Molecular evolution of bacterial indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase

Paralogous FgIDO genes with differential roles in tryptophan catabolism, fungal development and virulence in Fusarium graminearum

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (Ido) is a tryptophan-degrading enzyme that is widely distributed across species. Ido catalyzes the first step of tryptophan (TRP) degradation and drives the de novo synthesis of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) coenzymes via the kynurenine (KYN) pathway. The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae possesses a single IDO gene (BNA2) that is responsible for NAD⁺ synthesis, whereas a number of fungal species contain multiple IDO genes. However, the biological roles of IDO paralogs in plant pathogens remain unclear. In the current study, we identified three FgIDOs from the wheat head blight fungus Fusarium graminearum. FgIDOA/B/C expression was significantly induced upon TRP treatment. Targeted disruption of FgIDOA and/or FgIDOB caused different levels of NAD⁺ auxotrophy, thus resulting in pleotropic phenotypic defects. Loss of FgIDOA resulted in abnormal conidial morphology, reduced mycelial growth, decreased virulence in wheat heads and reduced deoxynivalenol accumulation. Exogenous addition of KYN or various intermediates involved in the KYN pathway rescued auxotrophy of the mutants. Metabolomics analysis revealed shifts toward alternative TRP degradation pathways to melatonin and indole derivatives in mutants lacking FgIDOB. Upregulation of partner genes in auxotrophic mutants and the capacity to rescue the auxotroph by overexpressing a partner gene indicated functional complementation among FgIDOA/B/C. Taken together, the results of this study provide insights into differential roles in paralogous FgIDOs and how fungal TRP catabolism modulates fungal development and virulence.

The Kynurenine Pathway in Acute Kidney Injury and Chronic Kidney Disease

BACKGROUND

The kynurenine pathway (KP) is the major catabolic pathway for tryptophan degradation. The KP plays an important role as the sole de novo nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) biosynthetic pathway in normal human physiology and functions as a counter-regulatory mechanism to mitigate immune responses during inflammation. Although the KP has been implicated in a variety of disorders including Huntington's disease, seizures, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis, its role in renal diseases is seldom discussed.

SUMMARY

This review summarizes the roles of the KP and its metabolites in acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) based on current literature evidence. Metabolomics studies demonstrated that the KP metabolites were significantly altered in patients and animal models with AKI or CKD. The diagnostic and prognostic values of the KP metabolites in AKI and CKD were highlighted in cross-sectional and longitudinal human observational studies. The biological impact of the KP on the pathophysiology of AKI and CKD has been studied in experimental models of different etiologies. In particular, the activation of the KP was found to confer protection in animal models of glomerulonephritis, and its immunomodulatory mechanism may involve the regulation of T cell subsets such as Th17 and regulatory T cells. Manipulation of the KP to increase NAD+ production or diversion toward specific KP metabolites was also found to be beneficial in animal models of AKI. Key Messages: KP metabolites are reported to be dysregulated in human observational and animal experimental studies of AKI and CKD. In AKI, the magnitude and direction of changes in the KP depend on the etiology of the damage. In CKD, KP metabolites are altered with the onset and progression of CKD all the way to advanced stages of the disease, including uremia and its related vascular complications. The activation of the KP and diversion to specific sub-branches are currently being explored as therapeutic strategies in these diseases, especially with regards to the immunomodulatory effects of certain KP metabolites. Further elucidation of the KP may hold promise for the development of biomarkers and targeted therapies for these kidney diseases.

Intestinal microbiota regulates tryptophan metabolism following oral infection with Toxoplasma gondii

INTRODUCTION

The intestinal microbiota plays an important role in modulating host immune responses. Oral Toxoplasma gondii infection can promote intestinal inflammation in certain mice strains. The IDO-AhR axis may control tryptophan (Trp) metabolism constituting an important immune regulatory mechanism in inflammatory settings.

AIMS

In the present study, we investigated the role of the intestinal microbiota on Trp metabolism during oral infection with T gondii.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Mice were treated with antibiotics for four weeks and then infected with T gondii by gavage. Histopathology and immune responses were evaluated 8 days after infection. We found that depletion of intestinal microbiota by antibiotics contributed to resistance against T gondii infection and led to reduced expression of AhR on dendritic and Treg cells. Mice depleted of Gram-negative bacteria presented higher levels of systemic Trp, downregulation of AhR expression and increased resistance to infection whereas depletion of Gram-positive bacteria did not affect susceptibility or expression of AhR on immune cells.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that the intestinal microbiota can control Trp availability and provide a link between the AhR pathway and host-microbiota interaction in acute infection with T gondii.

