1
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McClain MS, Boeglin WE, Algood HMS, Brash AR. Fatty acids of Helicobacter pylori lipoproteins CagT and Lpp20. Microbiol Spectr 2024; 12:e0047024. [PMID: 38501821 PMCID: PMC11064636 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.00470-24] [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: 02/24/2024] [Accepted: 03/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Bacterial lipoproteins are post-translationally modified by the addition of acyl chains that anchor the protein to bacterial membranes. This modification includes two ester-linked and one amide-linked acyl chain on lipoproteins from Gram-negative bacteria. Helicobacter pylori lipoproteins have important functions in pathogenesis (including delivering the CagA oncoprotein to mammalian cells) and are recognized by host innate and adaptive immune systems. The number and variety of acyl chains on lipoproteins impact the innate immune response through Toll-like receptor 2. The acyl chains added to lipoproteins are derived from membrane phospholipids. H. pylori membrane phospholipids have previously been shown to consist primarily of C14:0 and C19:0 cyclopropane-containing acyl chains. However, the acyl composition of H. pylori lipoproteins has not been determined. In this study, we characterized the acyl composition of two representative H. pylori lipoproteins, Lpp20 and CagT. Fatty acid methyl esters were prepared from both purified lipoproteins and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. For comparison, we also analyzed H. pylori phospholipids. Consistent with previous studies, we observed that the H. pylori phospholipids contain primarily C14:0 and C19:0 cyclopropane-containing fatty acids. In contrast, both the ester-linked and amide-linked fatty acids found in H. pylori lipoproteins were observed to be almost exclusively C16:0 and C18:0. A discrepancy between the acyl composition of membrane phospholipids and lipoproteins as reported here for H. pylori has been previously reported in other bacteria including Borrelia and Brucella. We discuss possible mechanisms.IMPORTANCEColonization of the stomach by Helicobacter pylori is an important risk factor in the development of gastric cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. H. pylori persists in the stomach despite an immune response against the bacteria. Recognition of lipoproteins by TLR2 contributes to the innate immune response to H. pylori. However, the role of H. pylori lipoproteins in bacterial persistence is poorly understood. As the host response to lipoproteins depends on the acyl chain content, defining the acyl composition of H. pylori lipoproteins is an important step in characterizing how lipoproteins contribute to persistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark S. McClain
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Vanderbilt Institute for Infection Immunology and Inflammation, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - William E. Boeglin
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Holly M. Scott Algood
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Vanderbilt Institute for Infection Immunology and Inflammation, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Vanderbilt Center for Immunobiology, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Alan R. Brash
- Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
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2
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Goel S, Feisal MR, Danmaliki GI, Yu S, Liu PB, Bishop RE, West FG, Hwang PM. Probing amino acid side chains of the integral membrane protein PagP by solution NMR: Side chain immobilization facilitates association of secondary structures. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA. BIOMEMBRANES 2024; 1866:184281. [PMID: 38218576 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2024.184281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 12/27/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/15/2024]
Abstract
Solution NMR spectroscopy of large protein systems is hampered by rapid signal decay, so most multidimensional studies focus on long-lived 1H-13C magnetization in methyl groups and/or backbone amide 1H-15N magnetization in an otherwise perdeuterated environment. Herein we demonstrate that it is possible to biosynthetically incorporate additional 1H-12C groups that possess long-lived magnetization using cost-effective partially deuterated or unlabeled amino acid precursors added to Escherichia coli growth media. This approach is applied to the outer membrane enzyme PagP in membrane-mimetic dodecylphosphocholine micelles. We were able to obtain chemical shift assignments for a majority of side chain 1H positions in PagP using nuclear Overhauser enhancements (NOEs) to connect them to previously assigned backbone 1H-15N groups and newly assigned 1H-13C methyl groups. Side chain methyl-to-aromatic NOEs were particularly important for confirming that the amphipathic α-helix of PagP packs against its eight-stranded β-barrel, as indicated by previous X-ray crystal structures. Interestingly, aromatic NOEs suggest that some aromatic residues in PagP that are buried in the membrane bilayer are highly mobile in the micellar environment, like Phe138 and Phe159. In contrast, Tyr87 in the middle of the bilayer is quite rigid, held in place by a hydrogen bonded network extending to the surface that resembles a classic catalytic triad: Tyr87-His67-Asp61. This hydrogen bonded arrangement of residues is not known to have any catalytic activity, but we postulate that its role is to immobilize Tyr87 to facilitate packing of the amphipathic α-helix against the β-barrel.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaista Goel
- Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - M Rafid Feisal
- Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | | | - Shaohui Yu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta
| | - Philip B Liu
- Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Russell E Bishop
- Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, and Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | | | - Peter M Hwang
- Department of Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
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3
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Chen J, Fruhauf A, Fan C, Ponce J, Ueberheide B, Bhabha G, Ekiert DC. Structure of an endogenous mycobacterial MCE lipid transporter. Nature 2023; 620:445-452. [PMID: 37495693 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06366-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2022] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023]
Abstract
To replicate inside macrophages and cause tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis must scavenge a variety of nutrients from the host1,2. The mammalian cell entry (MCE) proteins are important virulence factors in M. tuberculosis1,3, where they are encoded by large gene clusters and have been implicated in the transport of fatty acids4-7 and cholesterol1,4,8 across the impermeable mycobacterial cell envelope. Very little is known about how cargos are transported across this barrier, and it remains unclear how the approximately ten proteins encoded by a mycobacterial mce gene cluster assemble to transport cargo across the cell envelope. Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the endogenous Mce1 lipid-import machine of Mycobacterium smegmatis-a non-pathogenic relative of M. tuberculosis. The structure reveals how the proteins of the Mce1 system assemble to form an elongated ABC transporter complex that is long enough to span the cell envelope. The Mce1 complex is dominated by a curved, needle-like domain that appears to be unrelated to previously described protein structures, and creates a protected hydrophobic pathway for lipid transport across the periplasm. Our structural data revealed the presence of a subunit of the Mce1 complex, which we identified using a combination of cryo-EM and AlphaFold2, and name LucB. Our data lead to a structural model for Mce1-mediated lipid import across the mycobacterial cell envelope.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Chen
- Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Alice Fruhauf
- Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Catherine Fan
- Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Jackeline Ponce
- Proteomics Laboratory, Division of Advanced Research Technologies, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Beatrix Ueberheide
- Proteomics Laboratory, Division of Advanced Research Technologies, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Neurology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Gira Bhabha
- Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Damian C Ekiert
- Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
- Department of Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
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4
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Mayse LA, Movileanu L. Gating of β-Barrel Protein Pores, Porins, and Channels: An Old Problem with New Facets. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:12095. [PMID: 37569469 PMCID: PMC10418385 DOI: 10.3390/ijms241512095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 07/23/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/13/2023] Open
Abstract
β barrels are ubiquitous proteins in the outer membranes of mitochondria, chloroplasts, and Gram-negative bacteria. These transmembrane proteins (TMPs) execute a wide variety of tasks. For example, they can serve as transporters, receptors, membrane-bound enzymes, as well as adhesion, structural, and signaling elements. In addition, multimeric β barrels are common structural scaffolds among many pore-forming toxins. Significant progress has been made in understanding the functional, structural, biochemical, and biophysical features of these robust and versatile proteins. One frequently encountered fundamental trait of all β barrels is their voltage-dependent gating. This process consists of reversible or permanent conformational transitions between a large-conductance, highly permeable open state and a low-conductance, solute-restrictive closed state. Several intrinsic molecular mechanisms and environmental factors modulate this universal property of β barrels. This review article outlines the typical signatures of voltage-dependent gating. Moreover, we discuss recent developments leading to a better qualitative understanding of the closure dynamics of these TMPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren A. Mayse
- Department of Physics, Syracuse University, 201 Physics Building, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA;
- Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University, 223 Link Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
| | - Liviu Movileanu
- Department of Physics, Syracuse University, 201 Physics Building, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA;
- Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University, 223 Link Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
- The BioInspired Institute, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA
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5
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Rauthan K, Joshi S, Kumar L, Goel D, Kumar S. Functional annotation of uncharacterized proteins from Fusobacterium nucleatum: identification of virulence factors. Genomics Inform 2023; 21:e21. [PMID: 37415454 PMCID: PMC10326533 DOI: 10.5808/gi.22065] [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: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 05/12/2023] [Accepted: 05/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Fusobacterium nucleatum is a gram-negative bacteria associated with diverse infections like appendicitis and colorectal cancer. It mainly attacks the epithelial cells in the oral cavity and throat of the infected individual. It has a single circular genome of 2.7 Mb. Many proteins in F. nucleatum genome are listed as "Uncharacterized." Annotation of these proteins is crucial for obtaining new facts about the pathogen and deciphering the gene regulation, functions, and pathways along with discovery of novel target proteins. In the light of new genomic information, an armoury of bioinformatic tools were used for predicting the physicochemical parameters, domain and motif search, pattern search, and localization of the uncharacterized proteins. The programs such as receiver operating characteristics determine the efficacy of the databases that have been employed for prediction of different parameters at 83.6%. Functions were successfully assigned to 46 uncharacterized proteins which included enzymes, transporter proteins, membrane proteins, binding proteins, etc. Apart from the function prediction, the proteins were also subjected to string analysis to reveal the interacting partners. The annotated proteins were also put through homology-based structure prediction and modeling using Swiss PDB and Phyre2 servers. Two probable virulent factors were also identified which could be investigated further for potential drug-related studies. The assigning of functions to uncharacterized proteins has shown that some of these proteins are important for cell survival inside the host and can act as effective drug targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kanchan Rauthan
- Department of Biotechnology, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhnd 246174, India
| | - Saranya Joshi
- Department of Biotechnology, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhnd 246174, India
| | - Lokesh Kumar
- Department of Biotechnology, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhnd 246174, India
| | - Divya Goel
- Department of Biotechnology, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhnd 246174, India
| | - Sudhir Kumar
- Department of Biotechnology, H.N.B. Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, Uttarakhnd 246174, India
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6
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Günsel U, Klöpfer K, Häusler E, Hitzenberger M, Bölter B, Sperl LE, Zacharias M, Soll J, Hagn F. Structural basis of metabolite transport by the chloroplast outer envelope channel OEP21. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2023:10.1038/s41594-023-00984-y. [PMID: 37156968 DOI: 10.1038/s41594-023-00984-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 03/31/2023] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Triose phosphates (TPs) are the primary products of photosynthetic CO2 fixation in chloroplasts, which need to be exported into the cytosol across the chloroplast inner envelope (IE) and outer envelope (OE) membranes to sustain plant growth. While transport across the IE is well understood, the mode of action of the transporters in the OE remains unclear. Here we present the high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) structure of the outer envelope protein 21 (OEP21) from garden pea, the main exit pore for TPs in C3 plants. OEP21 is a cone-shaped β-barrel pore with a highly positively charged interior that enables binding and translocation of negatively charged metabolites in a competitive manner, up to a size of ~1 kDa. ATP stabilizes the channel and keeps it in an open state. Despite the broad substrate selectivity of OEP21, these results suggest that control of metabolite transport across the OE might be possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umut Günsel
- Bavarian NMR Center (BNMRZ), Department of Bioscience, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany
- Institute of Structural Biology, Helmholtz Munich, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Kai Klöpfer
- Bavarian NMR Center (BNMRZ), Department of Bioscience, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany
| | - Elisabeth Häusler
- Institute of Structural Biology, Helmholtz Munich, Neuherberg, Germany
| | - Manuel Hitzenberger
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Biophysik (T38), Department of Bioscience, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany
| | - Bettina Bölter
- Biozentrum, LMU München, Department of Biology, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Laura E Sperl
- Bavarian NMR Center (BNMRZ), Department of Bioscience, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany
| | - Martin Zacharias
- Lehrstuhl für Theoretische Biophysik (T38), Department of Bioscience, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany
| | - Jürgen Soll
- Biozentrum, LMU München, Department of Biology, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Franz Hagn
- Bavarian NMR Center (BNMRZ), Department of Bioscience, School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Garching, Germany.
