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Dash S, Jagadeesan R, Baptista ISC, Chauhan V, Kandavalli V, Oliveira SMD, Ribeiro AS. A library of reporters of the global regulators of gene expression in Escherichia coli. mSystems 2024; 9:e0006524. [PMID: 38687030 PMCID: PMC11237500 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.00065-24] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Abstract
The topology of the transcription factor network (TFN) of Escherichia coli is far from uniform, with 22 global regulator (GR) proteins controlling one-third of all genes. So far, their production rates cannot be tracked by comparable fluorescent proteins. We developed a library of fluorescent reporters for 16 GRs for this purpose. Each consists of a single-copy plasmid coding for green fluorescent protein (GFP) fused to the full-length copy of the native promoter. We tracked their activity in exponential and stationary growth, as well as under weak and strong stresses. We show that the reporters have high sensitivity and specificity to all stresses tested and detect single-cell variability in transcription rates. Given the influence of GRs on the TFN, we expect that the new library will contribute to dissecting global transcriptional stress-response programs of E. coli. Moreover, the library can be invaluable in bioindustrial applications that tune those programs to, instead of cell growth, favor productivity while reducing energy consumption.IMPORTANCECells contain thousands of genes. Many genes are involved in the control of cellular activities. Some activities require a few hundred genes to run largely synchronous transcriptional programs. To achieve this, cells have evolved global regulator (GR) proteins that can influence hundreds of genes simultaneously. We have engineered a library of Escherichia coli strains to track the levels over time of these, phenotypically critical, GRs. Each strain has a single-copy plasmid coding for a fast-maturing green fluorescent protein whose transcription is controlled by a copy of the natural GR promoter. By allowing the tracking of GR levels, with sensitivity and specificity, this library should become of wide use in scientific research on bacterial gene expression (from molecular to synthetic biology) and, later, be used in applications in therapeutics and bioindustries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suchintak Dash
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Rahul Jagadeesan
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Ines S. C. Baptista
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Vatsala Chauhan
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Vinodh Kandavalli
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Samuel M. D. Oliveira
- Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA
| | - Andre S. Ribeiro
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
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Njenga R, Boele J, Öztürk Y, Koch HG. Coping with stress: How bacteria fine-tune protein synthesis and protein transport. J Biol Chem 2023; 299:105163. [PMID: 37586589 PMCID: PMC10502375 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Maintaining a functional proteome under different environmental conditions is challenging for every organism, in particular for unicellular organisms, such as bacteria. In order to cope with changing environments and stress conditions, bacteria depend on strictly coordinated proteostasis networks that control protein production, folding, trafficking, and degradation. Regulation of ribosome biogenesis and protein synthesis are cornerstones of this cellular adaptation in all domains of life, which is rationalized by the high energy demand of both processes and the increased resistance of translationally silent cells against internal or external poisons. Reduced protein synthesis ultimately also reduces the substrate load for protein transport systems, which are required for maintaining the periplasmic, inner, and outer membrane subproteomes. Consequences of impaired protein transport have been analyzed in several studies and generally induce a multifaceted response that includes the upregulation of chaperones and proteases and the simultaneous downregulation of protein synthesis. In contrast, generally less is known on how bacteria adjust the protein targeting and transport machineries to reduced protein synthesis, e.g., when cells encounter stress conditions or face nutrient deprivation. In the current review, which is mainly focused on studies using Escherichia coli as a model organism, we summarize basic concepts on how ribosome biogenesis and activity are regulated under stress conditions. In addition, we highlight some recent developments on how stress conditions directly impair protein targeting to the bacterial membrane. Finally, we describe mechanisms that allow bacteria to maintain the transport of stress-responsive proteins under conditions when the canonical protein targeting pathways are impaired.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Njenga
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ZBMZ, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Julian Boele
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ZBMZ, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Yavuz Öztürk
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ZBMZ, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Hans-Georg Koch
- Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, ZBMZ, Albert-Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
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Takano S, Takahashi H, Yama Y, Miyazaki R, Furusawa C, Tsuru S. Inference of transcriptome signatures of Escherichia coli in long-term stationary phase. Sci Rep 2023; 13:5647. [PMID: 37024648 PMCID: PMC10079935 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32525-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
"Non-growing" is a dominant life form of microorganisms in nature, where available nutrients and resources are limited. In laboratory culture systems, Escherichia coli can survive for years under starvation, denoted as long-term stationary phase, where a small fraction of cells manages to survive by recycling resources released from nonviable cells. Although the physiology by which viable cells in long-term stationary phase adapt to prolonged starvation is of great interest, their genome-wide response has not been fully understood. In this study, we analyzed transcriptional profiles of cells exposed to the supernatant of 30-day long-term stationary phase culture and found that their transcriptome profiles displayed several similar responses to those of cells in the 16-h short-term stationary phase. Nevertheless, our results revealed that cells in long-term stationary phase supernatant exhibit higher expressions of stress-response genes such as phage shock proteins (psp), and lower expressions of growth-related genes such as ribosomal proteins than those in the short-term stationary phase. We confirmed that the mutant lacking the psp operon showed lower survival and growth rate in the long-term stationary phase culture. This study identified transcriptional responses for stress-resistant physiology in the long-term stationary phase environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sotaro Takano
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
