is divided between two chromosomes, chromosome I and II, which both contain a Par system. The ori region of chromosome I (ori_I) is tethered to the old pole, whereas the ori region of chromosome II is found at midcell. Nevertheless, we found that both chromosomes adopted a longitudinal organisation. Chromosome I extended over the entire cell while chromosome II extended over the younger cell half. We further demonstrate that displacing parS sites away from the ori_I region rotates the bulk of chromosome I. The only exception was the region where replication terminates, which still localised to the septum. However, the longitudinal arrangement of chromosome I persisted in Par mutants and, as was reported earlier, the ori region still localised towards the old pole. Finally, we show that the Par-independent longitudinal organisation and ori_I polarity were perturbed by the introduction of a second origin. Taken together, these results suggest that the Par system is the major contributor to the longitudinal organisation of chromosome I but that the replication program also influences the arrangement of bacterial chromosomes.

G1-arrested newborn cells are the predominant infectious form of the pathogen Brucella abortus

Several intracellular pathogens, such as Brucella abortus, display a biphasic infection process starting with a non-proliferative stage of unclear nature. Here, we study the cell cycle of B. abortus at the single-cell level, in culture and during infection of HeLa cells and macrophages. The localization of segregation and replication loci of the two bacterial chromosomes indicates that, immediately after being engulfed by host-cell endocytic vacuoles, most bacterial cells are newborn. These bacterial cells do not initiate DNA replication for the next 4 to 6 h, indicating a G1 arrest. Moreover, growth is completely stopped during that time, reflecting a global cell cycle block. Growth and DNA replication resume later, although bacteria still reside within endosomal-like compartments. We hypothesize that the predominance of G1-arrested bacteria in the infectious population, and the bacterial cell cycle arrest following internalization, may constitute a widespread strategy among intracellular pathogens to colonize new proliferation niches.

Certain pathogenic bacteria such as Brucella abortus undergo a temporary non-proliferative stage after infecting host cells. Here, the authors study chromosomal replication and segregation in B. abortus during infection, showing that the non-proliferative stage consists of G1-arrested newborn cells.

Localization of anionic phospholipids in Escherichia coli cells

Cardiolipin (CL) is an anionic phospholipid with a characteristically large curvature and is of growing interest for two primary reasons: (i) it binds to and regulates many peripheral membrane proteins in bacteria and mitochondria, and (ii) it is distributed asymmetrically in rod-shaped cells and is concentrated at the poles and division septum. Despite the growing number of studies of CL, its function in bacteria remains unknown. 10-N-Nonyl acridine orange (NAO) is widely used to image CL in bacteria and mitochondria, as its interaction with CL is reported to produce a characteristic red-shifted fluorescence emission. Using a suite of biophysical techniques, we quantitatively studied the interaction of NAO with anionic phospholipids under physiologically relevant conditions. We found that NAO is promiscuous in its binding and has photophysical properties that are largely insensitive to the structure of diverse anionic phospholipids to which it binds. Being unable to rely solely on NAO to characterize the localization of CL in Escherichia coli cells, we instead used quantitative fluorescence microscopy, mass spectrometry, and mutants deficient in specific classes of anionic phospholipids. We found CL and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) concentrated in the polar regions of E. coli cell membranes; depletion of CL by genetic approaches increased the concentration of PG at the poles. Previous studies suggested that some CL-binding proteins also have a high affinity for PG and display a pattern of cellular localization that is not influenced by depletion of CL. Framed within the context of these previous experiments, our results suggest that PG may play an essential role in bacterial physiology by maintaining the anionic character of polar membranes.

Accumulation of phosphatidic acid increases vancomycin resistance in Escherichia coli

In Gram-negative bacteria, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) contributes to the robust permeability barrier of the outer membrane, preventing entry of toxic molecules such as antibiotics. Mutations in lptD, the beta-barrel component of the LPS transport and assembly machinery, compromise LPS assembly and result in increased antibiotic sensitivity. Here, we report rare vancomycin-resistant suppressors that improve barrier function of a subset of lptD mutations. We find that all seven suppressors analyzed mapped to the essential gene cdsA, which is responsible for the conversion of phosphatidic acid to CDP-diacylglycerol in phospholipid biosynthesis. These cdsA mutations cause a partial loss of function and, as expected, accumulate phosphatidic acid. We show that this suppression is not confined to mutations that cause defects in outer membrane biogenesis but rather that these cdsA mutations confer a general increase in vancomycin resistance, even in a wild-type cell. We use genetics and quadrupole time of flight (Q-TOF) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to show that accumulation of phosphatidic acid by means other than cdsA mutations also increases resistance to vancomycin. We suggest that increased levels of phosphatidic acid change the physical properties of the outer membrane to impede entry of vancomycin into the periplasm, hindering access to its target, an intermediate required for the synthesis of the peptidoglycan cell wall.

Gyramides prevent bacterial growth by inhibiting DNA gyrase and altering chromosome topology

Antibiotics targeting DNA gyrase have been a clinical success story for the past half-century, and the emergence of bacterial resistance has fueled the search for new gyrase inhibitors. In this paper we demonstrate that a new class of gyrase inhibitors, the gyramides, are bacteriostatic agents that competitively inhibit the ATPase activity of Escherichia coli gyrase and produce supercoiled DNA in vivo. E. coli cells treated with gyramide A have abnormally localized, condensed chromosomes that blocks DNA replication and interrupts chromosome segregation. The resulting alterations in DNA topology inhibit cell division through a mechanism that involves the SOS pathway. Importantly, gyramide A is a specific inhibitor of gyrase and does not inhibit the closely related E. coli enzyme topoisomerase IV. E. coli mutants with reduced susceptibility to gyramide A do not display cross-resistance to ciprofloxacin and novobiocin. The results demonstrate that the gyramides prevent bacterial growth by a mechanism in which the topological state of chromosomes is altered and halts DNA replication and segregation. The specificity and activity of the gyramides for inhibiting gyrase makes these compounds important chemical tools for studying the mechanism of gyrase and the connection between DNA topology and bacterial cell division.

Nonperturbative imaging of nucleoid morphology in live bacterial cells during an antimicrobial peptide attack

Studies of time-dependent drug and environmental effects on single, live bacterial cells would benefit significantly from a permeable, nonperturbative, long-lived fluorescent stain specific to the nucleoids (chromosomal DNA). The ideal stain would not affect cell growth rate or nucleoid morphology and dynamics, even during laser illumination for hundreds of camera frames. In this study, time-dependent, single-cell fluorescence imaging with laser excitation and a sensitive electron-multiplying charge-coupled-device (EMCCD) camera critically tested the utility of "dead-cell stains" (SYTOX orange and SYTOX green) and "live-cell stains" (DRAQ5 and SYTO 61) and also 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Surprisingly, the dead-cell stains were nearly ideal for imaging live Escherichia coli, while the live-cell stains and DAPI caused nucleoid expansion and, in some cases, cell permeabilization and the halting of growth. SYTOX orange performed well for both the Gram-negative E. coli and the Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis. In an initial application, we used two-color fluorescence imaging to show that the antimicrobial peptide cecropin A destroyed nucleoid-ribosome segregation over 20 min after permeabilization of the E. coli cytoplasmic membrane, reminiscent of the long-term effects of the drug rifampin. In contrast, the human cathelicidin LL-37, while similar to cecropin A in structure, length, charge, and the ability to permeabilize bacterial membranes, had no observable effect on nucleoid-ribosome segregation. Possible underlying causes are suggested.