- Institute of Structural Biology, Helmholtz Munich, Neuherberg, Germany.
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7
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Wang Z, Zhao A, Wang C, Huang D, Yu J, Yu L, Wu Y, Wang X. Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli to efficiently produce monophosphoryl lipid A. Biotechnol Appl Biochem 2023. [PMID: 36659840 DOI: 10.1002/bab.2443] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2022] [Accepted: 01/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), mainly isolated from Salmonella minnesota R595, has been used as adjuvant in several vaccines. In this study, an Escherichia coli strain that can efficiently produce the MPL has been constructed. The gene clusters related to the biosynthesis of O-antigen, core oligosaccharide, enterobacterial common antigen, and colanic acid were sequentially removed to save the carbon source and to increase the activity of PagP in E. coli MG1655. Then, the genes pldA, mlaA, and mlaC related to the phospholipid transport system were further deleted, resulting in the strain MW012. Finally, the genes lpxE from Francisella novicida and pagP and pagL from Salmonella were overexpressed in MW012 to modify the structure of lipid A, resulting in the strain MW012/pWEPL. Lipid A species were isolated from MW012/pWEPL and analyzed by thin-layer chromatography and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that mainly two MPL species were produced in E. coli MW012/pWEPL, one is hexa-acylated, and the other is penta-acylated. More importantly, the proportion of the hexa-acylated MPL, which is the most effective component of lipid A vaccine adjuvant, reached 75%. E. coli MW012/pWEPL constructed in this study provided a good alternative for the production of lipid A vaccine adjuvant MPL.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhen Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Aizhen Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Chenhui Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Danyang Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Jing Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Letong Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Yuanming Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
| | - Xiaoyuan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,International Joint Laboratory on Food Safety, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.,Key Laboratory of Industrial Biotechnology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
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8
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Chen J, Fruhauf A, Fan C, Ponce J, Ueberheide B, Bhabha G, Ekiert D. Structure of an endogenous mycobacterial MCE lipid transporter. RESEARCH SQUARE 2023:rs.3.rs-2412186. [PMID: 36711512 PMCID: PMC9882608 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2412186/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
To replicate inside human macrophages and cause the disease tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) must scavenge a variety of nutrients from the host 1,2 . The Mammalian Cell Entry (MCE) proteins are important virulence factors in Mtb 1,3 , where they are encoded in large gene clusters and have been implicated in the transport of fatty acids 4â€"7 and cholesterol 1,4,8 across the impermeable mycobacterial cell envelope. Very little is known about how cargos are transported across this barrier, and how the ~10 proteins encoded in a mycobacterial mce gene cluster might assemble to transport cargo across the cell envelope remains unknown. Here we report the cryo-EM structure of the endogenous Mce1 fatty acid import machine from Mycobacterium smegmatis , a non-pathogenic relative of Mtb . The structure reveals how the proteins of the Mce1 system assemble to form an elongated ABC transporter complex, long enough to span the cell envelope. The Mce1 complex is dominated by a curved, needle-like domain that appears to be unrelated to previously described protein structures, and creates a protected hydrophobic pathway for lipid transport across the periplasm. Unexpectedly, our structural data revealed the presence of a previously unknown subunit of the Mce1 complex, which we identified using a combination of cryo-EM and AlphaFold2, and name LucB. Our data lead to a structural model for Mce1-mediated fatty acid import across the mycobacterial cell envelope.
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9
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Clausmeyer L, Fröhlich F. Mechanisms of Nonvesicular Ceramide Transport. CONTACT (THOUSAND OAKS (VENTURA COUNTY, CALIF.)) 2023; 6:25152564231208250. [PMID: 37859671 PMCID: PMC10583516 DOI: 10.1177/25152564231208250] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2023] [Revised: 09/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Ceramides, as key components of cellular membranes, play essential roles in various cellular processes, including apoptosis, cell proliferation, and cell signaling. Ceramides are the precursors of all complex sphingolipids in eukaryotic cells. They are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum and are further processed at the Golgi apparatus. Therefore, ceramides have to be transported between these two organelles. In mammalian cells, the ceramide transfer protein forms a contact site between the ER and the trans-Golgi region and transports ceramide utilizing its steroidogenic acute regulatory protein-related lipid transfer domain. In yeast, multiple mechanisms of nonvesicular ceramide transport have been described. This involves the nuclear-vacuolar junction protein Nvj2, the yeast tricalbin proteins, and the lipocalin-like protein Svf1. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of nonvesicular ceramide transport mechanisms and their relevance in cellular physiology. We will highlight the physiological and pathological consequences of perturbations in nonvesicular ceramide transport and discuss future challenges in identifying and analyzing ceramide transfer proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Clausmeyer
- Department of Biology/Chemistry, Bioanalytical Chemistry Section, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Florian Fröhlich
- Department of Biology/Chemistry, Bioanalytical Chemistry Section, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
- Center of Cellular Nanoanalytics Osnabrück (CellNanOs), Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany
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10
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de Kok NAW, Driessen AJM. The catalytic and structural basis of archaeal glycerophospholipid biosynthesis. Extremophiles 2022; 26:29. [PMID: 35976526 PMCID: PMC9385802 DOI: 10.1007/s00792-022-01277-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Archaeal glycerophospholipids are the main constituents of the cytoplasmic membrane in the archaeal domain of life and fundamentally differ in chemical composition compared to bacterial phospholipids. They consist of isoprenyl chains ether-bonded to glycerol-1-phosphate. In contrast, bacterial glycerophospholipids are composed of fatty acyl chains ester-bonded to glycerol-3-phosphate. This largely domain-distinguishing feature has been termed the “lipid-divide”. The chemical composition of archaeal membranes contributes to the ability of archaea to survive and thrive in extreme environments. However, ether-bonded glycerophospholipids are not only limited to extremophiles and found also in mesophilic archaea. Resolving the structural basis of glycerophospholipid biosynthesis is a key objective to provide insights in the early evolution of membrane formation and to deepen our understanding of the molecular basis of extremophilicity. Many of the glycerophospholipid enzymes are either integral membrane proteins or membrane-associated, and hence are intrinsically difficult to study structurally. However, in recent years, the crystal structures of several key enzymes have been solved, while unresolved enzymatic steps in the archaeal glycerophospholipid biosynthetic pathway have been clarified providing further insights in the lipid-divide and the evolution of early life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niels A W de Kok
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747AG, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Arnold J M Driessen
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute, University of Groningen, 9747AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
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11
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Chen G, Harwood JL, Lemieux MJ, Stone SJ, Weselake RJ. Acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase: Properties, physiological roles, metabolic engineering and intentional control. Prog Lipid Res 2022; 88:101181. [PMID: 35820474 DOI: 10.1016/j.plipres.2022.101181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT, EC 2.3.1.20) catalyzes the last reaction in the acyl-CoA-dependent biosynthesis of triacylglycerol (TAG). DGAT activity resides mainly in membrane-bound DGAT1 and DGAT2 in eukaryotes and bifunctional wax ester synthase-diacylglycerol acyltransferase (WSD) in bacteria, which are all membrane-bound proteins but exhibit no sequence homology to each other. Recent studies also identified other DGAT enzymes such as the soluble DGAT3 and diacylglycerol acetyltransferase (EaDAcT), as well as enzymes with DGAT activities including defective in cuticular ridges (DCR) and steryl and phytyl ester synthases (PESs). This review comprehensively discusses research advances on DGATs in prokaryotes and eukaryotes with a focus on their biochemical properties, physiological roles, and biotechnological and therapeutic applications. The review begins with a discussion of DGAT assay methods, followed by a systematic discussion of TAG biosynthesis and the properties and physiological role of DGATs. Thereafter, the review discusses the three-dimensional structure and insights into mechanism of action of human DGAT1, and the modeled DGAT1 from Brassica napus. The review then examines metabolic engineering strategies involving manipulation of DGAT, followed by a discussion of its therapeutic applications. DGAT in relation to improvement of livestock traits is also discussed along with DGATs in various other eukaryotic organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guanqun Chen
- Department of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 2P5, Canada.
| | - John L Harwood
- School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3AX, UK
| | - M Joanne Lemieux
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Alberta, Membrane Protein Disease Research Group, Edmonton T6G 2H7, Canada
| | - Scot J Stone
- Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E5, Canada.