Untargeted metabolomics of colonic digests reveals kynurenine pathway metabolites, dityrosine and 3-dehydroxycarnitine as red versus white meat discriminating metabolites

Epidemiological research has demonstrated that the consumption of red meat is an important risk factor for the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. However, there is no holistic insight in the (by-) products of meat digestion that may contribute to disease development. To address this hiatus, an untargeted mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics approach was used to create red versus white meat associated metabolic fingerprints following in vitro colonic digestion using the fecal inocula of ten healthy volunteers. Twenty-two metabolites were unequivocally associated with simulated colonic digestion of red meat. Several of these metabolites could mechanistically be linked to red meat-associated pathways including N'-formylkynurenine, kynurenine and kynurenic acid (all involved in tryptophan metabolism), the oxidative stress marker dityrosine, and 3-dehydroxycarnitine. In conclusion, the used MS-based metabolomics platform proved to be a powerful platform for detection of specific metabolites that improve the understanding of the causal relationship between red meat consumption and associated diseases.

A short history of heme dioxygenases: rise, fall and rise again

It is well established that there are two different classes of enzymes—tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO)—that catalyse the O₂-dependent oxidation of l-tryptophan to N-formylkynurenine. But it was not always so. This perspective presents a short history of the early TDO and IDO literature, the people that were involved in creating it, and the legacy that this left for the future.

Gene transfers shaped the evolution of de novo NAD+ biosynthesis in eukaryotes

NAD⁺ is an essential molecule for life, present in each living cell. It can function as an electron carrier or cofactor in redox biochemistry and energetics, and serves as substrate to generate the secondary messenger cyclic ADP ribose and nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide phosphate. Although de novo NAD⁺ biosynthesis is essential, different metabolic pathways exist in different eukaryotic clades. The kynurenine pathway starting with tryptophan was most likely present in the last common ancestor of all eukaryotes, and is active in fungi and animals. The aspartate pathway, detected in most photosynthetic eukaryotes, was probably acquired from the cyanobacterial endosymbiont that gave rise to chloroplasts. An evolutionary analysis of enzymes catalyzing de novo NAD⁺ biosynthesis resulted in evolutionary trees incongruent with established organismal phylogeny, indicating numerous gene transfers. Endosymbiotic gene transfers probably introduced the aspartate pathway into eukaryotes and may have distributed it among different photosynthetic clades. In addition, several horizontal gene transfers substituted eukaryotic genes with bacterial orthologs. Although horizontal gene transfer is accepted as a key mechanism in prokaryotic evolution, it is supposed to be rare in eukaryotic evolution. The essential metabolic pathway of de novo NAD⁺ biosynthesis in eukaryotes was shaped by numerous gene transfers.

Tryptophan-catabolizing enzymes - party of three

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) and tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO) are tryptophan-degrading enzymes that have independently evolved to catalyze the first step in tryptophan catabolism via the kynurenine pathway (KP). The depletion of tryptophan and formation of KP metabolites modulates the activity of the mammalian immune, reproductive, and central nervous systems. IDO and TDO enzymes can have overlapping or distinct functions depending on their expression patterns. The expression of TDO and IDO enzymes in mammals differs not only by tissue/cellular localization but also by their induction by distinct stimuli. To add to the complexity, these genes also have undergone duplications in some organisms leading to multiple isoforms of IDO or TDO. For example, many vertebrates, including all mammals, have acquired two IDO genes via gene duplication, although the IDO1-like gene has been lost in some lower vertebrate lineages. Gene duplications can allow the homologs to diverge and acquire different properties to the original gene. There is evidence for IDO enzymes having differing enzymatic characteristics, signaling properties, and biological functions. This review analyzes the evolutionary convergence of IDO and TDO enzymes as tryptophan-catabolizing enzymes and the divergent evolution of IDO homologs to generate an enzyme family with diverse characteristics not possessed by TDO enzymes, with an emphasis on the immune system.

Scavenging of reactive oxygen species by tryptophan metabolites helps Pseudomonas aeruginosa escape neutrophil killing