Localization of the outer membrane protein OmpA2 in Caulobacter crescentus depends on the position of the gene in the chromosome

The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria is an essential structure involved in nutrient uptake, protection against harmful substances, and cell growth. Different proteins keep the outer membrane from blebbing out by simultaneously interacting with it and with the cell wall. These proteins have been mainly studied in enterobacteria, where OmpA and the Braun and Pal lipoproteins stabilize the outer membrane. Some degree of functional redundancy exists between these proteins, since none of them is essential but the absence of two of them results in a severe phenotype. Caulobacter crescentus has a different strategy to maintain its outer membrane, since it lacks the Braun lipoprotein and Pal is essential. In this work, we characterized OmpA2, an OmpA-like protein, in this bacterium. Our results showed that this protein is required for normal stalk growth and that it plays a minor role in the stability of the outer membrane. An OmpA2 fluorescent fusion protein showed that the concentration of this protein decreases from the stalk to the new pole. This localization pattern is important for its function, and it depends on the position of the gene locus in the chromosome and, as a consequence, in the cell. This result suggests that little diffusion occurs from the moment that the gene is transcribed until the mature protein attaches to the cell wall in the periplasm. This mechanism reveals the integration of different levels of information from protein function down to genome arrangement that allows the cell to self-organize.

Evidence for a DNA-relay mechanism in ParABS-mediated chromosome segregation

The widely conserved ParABS system plays a major role in bacterial chromosome segregation. How the components of this system work together to generate translocation force and directional motion remains uncertain. Here, we combine biochemical approaches, quantitative imaging and mathematical modeling to examine the mechanism by which ParA drives the translocation of the ParB/parS partition complex in Caulobacter crescentus. Our experiments, together with simulations grounded on experimentally-determined biochemical and cellular parameters, suggest a novel 'DNA-relay' mechanism in which the chromosome plays a mechanical function. In this model, DNA-bound ParA-ATP dimers serve as transient tethers that harness the elastic dynamics of the chromosome to relay the partition complex from one DNA region to another across a ParA-ATP dimer gradient. Since ParA-like proteins are implicated in the partitioning of various cytoplasmic cargos, the conservation of their DNA-binding activity suggests that the DNA-relay mechanism may be a general form of intracellular transport in bacteria.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02758.001.

Polar localization of Escherichia coli chemoreceptors requires an intact Tol-Pal complex

Subcellular biomolecular localization is critical for the metabolic and structural properties of the cell. The functional implications of the spatiotemporal distribution of protein complexes during the bacterial cell cycle have long been acknowledged; however, the molecular mechanisms for generating and maintaining their dynamic localization in bacteria are not completely understood. Here we demonstrate that the trans-envelope Tol-Pal complex, a widely conserved component of the cell envelope of Gram-negative bacteria, is required to maintain the polar positioning of chemoreceptor clusters in Escherichia coli. Localization of the chemoreceptors was independent of phospholipid composition of the membrane and the curvature of the cell wall. Instead, our data indicate that chemoreceptors interact with components of the Tol-Pal complex and that this interaction is required to polarly localize chemoreceptor clusters. We found that disruption of the Tol-Pal complex perturbs the polar localization of chemoreceptors, alters cell motility, and affects chemotaxis. We propose that the E. coli Tol-Pal complex restricts mobility of the chemoreceptor clusters at the cell poles and may be involved in regulatory mechanisms that co-ordinate cell division and segregation of the chemosensory machinery.

Bacterial scaffold directs pole-specific centromere segregation

Bacteria use partitioning systems based on the ParA ATPase to actively mobilize and spatially organize molecular cargoes throughout the cytoplasm. The bacterium Caulobacter crescentus uses a ParA-based partitioning system to segregate newly replicated chromosomal centromeres to opposite cell poles. Here we demonstrate that the Caulobacter PopZ scaffold creates an organizing center at the cell pole that actively regulates polar centromere transport by the ParA partition system. As segregation proceeds, the ParB-bound centromere complex is moved by progressively disassembling ParA from a nucleoid-bound structure. Using superresolution microscopy, we show that released ParA is recruited directly to binding sites within a 3D ultrastructure composed of PopZ at the cell pole, whereas the ParB-centromere complex remains at the periphery of the PopZ structure. PopZ recruitment of ParA stimulates ParA to assemble on the nucleoid near the PopZ-proximal cell pole. We identify mutations in PopZ that allow scaffold assembly but specifically abrogate interactions with ParA and demonstrate that PopZ/ParA interactions are required for proper chromosome segregation in vivo. We propose that during segregation PopZ sequesters free ParA and induces target-proximal regeneration of ParA DNA binding activity to enforce processive and pole-directed centromere segregation, preventing segregation reversals. PopZ therefore functions as a polar hub complex at the cell pole to directly regulate the directionality and destination of transfer of the mitotic segregation machine.

Hypermotility in Clostridium perfringens strain SM101 is due to spontaneous mutations in genes linked to cell division

Clostridium perfringens is a Gram-positive anaerobic pathogen of humans and animals. Although they lack flagella, C. perfringens bacteria can still migrate across surfaces using a type of gliding motility that involves the formation of filaments of bacteria lined up in an end-to-end conformation. In strain SM101, hypermotile variants are often found arising from the edges of colonies on agar plates. Hypermotile cells are longer than wild-type cells, and video microscopy of their gliding motility suggests that they form long, thin filaments that move rapidly away from a colony, analogously to swarmer cells in bacteria with flagella. To identify the cause(s) of the hypermotility phenotype, the genome sequences of normal strains and their direct hypermotile derivatives were determined and compared. Strains SM124 and SM127, hypermotile derivatives of strains SM101 and SM102, respectively, contained 10 and 6 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) relative to their parent strains. While SNPs were located in different genes in the two sets of strains, one feature in common was mutations in cell division genes, an ftsI homolog in strain SM124 (CPR_1831) and a minE homolog in strain SM127 (CPR_2104). Complementation of these mutations with wild-type copies of each gene restored the normal motility phenotype. A model explaining the principles underlying the hypermotility phenotype is presented.