| | - Randall J Weselake
- Department of Agricultural, Food, and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6H 2P5, Canada
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12
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Valvano MA. Remodelling of the Gram-negative bacterial Kdo 2-lipid A and its functional implications. MICROBIOLOGY (READING, ENGLAND) 2022; 168. [PMID: 35394417 DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.001159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a characteristic molecule of the outer leaflet of the Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane, which consists of lipid A, core oligosaccharide, and O antigen. The lipid A is embedded in outer membrane and provides an efficient permeability barrier, which is particularly important to reduce the permeability of antibiotics, toxic cationic metals, and antimicrobial peptides. LPS, an important modulator of innate immune responses ranging from localized inflammation to disseminated sepsis, displays a high level of structural and functional heterogeneity, which arise due to regulated differences in the acylation of the lipid A and the incorporation of non-stoichiometric modifications in lipid A and the core oligosaccharide. This review focuses on the current mechanistic understanding of the synthesis and assembly of the lipid A molecule and its most salient non-stoichiometric modifications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel A Valvano
- Wellcome-Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT9 7BL, UK
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13
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Hermansen S, Linke D, Leo JC. Transmembrane β-barrel proteins of bacteria: From structure to function. ADVANCES IN PROTEIN CHEMISTRY AND STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 2022; 128:113-161. [PMID: 35034717 DOI: 10.1016/bs.apcsb.2021.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria is a specialized organelle conferring protection to the cell against various environmental stresses and resistance to many harmful compounds. The outer membrane has a number of unique features, including an asymmetric lipid bilayer, the presence of lipopolysaccharides and an individual proteome. The vast majority of the integral transmembrane proteins in the outer membrane belongs to the family of β-barrel proteins. These evolutionarily related proteins share a cylindrical, anti-parallel β-sheet core fold spanning the outer membrane. The loops and accessory domains attached to the β-barrel allow for a remarkable versatility in function for these proteins, ranging from diffusion pores and transporters to enzymes and adhesins. We summarize the current knowledge on β-barrel structure and folding and give an overview of their functions, evolution, and potential as drug targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simen Hermansen
- Section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Dirk Linke
- Section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Jack C Leo
- Antimicrobial resistance, Omics and Microbiota Group, Department of Biosciences, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
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14
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Anso I, Basso LGM, Wang L, Marina A, Páez-Pérez ED, Jäger C, Gavotto F, Tersa M, Perrone S, Contreras FX, Prandi J, Gilleron M, Linster CL, Corzana F, Lowary TL, Trastoy B, Guerin ME. Molecular ruler mechanism and interfacial catalysis of the integral membrane acyltransferase PatA. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2021; 7:eabj4565. [PMID: 34652941 PMCID: PMC8519569 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abj4565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Glycolipids are prominent components of bacterial membranes that play critical roles not only in maintaining the structural integrity of the cell but also in modulating host-pathogen interactions. PatA is an essential acyltransferase involved in the biosynthesis of phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides (PIMs), key structural elements and virulence factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We demonstrate by electron spin resonance spectroscopy and surface plasmon resonance that PatA is an integral membrane acyltransferase tightly anchored to anionic lipid bilayers, using a two-helix structural motif and electrostatic interactions. PatA dictates the acyl chain composition of the glycolipid by using an acyl chain selectivity “ruler.” We established this by a combination of structural biology, enzymatic activity, and binding measurements on chemically synthesized nonhydrolyzable acyl–coenzyme A (CoA) derivatives. We propose an interfacial catalytic mechanism that allows PatA to acylate hydrophobic PIMs anchored in the inner membrane of mycobacteria, through the use of water-soluble acyl-CoA donors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Itxaso Anso
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia Technology Park, Building 801A, 48160 Derio, Spain
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Cruces University Hospital, 48903 Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain
| | - Luis G. M. Basso
- Laboratório de Ciências Físicas, Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Avenida Alberto Lamego, 2000, Campos dos Goytacazes, 28013-602 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Laboratório de Biofísica Molecular, Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Bandeirantes, 3900, 14040-901 Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Lei Wang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G2, Canada
| | - Alberto Marina
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia Technology Park, Building 801A, 48160 Derio, Spain
| | - Edgar D. Páez-Pérez
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia Technology Park, Building 801A, 48160 Derio, Spain
- IPICYT, División de Biología Molecular, Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica A.C., San Luis Potosí, México
| | - Christian Jäger
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, L-4367 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Floriane Gavotto
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, L-4367 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Montse Tersa
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia Technology Park, Building 801A, 48160 Derio, Spain
| | - Sebastián Perrone
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia Technology Park, Building 801A, 48160 Derio, Spain
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Cruces University Hospital, 48903 Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, L-4367 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - F.-Xabier Contreras
- Instituto Biofisika, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (CSIC,UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/n, Leioa, 48940 Bizkaia, Spain
- Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidad del País Vasco, Leioa, 48940 Bizkaia, Spain
- IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain
| | - Jacques Prandi
- Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 205 route de Narbonne, F-31077 Toulouse, France
| | - Martine Gilleron
- Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 205 route de Narbonne, F-31077 Toulouse, France
| | - Carole L. Linster
- Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, L-4367 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Francisco Corzana
- Departamento Química and Centro de Investigación en Síntesis Química, Universidad de La Rioja, 26006 Rioja, Spain
| | - Todd L. Lowary
- Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2G2, Canada
- Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Academia Road, Section 2, #128, Nangang, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
- Institute of Biochemical Sciences, National Taiwan University, Section 4, #1, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
| | - Beatriz Trastoy
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia Technology Park, Building 801A, 48160 Derio, Spain
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Cruces University Hospital, 48903 Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain
| | - Marcelo E. Guerin
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Center for Cooperative Research in Biosciences (CIC bioGUNE), Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Bizkaia Technology Park, Building 801A, 48160 Derio, Spain
- Structural Glycobiology Laboratory, Biocruces Bizkaia Health Research Institute, Cruces University Hospital, 48903 Barakaldo, Bizkaia, Spain
- IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013 Bilbao, Spain
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15
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Backman APE, Mattjus P. Who moves the sphinx? An overview of intracellular sphingolipid transport. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids 2021; 1866:159021. [PMID: 34339859 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2021.159021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2021] [Revised: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Lipid bilayers function as boundaries that enclose their content from the surrounding media, and the composition of different membrane types is accurately and dynamically tailored so that they can perform their function. To achieve this balance, lipid biosynthetic machinery and lipid trafficking events are intertwined into an elegant network. In this review, we focus on the intracellular movement of sphingolipids mediated by sphingolipid transfer proteins. Additionally, we will focus on the best characterized and understood mammalian sphingolipid transfer proteins and provide an overview of how they are hypothesized to function. Some are already well understood, while others remain enigmatic. A few are actual lipid transfer proteins, moving lipids from membrane to membrane, while others may have more of a sensor role, possibly reacting to changes in the concentrations of their ligands. Considering the substrates available for cytosolic sphingolipid transfer proteins, one open question that is discussed is whether galactosylceramide is a target. Another question is the exact mechanics by which sphingolipid transfer proteins are targeted to different organelles, such as how four phosphate adapter protein-2, FAPP2 is targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum. The aim of this review is to discuss what is known within the field today and to provide a basic understanding of how these proteins may work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anders P E Backman
- Biochemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
| | - Peter Mattjus
- Biochemistry, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland.
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16
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Early evolutionary loss of the lipid A modifying enzyme PagP resulting in innate immune evasion in Yersinia pestis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:22984-22991. [PMID: 32868431 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1917504117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Immune evasion through membrane remodeling is a hallmark of Yersinia pestis pathogenesis. Yersinia remodels its membrane during its life cycle as it alternates between mammalian hosts (37 °C) and ambient (21 °C to 26 °C) temperatures of the arthropod transmission vector or external environment. This shift in growth temperature induces changes in number and length of acyl groups on the lipid A portion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for the enteric pathogens Yersinia pseudotuberculosis (Ypt) and Yersinia enterocolitica (Ye), as well as the causative agent of plague, Yersinia pestis (Yp). Addition of a C16 fatty acid (palmitate) to lipid A by the outer membrane acyltransferase enzyme PagP occurs in immunostimulatory Ypt and Ye strains, but not in immune-evasive Yp Analysis of Yp pagP gene sequences identified a single-nucleotide polymorphism that results in a premature stop in translation, yielding a truncated, nonfunctional enzyme. Upon repair of this polymorphism to the sequence present in Ypt and Ye, lipid A isolated from a Yp pagP+ strain synthesized two structures with the C16 fatty acids located in acyloxyacyl linkage at the 2' and 3' positions of the diglucosamine backbone. Structural modifications were confirmed by mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. With the genotypic restoration of PagP enzymatic activity in Yp, a significant increase in lipid A endotoxicity mediated through the MyD88 and TRIF/TRAM arms of the TLR4-signaling pathway was observed. Discovery and repair of an evolutionarily lost lipid A modifying enzyme provides evidence of lipid A as a crucial determinant in Yp infectivity, pathogenesis, and host innate immune evasion.
