Isolation and genetic analysis of a mutation that suppresses the auxotrophies of superoxide dismutase-deficient Escherichia coli K12

Simple biological systems for assessing the activity of superoxide dismutase mimics

SIGNIFICANCE

Half a century of research provided unambiguous proof that superoxide and species derived from it-reactive oxygen species (ROS)-play a central role in many diseases and degenerative processes. This stimulated the search for pharmaceutical agents that are capable of preventing oxidative damage, and methods of assessing their therapeutic potential.

RECENT ADVANCES

The limitations of superoxide dismutase (SOD) as a therapeutic tool directed attention to small molecules, SOD mimics, that are capable of catalytically scavenging superoxide. Several groups of compounds, based on either metal complexes, including metalloporphyrins, metallocorroles, Mn(II) cyclic polyamines, and Mn(III) salen derivatives, or non-metal based compounds, such as fullerenes, nitrones, and nitroxides, have been developed and studied in vitro and in vivo. Very few entered clinical trials.

CRITICAL ISSUES AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Development of SOD mimics requires in-depth understanding of their mechanisms of biological action. Elucidation of both molecular features, essential for efficient ROS-scavenging in vivo, and factors limiting the potential side effects requires biologically relevant and, at the same time, relatively simple testing systems. This review discuses the advantages and limitations of genetically engineered SOD-deficient unicellular organisms, Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as tools for investigating the efficacy and mechanisms of biological actions of SOD mimics. These simple systems allow the scrutiny of the minimal requirements for a functional SOD mimic: the association of a high catalytic activity for superoxide dismutation, low toxicity, and an efficient cellular uptake/biodistribution.

An SOD mimic protects NADP+-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase against oxidative inactivation

The isocitrate dehydrogenases (ICDs) catalyse the oxidative decarboxylation of isocitrate to alpha-ketoglutarate and can use either NAD(+) or NADP(+) as a cofactor. Recent studies demonstrate that the NADP(+)-dependent isocitrate dehydrogenase, as a source of electrons for cellular antioxidants, is important for protection against oxidative damage. ICD, however, is susceptible to oxidative inactivation, which in turn compromises cellular antioxidant defense. This study investigates the effect of a superoxide dismutase (SOD) mimic, MnTM-2-PyP(5+), on the inactivation of NADP(+)-dependent ICD in SOD-deficient Escherichia coli and in diabetic rats. The findings show that E. coli ICD is inactivated by superoxide, but the inactivated enzyme is replaced by de novo protein synthesis. Statistically significant decrease of ICD activity was found in the hearts of diabetic rats. MnTM-2-PyP(5+) protected ICD in both models.

Exploiting thiol modifications

Molecular oxygen may be necessary for life but with its beneficial properties comes formation of potentially toxic reactive oxygen species. One of the ways in which bacteria protect themselves is explained

Characterization of the iron superoxide dismutase gene of Azotobacter vinelandii: sodB may be essential for viability

Azotobacter vinelandii contains two superoxide dismutases (SODs), a cytoplasmic iron-containing enzyme (FeSOD), and a periplasmic copper/zinc-containing enzyme (CuZnSOD). In this study, the FeSOD was found to be constitutive, while the activity of CuZnSOD increased as the culture entered the stationary phase. Total SOD (units/mg protein) in stationary phase cells grown under nitrogen-fixing conditions was not significantly different from those grown under non-nitrogen-fixing conditions. The gene encoding FeSOD (sodB) was isolated from an A. vinelandii cosmid library. A 1-kb fragment containing the coding region and 400 base pairs of upstream sequence was cloned and sequenced. The nucleotide sequence and the deduced amino acid sequence had a high degree of homology with other bacterial FeSODs, particularly with P. aeruginosa. Attempts to construct a sodB mutant by recombination of a sodB::kan insertion mutation into the multicopy chromosome of A. vinelandii were unsuccessful even in the presence of SOD mimics or nutritional supplements. These results suggest that FeSOD may be essential for the growth and survival of A. vinelandii, and that the periplasmic CuZnSOD cannot replace the function of FeSOD.

Superoxide dismutases in Candida albicans: transcriptional regulation and functional characterization of the hyphal-induced SOD5 gene

Superoxide dismutases (SOD) convert superoxide radicals into less damaging hydrogen peroxide. The opportunistic human pathogen Candida albicans is known to express CuZnSOD (SOD1) and MnSOD (SOD3) in the cytosol and MnSOD (SOD2) in the mitochondria. We identified three additional CuZn-containing superoxide dismutases, SOD4, SOD5, and SOD6, within the sequence of the C. albicans genome. The transcription of SOD5 was up-regulated during the yeast to hyphal transition of C. albicans, and SOD5 was induced when C. albicans cells were challenged with osmotic or with oxidative stresses. SOD5 transcription was also increased when cells were grown on nonfermentable substrates as the only carbon source. The Rim101p transcription factor was required for all inductions observed, whereas the Efg1p transcription factor was specifically needed for serum-modulated expression. Deletion of SOD5 produced a viable mutant strain that showed sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide when cells were grown in nutrient-limited conditions. Sod5p was found to be necessary for the virulence of C. albicans in a mouse model of infection. However, the sod5 mutant strain showed the same resistance to macrophage attack as its parental strain, suggesting that the loss of virulence in not due to an increased sensitivity to macrophage attack.