HU-induced polymorphous filamentation in fish pathogen Edwardsiella tarda leading to reduced invasion and virulence in zebrafish

Edwardsiella tarda is a rod-shaped Gram-negative pathogenic bacterium that causes hemorrhagic septicemia in fish. Nucleoid-associated protein HU is a basic DNA-binding protein with structural specificity in regulating genes expression. In wild-type E. tarda EIB202, HU is composed of two subunits HUα (hupA) and HUβ (hupB), and exists in homodimer or heterodimer forms. Different from the wild-type and ΔhupB mutant, ΔhupA mutant was found to be defective in cell growth, H2S production, acid adaptation, and exhibited abnormal cell division resulting in a filamentous phenotype in log phase bacteria. The qRT-PCR result showed that deletion of hupA significantly up-regulated the transcription levels of recA and sulA, which in turn stimulated RecA-dependent pathway to prevent cell division, resulting in filamentous morphology in E. tarda. Furthermore, the elongated ΔhupA cells showed a striking defect in EPC cell invasion, and the adhesion and internalization rates were reduced to 25% and 27% of the wild-type in log phase cultures. Confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed that filamentous bacteria failed to adhere to and could not be internalized into EPC. When some of the bacteria regained the rod-shape morphology in stationary cultures, the ΔhupA mutants showed increased adhesion and internalization rates into EPC. Moreover, ΔhupA mutant exhibited delayed mortalities (for two days) in zebrafish but the LD50 increased 17 folds. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that ΔhupA mutant reduced proliferation abilities in the muscle, liver and intestine of zebrafish. This study indicates that HU protein and strains morphology play essential roles in the virulence network of E. tarda.

In vivo disassembly and reassembly of protein aggregates in Escherichia coli

Protein misfolding and aggregation are inevitable but detrimental cellular processes. Cells therefore possess protein quality control mechanisms based on chaperones and proteases that (re)fold or hydrolyze unfolded, misfolded, and aggregated proteins. Besides these conserved quality control mechanisms, the spatial organization of protein aggregates (PAs) inside the cell has been proposed as an important additional strategy to deal with their cytotoxicity. In the bacterium Escherichia coli, however, it remained unclear how this spatial organization is established and how this process of assembling PAs in the cell poles affects cellular physiology. In this report, high hydrostatic pressure was used to transiently reverse protein aggregation in living E. coli cells, allowing the subsequent (re)assembly of PAs to be studied in detail. This approach revealed PA assembly to be dependent on intracellular energy and metabolic activity, with the resulting PA structure being confined to the cell pole by nucleoid occlusion. Moreover, a correlation could be observed between the time needed for PA reassembly and the individual lag time of the cells, which might prevent symmetric segregation of cytotoxic PAs among siblings to occur and ensure rapid spatial clearance of molecular damage throughout the emerging population.

High throughput 3D super-resolution microscopy reveals Caulobacter crescentus in vivo Z-ring organization

We created a high-throughput modality of photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM) that enables automated 3D PALM imaging of hundreds of synchronized bacteria during all stages of the cell cycle. We used high-throughput PALM to investigate the nanoscale organization of the bacterial cell division protein FtsZ in live Caulobacter crescentus. We observed that FtsZ predominantly localizes as a patchy midcell band, and only rarely as a continuous ring, supporting a model of "Z-ring" organization whereby FtsZ protofilaments are randomly distributed within the band and interact only weakly. We found evidence for a previously unidentified period of rapid ring contraction in the final stages of the cell cycle. We also found that DNA damage resulted in production of high-density continuous Z-rings, which may obstruct cytokinesis. Our results provide a detailed quantitative picture of in vivo Z-ring organization.

Differential requirement for PBP1a and PBP1b in in vivo and in vitro fitness of Vibrio cholerae

We investigated the roles of the Vibrio cholerae high-molecular-weight bifunctional penicillin binding proteins, PBP1a and PBP1b, in the fitness of this enteric pathogen. Using a screen for synthetic lethality, we found that the V. cholerae PBP1a and PBP1b proteins, like their Escherichia coli homologues, are each essential in the absence of the other and in the absence of the other's putative activator, the outer membrane lipoproteins LpoA and LpoB, respectively. Comparative analyses of V. cholerae mutants suggest that PBP1a/LpoA of V. cholerae play a more prominent role in generating and/or maintaining the pathogen's cell wall than PBP1b/LpoB. V. cholerae lacking PBP1b or LpoB exhibited wild-type growth under all conditions tested. In contrast, V. cholerae lacking PBP1a or LpoA exhibited growth deficiencies in minimal medium, in the presence of deoxycholate and bile, and in competition assays with wild-type cells both in vitro and in the infant mouse small intestine. PBP1a pathway mutants are particularly impaired in stationary phase, which renders them sensitive to a product(s) present in supernatants from stationary-phase wild-type cells. The marked competitive defect of the PBP1a pathway mutants in vivo was largely absent when exponential-phase cells rather than stationary-phase cells were used to inoculate suckling mice. Thus, at least for V. cholerae PBP1a pathway mutants, the growth phase of the inoculum is a key modulator of infectivity.

ZapE is a novel cell division protein interacting with FtsZ and modulating the Z-ring dynamics

Bacterial cell division requires the formation of a mature divisome complex positioned at the midcell. The localization of the divisome complex is determined by the correct positioning, assembly, and constriction of the FtsZ ring (Z-ring). Z-ring constriction control remains poorly understood and (to some extent) controversial, probably due to the fact that this phenomenon is transient and controlled by numerous factors. Here, we characterize ZapE, a novel ATPase found in Gram-negative bacteria, which is required for growth under conditions of low oxygen, while loss of zapE results in temperature-dependent elongation of cell shape. We found that ZapE is recruited to the Z-ring during late stages of the cell division process and correlates with constriction of the Z-ring. Overexpression or inactivation of zapE leads to elongation of Escherichia coli and affects the dynamics of the Z-ring during division. In vitro, ZapE destabilizes FtsZ polymers in an ATP-dependent manner.

Bacterial cell division has mainly been characterized in vitro. In this report, we could identify ZapE as a novel cell division protein which is not essential in vitro but is required during an infectious process. The bacterial cell division process relies on the assembly, positioning, and constriction of FtsZ ring (the so-called Z-ring). Among nonessential cell division proteins recently identified, ZapE is the first in which detection at the Z-ring correlates with its constriction. We demonstrate that ZapE abundance has to be tightly regulated to allow cell division to occur; absence or overexpression of ZapE leads to bacterial filamentation. As zapE is not essential, we speculate that additional Z-ring destabilizing proteins transiently recruited during late cell division process might be identified in the future.

A dynamically assembled cell wall synthesis machinery buffers cell growth

Assembly of protein complexes is a key mechanism for achieving spatial and temporal coordination in processes involving many enzymes. Growth of rod-shaped bacteria is a well-studied example requiring such coordination; expansion of the cell wall is thought to involve coordination of the activity of synthetic enzymes with the cytoskeleton via a stable complex. Here, we use single-molecule tracking to demonstrate that the bacterial actin homolog MreB and the essential cell wall enzyme PBP2 move on timescales orders of magnitude apart, with drastically different characteristic motions. Our observations suggest that PBP2 interacts with the rest of the synthesis machinery through a dynamic cycle of transient association. Consistent with this model, growth is robust to large fluctuations in PBP2 abundance. In contrast to stable complex formation, dynamic association of PBP2 is less dependent on the function of other components of the synthesis machinery, and buffers spatially distributed growth against fluctuations in pathway component concentrations and the presence of defective components. Dynamic association could generally represent an efficient strategy for spatiotemporal coordination of protein activities, especially when excess concentrations of system components are inhibitory to the overall process or deleterious to the cell.