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17
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Huysmans GHM, Marx DC, Radford SE, Fleming KG. Determining the Free Energies of Outer Membrane Proteins in Lipid Bilayers. Methods Mol Biol 2020; 2168:217-232. [PMID: 33582994 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0724-4_10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The thermodynamic stabilities of membrane proteins are of fundamental interest to provide a biophysical description of their structure-function relationships because energy determines conformational populations. In addition, structure-energy relationships can be exploited in membrane protein design and in synthetic biology. To determine the thermodynamic stability of a membrane protein, it is not sufficient to be able to unfold and refold the molecule: establishing path independence of this reaction is essential. Here we describe the procedures required to measure and verify path independence for the folding of outer membrane proteins in large unilamellar vesicles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerard H M Huysmans
- Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Dagan C Marx
- T C Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Sheena E Radford
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Karen G Fleming
- T C Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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18
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Anandan A, Vrielink A. Structure and function of lipid A-modifying enzymes. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2019; 1459:19-37. [PMID: 31553069 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2019] [Revised: 08/26/2019] [Accepted: 09/05/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Lipopolysaccharides are complex molecules found in the cell envelop of many Gram-negative bacteria. The toxic activity of these molecules has led to the terminology of endotoxins. They provide bacteria with structural integrity and protection from external environmental conditions, and they interact with host signaling receptors to induce host immune responses. Bacteria have evolved enzymes that act to modify lipopolysaccharides, particularly the lipid A region of the molecule, to enable the circumvention of host immune system responses. These modifications include changes to lipopolysaccharide by the addition of positively charged sugars, such as N-Ara4N, and phosphoethanolamine (pEtN). Other modifications include hydroxylation, acylation, and deacylation of fatty acyl chains. We review the two-component regulatory mechanisms for enzymes that carry out these modifications and provide details of the structures of four enzymes (PagP, PagL, pEtN transferases, and ArnT) that modify the lipid A portion of lipopolysaccharides. We focus largely on the three-dimensional structures of these enzymes, which provide an understanding of how their substrate binding and catalytic activities are mediated. A structure-function-based understanding of these enzymes provides a platform for the development of novel therapeutics to treat antibiotic resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anandhi Anandan
- School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Alice Vrielink
- School of Molecular Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
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19
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Iyer BR, Mahalakshmi R. Hydrophobic Characteristic Is Energetically Preferred for Cysteine in a Model Membrane Protein. Biophys J 2019; 117:25-35. [PMID: 31221440 PMCID: PMC6626846 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2019.05.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2019] [Revised: 05/17/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The naturally occurring amino acid cysteine has often been implicated with a crucial role in maintaining protein structure and stability. An intriguing duality in the intrinsic hydrophobicity of the cysteine side chain is that it exhibits both polar as well as hydrophobic characteristics. Here, we have utilized a cysteine-scanning mutational strategy on the transmembrane β-barrel PagP to examine the membrane depth-dependent energetic contribution of the free cysteine side chain (thiolate) versus the parent residue at an experimental pH of 9.5 in phosphatidylcholine vesicles. We find that introduction of cysteine causes destabilization at several of the 26 lipid-facing sites of PagP that we mutated in this study. The destabilization is minimal (0.5-1.5 kcal/mol) when the mutation is toward the bilayer midplane, whereas it is higher in magnitude (3.0-5.0 kcal/mol) near the bilayer interface. These observations suggest that cysteine forms more favorable interactions with the hydrophobic lipid core as compared to the amphiphilic water-lipid interface. The destabilizing effect is more pronounced when cysteine replaces the interfacial aromatics, which are known to participate in tertiary interaction networks in transmembrane β-barrels. Our observations from experiments involving the introduction of cysteine at the bilayer midplane further strengthen previous views that the free cysteine side chain does possess strongly apolar characteristics. Additionally, the free energy changes observed upon cysteine incorporation show a depth-dependent correlation with the estimated energetic cost of partitioning derived from reported hydrophobicity scales. Our results and observations from the thermodynamic analysis of the PagP barrel may explain why cysteine, despite possessing a polar sulfhydryl group, tends to behave as a hydrophobic (rather than polar) residue in folded protein structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bharat Ramasubramanian Iyer
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
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20
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Overduin M, Esmaili M. Memtein: The fundamental unit of membrane-protein structure and function. Chem Phys Lipids 2019; 218:73-84. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chemphyslip.2018.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2018] [Revised: 11/24/2018] [Accepted: 11/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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21
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Chipot C, Dehez F, Schnell JR, Zitzmann N, Pebay-Peyroula E, Catoire LJ, Miroux B, Kunji ERS, Veglia G, Cross TA, Schanda P. Perturbations of Native Membrane Protein Structure in Alkyl Phosphocholine Detergents: A Critical Assessment of NMR and Biophysical Studies. Chem Rev 2018; 118:3559-3607. [PMID: 29488756 PMCID: PMC5896743 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 117] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Membrane proteins perform a host of vital cellular functions. Deciphering the molecular mechanisms whereby they fulfill these functions requires detailed biophysical and structural investigations. Detergents have proven pivotal to extract the protein from its native surroundings. Yet, they provide a milieu that departs significantly from that of the biological membrane, to the extent that the structure, the dynamics, and the interactions of membrane proteins in detergents may considerably vary, as compared to the native environment. Understanding the impact of detergents on membrane proteins is, therefore, crucial to assess the biological relevance of results obtained in detergents. Here, we review the strengths and weaknesses of alkyl phosphocholines (or foscholines), the most widely used detergent in solution-NMR studies of membrane proteins. While this class of detergents is often successful for membrane protein solubilization, a growing list of examples points to destabilizing and denaturing properties, in particular for α-helical membrane proteins. Our comprehensive analysis stresses the importance of stringent controls when working with this class of detergents and when analyzing the structure and dynamics of membrane proteins in alkyl phosphocholine detergents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christophe Chipot
- SRSMC, UMR 7019 Université de Lorraine CNRS, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy F-54500, France
- Laboratoire
International Associé CNRS and University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy F-54506, France
- Department
of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - François Dehez
- SRSMC, UMR 7019 Université de Lorraine CNRS, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy F-54500, France
- Laboratoire
International Associé CNRS and University of Illinois at Urbana−Champaign, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy F-54506, France
| | - Jason R. Schnell
- Department
of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, United Kingdom
| | - Nicole Zitzmann
- Department
of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QU, United Kingdom
| | | | - Laurent J. Catoire
- Laboratory
of Biology and Physico-Chemistry of Membrane Proteins, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (IBPC), UMR
7099 CNRS, Paris 75005, France
- University
Paris Diderot, Paris 75005, France
- PSL
Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Bruno Miroux
- Laboratory
of Biology and Physico-Chemistry of Membrane Proteins, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (IBPC), UMR
7099 CNRS, Paris 75005, France
- University
Paris Diderot, Paris 75005, France
- PSL
Research University, Paris 75005, France
| | - Edmund R. S. Kunji
- Medical
Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0XY, United Kingdom
| | - Gianluigi Veglia
- Department
of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, and Department
of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States
| | - Timothy A. Cross
- National
High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida
State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States
| | - Paul Schanda
- Université
Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, Grenoble F-38000, France
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22
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Botos I, Noinaj N, Buchanan SK. Insertion of proteins and lipopolysaccharide into the bacterial outer membrane. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2018. [PMID: 28630161 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0224] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The bacterial outer membrane contains phospholipids in the inner leaflet and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the outer leaflet. Both proteins and LPS must be frequently inserted into the outer membrane to preserve its integrity. The protein complex that inserts LPS into the outer membrane is called LptDE, and consists of an integral membrane protein, LptD, with a separate globular lipoprotein, LptE, inserted in the barrel lumen. The protein complex that inserts newly synthesized outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) into the outer membrane is called the BAM complex, and consists of an integral membrane protein, BamA, plus four lipoproteins, BamB, C, D and E. Recent structural and functional analyses illustrate how these two complexes insert their substrates into the outer membrane by distorting the membrane component (BamA or LptD) to directly access the lipid bilayer.This article is part of the themed issue 'Membrane pores: from structure and assembly, to medicine and technology'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Istvan Botos
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
| | - Nicholas Noinaj
- Markey Center for Structural Biology, Department of Biological Sciences, and the Purdue Institute for Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, USA
| | - Susan K Buchanan
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA
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23
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Tersa M, Raich L, Albesa-Jové D, Trastoy B, Prandi J, Gilleron M, Rovira C, Guerin ME. The Molecular Mechanism of Substrate Recognition and Catalysis of the Membrane Acyltransferase PatA from Mycobacteria. ACS Chem Biol 2018; 13:131-140. [PMID: 29185694 DOI: 10.1021/acschembio.7b00578] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
Glycolipids play a central role in a variety of important biological processes in all living organisms. PatA is a membrane acyltransferase involved in the biosynthesis of phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides (PIMs), key structural elements, and virulence factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PatA catalyzes the transfer of a palmitoyl moiety from palmitoyl-CoA to the 6-position of the mannose ring linked to the 2-position of inositol in PIM1/PIM2. We report here the crystal structure of PatA in the presence of 6-O-palmitoyl-α-d-mannopyranoside, unraveling the acceptor binding mechanism. The acceptor mannose ring localizes in a cavity at the end of a surface-exposed long groove where the active site is located, whereas the palmitate moiety accommodates into a hydrophobic pocket deeply buried in the α/β core of the protein. Both fatty acyl chains of the PIM2 acceptor are essential for the reaction to take place, highlighting their critical role in the generation of a competent active site. By the use of combined structural and quantum-mechanics/molecular-mechanics (QM/MM) metadynamics, we unravel the catalytic mechanism of PatA at the atomic-electronic level. Our study provides a detailed structural rationale for a stepwise reaction, with the generation of a tetrahedral transition state for the rate-determining step. Finally, the crystal structure of PatA in the presence of β-d-mannopyranose and palmitate suggests an inhibitory mechanism for the enzyme, providing exciting possibilities for inhibitor design and the discovery of chemotherapeutic agents against this major human pathogen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Montse Tersa
