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Wickramasinghe HC, Lincoln JN, D'Armond AE, Noble SA, Shen L, Macnaughtan MA. Insights into the association of the Chlamydia trachomatis type III secretion chaperone complex, Scc4:Scc1, from sequential expression in Escherichia coli. Protein Expr Purif 2024; 222:106532. [PMID: 38857716 DOI: 10.1016/j.pep.2024.106532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2024] [Revised: 06/03/2024] [Accepted: 06/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/12/2024]
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the bacterial pathogen responsible for causing the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States. This obligate, intracellular Gram-negative bacterium has a type III secretion system (T3SS) to invade host cells. CopN is an important effector, plug protein that mediates early interactions between the host and Chlamydia. CopN is chaperoned by a heterodimer, T3SS chaperone complex containing Scc4 and Scc1. Scc4 is a unique, bifunctional protein that, in addition to its T3SS chaperone activity, acts as an RNA polymerase (RNAP) binding protein. We hypothesized that the two functions occur at different points in CT's developmental cycle with Scc4 acting alone in the early-to-mid stages and the Scc4:Scc1 complex chaperoning CopN in the mid-to-late stages. To study the Scc4:Scc1 complex by NMR, we previously explored various methods of associating Scc4 and Scc1 in vitro to produce the complex with chain-selective isotopic labeling. Though co-expressed Scc4 and Scc1 form a stable complex, the in vitro association studies suggest that partial protein denaturation and/or components in E. coli lysate are necessary to form the stable complex. In this study Scc4 and Scc1 were sequentially expressed in E. coli under the control of different promoters, allowing separate isotopic labeling of each chain and complex formation in vivo. Sequential expression resulted in no or unstable complex formation depending on the culture medium used. These results, taken together with previous in vitro association studies, suggest that Scc4 and Scc1 assemble co-translationally to form the stable Scc4:Scc1 complex in E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Juliette N Lincoln
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States
| | - Anne E D'Armond
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States
| | - Sadie A Noble
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States
| | - Li Shen
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA, 70112, United States
| | - Megan A Macnaughtan
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States; Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, John Carroll University, University Heights, OH, 44118, United States.
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Carratalá JV, Atienza-Garriga J, López-Laguna H, Vázquez E, Villaverde A, Sánchez JM, Ferrer-Miralles N. Enhanced recombinant protein capture, purity and yield from crude bacterial cell extracts by N-Lauroylsarcosine-assisted affinity chromatography. Microb Cell Fact 2023; 22:81. [PMID: 37098491 PMCID: PMC10131332 DOI: 10.1186/s12934-023-02081-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2023] [Indexed: 04/27/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Recombinant proteins cover a wide range of biomedical, biotechnological, and industrial needs. Although there are diverse available protocols for their purification from cell extracts or from culture media, many proteins of interest such as those containing cationic domains are difficult to purify, a fact that results in low yields of the final functional product. Unfortunately, this issue prevents the further development and industrial or clinical application of these otherwise interesting products. RESULTS Aiming at improving the purification of such difficult proteins, a novel procedure has been developed based on supplementing crude cell extracts with non-denaturing concentrations of the anionic detergent N-Lauroylsarcosine. The incorporation of this simple step in the downstream pipeline results in a substantial improvement of the protein capture by affinity chromatography, an increase of protein purity and an enhancement of the overall process yield, being the detergent not detectable in the final product. CONCLUSION By taking this approach, which represents a smart repurposing of N-Lauroylsarcosine applied to protein downstream, the biological activity of the protein is not affected. Being technologically simple, the N-Lauroylsarcosine-assisted protein purification might represent a critical improvement in recombinant protein production with wide applicability, thus smothering the incorporation of promising proteins into the protein market.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose Vicente Carratalá
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Jan Atienza-Garriga
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Hèctor López-Laguna
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Esther Vázquez
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Antonio Villaverde
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
- CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Julieta M Sánchez
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
- CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas (IIBYT) (CONICET-Universidad Nacional de Córdoba), ICTA, FCEFyN, UNC., Av. Velez Sarsfield 1611, X 5016GCA, Córdoba, Argentina.
| | - Neus Ferrer-Miralles
- Institut de Biotecnologia i de Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
- CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain.