The SMC complex MukBEF recruits topoisomerase IV to the origin of replication region in live Escherichia coli

The Escherichia coli structural maintenance of chromosome (SMC) complex, MukBEF, and topoisomerase IV (TopoIV) interact in vitro through a direct contact between the MukB dimerization hinge and the C-terminal domain of ParC, the catalytic subunit of TopoIV. The interaction stimulates catalysis by TopoIV in vitro. Using live-cell quantitative imaging, we show that MukBEF directs TopoIV to ori, with fluorescent fusions of ParC and ParE both forming cellular foci that colocalize with those formed by MukBEF throughout the cell cycle and in cells unable to initiate DNA replication. Removal of MukBEF leads to loss of fluorescent ParC/ParE foci. In the absence of functional TopoIV, MukBEF forms multiple foci that are distributed uniformly throughout the nucleoid, whereas multiple catenated oris cluster at midcell. Once functional TopoIV is restored, the decatenated oris segregate to positions that are largely coincident with the MukBEF foci, thereby providing support for a mechanism by which MukBEF acts in chromosome segregation by positioning newly replicated and decatenated oris. Additional evidence for such a mechanism comes from the observation that in TopoIV-positive (TopoIV(+)) cells, newly replicated oris segregate rapidly to the positions of MukBEF foci. Taken together, the data implicate MukBEF as a key component of the DNA segregation process by acting in concert with TopoIV to promote decatenation and positioning of newly replicated oris.

IMPORTANCE

Mechanistic understanding of how newly replicated bacterial chromosomes are segregated prior to cell division is incomplete. In this work, we provide in vivo experimental support for the view that topoisomerase IV (TopoIV), which decatenates newly replicated sister duplexes as a prelude to successful segregation, is directed to the replication origin region of the Escherichia coli chromosome by the SMC (structural maintenance of chromosome) complex, MukBEF. We provide in vivo data that support the demonstration in vitro that the MukB interaction with TopoIV stimulates catalysis by TopoIV. Finally, we show that MukBEF directs the normal positioning of sister origins after their replication and during their segregation. Overall, the data support models in which the coordinate and sequential action of TopoIV and MukBEF plays an important role during bacterial chromosome segregation.

Mechanical consequences of cell-wall turnover in the elongation of a Gram-positive bacterium

A common feature of walled organisms is their exposure to osmotic forces that challenge the mechanical integrity of cells while driving elongation. Most bacteria rely on their cell wall to bear osmotic stress and determine cell shape. Wall thickness can vary greatly among species, with Gram-positive bacteria having a thicker wall than Gram-negative bacteria. How wall dimensions and mechanical properties are regulated and how they affect growth have not yet been elucidated. To investigate the regulation of wall thickness in the rod-shaped Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis, we analyzed exponentially growing cells in different media. Using transmission electron and epifluorescence microscopy, we found that wall thickness and strain were maintained even between media that yielded a threefold change in growth rate. To probe mechanisms of elongation, we developed a biophysical model of the Gram-positive wall that balances the mechanical effects of synthesis of new material and removal of old material through hydrolysis. Our results suggest that cells can vary their growth rate without changing wall thickness or strain by maintaining a constant ratio of synthesis and hydrolysis rates. Our model also indicates that steady growth requires wall turnover on the same timescale as elongation, which can be driven primarily by hydrolysis rather than insertion. This perspective of turnover-driven elongation provides mechanistic insight into previous experiments involving mutants whose growth rate was accelerated by the addition of lysozyme or autolysin. Our approach provides a general framework for deconstructing shape maintenance in cells with thick walls by integrating wall mechanics with the kinetics and regulation of synthesis and turnover.

Suppression of amber codons in Caulobacter crescentus by the orthogonal Escherichia coli histidyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNAHis pair

While translational read-through of stop codons by suppressor tRNAs is common in many bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes, this phenomenon has not yet been observed in the α-proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus. Based on a previous report that C. crescentus and Escherichia coli tRNA^His have distinctive identity elements, we constructed E. coli tRNA^His_CUA, a UAG suppressor tRNA for C. crescentus. By examining the expression of three UAG codon- containing reporter genes (encoding a β-lactamase, the fluorescent mCherry protein, or the C. crescentus xylonate dehydratase), we demonstrated that the E. coli histidyl-tRNA synthetase/tRNA^His_CUA pair enables in vivo UAG suppression in C. crescentus. E. coli histidyl-tRNA synthetase (HisRS) or tRNA^His_CUA alone did not achieve suppression; this indicates that the E. coli HisRS/tRNA^His_CUA pair is orthogonal in C. crescentus. These results illustrate that UAG suppression can be achieved in C. crescentus with an orthogonal aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase/suppressor tRNA pair.

RecA bundles mediate homology pairing between distant sisters during DNA break repair

DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair by homologous recombination has evolved to maintain genetic integrity in all organisms. Although many reactions that occur during homologous recombination are known, it is unclear where, when and how they occur in cells. Here, by using conventional and super-resolution microscopy, we describe the progression of DSB repair in live Escherichia coli. Specifically, we investigate whether homologous recombination can occur efficiently between distant sister loci that have segregated to opposite halves of an E. coli cell. We show that a site-specific DSB in one sister can be repaired efficiently using distant sister homology. After RecBCD processing of the DSB, RecA is recruited to the cut locus, where it nucleates into a bundle that contains many more RecA molecules than can associate with the two single-stranded DNA regions that form at the DSB. Mature bundles extend along the long axis of the cell, in the space between the bulk nucleoid and the inner membrane. Bundle formation is followed by pairing, in which the two ends of the cut locus relocate at the periphery of the nucleoid and together move rapidly towards the homology of the uncut sister. After sister locus pairing, RecA bundles disassemble and proteins that act late in homologous recombination are recruited to give viable recombinants 1-2-generation-time equivalents after formation of the initial DSB. Mutated RecA proteins that do not form bundles are defective in sister pairing and in DSB-induced repair. This work reveals an unanticipated role of RecA bundles in channelling the movement of the DNA DSB ends, thereby facilitating the long-range homology search that occurs before the strand invasion and transfer reactions.

The bacterial cytoplasm has glass-like properties and is fluidized by metabolic activity

The physical nature of the bacterial cytoplasm is poorly understood even though it determines cytoplasmic dynamics and hence cellular physiology and behavior. Through single-particle tracking of protein filaments, plasmids, storage granules, and foreign particles of different sizes, we find that the bacterial cytoplasm displays properties that are characteristic of glass-forming liquids and changes from liquid-like to solid-like in a component size-dependent fashion. As a result, the motion of cytoplasmic components becomes disproportionally constrained with increasing size. Remarkably, cellular metabolism fluidizes the cytoplasm, allowing larger components to escape their local environment and explore larger regions of the cytoplasm. Consequently, cytoplasmic fluidity and dynamics dramatically change as cells shift between metabolically active and dormant states in response to fluctuating environments. Our findings provide insight into bacterial dormancy and have broad implications to our understanding of bacterial physiology, as the glassy behavior of the cytoplasm impacts all intracellular processes involving large components.