- Structural Biology
Unit, CIC bioGUNE, Bizkaia Technology Park, 48160 Derio, Spain
| | - Lluís Raich
- Departament
de Química Inorgànica i Orgànica (Secció
de Química Orgànica) and IQTCUB, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - David Albesa-Jové
- Structural Biology
Unit, CIC bioGUNE, Bizkaia Technology Park, 48160 Derio, Spain
- Unidad de Biofísica, Centro Mixto Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (CSIC, UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/n, Leioa, Bizkaia 48940, Spain
- Departamento de
Bioquímica, Universidad del País Vasco, Leioa, Spain
- IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Beatriz Trastoy
- Structural Biology
Unit, CIC bioGUNE, Bizkaia Technology Park, 48160 Derio, Spain
| | - Jacques Prandi
- Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 205 route de Narbonne, F-31077 Toulouse, France
| | - Martine Gilleron
- Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, 205 route de Narbonne, F-31077 Toulouse, France
| | - Carme Rovira
- Departament
de Química Inorgànica i Orgànica (Secció
de Química Orgànica) and IQTCUB, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), 08020 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marcelo E. Guerin
- Structural Biology
Unit, CIC bioGUNE, Bizkaia Technology Park, 48160 Derio, Spain
- Unidad de Biofísica, Centro Mixto Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas - Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (CSIC, UPV/EHU), Barrio Sarriena s/n, Leioa, Bizkaia 48940, Spain
- Departamento de
Bioquímica, Universidad del País Vasco, Leioa, Spain
- IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48013, Bilbao, Spain
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24
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Nedergaard Pedersen J, Skov Pedersen J, Otzen DE. Liprotides assist in folding of outer membrane proteins. Protein Sci 2017; 27:451-462. [PMID: 29094406 DOI: 10.1002/pro.3337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2017] [Revised: 10/12/2017] [Accepted: 10/30/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Proteins and lipids can form complexes called liprotides, in which the partially denatured protein forms a shell encasing a lipid core. This effectively stabilizes a lipid micelle in an aqueous solvent and suggests that liprotides may provide a suitable vessel for membrane proteins. Accordingly we have investigated if liprotides consisting of α-lactalbumin and oleate could aid folding of four different outer membrane proteins (OMPs) tOmpA, PagP, BamA, and OmpF. tOmpA was able to fold in the presence of the liprotide, and folding did not occur if only oleate or α-lactalbumin were added. Although the liprotides did not fold the other three OMPs on its own, it was able to assist their folding in the presence of vesicles. Incubation with liprotides before folding into vesicles increased the folding yield of the outer membrane proteins to a level higher than using micelles of the non-ionic surfactant DDM. Even though the liprotide was stable at both high urea concentrations and high pH, it failed to efficiently fold OmpA at high pH. Instead, optimal folding was seen at pH 8-9, suggesting that important changes in the liprotide occurred when increasing the pH. We conclude that an otherwise folding-inactive fatty acid can be activated when presented by a liprotide and thereby work as an in vitro chaperone for outer membrane proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jannik Nedergaard Pedersen
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, Aarhus C, DK, 8000, Denmark
| | - Jan Skov Pedersen
- Department of Chemistry, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, Aarhus C, 8000, Denmark
| | - Daniel E Otzen
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center (iNANO), Aarhus University, Aarhus C, DK, 8000, Denmark
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25
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Ortiz-Suarez ML, Samsudin F, Piggot TJ, Bond PJ, Khalid S. Full-Length OmpA: Structure, Function, and Membrane Interactions Predicted by Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Biophys J 2017; 111:1692-1702. [PMID: 27760356 PMCID: PMC5071624 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2016.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2016] [Revised: 08/30/2016] [Accepted: 09/06/2016] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
OmpA is a multidomain protein found in the outer membranes of most Gram-negative bacteria. Despite a wealth of reported structural and biophysical studies, the structure-function relationships of this protein remain unclear. For example, it is still debated whether it functions as a pore, and the precise molecular role it plays in attachment to the peptidoglycan of the periplasm is unknown. The absence of a consensus view is partly due to the lack of a complete structure of the full-length protein. To address this issue, we performed molecular-dynamics simulations of the full-length model of the OmpA dimer proposed by Robinson and co-workers. The N-terminal domains were embedded in an asymmetric model of the outer membrane, with lipopolysaccharide molecules in the outer leaflet and phospholipids in the inner leaflet. Our results reveal a large dimerization interface within the membrane environment, ensuring that the dimer is stable over the course of the simulations. The linker is flexible, expanding and contracting to pull the globular C-terminal domain up toward the membrane or push it down toward the periplasm, suggesting a possible mechanism for providing mechanical stability to the cell. The external loops were more stabilized than was observed in previous studies due to the extensive dimerization interface and presence of lipopolysaccharide molecules in our outer-membrane model, which may have functional consequences in terms of OmpA adhesion to host cells. In addition, the pore-gating behavior of the protein was modulated compared with previous observations, suggesting a possible role for dimerization in channel regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maite L Ortiz-Suarez
- School of Chemistry, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Firdaus Samsudin
- School of Chemistry, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Thomas J Piggot
- School of Chemistry, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Peter J Bond
- Bioinformatics Institute (A(∗)STAR), Singapore, Singapore; Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
| | - Syma Khalid
- School of Chemistry, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
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26
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Iyer BR, Zadafiya P, Vetal PV, Mahalakshmi R. Energetics of side-chain partitioning of β-signal residues in unassisted folding of a transmembrane β-barrel protein. J Biol Chem 2017; 292:12351-12365. [PMID: 28592485 PMCID: PMC5519381 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m117.789446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2017] [Revised: 06/02/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The free energy of water-to-interface amino acid partitioning is a major contributing factor in membrane protein folding and stability. The interface residues at the C terminus of transmembrane β-barrels form the β-signal motif required for assisted β-barrel assembly in vivo but are believed to be less important for β-barrel assembly in vitro. Here, we experimentally measured the thermodynamic contribution of all 20 amino acids at the β-signal motif to the unassisted folding of the model β-barrel protein PagP. We obtained the partitioning free energy for all 20 amino acids at the lipid-facing interface (ΔΔG0w,i(φ)) and the protein-facing interface (ΔΔG0w,i(π)) residues and found that hydrophobic amino acids are most favorably transferred to the lipid-facing interface, whereas charged and polar groups display the highest partitioning energy. Furthermore, the change in non-polar surface area correlated directly with the partitioning free energy for the lipid-facing residue and inversely with the protein-facing residue. We also demonstrate that the interface residues of the β-signal motif are vital for in vitro barrel assembly, because they exhibit a side chain–specific energetic contribution determined by the change in nonpolar accessible surface. We further establish that folding cooperativity and hydrophobic collapse are balanced at the membrane interface for optimal stability of the PagP β-barrel scaffold. We conclude that the PagP C-terminal β-signal motif influences the folding cooperativity and stability of the folded β-barrel and that the thermodynamic contributions of the lipid- and protein-facing residues in the transmembrane protein β-signal motif depend on the nature of the amino acid side chain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bharat Ramasubramanian Iyer
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhauri, Bhopal 462066, India
| | - Punit Zadafiya
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhauri, Bhopal 462066, India
| | - Pallavi Vijay Vetal
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhauri, Bhopal 462066, India
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhauri, Bhopal 462066, India.
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27
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Dufrisne MB, Petrou VI, Clarke OB, Mancia F. Structural basis for catalysis at the membrane-water interface. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids 2016; 1862:1368-1385. [PMID: 27913292 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2016.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2016] [Revised: 11/22/2016] [Accepted: 11/23/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The membrane-water interface forms a uniquely heterogeneous and geometrically constrained environment for enzymatic catalysis. Integral membrane enzymes sample three environments - the uniformly hydrophobic interior of the membrane, the aqueous extramembrane region, and the fuzzy, amphipathic interfacial region formed by the tightly packed headgroups of the components of the lipid bilayer. Depending on the nature of the substrates and the location of the site of chemical modification, catalysis may occur in each of these environments. The availability of structural information for alpha-helical enzyme families from each of these classes, as well as several beta-barrel enzymes from the bacterial outer membrane, has allowed us to review here the different ways in which each enzyme fold has adapted to the nature of the substrates, products, and the unique environment of the membrane. Our focus here is on enzymes that process lipidic substrates. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Bacterial Lipids edited by Russell E. Bishop.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meagan Belcher Dufrisne
- Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Vasileios I Petrou
- Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Oliver B Clarke
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA
| | - Filippo Mancia
- Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
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Structural basis of phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides biosynthesis in mycobacteria. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids 2016; 1862:1355-1367. [PMID: 27826050 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbalip.2016.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2016] [Revised: 10/29/2016] [Accepted: 11/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosides (PIMs) are glycolipids of unique chemical structure found in the inner and outer membranes of the cell envelope of all Mycobacterium species. The PIM family of glycolipids comprises phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mono-, di-, tri-, tetra-, penta-, and hexamannosides with different degrees of acylation. PIMs are considered not only essential structural components of the cell envelope but also the precursors of lipomannan and lipoarabinomannan, two major lipoglycans implicated in host-pathogen interactions. Since the description of the complete chemical structure of PIMs, major efforts have been committed to defining the molecular bases of its biosynthetic pathway. The structural characterization of the integral membrane phosphatidyl-myo-inositol phosphate synthase (PIPS), and that of three enzymes working at the protein-membrane interface, the phosphatidyl-myo-inositol mannosyltransferases A and B, and the acyltransferase PatA, established the basis of the early steps of the PIM pathway at the molecular level. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Bacterial Lipids edited by Russell E. Bishop.