An intracellular iron chelator pleiotropically suppresses enzymatic and growth defects of superoxide dismutase-deficient Escherichia coli

Mutants of Escherichia coli that lack cytoplasmic superoxide dismutase (SOD) exhibit auxotrophies for sulfur-containing, branched-chain, and aromatic amino acids and cannot catabolize nonfermentable carbon sources. A secondary-site mutation substantially relieved all of these growth defects. The requirement for fermentable carbon and the branched-chain auxotrophy occur because superoxide (O2-) leaches iron from the [4Fe-4S] clusters of a family of dehydratases, thereby inactivating them; the suppression of these phenotypes was mediated by the restoration of activity to these dehydratases, evidently without changing the intracellular concentration of O2-. Cloning, complementation, and sequence analysis identified the suppressor mutation to be in dapD, which encodes tetrahydrodipicolinate succinylase, an enzyme involved in diaminopimelate and lysine biosynthesis. A block in dapB, which encodes dihydrodipicolinate reductase in the same pathway, conferred similar protection. Genetic analysis indicated that the protection stems from the intracellular accumulation of tetrahydro- or dihydrodipicolinate. Heterologous expression in the SOD mutants of the dipicolinate synthase of Bacillus subtilis generated dipicolinate and similarly protected them. Dipicolinates are excellent iron chelators, and their accumulation in the cell triggered derepression of the Fur regulon and a large increase in the intracellular pool of free iron, presumably as a dipicolinate chelate. A fur mutation only partially relieved the auxotrophies, indicating that Fur derepression assists but is not sufficient for suppression. It seems plausible that the abundant internal iron permits efficient reactivation of superoxide-damaged iron-sulfur clusters. This result provides circumstantial evidence that the sulfur and aromatic auxotrophies of SOD mutants are also directly or indirectly linked to iron metabolism.

The mechanism of the auxotrophy for sulfur-containing amino acids imposed upon Escherichia coli by superoxide

Defects in both of the genes coding for the cytosolic superoxide dismutases (SODs) of Escherichia coli impose an oxygen-dependent nutritional requirement for cysteine. This is now seen to be a bradytrophy, rather than an absolute auxotrophy, since lack of Cys merely imposed a growth lag and escape from this growth lag did not involve genetic reversion. This Cys bradytrophy was not seen in the SOD-competent parental strain, and it was relieved by a cell-permeant mimic of SOD activity; hence, it was due to O2-.. It was also relieved by an osmolyte, such as sucrose; hence, it appears due to leakage from the cell of some component needed for Cys biosynthesis. Medium conditioned by the aerobic growth of the SOD-defective strain relieved the growth lag. Bioassays with Cys mutants suggested that the conditioned medium contained SO3-3 or its equivalent, and sulfite per se was able to eliminate the growth lag. However, some component of the conditioned medium reacted with added sulfite and interfered with attempts to assay for it colorimetrically. These results suggest that the cell envelope of the SOD-defective strain was weakened, directly or indirectly, by O2 and then leaked sulfite. This prevents cysteine biosynthesis until sulfite accumulates in the medium.

Superoxide dismutase activity is essential for stationary phase survival in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mitochondrial production of toxic oxygen species in vivo

Yeast lacking copper-zinc superoxide dismutase (CuZnSOD), manganese superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase T, or metallothionein were studied using long-term stationary phase (10-45 days) as a simple model system to study the roles of antioxidant enzymes in aging. In well aerated cultures, the lack of either SOD resulted in dramatic loss of viability over the first few weeks of culture, with the CuZnSOD mutant showing the more severe defect. The double SOD mutant died within a few days. The severity reversed in low aeration; the CuZnSOD mutant remained viable longer than the manganese SOD mutant. To test whether reactive oxygen species generated during respiration play an important role in the observed cellular death, growth in nonfermentable carbon sources was measured. All strains grew under low aeration, indicating respiratory competence. High aeration caused much reduced growth in single SOD mutants, and the double mutant failed to grow. However, removal of respiration via another mutation dramatically increased short term survival and reversed the known air-dependent methionine and lysine auxotrophies. Our results suggest strongly that mitochondrial respiration is a major source of reactive oxygen species in vivo, as has been shown in vitro, and that these species are produced even under low aeration.

Suppression of oxidative envelope damage by pseudoreversion of a superoxide dismutase-deficient mutant of Escherichia coli

Mutants of Escherichia coli that are devoid of superoxide dismutase (SOD) fail to grow in aerobic minimal medium. This is largely because of the O2- sensitivities of several amino acid biosynthetic pathways, since amino acid supplements can restore growth, albeit at a slow rate. We now report that growth in amino acid-supplemented medium can be further stimulated by the presence of extracellular osmolytes. Osmolytes also partially suppress the amino acid requirements of the SOD mutant. These data suggest that the combination of oxidative injury and turgor pressure permeabilizes the cell envelope and that critical metabolites, including the limiting products of damaged biosynthetic pathways, escape from the cell. External osmolytes may offer protection by countervailing the usual turgor pressure and thus stabilizing the damaged envelope. This model is consistent with the previous observation that deficiency of cell wall components is lethal to SOD mutants. A pseudorevertant that can grow at a moderate rate in normosmotic medium without amino acid supplementation has been obtained (J. A. Imlay and I. Fridovich, Mol. Gen. Genet. 228:410-416, 1991). Analysis suggests that the suppressor mutation allows the envelope either to resist or to tolerate oxidative lesions. Study of the pseudorevertant may illuminate the molecular basis of this oxidative envelope injury.