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Ukwaththage TO, Keane SM, Shen L, Macnaughtan MA. Chain-Selective Isotopic Labeling of the Heterodimeric Type III Secretion Chaperone, Scc4:Scc1, Reveals the Total Structural Rearrangement of the Chlamydia trachomatis Bi-Functional Protein, Scc4. Biomolecules 2020; 10:biom10111480. [PMID: 33114427 PMCID: PMC7692554 DOI: 10.3390/biom10111480] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Revised: 10/09/2020] [Accepted: 10/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Scc4 is an unusual bi-functional protein from Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) that functions as a type III secretion system (T3SS) chaperone and an RNA polymerase (RNAP)-binding protein. Both functions require interactions with protein partners during specific stages of the CT developmental cycle. As a T3SS chaperone, Scc4 binds Scc1 during the late stage of development to form a heterodimer complex, which chaperones the essential virulence effector, CopN. During the early-middle stage of development, Scc4 regulates T3SS gene expression by binding the σ66-containing RNAP holoenzyme. In order to study the structure and association mechanism of the Scc4:Scc1 T3SS chaperone complex using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, we developed an approach to selectively label each chain of the Scc4:Scc1 complex with the 15N-isotope. The approach allowed one protein to be visible in the NMR spectrum at a time, which greatly reduced resonance overlap and permitted comparison of the backbone structures of free and bound Scc4. 1H,15N-heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectra of the 15N-Scc4:Scc1 and Scc4:15N-Scc1 complexes showed a total structural rearrangement of Scc4 upon binding Scc1 and a dynamic region isolated to Scc1, respectively. Development of the chain-selective labeling approach revealed that the association of Scc4 and Scc1 requires partial denaturation of Scc1 to form the high affinity complex, while low affinity interactions occurred between the isolated proteins under non-denaturing conditions. These results provide new models for Scc4′s functional switching mechanism and Scc4:Scc1 association in CT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thilini O. Ukwaththage
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (T.O.U.); (S.M.K.)
| | - Samantha M. Keane
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (T.O.U.); (S.M.K.)
| | - Li Shen
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA;
| | - Megan A. Macnaughtan
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA; (T.O.U.); (S.M.K.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.:+1-225-578-7975
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Ukwaththage TO, Tonelli M, Macnaughtan MA. Backbone and sidechain resonance assignments and secondary structure of Scc4 from Chlamydia trachomatis. BIOMOLECULAR NMR ASSIGNMENTS 2020; 14:301-307. [PMID: 32617786 PMCID: PMC7540732 DOI: 10.1007/s12104-020-09965-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2020] [Accepted: 06/23/2020] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium that causes the most common sexually transmitted bacterial diseases in the world. With a biphasic developmental cycle, the bacteria utilize a type III secretion system (T3SS) to invade host cells as infectious elemental bodies, which then differentiate into actively dividing reticulate bodies. The regulation of the developmental cycle and the T3SS are linked by the bi-functional protein, specific Chlamydia chaperone 4 (Scc4). Scc4 is a class I T3SS chaperone forming a heterodimer with specific Chlamydia chaperone 1 (Scc1) to chaperone the essential virulence effector, Chlamydia outer membrane protein N. Scc4 also functions as a transcription factor by binding to the RNA polymerase holoenzyme between the flap region of the β subunit and region 4 of σ66. In order to investigate the mechanism behind Scc4's dual functions and target its protein-protein interactions as a route for drug development, the structure and dynamics of Scc4 are being pursued. In the course of this effort, we assigned 89.2% of the backbone and sidechain 1H, 15N, and 13C resonances of full-length Scc4. The assigned chemical shifts were used to predict the secondary structure and dynamic properties. The type and order of Scc4's determined secondary structure are consistent with the X-ray crystal structures of other bacterial T3SS chaperones.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marco Tonelli
- National Magnetic Resonance Facility at Madison and Biochemistry Department, University of Wisconsin- Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
| | - Megan A Macnaughtan
- Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Baton Range, LA, 70803, USA.
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Context-Dependent Action of Scc4 Reinforces Control of the Type III Secretion System. J Bacteriol 2020; 202:JB.00132-20. [PMID: 32424009 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00132-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/07/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Chlamydia trachomatis Scc4 (formerly CT663) engages the transcription machinery and the pathogenic type III secretion system (T3SS). Both machines are required for Chlamydia infection. These requirements and the limited ability for genetic manipulation in Chlamydia have hampered dissection of Scc4's contributions. Here, by developing bacterial systems that permit the controlled expression and stable maintenance of Scc4, we assess Scc4's effects on chlamydial growth phenotype, secretion, and the patterns of T3SS gene expression. Expressing Scc4 in Escherichia coli lacking a T3SS injectisome causes a growth defect. This deficiency is rescued by overexpressing the β-subunit of RNA polymerase (RNAP) or by exploiting sigma 70 (σ70) (homologous to chlamydial σ66) mutants that strengthen the interaction between σ70 region 4 and the β-flap, confirming Scc4's distinction as a module of RNAP holoenzyme capable of modulating transcription. Yersinia pestis expressing Scc4 sustains a functional T3SS, through which CopN secretion is boosted by cooption of Scc4 and Scc1. Finally, conditional expression of Scc4 in C. trachomatis results in fast expansion of the Chlamydia-containing vacuole and accelerated chlamydial development, coupled to selective up- or downregulation of gene expression from different T3SS genes. This work reveals, for the first time, the context-dependent action of Scc4 linking it to diverse protein networks in bacteria. It establishes that Scc4, when overexpressed, exerts incredible effects on chlamydial development by reinforcing control of the T3SS.IMPORTANCE The T3SS is a key virulence factor required for C. trachomatis infection. The control of the T3SS has not been well studied in this obligate intracellular pathogen. Here, we show that Scc4 plays a major role for precise control of the pathogenic T3SS at the levels of gene expression and effector secretion through genetically separable protein networks, allowing a fast adaptive mode of C. trachomatis development during infection in human epithelial cells.
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