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29
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Trent MS, Stead CM, Tran AX, Hankins JV. Invited review: Diversity of endotoxin and its impact on pathogenesis. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1177/09680519060120040201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Lipopolysaccharide or LPS is localized to the outer leaflet of the outer membrane and serves as the major surface component of the bacterial cell envelope. This remarkable glycolipid is essential for virtually all Gram-negative organisms and represents one of the conserved microbial structures responsible for activation of the innate immune system. For these reasons, the structure, function, and biosynthesis of LPS has been an area of intense research. The LPS of a number of bacteria is composed of three distinct regions — lipid A, a short core oligosaccharide, and the O-antigen polysaccharide. The lipid A domain, also known as endotoxin, anchors the molecule in the outer membrane and is the bioactive component recognized by TLR4 during human infection. Overall, the biochemical synthesis of lipid A is a highly conserved process; however, investigation of the lipid A structures of various organisms shows an impressive amount of diversity. These differences can be attributed to the action of latent enzymes that modify the canonical lipid A molecule. Variation of the lipid A domain of LPS serves as one strategy utilized by Gram-negative bacteria to promote survival by providing resistance to components of the innate immune system and helping to evade recognition by TLR4. This review summarizes the biochemical machinery required for the production of diverse lipid A structures of human pathogens and how structural modification of endotoxin impacts pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. Stephen Trent
- Department of Microbiology, James H. Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA,
| | - Christopher M. Stead
- Department of Microbiology, James H. Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - An X. Tran
- Department of Microbiology, James H. Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
| | - Jessica V. Hankins
- Department of Microbiology, James H. Quillen College of Medicine, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA
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30
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Abstract
The presence of palmitate in a minor fraction of lipid A has been known since the chemical structure of lipid A was first elucidated, but the functional importance in bacterial pathogenesis of regulated lipid A palmitoylation has become clear only recently. A palmitate chain from a phospholipid is incorporated into lipid A by an outer membrane enzyme PagP. The isolation of pagP mutants from pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria has revealed that palmitoylated lipid A can both protect the bacterium from certain host immune defenses and attenuate the ability of lipid A to activate those same defenses through the TLR4 signal transduction pathway. The mechanisms by which bacteria regulate the incorporation of palmitate into lipid A strikingly reflect the corresponding organism's pathogenic lifestyle. Variations on these themes can be illustrated with the known pagP homologs from Gram-negative bacteria, which include pathogens of humans and other mammals in addition to pathogens of insects and plants. The PagP enzyme is now lending itself both as a target for the development of anti-infective agents, and as a tool for the synthesis of lipid A-based vaccine adjuvants and endotoxin antagonists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Russell E. Bishop
- Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, and Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada,
| | - Sang-Hyun Kim
- Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, and Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Ahmed El Zoeiby
- Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, and Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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31
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Schiffrin B, Calabrese AN, Devine PWA, Harris SA, Ashcroft AE, Brockwell DJ, Radford SE. Skp is a multivalent chaperone of outer-membrane proteins. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2016; 23:786-793. [PMID: 27455461 PMCID: PMC5018216 DOI: 10.1038/nsmb.3266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2016] [Accepted: 06/24/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
The trimeric chaperone Skp sequesters outer-membrane proteins (OMPs) within a hydrophobic cage, thereby preventing their aggregation during transport across the periplasm in Gram-negative bacteria. Here, we studied the interaction between Escherichia coli Skp and five OMPs of varying size. Investigations of the kinetics of OMP folding revealed that higher Skp/OMP ratios are required to prevent the folding of 16-stranded OMPs compared with their 8-stranded counterparts. Ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) data, computer modeling and molecular dynamics simulations provided evidence that 10- to 16-stranded OMPs are encapsulated within an expanded Skp substrate cage. For OMPs that cannot be fully accommodated in the expanded cavity, sequestration is achieved by binding of an additional Skp trimer. The results suggest a new mechanism for Skp chaperone activity involving the coordination of multiple copies of Skp in protecting a single substrate from aggregation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bob Schiffrin
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Antonio N Calabrese
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Paul W A Devine
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Sarah A Harris
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Alison E Ashcroft
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - David J Brockwell
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Sheena E Radford
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
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32
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Iyer BR, Mahalakshmi R. Distinct Structural Elements Govern the Folding, Stability, and Catalysis in the Outer Membrane Enzyme PagP. Biochemistry 2016; 55:4960-70. [PMID: 27525547 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.6b00678] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
The outer membrane enzyme PagP is indispensable for lipid A palmitoylation in Gram-negative bacteria and has been implicated in resistance to host immune defenses. PagP possesses an unusual structure for an integral membrane protein, with a highly dynamic barrel domain that is tilted with respect to the membrane normal. In addition, it contains an N-terminal amphipathic helix. Recent functional and structural studies have shown that these molecular factors are critical for PagP to carry out its function in the challenging environment of the bacterial outer membrane. However, the precise contributions of the N-helix to folding and stability and residues that can influence catalytic rates remain to be addressed. Here, we identify a sequence-dependent stabilizing role for the N-terminal helix of PagP in the measured thermodynamic stability of the barrel. Using chimeric barrel sequences, we show that the Escherichia coli PagP N-terminal helix confers 2-fold greater stability to the Salmonella typhimurium barrel. Further, we find that the W78F substitution in S. typhimurium causes a nearly 20-fold increase in the specific activity in vitro for the phospholipase reaction, compared to that of E. coli PagP. Here, phenylalanine serves as a key regulator of catalysis, possibly by increasing the reaction rate. Through coevolution analysis, we detect an interaction network between seemingly unrelated segments of this membrane protein. Exchanging the structural and functional features between homologous PagP enzymes from E. coli and S. typhimurium has provided us with an understanding of the molecular factors governing PagP stability and function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bharat Ramasubramanian Iyer
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research , Bhopal 462066, India
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research , Bhopal 462066, India
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33
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Plummer AM, Fleming KG. From Chaperones to the Membrane with a BAM! Trends Biochem Sci 2016; 41:872-882. [PMID: 27450425 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibs.2016.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2016] [Revised: 06/13/2016] [Accepted: 06/20/2016] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Outer membrane proteins (OMPs) play a central role in the integrity of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. Unfolded OMPs (uOMPs) transit across the periplasm, and subsequent folding and assembly are crucial for biogenesis. Chaperones and the essential β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) complex facilitate these processes. In vitro studies suggest that some chaperones sequester uOMPs in internal cavities during their periplasmic transit to prevent deleterious aggregation. Upon reaching the outer membrane, the BAM complex acts catalytically to accelerate uOMP folding. Complementary in vivo experiments have revealed the localization and activity of the BAM complex in living cells. Completing an understanding of OMP biogenesis will require a holistic view of the interplay among the individual components discussed here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashlee M Plummer
- Thomas C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Karen G Fleming
- Thomas C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
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34
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Abstract
Gram-negative bacteria have a double-membrane cellular envelope that enables them to colonize harsh environments and prevents the entry of many clinically available antibiotics. A main component of most outer membranes is lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a glycolipid containing several fatty acyl chains and up to hundreds of sugars that is synthesized in the cytoplasm. In the past two decades, the proteins that are responsible for transporting LPS across the cellular envelope and assembling it at the cell surface in Escherichia coli have been identified, but it remains unclear how they function. In this Review, we discuss recent advances in this area and present a model that explains how energy from the cytoplasm is used to power LPS transport across the cellular envelope to the cell surface.
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35
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Lin M, Gessmann D, Naveed H, Liang J. Outer Membrane Protein Folding and Topology from a Computational Transfer Free Energy Scale. J Am Chem Soc 2016; 138:2592-601. [PMID: 26860422 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5b10307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Knowledge of the transfer free energy of amino acids from aqueous solution to a lipid bilayer is essential for understanding membrane protein folding and for predicting membrane protein structure. Here we report a computational approach that can calculate the folding free energy of the transmembrane region of outer membrane β-barrel proteins (OMPs) by combining an empirical energy function with a reduced discrete state space model. We quantitatively analyzed the transfer free energies of 20 amino acid residues at the center of the lipid bilayer of OmpLA. Our results are in excellent agreement with the experimentally derived hydrophobicity scales. We further exhaustively calculated the transfer free energies of 20 amino acids at all positions in the TM region of OmpLA. We found that the asymmetry of the Gram-negative bacterial outer membrane as well as the TM residues of an OMP determine its functional fold in vivo. Our results suggest that the folding process of an OMP is driven by the lipid-facing residues in its hydrophobic core, and its NC-IN topology is determined by the differential stabilities of OMPs in the asymmetrical outer membrane. The folding free energy is further reduced by lipid A and assisted by general depth-dependent cooperativities that exist between polar and ionizable residues. Moreover, context-dependency of transfer free energies at specific positions in OmpLA predict regions important for protein function as well as structural anomalies. Our computational approach is fast, efficient and applicable to any OMP.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meishan Lin
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago , Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
| | - Dennis Gessmann
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago , Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
| | - Hammad Naveed
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago , Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
| | - Jie Liang
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Chicago , Chicago, Illinois 60607, United States
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36
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Watkinson TG, Calabrese AN, Giusti F, Zoonens M, Radford SE, Ashcroft AE. Systematic analysis of the use of amphipathic polymers for studies of outer membrane proteins using mass spectrometry. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MASS SPECTROMETRY 2015; 391:54-61. [PMID: 26869850 PMCID: PMC4708066 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijms.2015.06.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2015] [Revised: 06/19/2015] [Accepted: 06/26/2015] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Membrane proteins (MPs) are essential for numerous important biological processes. Recently, mass spectrometry (MS), coupled with an array of related techniques, has been used to probe the structural properties of MPs and their complexes. Typically, detergent micelles have been employed for delivering MPs into the gas-phase, but these complexes have intrinsic properties that can limit the utility of structural studies of MPs using MS methods. Amphipols (APols) have advantages over detergent micelles and have been shown to be capable of delivering native MPs into the gas-phase. Comparing six different APols which vary in mass and charge, and the detergent n-dodecyl-β-d-maltopyranoside, we aimed to determine which APols are most efficient for delivery of native outer membrane proteins (OMPs) into the gas-phase. We show that maintaining the solution-phase folding and global structures of three different OMPs (PagP, OmpT and tOmpA) are independent of the APol used, but differences in OMP activity can result from the different APol:OMP complexes. ESI-IMS-MS analysis of OMP:APol complexes shows that the A8-35 APol is most proficient at liberating all three OMPs into the gas-phase, without altering their gas-phase conformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas G. Watkinson
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Antonio N. Calabrese
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Fabrice Giusti
- Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Moléculaire des Protéines Membranaires, UMR 7099, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (FRC 550), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Université Paris-7, 13, rue Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Manuela Zoonens
- Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie Moléculaire des Protéines Membranaires, UMR 7099, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (FRC 550), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Université Paris-7, 13, rue Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Sheena E. Radford
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Alison E. Ashcroft
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, School of Molecular & Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK
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37
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Maurya SR, Mahalakshmi R. N-helix and Cysteines Inter-regulate Human Mitochondrial VDAC-2 Function and Biochemistry. J Biol Chem 2015; 290:30240-52. [PMID: 26487717 PMCID: PMC4683249 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m115.693978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2015] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Human voltage-dependent anion channel-2 (hVDAC-2) functions primarily as the crucial anti-apoptotic protein in the outer mitochondrial membrane, and additionally as a gated bidirectional metabolite transporter. The N-terminal helix (NTH), involved in voltage sensing, bears an additional 11-residue extension (NTE) only in hVDAC-2. In this study, we assign a unique role for the NTE as influencing the chaperone-independent refolding kinetics and overall thermodynamic stability of hVDAC-2. Our electrophysiology data shows that the N-helix is crucial for channel activity, whereas NTE sensitizes this isoform to voltage gating. Additionally, hVDAC-2 possesses the highest cysteine content, possibly for regulating reactive oxygen species content. We identify interdependent contributions of the N-helix and cysteines to channel function, and the measured stability in micellar environments with differing physicochemical properties. The evolutionary demand for the NTE in the presence of cysteines clearly emerges from our biochemical and functional studies, providing insight into factors that functionally demarcate hVDAC-2 from the other VDACs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Svetlana Rajkumar Maurya
- From the Department of Biological Sciences, Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal 462023, India
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi
- From the Department of Biological Sciences, Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal 462023, India
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38
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Abstract
Two membranes enclose Gram-negative bacteria-an inner membrane consisting of phospholipid and an outer membrane having an asymmetric structure in which the inner leaflet contains phospholipid and the outer leaflet consists primarily of lipopolysaccharide. The impermeable nature of the outer membrane imposes a need for numerous outer membrane pores and transporters to ferry substances in and out of the cell. These outer membrane proteins have structures distinct from their inner membrane counterparts and most often function without any discernable energy source. In this chapter, we review the structures and functions of four classes of outer membrane protein: general and specific porins, specific transporters, TonB-dependent transporters, and export channels. While not an exhaustive list, these classes exemplify small-molecule transport across the outer membrane and illustrate the diversity of structures and functions found in Gram-negative bacteria.