How do bacteria localize proteins to the cell pole?

It is now well appreciated that bacterial cells are highly organized, which is far from the initial concept that they are merely bags of randomly distributed macromolecules and chemicals. Central to their spatial organization is the precise positioning of certain proteins in subcellular domains of the cell. In particular, the cell poles - the ends of rod-shaped cells - constitute important platforms for cellular regulation that underlie processes as essential as cell cycle progression, cellular differentiation, virulence, chemotaxis and growth of appendages. Thus, understanding how the polar localization of specific proteins is achieved and regulated is a crucial question in bacterial cell biology. Often, polarly localized proteins are recruited to the poles through their interaction with other proteins or protein complexes that were already located there, in a so-called diffusion-and-capture mechanism. Bacteria are also starting to reveal their secrets on how the initial pole 'recognition' can occur and how this event can be regulated to generate dynamic, reproducible patterns in time (for example, during the cell cycle) and space (for example, at a specific cell pole). Here, we review the major mechanisms that have been described in the literature, with an emphasis on the self-organizing principles. We also present regulation strategies adopted by bacterial cells to obtain complex spatiotemporal patterns of protein localization.

A comparison of methods to measure the magnetic moment of magnetotactic bacteria through analysis of their trajectories in external magnetic fields

Magnetotactic bacteria possess organelles called magnetosomes that confer a magnetic moment on the cells, resulting in their partial alignment with external magnetic fields. Here we show that analysis of the trajectories of cells exposed to an external magnetic field can be used to measure the average magnetic dipole moment of a cell population in at least five different ways. We apply this analysis to movies of Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 cells, and compare the values of the magnetic moment obtained in this way to that obtained by direct measurements of magnetosome dimension from electron micrographs. We find that methods relying on the viscous relaxation of the cell orientation give results comparable to that obtained by magnetosome measurements, whereas methods relying on statistical mechanics assumptions give systematically lower values of the magnetic moment. Since the observed distribution of magnetic moments in the population is not sufficient to explain this discrepancy, our results suggest that non-thermal random noise is present in the system, implying that a magnetotactic bacterial population should not be considered as similar to a paramagnetic material.

Membrane binding of MinE allows for a comprehensive description of Min-protein pattern formation

The rod-shaped bacterium Escherichia coli selects the cell center as site of division with the help of the proteins MinC, MinD, and MinE. This protein system collectively oscillates between the two cell poles by alternately binding to the membrane in one of the two cell halves. This dynamic behavior, which emerges from the interaction of the ATPase MinD and its activator MinE on the cell membrane, has become a paradigm for protein self-organization. Recently, it has been found that not only the binding of MinD to the membrane, but also interactions of MinE with the membrane contribute to Min-protein self-organization. Here, we show that by accounting for this finding in a computational model, we can comprehensively describe all observed Min-protein patterns in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, by varying the system's geometry, our computations predict patterns that have not yet been reported. We confirm these predictions experimentally.

Cellular protein structures have long been suggested to form by protein self-organization. A particularly clear example is provided by the proteins MinC, MinD, and MinE selecting the center as site of cell division in the rod-shaped bacterium Escherichia coli. Based on binding of MinD to the cytoplasmic membrane and an antagonistic action of MinE, which induces the release of MinD into the cytoplasm, these proteins oscillate from pole to pole, where they inhibit cell division. Supporting the idea of self-organization being the cause of the Min oscillations, purified Min proteins were found to spontaneously form traveling waves on supported lipid bilayers. A comprehensive understanding of the Min patterns formed under various conditions remains elusive. We have performed a computational analysis of Min-protein dynamics taking into account the recently discovered persistent action of MinE. We show that this property allows to reproduce all observed Min-protein patterns in a unified framework. Furthermore, our analysis predicts new structures, which we observed experimentally. Our study highlights that mechanisms underlying the spontaneous formation of protein patterns under purified in vitro conditions can also generate patterns inside complex intracellular environments.

Polymer modeling of the E. coli genome reveals the involvement of locus positioning and macrodomain structuring for the control of chromosome conformation and segregation

The mechanisms that control chromosome conformation and segregation in bacteria have not yet been elucidated. In Escherichia coli, the mere presence of an active process remains an open question. Here, we investigate the conformation and segregation pattern of the E. coli genome by performing numerical simulations on a polymer model of the chromosome. We analyze the roles of the intrinsic structuring of chromosomes and the forced localization of specific loci, which are observed in vivo. Specifically, we examine the segregation pattern of a chromosome that is divided into four structured macrodomains (MDs) and two non-structured regions. We find that strong osmotic-like organizational forces, which stem from the differential condensation levels of the chromosome regions, dictate the cellular disposition of the chromosome. Strikingly, the comparison of our in silico results with fluorescent imaging of the chromosome choreography in vivo reveals that in the presence of MDs the targeting of the origin and terminus regions to specific positions are sufficient to generate a segregation pattern that is indistinguishable from experimentally observed patterns.

Insights into the function of YciM, a heat shock membrane protein required to maintain envelope integrity in Escherichia coli

The cell envelope of Gram-negative bacteria is an essential organelle that is important for cell shape and protection from toxic compounds. Proteins involved in envelope biogenesis are therefore attractive targets for the design of new antibacterial agents. In a search for new envelope assembly factors, we screened a collection of Escherichia coli deletion mutants for sensitivity to detergents and hydrophobic antibiotics, a phenotype indicative of defects in the cell envelope. Strains lacking yciM were among the most sensitive strains of the mutant collection. Further characterization of yciM mutants revealed that they display a thermosensitive growth defect on low-osmolarity medium and that they have a significantly altered cell morphology. At elevated temperatures, yciM mutants form bulges containing cytoplasmic material and subsequently lyse. We also discovered that yciM genetically interacts with envC, a gene encoding a regulator of the activity of peptidoglycan amidases. Altogether, these results indicate that YciM is required for envelope integrity. Biochemical characterization of the protein showed that YciM is anchored to the inner membrane via its N terminus, the rest of the protein being exposed to the cytoplasm. Two CXXC motifs are present at the C terminus of YciM and serve to coordinate a redox-sensitive iron center of the rubredoxin type. Both the N-terminal membrane anchor and the C-terminal iron center of YciM are important for function.

Super-resolution imaging of bacteria in a microfluidics device

Bacteria have evolved complex, highly-coordinated, multi-component cellular engines to achieve high degrees of efficiency, accuracy, adaptability, and redundancy. Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy methods are ideally suited to investigate the internal composition, architecture, and dynamics of molecular machines and large cellular complexes. These techniques require the long-term stability of samples, high signal-to-noise-ratios, low chromatic aberrations and surface flatness, conditions difficult to meet with traditional immobilization methods. We present a method in which cells are functionalized to a microfluidics device and fluorophores are injected and imaged sequentially. This method has several advantages, as it permits the long-term immobilization of cells and proper correction of drift, avoids chromatic aberrations caused by the use of different filter sets, and allows for the flat immobilization of cells on the surface. In addition, we show that different surface chemistries can be used to image bacteria at different time-scales, and we introduce an automated cell detection and image analysis procedure that can be used to obtain cell-to-cell, single-molecule localization and dynamic heterogeneity as well as average properties at the super-resolution level.

