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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 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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Pérez-Ortín JE, Jordán-Pla A, Zhang Y, Moreno-García J, Bassot C, Barba-Aliaga M, de Campos-Mata L, Choder M, Díez J, Piazza I, Pelechano V, García-Martínez J. Comparison of Xrn1 and Rat1 5' → 3' exoribonucleases in budding yeast supports the specific role of Xrn1 in cotranslational mRNA decay. Yeast 2024. [PMID: 38874348 DOI: 10.1002/yea.3968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Revised: 05/24/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/15/2024] Open
Abstract
The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and most eukaryotes carry two 5' → 3' exoribonuclease paralogs. In yeast, they are called Xrn1, which shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, and executes major cytoplasmic messenger RNA (mRNA) decay, and Rat1, which carries a strong nuclear localization sequence (NLS) and localizes to the nucleus. Xrn1 is 30% identical to Rat1 but has an extra ~500 amino acids C-terminal extension. In the cytoplasm, Xrn1 can degrade decapped mRNAs during the last round of translation by ribosomes, a process referred to as "cotranslational mRNA decay." The division of labor between the two enzymes is still enigmatic and serves as a paradigm for the subfunctionalization of many other paralogs. Here we show that Rat1 is capable of functioning in cytoplasmic mRNA decay, provided that Rat1 remains cytoplasmic due to its NLS disruption (cRat1). This indicates that the physical segregation of the two paralogs plays roles in their specific functions. However, reversing segregation is not sufficient to fully complement the Xrn1 function. Specifically, cRat1 can partially restore the cell volume, mRNA stability, the proliferation rate, and 5' → 3' decay alterations that characterize xrn1Δ cells. Nevertheless, cotranslational decay is only slightly complemented by cRat1. The use of the AlphaFold prediction for cRat1 and its subsequent docking with the ribosome complex and the sequence conservation between cRat1 and Xrn1 suggest that the tight interaction with the ribosome observed for Xrn1 is not maintained in cRat1. Adding the Xrn1 C-terminal domain to Rat1 does not improve phenotypes, which indicates that lack of the C-terminal is not responsible for partial complementation. Overall, during evolution, it appears that the two paralogs have acquired specific characteristics to make functional partitioning beneficial.
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Affiliation(s)
- José E Pérez-Ortín
- Instituto de Biotecnología y Biomedicina (BIOTECMED), Facultad de Biológicas, Universitat de València, Burjassot, Spain
- SciLifeLab, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Antonio Jordán-Pla
- Instituto de Biotecnología y Biomedicina (BIOTECMED), Facultad de Biológicas, Universitat de València, Burjassot, Spain
| | - Yujie Zhang
- SciLifeLab, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Jorge Moreno-García
- Instituto de Biotecnología y Biomedicina (BIOTECMED), Facultad de Biológicas, Universitat de València, Burjassot, Spain
| | - Claudio Bassot
- Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC Berlin), Berlin, Germany
| | - Marina Barba-Aliaga
- Instituto de Biotecnología y Biomedicina (BIOTECMED), Facultad de Biológicas, Universitat de València, Burjassot, Spain
| | - Leire de Campos-Mata
- Virology Unit, Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mordechai Choder
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel
| | - Juana Díez
- Virology Unit, Department of Experimental and Health Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ilaria Piazza
- Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC Berlin), Berlin, Germany
| | - Vicent Pelechano
- SciLifeLab, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - José García-Martínez
- Instituto de Biotecnología y Biomedicina (BIOTECMED), Facultad de Biológicas, Universitat de València, Burjassot, Spain
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Shields KE, Ranava D, Tan Y, Zhang D, Yap MNF. Epitranscriptional m6A modification of rRNA negatively impacts translation and host colonization in Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS Pathog 2024; 20:e1011968. [PMID: 38252661 PMCID: PMC10833563 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011968] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Macrolides, lincosamides, and streptogramin B (MLS) are structurally distinct molecules that are among the safest antibiotics for prophylactic use and for the treatment of bacterial infections. The family of erythromycin resistance methyltransferases (Erm) invariantly install either one or two methyl groups onto the N6,6-adenosine of 2058 nucleotide (m6A2058) of the bacterial 23S rRNA, leading to bacterial cross-resistance to all MLS antibiotics. Despite extensive structural studies on the mechanism of Erm-mediated MLS resistance, how the m6A epitranscriptomic mark affects ribosome function and bacterial physiology is not well understood. Here, we show that Staphylococcus aureus cells harboring m6A2058 ribosomes are outcompeted by cells carrying unmodified ribosomes during infections and are severely impaired in colonization in the absence of an unmodified counterpart. The competitive advantage of m6A2058 ribosomes is manifested only upon antibiotic challenge. Using ribosome profiling (Ribo-Seq) and a dual-fluorescence reporter to measure ribosome occupancy and translational fidelity, we found that specific genes involved in host interactions, metabolism, and information processing are disproportionally deregulated in mRNA translation. This dysregulation is linked to a substantial reduction in translational capacity and fidelity in m6A2058 ribosomes. These findings point to a general "inefficient translation" mechanism of trade-offs associated with multidrug-resistant ribosomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn E. Shields
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - David Ranava
- Department of Microbiology-Immunology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
| | - Yongjun Tan
- Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Dapeng Zhang
- Department of Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- Program of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Mee-Ngan F. Yap
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology-Immunology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
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Broglia L, Le Rhun A, Charpentier E. Methodologies for bacterial ribonuclease characterization using RNA-seq. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2023; 47:fuad049. [PMID: 37656885 PMCID: PMC10503654 DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuad049] [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: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 08/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/23/2023] [Indexed: 09/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacteria adjust gene expression at the post-transcriptional level through an intricate network of small regulatory RNAs and RNA-binding proteins, including ribonucleases (RNases). RNases play an essential role in RNA metabolism, regulating RNA stability, decay, and activation. These enzymes exhibit species-specific effects on gene expression, bacterial physiology, and different strategies of target recognition. Recent advances in high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) approaches have provided a better understanding of the roles and modes of action of bacterial RNases. Global studies aiming to identify direct targets of RNases have highlighted the diversity of RNase activity and RNA-based mechanisms of gene expression regulation. Here, we review recent RNA-seq approaches used to study bacterial RNases, with a focus on the methods for identifying direct RNase targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Broglia
- Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
- Center for Human Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16152 Genova, Italy
| | - Anaïs Le Rhun
- Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
- Univ. Bordeaux, CNRS, INSERM, ARNA, UMR 5320, U1212, F-33000 Bordeaux, France
| | - Emmanuelle Charpentier
- Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Biology, Humboldt University, D-10115 Berlin, Germany
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