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39
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Iyer BR, Mahalakshmi R. Residue-Dependent Thermodynamic Cost and Barrel Plasticity Balances Activity in the PhoPQ-Activated Enzyme PagP of Salmonella typhimurium. Biochemistry 2015; 54:5712-22. [PMID: 26334694 DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.5b00543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
PagP is an eight-stranded transmembrane β-barrel enzyme indispensable for lipid A palmitoylation in Gram-negative bacteria. The severity of infection by pathogens, including Salmonella, Legionella, and Bordetella, and resistance to antimicrobial peptides, relies on lipid A remodeling by PagP, rendering PagP a sought-after drug target. Despite a conserved sequence, more robust palmitoylation of lipid A is observed in Salmonella typhimurium compared to Escherichia coli, a possible consequence of the differential regulation of PagP expression and/or specific activity. Work here identifies molecular signatures that demarcate thermodynamic stability and variances in catalytic efficiency between S. typhimurium (PagP-St) and E. coli (PagP-Ec) transmembrane PagP barrel variants. We demonstrate that Salmonella PagP displays a 2-fold destabilization of the barrel, while achieving 15-20 magnitude higher lipase efficiency, through subtle alterations of lipid-facing residues distal from the active site. We find that catalytic properties of these homologues are retained across different lipid environments such as micelles, vesicles, and natural extracts. By comparing thermodynamic stability with activity of selectively designed mutants, we conclude that activity-stability trade-offs can be influenced by factors secluded from the catalytic region. Our results provide a compelling correlation of the primary protein structure with enzymatic activity, barrel thermodynamic stability, and scaffold plasticity. Our analysis can open avenues for the development of potent pharmaceuticals against salmonellosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bharat Ramasubramanian Iyer
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research , Bhopal 462023, India
| | - Radhakrishnan Mahalakshmi
- Molecular Biophysics Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research , Bhopal 462023, India
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40
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Kleinschmidt JH. Folding of β-barrel membrane proteins in lipid bilayers - Unassisted and assisted folding and insertion. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2015; 1848:1927-43. [PMID: 25983306 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2015] [Revised: 05/06/2015] [Accepted: 05/07/2015] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
In cells, β-barrel membrane proteins are transported in unfolded form to an outer membrane into which they fold and insert. Model systems have been established to investigate the mechanisms of insertion and folding of these versatile proteins into detergent micelles, lipid bilayers and even synthetic amphipathic polymers. In these experiments, insertion into lipid membranes is initiated from unfolded forms that do not display residual β-sheet secondary structure. These studies therefore have allowed the investigation of membrane protein folding and insertion in great detail. Folding of β-barrel membrane proteins into lipid bilayers has been monitored from unfolded forms by dilution of chaotropic denaturants that keep the protein unfolded as well as from unfolded forms present in complexes with molecular chaperones from cells. This review is aimed to provide an overview of the principles and mechanisms observed for the folding of β-barrel transmembrane proteins into lipid bilayers, the importance of lipid-protein interactions and the function of molecular chaperones and folding assistants. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Lipid-protein interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jörg H Kleinschmidt
- Abteilung Biophysik, Institut für Biologie, FB 10, Universität Kassel and Center for Interdisciplinary Nanostructure Science and Technology (CINSaT), Heinrich-Plett-Str. 40, D-34132 Kassel, Germany.
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Zahn M, D'Agostino T, Eren E, Baslé A, Ceccarelli M, van den Berg B. Small-Molecule Transport by CarO, an Abundant Eight-Stranded β-Barrel Outer Membrane Protein from Acinetobacter baumannii. J Mol Biol 2015; 427:2329-39. [PMID: 25846137 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2015.03.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2015] [Revised: 03/25/2015] [Accepted: 03/25/2015] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Outer membrane (OM) β-barrel proteins composed of 12-18 β-strands mediate cellular entry of small molecules in Gram-negative bacteria. Small OM proteins with barrels of 10 strands or less are not known to transport small molecules. CarO (carbapenem-associated outer membrane protein) from Acinetobacter baumannii is a small OM protein that has been implicated in the uptake of ornithine and carbapenem antibiotics. Here we report crystal structures of three isoforms of CarO. The structures are very similar and show a monomeric eight-stranded barrel lacking an open channel. CarO has a substantial extracellular domain resembling a glove that contains all the divergent residues between the different isoforms. Liposome swelling experiments demonstrate that full-length CarO and a "loop-less" truncation mutant mediate small-molecule uptake at low levels but that they are unlikely to mediate passage of carbapenem antibiotics. These results are confirmed by biased molecular dynamics simulations that allowed us to quantitatively model the transport of selected small molecules.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Zahn
- Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE2 4HH, United Kingdom
| | - Tommaso D'Agostino
- Department of Physics, University of Cagliari, Via Università, 40, 09124 Cagliari, Italy
| | - Elif Eren
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-9806, USA
| | - Arnaud Baslé
- Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE2 4HH, United Kingdom
| | - Matteo Ceccarelli
- Department of Physics, University of Cagliari, Via Università, 40, 09124 Cagliari, Italy.
| | - Bert van den Berg
- Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biosciences, The Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE2 4HH, United Kingdom.
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Buddelmeijer N. The molecular mechanism of bacterial lipoprotein modification—How, when and why? FEMS Microbiol Rev 2015; 39:246-61. [DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuu006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
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Calabrese AN, Watkinson TG, Henderson PJF, Radford SE, Ashcroft AE. Amphipols outperform dodecylmaltoside micelles in stabilizing membrane protein structure in the gas phase. Anal Chem 2014; 87:1118-26. [PMID: 25495802 PMCID: PMC4636139 DOI: 10.1021/ac5037022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Noncovalent mass spectrometry (MS) is emerging as an invaluable technique to probe the structure, interactions, and dynamics of membrane proteins (MPs). However, maintaining native-like MP conformations in the gas phase using detergent solubilized proteins is often challenging and may limit structural analysis. Amphipols, such as the well characterized A8-35, are alternative reagents able to maintain the solubility of MPs in detergent-free solution. In this work, the ability of A8-35 to retain the structural integrity of MPs for interrogation by electrospray ionization-ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (ESI-IMS-MS) is compared systematically with the commonly used detergent dodecylmaltoside. MPs from the two major structural classes were selected for analysis, including two β-barrel outer MPs, PagP and OmpT (20.2 and 33.5 kDa, respectively), and two α-helical proteins, Mhp1 and GalP (54.6 and 51.7 kDa, respectively). Evaluation of the rotationally averaged collision cross sections of the observed ions revealed that the native structures of detergent solubilized MPs were not always retained in the gas phase, with both collapsed and unfolded species being detected. In contrast, ESI-IMS-MS analysis of the amphipol solubilized MPs studied resulted in charge state distributions consistent with less gas phase induced unfolding, and the presence of lowly charged ions which exhibit collision cross sections comparable with those calculated from high resolution structural data. The data demonstrate that A8-35 can be more effective than dodecylmaltoside at maintaining native MP structure and interactions in the gas phase, permitting noncovalent ESI-IMS-MS analysis of MPs from the two major structural classes, while gas phase dissociation from dodecylmaltoside micelles leads to significant gas phase unfolding, especially for the α-helical MPs studied.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio N Calabrese
- School of Molecular and Cellular Biology and ‡School of Biomedical Sciences, Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds , Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
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McMorran LM, Brockwell DJ, Radford SE. Mechanistic studies of the biogenesis and folding of outer membrane proteins in vitro and in vivo: what have we learned to date? Arch Biochem Biophys 2014; 564:265-80. [PMID: 24613287 PMCID: PMC4262575 DOI: 10.1016/j.abb.2014.02.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2014] [Revised: 02/16/2014] [Accepted: 02/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Research into the mechanisms by which proteins fold into their native structures has been on-going since the work of Anfinsen in the 1960s. Since that time, the folding mechanisms of small, water-soluble proteins have been well characterised. By contrast, progress in understanding the biogenesis and folding mechanisms of integral membrane proteins has lagged significantly because of the need to create a membrane mimetic environment for folding studies in vitro and the difficulties in finding suitable conditions in which reversible folding can be achieved. Improved knowledge of the factors that promote membrane protein folding and disfavour aggregation now allows studies of folding into lipid bilayers in vitro to be performed. Consequently, mechanistic details and structural information about membrane protein folding are now emerging at an ever increasing pace. Using the panoply of methods developed for studies of the folding of water-soluble proteins. This review summarises current knowledge of the mechanisms of outer membrane protein biogenesis and folding into lipid bilayers in vivo and in vitro and discusses the experimental techniques utilised to gain this information. The emerging knowledge is beginning to allow comparisons to be made between the folding of membrane proteins with current understanding of the mechanisms of folding of water-soluble proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay M McMorran
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - David J Brockwell
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
| | - Sheena E Radford
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
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Wang X, Quinn PJ, Yan A. Kdo2 -lipid A: structural diversity and impact on immunopharmacology. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2014; 90:408-27. [PMID: 24838025 PMCID: PMC4402001 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2013] [Revised: 04/10/2014] [Accepted: 04/17/2014] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