High-copy bacterial plasmids diffuse in the nucleoid-free space, replicate stochastically and are randomly partitioned at cell division

Bacterial plasmids play important roles in the metabolism, pathogenesis and bacterial evolution and are highly versatile biotechnological tools. Stable inheritance of plasmids depends on their autonomous replication and efficient partition to daughter cells at cell division. Active partition systems have not been identified for high-copy number plasmids, and it has been generally believed that they are partitioned randomly at cell division. Nevertheless, direct evidence for the cellular location of replicating and nonreplicating plasmids, and the partition mechanism has been lacking. We used as model pJHCMW1, a plasmid isolated from Klebsiella pneumoniae that includes two β-lactamase and two aminoglycoside resistance genes. Here we report that individual ColE1-type plasmid molecules are mobile and tend to be excluded from the nucleoid, mainly localizing at the cell poles but occasionally moving between poles along the long axis of the cell. As a consequence, at the moment of cell division, most plasmid molecules are located at the poles, resulting in efficient random partition to the daughter cells. Complete replication of individual molecules occurred stochastically and independently in the nucleoid-free space throughout the cell cycle, with a constant probability of initiation per plasmid.

Oligomerization and higher-order assembly contribute to sub-cellular localization of a bacterial scaffold

In Caulobacter crescentus, the PopZ polar scaffold protein supports asymmetric cell division by recruiting distinct sets of binding partners to opposite cell poles. To understand how polar organizing centres are established by PopZ, we investigated a set of mutated PopZ proteins for defects in sub-cellular localization and recruitment activity. We identified a domain within the C-terminal 76 amino acids that is necessary and sufficient for accumulation as a single subcellular focus, a domain within the N-terminal 23 amino acids that is necessary for bipolar targeting, and a linker domain between these localization determinants that tolerates large variation. Mutations that inhibited dynamic PopZ localization inhibited the recruitment of other factors to cell poles. Mutations in the C-terminal domain also blocked discrete steps in the assembly of higher-order structures. Biophysical analysis of purified wild type and assembly defective mutant proteins indicates that PopZ self-associates into an elongated trimer, which readily forms a dimer of trimers through lateral contact. The final six amino acids of PopZ are necessary for connecting the hexamers into filaments, and these structures are important for sub-cellular localization. Thus, PopZ undergoes multiple orders of self-assembly, and the formation of an interconnected superstructure is a key feature of polar organization in Caulobacter.

Chromosome replication and segregation govern the biogenesis and inheritance of inorganic polyphosphate granules

Prokaryotes and eukaryotes synthesize long chains of orthophosphate, known as polyphosphate (polyP), which form dense granules within the cell. PolyP regulates myriad cellular functions and is often localized to specific subcellular addresses through mechanisms that remain undefined. In this study, we present a molecular-level analysis of polyP subcellular localization in the model bacterium Caulobacter crescentus. We demonstrate that biogenesis and localization of polyP is controlled as a function of the cell cycle, which ensures regular partitioning of granules between mother and daughter. The enzyme polyphosphate kinase 1 (Ppk1) is required for granule production, colocalizes with granules, and dynamically localizes to the sites of new granule synthesis in nascent daughter cells. Localization of Ppk1 within the cell requires an intact catalytic active site and a short, positively charged tail at the C-terminus of the protein. The processes of chromosome replication and segregation govern both the number and position of Ppk1/polyP complexes within the cell. We propose a multistep model in which the chromosome establishes sites of polyP coalescence, which recruit Ppk1 to promote the in situ synthesis of large granules. These findings underscore the importance of both chromosome dynamics and discrete protein localization as organizing factors in bacterial cell biology.

Specificity in suppression of SOS expression by recA4162 and uvrD303

Detection and repair of DNA damage is essential in all organisms and depends on the ability of proteins recognizing and processing specific DNA substrates. In E. coli, the RecA protein forms a filament on single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) produced by DNA damage and induces the SOS response. Previous work has shown that one type of recA mutation (e.g., recA4162 (I298V)) and one type of uvrD mutation (e.g., uvrD303 (D403A, D404A)) can differentially decrease SOS expression depending on the type of inducing treatments (UV damage versus RecA mutants that constitutively express SOS). Here it is tested using other SOS inducing conditions if there is a general feature of ssDNA generated during these treatments that allows recA4162 and uvrD303 to decrease SOS expression. The SOS inducing conditions tested include growing cells containing temperature-sensitive DNA replication mutations (dnaE486, dnaG2903, dnaN159, dnaZ2016 (at 37°C)), a del(polA)501 mutation and induction of Double-Strand Breaks (DSBs). uvrD303 could decrease SOS expression under all conditions, while recA4162 could decrease SOS expression under all conditions except in the polA strain or when DSBs occur. It is hypothesized that recA4162 suppresses SOS expression best when the ssDNA occurs at a gap and that uvrD303 is able to decrease SOS expression when the ssDNA is either at a gap or when it is generated at a DSB (but does so better at a gap).

Midcell recruitment of the DNA uptake and virulence nuclease, EndA, for pneumococcal transformation

Genetic transformation, in which cells internalize exogenous DNA and integrate it into their chromosome, is widespread in the bacterial kingdom. It involves a specialized membrane-associated machinery for binding double-stranded (ds) DNA and uptake of single-stranded (ss) fragments. In the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, this machinery is specifically assembled at competence. The EndA nuclease, a constitutively expressed virulence factor, is recruited during competence to play the key role of converting dsDNA into ssDNA for uptake. Here we use fluorescence microscopy to show that EndA is uniformly distributed in the membrane of noncompetent cells and relocalizes at midcell during competence. This recruitment requires the dsDNA receptor ComEA. We also show that under ‘static’ binding conditions, i.e., in cells impaired for uptake, EndA and ComEA colocalize at midcell, together with fluorescent end-labelled dsDNA (Cy3-dsDNA). We conclude that midcell clustering of EndA reflects its recruitment to the DNA uptake machinery rather than its sequestration away from this machinery to protect transforming DNA from extensive degradation. In contrast, a fraction of ComEA molecules were located at cell poles post-competence, suggesting the pole as the site of degradation of the dsDNA receptor. In uptake-proficient cells, we used Cy3-dsDNA molecules enabling expression of a GFP fusion upon chromosomal integration to identify transformed cells as GFP producers 60–70 min after initial contact between DNA and competent cells. Recording of images since initial cell-DNA contact allowed us to look back to the uptake period for these transformed cells. Cy3-DNA foci were thus detected at the cell surface 10–11 min post-initial contact, all exclusively found at midcell, strongly suggesting that active uptake of transforming DNA takes place at this position in pneumococci. We discuss how midcell uptake could influence homology search, and the likelihood that midcell uptake is characteristic of cocci and/or the growth phase-dependency of competence.