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is responsible for persistent infections in cystic fibrosis patients, suggesting an ability to circumvent innate immune defenses. This bacterium uses the kynurenine pathway to catabolize tryptophan. Interestingly, many host cells also produce kynurenine, which is known to control immune system homeostasis. We showed that most strains of P. aeruginosa isolated from cystic fibrosis patients produce a high level of kynurenine. Moreover, a strong transcriptional activation of kynA (the first gene involved in the kynurenine pathway) was observed upon contact with immune cells and particularly with neutrophils. In addition, using coculture of human neutrophils with various strains of P. aeruginosa producing no (ΔkynA) or a high level of kynurenine (ΔkynU or ΔkynA pkynA), we demonstrated that kynurenine promotes bacterial survival. In addition, increasing the amount kynurenine inhibits reactive oxygen species production by activated neutrophils, as evaluated by chemiluminescence with luminol or isoluminol or SOD-sensitive cytochrome c reduction assay. This inhibition is due neither to a phagocytosis defect nor to direct NADPH oxidase inhibition. Indeed, kynurenine has no effect on oxygen consumption by neutrophils activated by PMA or opsonized zymosan. Using in vitro reactive oxygen species-producing systems, we showed that kynurenine scavenges hydrogen peroxide and, to a lesser extent, superoxide. Kynurenine׳s scavenging effect occurs mainly intracellularly after bacterial stimulation, probably in the phagosome. In conclusion, the kynurenine pathway allows P. aeruginosa to circumvent the innate immune response by scavenging neutrophil reactive oxygen species production.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenases with very low catalytic activity are well conserved across kingdoms: IDOs of Basidiomycota

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is a tryptophan-degrading enzyme and is found in animals, fungi and bacteria. In fungi, its primary role is to supply nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) via the kynurenine pathway. A number of organisms possess more than one IDO gene, for example, mammals have IDO1 and IDO2 genes. We previously reported that the Pezizomycotina fungi commonly possess three types of IDO genes, IDOα, IDOβ and IDOγ. In this study, we surveyed the nature of IDO genes from Basidiomycota fungi, which are categorized into three subphyla (Agaricomycotina, Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina). The Agaricomycotina fungi generally have three types of IDO genes (IDOa, IDOb and IDOc), which are distinct from Pezizomycotina three isozymes. Pucciniomycotina and Ustilaginomycotina species possess two types of IDO; one forms a monophyletic clade with Agaricomycotina IDOs in the phylogenetic tree, these IDOs are referred to as "typical Basidiomycota IDOs". The other is IDOγ, which showed more than 40% identity with Pezizomycotina and ciliate IDOγ. We previously demonstrated that IDO2 in mammals and IDOγ in Perzizomycotina fungi have much lower catalytic efficiencies in an in vitro assay, compared with the other IDO isoforms found in the respective species. We have developed a functional assay to determine whether particular IDO enzymes have sufficient enzymatic activity to rescue a yeast strain where IDO-deletion has rendered it auxotrophic for nicotinic acid. IDOα and IDOβ showed comparable catalytic efficiency, both of them could function in the Pezizomycotina fungal L-Trp metabolism. The catalytic efficiency and functional capacity of the Basidiomycota IDOa and IDOb were similar to Pezizomycotina IDOα/IDOβ. We found that Basidiomycota IDOc could not rescue the nicotinic acid auxotroph, similar to other IDO enzymes with low catalytic efficiency (mammalian IDO2 and most fungal IDOγ). Our study suggests that some fungal IDO enzymes function in tryptophan metabolism and NAD(+) supply. In contrast, other IDO enzymes do not possess sufficient Trp-metabolising capacity to supply NAD(+). Although the role of these low catalytic efficiency IDOs is not clear, it is interesting to note that IDO enzymes possessing these characteristics have evolved across different kingdoms.

The evolution of three types of indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenases in fungi with distinct molecular and biochemical characteristics

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is a tryptophan-degrading enzyme and known as a mammalian immunosuppressive molecule. In fungi, the primary role of IDO is to supply nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) via the kynurenine pathway. We previously reported that the koji-mold, Aspergillus oryzae has two IDO genes, IDOα and IDOβ. In the present study, we found that A. oryzae also has the third IDO, IDOγ. These three-types of IDOs are widely distributed among the Pezizomycotina fungi, although the black truffle, Tuber melanosporum has only one corresponding gene to IDOα/IDOβ. The yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae has a single IDO gene. Generally, Pezizomycotina IDOα showed similar enzymatic properties to the yeast IDO, suggesting that the IDOα is a functional homologue of the S. cerevisiae IDO. In contrast to IDOα, the K(m) value of IDOβ is higher. However, the reaction velocity of IDOβ is very fast, resulting in comparable or higher catalytic efficiency than IDOα. Thus IDOβ may functionally substitute for IDOα in fungal L-Trp metabolism. The enzymatic activity of IDOγ was comparatively very low with the values of enzymatic parameters comparable to vertebrate IDO2 enzymes. IDOα and IDOβ have similar gene structures, suggesting that they were generated by gene duplication which occurred rather early in Pezizomycotina evolution, although the timing of the duplication remains debatable. In contrast, the phylogenetic trees suggest that IDOγs form an evolutionarily distinct group of IDO enzymes, with a closer relationship to group I bacterial IDOs than other fungal IDOs. The ancestor of the IDOγ family is likely to have diverged from other eukaryotic IDOs at a very early stage of eukaryotic evolution.