- International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (NIMS), Research Center for Macromolecules and Biomaterials, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Hiromi Takahashi
- Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Yoshie Yama
- Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Ryo Miyazaki
- Bioproduction Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
- Computational Bio Big Data Open Innovation Laboratory (CBBD-OIL), AIST, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Chikara Furusawa
- Graduate School of Science, Universal Biology Institute, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Center for Biosystem Dynamics Research, RIKEN, Kobe, Japan
| | - Saburo Tsuru
- Graduate School of Science, Universal Biology Institute, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
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Dash S, Palma CSD, Baptista ISC, Almeida BLB, Bahrudeen MNM, Chauhan V, Jagadeesan R, Ribeiro AS. Alteration of DNA supercoiling serves as a trigger of short-term cold shock repressed genes of E. coli. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:8512-8528. [PMID: 35920318 PMCID: PMC9410904 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2022] [Revised: 07/07/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Cold shock adaptability is a key survival skill of gut bacteria of warm-blooded animals. Escherichia coli cold shock responses are controlled by a complex multi-gene, timely-ordered transcriptional program. We investigated its underlying mechanisms. Having identified short-term, cold shock repressed genes, we show that their responsiveness is unrelated to their transcription factors or global regulators, while their single-cell protein numbers' variability increases after cold shock. We hypothesized that some cold shock repressed genes could be triggered by high propensity for transcription locking due to changes in DNA supercoiling (likely due to DNA relaxation caused by an overall reduction in negative supercoiling). Concomitantly, we found that nearly half of cold shock repressed genes are also highly responsive to gyrase inhibition (albeit most genes responsive to gyrase inhibition are not cold shock responsive). Further, their response strengths to cold shock and gyrase inhibition correlate. Meanwhile, under cold shock, nucleoid density increases, and gyrases and nucleoid become more colocalized. Moreover, the cellular energy decreases, which may hinder positive supercoils resolution. Overall, we conclude that sensitivity to diminished negative supercoiling is a core feature of E. coli's short-term, cold shock transcriptional program, and could be used to regulate the temperature sensitivity of synthetic circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suchintak Dash
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland
| | - Cristina S D Palma
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland
| | - Ines S C Baptista
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland
| | - Bilena L B Almeida
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland
| | - Mohamed N M Bahrudeen
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland
| | - Vatsala Chauhan
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland
| | - Rahul Jagadeesan
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland
| | - Andre S Ribeiro
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere 33520, Finland.,Center of Technology and Systems (CTS-Uninova), NOVA University of Lisbon 2829-516, Monte de Caparica, Portugal
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L.B. Almeida B, M. Bahrudeen MN, Chauhan V, Dash S, Kandavalli V, Häkkinen A, Lloyd-Price J, S.D. Cristina P, Baptista ISC, Gupta A, Kesseli J, Dufour E, Smolander OP, Nykter M, Auvinen P, Jacobs HT, M.D. Oliveira S, S. Ribeiro A. The transcription factor network of E. coli steers global responses to shifts in RNAP concentration. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:6801-6819. [PMID: 35748858 PMCID: PMC9262627 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Revised: 06/02/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The robustness and sensitivity of gene networks to environmental changes is critical for cell survival. How gene networks produce specific, chronologically ordered responses to genome-wide perturbations, while robustly maintaining homeostasis, remains an open question. We analysed if short- and mid-term genome-wide responses to shifts in RNA polymerase (RNAP) concentration are influenced by the known topology and logic of the transcription factor network (TFN) of Escherichia coli. We found that, at the gene cohort level, the magnitude of the single-gene, mid-term transcriptional responses to changes in RNAP concentration can be explained by the absolute difference between the gene's numbers of activating and repressing input transcription factors (TFs). Interestingly, this difference is strongly positively correlated with the number of input TFs of the gene. Meanwhile, short-term responses showed only weak influence from the TFN. Our results suggest that the global topological traits of the TFN of E. coli shape which gene cohorts respond to genome-wide stresses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bilena L.B. Almeida
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Mohamed N M. Bahrudeen
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Vatsala Chauhan
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Suchintak Dash
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Vinodh Kandavalli
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Antti Häkkinen
- Research Program in Systems Oncology, Research Programs Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Palma S.D. Cristina
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Ines S C Baptista
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Abhishekh Gupta
- Center for Quantitative Medicine and Department of Cell Biology, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, 263 Farmington Av., Farmington, CT 06030-6033, USA
| | - Juha Kesseli
- Prostate Cancer Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland; Tays Cancer Center, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
| | - Eric Dufour
- Mitochondrial bioenergetics and metabolism, BioMediTech, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
| | - Olli-Pekka Smolander
- Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 5D, 00790 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Matti Nykter
- Prostate Cancer Research Center, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland; Tays Cancer Center, Tampere University Hospital, Tampere, Finland
| | - Petri Auvinen
- Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 5D, 00790 Helsinki, Finland
| | - Howard T Jacobs
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, FI-33014 Tampere University, Finland; Department of Environment and Genetics, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria 3086, Australia
| | - Samuel M.D. Oliveira
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andre S. Ribeiro
- Laboratory of Biosystem Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Technology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
- Center of Technology and Systems (CTS-Uninova), NOVA University of Lisbon, 2829-516 Monte de Caparica, Portugal
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