Natural genetic transformation, a programmed mechanism for horizontal gene transfer, permits the passage of environmental double-stranded (ds) DNA through the bacterial membrane and its subsequent integration into the recipient chromosome by homology. In the human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, it requires development of a physiological state termed competence, which develops transiently in nearly all cells of an exponentially growing culture. Expression of a specific set of genes then allows assembly of a large membrane-associated machinery for binding exogenous dsDNA and internalizing single-stranded (ss) DNA fragments. The key role of converting dsDNA into ssDNA is fulfilled by EndA, a membrane-located endonuclease which is also a pneumococcal virulence factor pre-existing in noncompetent cells. Here, we report that EndA is uniformly distributed in the membrane of noncompetent cells and relocates into clusters during competence. We show that this relocalization is dependent upon the dsDNA-receptor ComEA and that ComEA and EndA are preferentially located at midcell in cultures exhibiting maximal transformation proficiency. Finally, using fluorescence microscopy, we visualize the transformation process in living cells providing evidence that DNA binding and presumably uptake occur at midcell.

Bi-modal distribution of the second messenger c-di-GMP controls cell fate and asymmetry during the caulobacter cell cycle

Many bacteria mediate important life-style decisions by varying levels of the second messenger c-di-GMP. Behavioral transitions result from the coordination of complex cellular processes such as motility, surface adherence or the production of virulence factors and toxins. While the regulatory mechanisms responsible for these processes have been elucidated in some cases, the global pleiotropic effects of c-di-GMP are poorly understood, primarily because c-di-GMP networks are inherently complex in most bacteria. Moreover, the quantitative relationships between cellular c-di-GMP levels and c-di-GMP dependent phenotypes are largely unknown. Here, we dissect the c-di-GMP network of Caulobacter crescentus to establish a global and quantitative view of c-di-GMP dependent processes in this organism. A genetic approach that gradually reduced the number of diguanylate cyclases identified novel c-di-GMP dependent cellular processes and unraveled c-di-GMP as an essential component of C. crescentus cell polarity and its bimodal life cycle. By varying cellular c-di-GMP concentrations, we determined dose response curves for individual c-di-GMP-dependent processes. Relating these values to c-di-GMP levels modeled for single cells progressing through the cell cycle sets a quantitative frame for the successive activation of c-di-GMP dependent processes during the C. crescentus life cycle. By reconstructing a simplified c-di-GMP network in a strain devoid of c-di-GMP we defined the minimal requirements for the oscillation of c-di-GMP levels during the C. crescentus cell cycle. Finally, we show that although all c-di-GMP dependent cellular processes were qualitatively restored by artificially adjusting c-di-GMP levels with a heterologous diguanylate cyclase, much higher levels of the second messenger are required under these conditions as compared to the contribution of homologous c-di-GMP metabolizing enzymes. These experiments suggest that a common c-di-GMP pool cannot fully explain spatiotemporal regulation by c-di-GMP in C. crescentus and that individual enzymes preferentially regulate specific phenotypes during the cell cycle.

Bacterial processes like virulence, motility or biofilm formation are governed by the second messenger c-di-GMP. In most bacteria, c-di-GMP is produced and degraded by a complex network comprising dozens of enzymes. This has hindered a comprehensive analysis of the cellular role of c-di-GMP. Here we mutate the entire c-di-GMP network in Caulobacter crescentus, a model organism with inherent cell polarity and bimodal life-cycle. We find that a c-di-GMP free strain (cdG⁰) shows severe developmental defects, a loss of cell polarity and defective cell division. By determining c-di-GMP dose-response curves for individual processes and relating these to c-di-GMP levels, which were modeled for single cells progressing through the cell cycle, we define a quantitative frame for the c-di-GMP dependent program during the C. crescentus life cycle. We then show that the defects of cdG⁰ can be largely rescued by restoring c-di-GMP levels with a single heterologous enzyme producing c-di-GMP. However, much higher levels of the second messenger are required under these conditions as compared to the contribution of homologous enzymes. Our data argue for specific regulatory fine-tuning of the enzymes mediating c-di-GMP oscillation during the cell cycle and provide evidence for both global as well as insulated c-di-GMP pools.

Triggering sporulation in Bacillus subtilis with artificial two-component systems reveals the importance of proper Spo0A activation dynamics

Sporulation initiation in Bacillus subtilis is controlled by the phosphorylated form of the master regulator Spo0A which controls transcription of a multitude of sporulation genes. In this study, we investigated the importance of temporal dynamics of phosphorylated Spo0A (Spo0A∼P) accumulation by rewiring the network controlling its phosphorylation. We showed that simultaneous induction of KinC, a kinase that can directly phosphorylate Spo0A, and Spo0A itself from separately controlled inducible promoters can efficiently trigger sporulation even under nutrient rich conditions. However, the sporulation efficiency in this artificial two-component system was significantly impaired when KinC and/or Spo0A induction was too high. Using mathematical modelling, we showed that gradual accumulation of Spo0A∼P is essential for the proper temporal order of the Spo0A regulon expression, and that reduction in sporulation efficiency results from the reversal of that order. These insights led us to identify premature repression of DivIVA as one possible explanation for the adverse effects of accelerated accumulation of Spo0A∼P on sporulation. Moreover, we found that positive feedback resulting from autoregulation of the native spo0A promoter leads to robust control of Spo0A∼P accumulation kinetics. Thus we propose that a major function of the conserved architecture of the sporulation network is controlling Spo0A activation dynamics.

Retroactivity controls the temporal dynamics of gene transcription

Just like in many engineering systems, impedance-like effects, called retroactivity, arise at the interconnection of biomolecular circuits, leading to unexpected changes in a circuit's behavior. In this paper, we provide a combined experimental and theoretical study to characterize the effects of retroactivity on the temporal dynamics of a gene transcription module in vivo. The response of the module to an inducer was measured both in isolation and when the module was connected to downstream clients. The connected module, when compared to the isolated module, responded selectively to the introduction of the inducer versus its withdrawal. Specifically, a "sign-sensitive delay" appeared, in which the connected module displayed a time delay in the response to induction and anticipation in the response to de-induction. The extent of these effects can be made larger by increasing the amounts of downstream clients and/or their binding affinity to the output protein of the module. Our experimental results and mathematical formulas make it possible to predict the extent of the change in the dynamic behavior of a module after interconnection. They can be employed to both recover the predictive power of a modular approach to understand systems or as an additional design tool to shape the temporal behavior of gene transcription.

Benchmarking various green fluorescent protein variants in Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Lactococcus lactis for live cell imaging

Green fluorescent protein (GFP) offers efficient ways of visualizing promoter activity and protein localization in vivo, and many different variants are currently available to study bacterial cell biology. Which of these variants is best suited for a certain bacterial strain, goal, or experimental condition is not clear. Here, we have designed and constructed two "superfolder" GFPs with codon adaptation specifically for Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae and have benchmarked them against five other previously available variants of GFP in B. subtilis, S. pneumoniae, and Lactococcus lactis, using promoter-gfp fusions. Surprisingly, the best-performing GFP under our experimental conditions in B. subtilis was the one codon optimized for S. pneumoniae and vice versa. The data and tools described in this study will be useful for cell biology studies in low-GC-rich Gram-positive bacteria.