3-deoxy-d-manno-octulosonic acid-lipid A (Kdo2-lipid A) is the essential component of lipopolysaccharide in most Gram-negative bacteria and the minimal structural component to sustain bacterial viability. It serves as the active component of lipopolysaccharide to stimulate potent host immune responses through the complex of Toll-like-receptor 4 (TLR4) and myeloid differentiation protein 2. The entire biosynthetic pathway of Escherichia coli Kdo2-lipid A has been elucidated and the nine enzymes of the pathway are shared by most Gram-negative bacteria, indicating conserved Kdo2-lipid A structure across different species. Yet many bacteria can modify the structure of their Kdo2-lipid A which serves as a strategy to modulate bacterial virulence and adapt to different growth environments as well as to avoid recognition by the mammalian innate immune systems. Key enzymes and receptors involved in Kdo2-lipid A biosynthesis, structural modification and its interaction with the TLR4 pathway represent a clear opportunity for immunopharmacological exploitation. These include the development of novel antibiotics targeting key biosynthetic enzymes and utilization of structurally modified Kdo2-lipid A or correspondingly engineered live bacteria as vaccines and adjuvants. Kdo2-lipid A/TLR4 antagonists can also be applied in anti-inflammatory interventions. This review summarizes recent knowledge on both the fundamental processes of Kdo2-lipid A biosynthesis, structural modification and immune stimulation, and applied research on pharmacological exploitations of these processes for therapeutic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyuan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 1800 Lihu Avenue, Wuxi 214122, China; Synergetic Innovation Center of Food Safety and Nutrition, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China
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PhoPQ regulates acidic glycerophospholipid content of the Salmonella Typhimurium outer membrane. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:1963-8. [PMID: 24449881 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1316901111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 111] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Gram-negative bacteria have two lipid membranes separated by a periplasmic space containing peptidoglycan. The surface bilayer, or outer membrane (OM), provides a barrier to toxic molecules, including host cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs). The OM comprises an outer leaflet of lipid A, the bioactive component of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and an inner leaflet of glycerophospholipids (GPLs). The structure of lipid A is environmentally regulated in a manner that can promote bacterial infection by increasing bacterial resistance to CAMP and reducing LPS recognition by the innate immune system. The gastrointestinal pathogen, Salmonella Typhimurium, responds to acidic pH and CAMP through the PhoPQ two-component regulatory system, which stimulates lipid A remodeling, CAMP resistance, and intracellular survival within acidified phagosomes. Work here demonstrates that, in addition to regulating lipid A structure, the S. Typhimurium PhoPQ virulence regulators also regulate acidic GPL by increasing the levels of cardiolipins and palmitoylated acylphosphatidylglycerols within the OM. Triacylated palmitoyl-PG species were diminished in strains deleted for the PhoPQ-regulated OM lipid A palmitoyltransferase enzyme, PagP. Purified PagP transferred palmitate to PG consistent with PagP acylation of both lipid A and PG within the OM. Therefore, PhoPQ coordinately regulates OM acidic GPL with lipid A structure, suggesting that GPLs cooperate with lipid A to form an OM barrier critical for CAMP resistance and intracellular survival of S. Typhimurium.
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Thaipisuttikul I, Hittle LE, Chandra R, Zangari D, Dixon CL, Garrett TA, Rasko DA, Dasgupta N, Moskowitz SM, Malmström L, Goodlett DR, Miller SI, Bishop RE, Ernst RK. A divergent Pseudomonas aeruginosa palmitoyltransferase essential for cystic fibrosis-specific lipid A. Mol Microbiol 2013; 91:158-74. [PMID: 24283944 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.12451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/01/2013] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) isolated from the airways of cystic fibrosis patients constitutively add palmitate to lipid A, the membrane anchor of lipopolysaccharide. The PhoPQ regulated enzyme PagP is responsible for the transfer of palmitate from outer membrane phospholipids to lipid A. This enzyme had previously been identified in many pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria, but in PA had remained elusive, despite abundant evidence that its lipid A contains palmitate. Using a combined genetic and biochemical approach, we identified PA1343 as the PA gene encoding PagP. Although PA1343 lacks obvious primary structural similarity with known PagP enzymes, the β-barrel tertiary structure with an interior hydrocarbon ruler appears to be conserved. PA PagP transfers palmitate to the 3' position of lipid A, in contrast to the 2 position seen with the enterobacterial PagP. Palmitoylated PA lipid A alters host innate immune responses, including increased resistance to some antimicrobial peptides and an elevated pro-inflammatory response, consistent with the synthesis of a hexa-acylated structure preferentially recognized by the TLR4/MD2 complex. Palmitoylation commonly confers resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides, however, increased cytokine production resulting in inflammation is not seen with other palmitoylated lipid A, indicating a unique role for this modification in PA pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iyarit Thaipisuttikul
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, University of Maryland, School of Dentistry, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, 21201, USA; Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, 2 Prannok Road, Bangkoknoi, Bangkok, 10700, Thailand
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Fox DA, Columbus L. Solution NMR resonance assignment strategies for β-barrel membrane proteins. Protein Sci 2013; 22:1133-40. [PMID: 23754333 DOI: 10.1002/pro.2291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2013] [Revised: 05/17/2013] [Accepted: 05/18/2013] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Membrane proteins in detergent micelles are large and dynamic complexes that present challenges for solution NMR investigations such as spectral overlap and line broadening. In this study, multiple methods are introduced to facilitate resonance assignment of β-barrel membrane proteins using Opa60 from Neisseria gonorrhoeae as a model system. Opa60 is an eight-stranded β-barrel with long extracellular loops (∼63% of the protein) that engage host receptors and induce engulfment of the bacterium. The NMR spectra of Opa60 in detergent micelles exhibits significant spectral overlap and resonances corresponding to the loop regions had variable line widths, which interfered with a complete assignment of the protein. To assign the β-barrel residues, trypsin cleavage was used to remove much of the extracellular loops while preserving the detergent solubilized β-barrel. The removal of the loop resonances significantly improved the assignment of the Opa60 β-barrel region (97% of the resonances corresponding to the β-barrel and periplasmic turns were assigned). For the loop resonance assignments, two strategies were implemented; modulating temperature and synthetic peptides. Lowering the temperature broadened many peaks beyond detection and simplified the spectra to only the most dynamic regions of the loops facilitating 27 loop resonances to be assigned. To further assign functionally important and unstructured regions of the extracellular loops, a synthetic 20 amino acid peptide was synthesized and had nearly complete spectral overlap with the full-length protein allowing 17 loop resonances to be assigned. Collectively, these strategies are effective tools that may accelerate solution NMR structure determination of β-barrel membrane proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel A Fox
- Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA
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McMorran LM, Bartlett AI, Huysmans GHM, Radford SE, Brockwell DJ. Dissecting the effects of periplasmic chaperones on the in vitro folding of the outer membrane protein PagP. J Mol Biol 2013; 425:3178-91. [PMID: 23796519 PMCID: PMC3906610 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2013.06.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2013] [Revised: 06/10/2013] [Accepted: 06/11/2013] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Although many periplasmic folding factors have been identified, the mechanisms by which they interact with unfolded outer membrane proteins (OMPs) to promote correct folding and membrane insertion remain poorly understood. Here, we have investigated the effect of two chaperones, Skp and SurA, on the folding kinetics of the OMP, PagP. Folding kinetics of PagP into both zwitterionic diC12:0PC (1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) liposomes and negatively charged 80:20 diC12:0PC:diC12:0PG [1,2-dilauroyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1'-rac-glycerol)] liposomes were investigated using a combination of spectroscopic and SDS-PAGE assays. The results indicate that Skp modulates the observed rate of PagP folding in a manner that is dependent on the composition of the membrane and the ionic strength of the buffer used. These data suggest that electrostatic interactions play an important role in Skp-assisted substrate delivery to the membrane. In contrast, SurA showed no effect on the observed folding rates of PagP, consistent with the view that these chaperones act by distinct mechanisms in partially redundant parallel chaperone pathways that facilitate OMP assembly. In addition to delivery of the substrate protein to the membrane, the ability of Skp to prevent OMP aggregation was investigated. The results show that folding and membrane insertion of PagP can be restored, in part, by Skp in conditions that strongly favour PagP aggregation. These results illustrate the utility of in vitro systems for dissecting the complex folding environment encountered by OMPs in the periplasm and demonstrate the key role of Skp in holding aggregation-prone OMPs prior to their direct or indirect delivery to the membrane.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lindsay M McMorran
- Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
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Abstract
Long-chain-length hydrophobic acyl residues play a vital role in a multitude of essential biological structures and processes. They build the inner hydrophobic layers of biological membranes, are converted to intracellular storage compounds, and are used to modify protein properties or function as membrane anchors, to name only a few functions. Acyl thioesters are transferred by acyltransferases or transacylases to a variety of different substrates or are polymerized to lipophilic storage compounds. Lipases represent another important enzyme class dealing with fatty acyl chains; however, they cannot be regarded as acyltransferases in the strict sense. This review provides a detailed survey of the wide spectrum of bacterial acyltransferases and compares different enzyme families in regard to their catalytic mechanisms. On the basis of their studied or assumed mechanisms, most of the acyl-transferring enzymes can be divided into two groups. The majority of enzymes discussed in this review employ a conserved acyltransferase motif with an invariant histidine residue, followed by an acidic amino acid residue, and their catalytic mechanism is characterized by a noncovalent transition state. In contrast to that, lipases rely on completely different mechanism which employs a catalytic triad and functions via the formation of covalent intermediates. This is, for example, similar to the mechanism which has been suggested for polyester synthases. Consequently, although the presented enzyme types neither share homology nor have a common three-dimensional structure, and although they deal with greatly varying molecule structures, this variety is not reflected in their mechanisms, all of which rely on a catalytically active histidine residue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annika Röttig
- Institut für Molekulare Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany
| | - Alexander Steinbüchel
- Institut für Molekulare Mikrobiologie und Biotechnologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Germany
- Environmental Sciences Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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