Spatiotemporal control of PopZ localization through cell cycle-coupled multimerization

ParA-dependent DNA segregation determines the cell cycle localization pattern of the pole-organizing protein PopZ by promoting its assembly into a matrix.

Bacterial cell poles constitute defined subcellular domains where numerous proteins localize, often at specific times, to affect various physiological processes. How pole recognition occurs and what governs the timing of protein localization are often unknown. In this paper, we investigate the mechanisms governing the localization of PopZ, a chromosome-anchoring protein whose unipolar to bipolar localization pattern is critical for cell cycle progression in Caulobacter crescentus. We provide evidence that polar localization of PopZ relied on its self-assembly into a higher-order structure (matrix) and that the unipolar to bipolar transition was coupled to the asymmetric distribution of ParA during the translocation of the origin-proximal ParB–parS partition complex. Collectively, our data suggest a model in which a local increase of ParA concentration promotes the assembly of a PopZ matrix precisely when and where this matrix is needed. Such coupling of protein assembly with a cell cycle–associated molecular asymmetry may represent a principle of cellular organization for controlling protein localization in both time and space.

Cell segmentation by multi-resolution analysis and maximum likelihood estimation (MAMLE)

BACKGROUND

Cell imaging is becoming an indispensable tool for cell and molecular biology research. However, most processes studied are stochastic in nature, and require the observation of many cells and events. Ideally, extraction of information from these images ought to rely on automatic methods. Here, we propose a novel segmentation method, MAMLE, for detecting cells within dense clusters.

METHODS

MAMLE executes cell segmentation in two stages. The first relies on state of the art filtering technique, edge detection in multi-resolution with morphological operator and threshold decomposition for adaptive thresholding. From this result, a correction procedure is applied that exploits maximum likelihood estimate as an objective function. Also, it acquires morphological features from the initial segmentation for constructing the likelihood parameter, after which the final segmentation is obtained.

CONCLUSIONS

We performed an empirical evaluation that includes sample images from different imaging modalities and diverse cell types. The new method attained very high (above 90%) cell segmentation accuracy in all cases. Finally, its accuracy was compared to several existing methods, and in all tests, MAMLE outperformed them in segmentation accuracy.

FtsEX is required for CwlO peptidoglycan hydrolase activity during cell wall elongation in Bacillus subtilis

The peptidoglycan (PG) sacculus, a meshwork of polysaccharide strands cross-linked by short peptides, protects bacterial cells against osmotic lysis. To enlarge this covalently closed macromolecule, PG hydrolases must break peptide cross-links in the meshwork to allow insertion of new glycan strands between the existing ones. In the rod-shaped bacterium Bacillus subtilis, cell wall elongation requires two redundant endopeptidases, CwlO and LytE. However, it is not known how these potentially autolytic enzymes are regulated to prevent lethal breaches in the cell wall. Here, we show that the ATP-binding cassette transporter-like FtsEX complex is required for CwlO activity. In Escherichia coli, FtsEX is thought to harness ATP hydrolysis to activate unrelated PG hydrolases during cell division. Consistent with this regulatory scheme, B. subtilis FtsE mutants that are unable to bind or hydrolyse ATP cannot activate CwlO. Finally, we show that in cells depleted of both CwlO and LytE, the PG synthetic machinery continues moving circumferentially until cell lysis, suggesting that cross-link cleavage is not required for glycan strand polymerization. Overall, our data support a model in which the FtsEX complex is a remarkably flexible regulatory module capable of controlling a diverse set of PG hydrolases during growth and division in different organisms.

Substrate specificity of an elongation-specific peptidoglycan endopeptidase and its implications for cell wall architecture and growth of Vibrio cholerae

The bacterial cell wall consists of peptidoglycan (PG), a sturdy mesh of glycan strands cross-linked by short peptides. This rigid structure constrains cell shape and size, yet is sufficiently dynamic to accommodate insertion of newly synthesized PG, which was long hypothesized, and recently demonstrated, to require cleavage of the covalent peptide cross-links that couple previously inserted material. Here, we identify several genes in Vibrio cholerae that collectively are required for growth - particularly elongation - of this pathogen. V. cholerae encodes three putative periplasmic proteins, here denoted ShyA, ShyB, and ShyC, that contain both PG binding and M23 family peptidase domains. While none is essential individually, the absence of both ShyA and ShyC results in synthetic lethality, while the absence of ShyA and ShyB causes a significant growth deficiency. ShyA is a D,d-endopeptidase able to cleave most peptide chain cross-links in V. cholerae's PG. PG from a ∆shyA mutant has decreased average chain length, suggesting that ShyA may promote removal of short PG strands. Unexpectedly, ShyA has little activity against muropeptides containing pentapeptides, which typically characterize newly synthesized material. ShyA's substrate-dependent activity may contribute to selection of cleavage sites in PG, whose implications for the process of side-wall growth are discussed.

Bypassing the need for subcellular localization of a polysaccharide export-anchor complex by overexpressing its protein subunits

Subcellular protein localization is thought to promote protein-protein interaction by increasing the effective concentration and enabling spatial co-ordination and proper segregation of proteins. We found that protein overexpression allowed the assembly of a productive polysaccharide biosynthesis-export-anchoring complex in the absence of polar localization in Caulobacter crescentus. Polar localization of the holdfast export protein, HfsD, depends on the presence of the other export proteins, HfsA and HfsB, and on the polar scaffold protein PodJ. The holdfast deficiency of hfsB and podJ mutants is suppressed by the overexpression of export proteins. Restored holdfasts are randomly positioned and colocalize with a holdfast anchor protein in these strains, indicating that functional complexes can form at non-polar sites. Therefore, overexpression of export proteins surpasses a concentration threshold necessary for holdfast synthesis. Restoration of holdfast synthesis at non-polar sites reduces surface adhesion, consistent with the need to spatially co-ordinate the holdfast synthesis machinery with the flagellum and pili. These strains lack the cell-specific segregation of the holdfast, resulting in the presence of holdfasts in motile daughter cells. Our results highlight the fact that multiple facets of subcellular localization can be coupled to improve the phenotypic outcome of a protein assembly.

Direct interaction of FtsZ and MreB is required for septum synthesis and cell division in Escherichia coli

How bacteria coordinate cell growth with division is not well understood. Bacterial cell elongation is controlled by actin-MreB while cell division is governed by tubulin-FtsZ. A ring-like structure containing FtsZ (the Z ring) at mid-cell attracts other cell division proteins to form the divisome, an essential protein assembly required for septum synthesis and cell separation. The Z ring exists at mid-cell during a major part of the cell cycle without contracting. Here, we show that MreB and FtsZ of Escherichia coli interact directly and that this interaction is required for Z ring contraction. We further show that the MreB-FtsZ interaction is required for transfer of cell-wall biosynthetic enzymes from the lateral to the mature divisome, allowing cells to synthesise the septum. Our observations show that bacterial cell division is coupled to cell elongation via a direct and essential interaction between FtsZ and MreB.