Modified N-acyl-homoserine lactones as chemical probes for the elucidation of plant-microbe interactions

Medicinal Chemistry of Drugs with N-Oxide Functionalities

Molecules with N-oxide functionalities are omnipresent in nature and play an important role in Medicinal Chemistry. They are synthetic or biosynthetic intermediates, prodrugs, drugs, or polymers for applications in drug development and surface engineering. Typically, the N-oxide group is critical for biomedical applications of these molecules. It may provide water solubility or decrease membrane permeability or immunogenicity. In other cases, the N-oxide has a special redox reactivity which is important for drug targeting and/or cytotoxicity. Many of the underlying mechanisms have only recently been discovered, and the number of applications of N-oxides in the healthcare field is rapidly growing. This Perspective article gives a short summary of the properties of N-oxides and their synthesis. It also provides a discussion of current applications of N-oxides in the biomedical field and explains the basic molecular mechanisms responsible for their biological activity.

Development of Complementary Photo-arginine/lysine to Promote Discovery of Arg/Lys hPTMs Interactomes

Arginine and lysine, frequently appearing as a pair on histones, have been proven to carry diverse modifications and execute various epigenetic regulatory functions. However, the most context-specific and transient effectors of these marks, while significant, have evaded study as detection methods have thus far not reached a standard to capture these ephemeral events. Herein, a pair of complementary photo-arginine/δ-photo-lysine (R-dz/K-dz) probes is developed and involve these into histone peptide, nucleosome, and chromatin substrates to capture and explore the interactomes of Arg and Lys hPTMs. By means of these developed tools, this study identifies that H3R2me2a can recruit MutS protein homolog 6 (MSH6), otherwise repelDouble PHD fingers 2 (DPF2), Retinoblastoma binding protein 4/7 (RBBP4/7). And it is disclosed that H3R2me2a inhibits the chromatin remodeling activity of the cBAF complex by blocking the interaction between DPF2 (one component of cBAF) and the nucleosome. In addition, the novel pairs of H4K5 PTMs and respective readers are highlighted, namely H4K5me-Lethal(3)malignant brain tumor-like protein 2 (L3MBTL2), H4K5me2-L3MBTL2, and H4K5acK8ac-YEATS domain-containing protein 4 (YEATS4). These powerful tools pave the way for future investigation of related epigenetic mechanisms including but not limited to hPTMs.

AHL-Priming Protein 1 mediates N-3-oxo-tetradecanoyl-homoserine lactone priming in Arabidopsis

BACKGROUND

N-3-oxo-tetradecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (oxo-C14-HSL) is one of the N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHL) that mediate quorum sensing in Gram-negative bacteria. In addition to bacterial communication, AHL are involved in interactions with eukaryotes. Short-chain AHL are easily taken up by plants and transported over long distances. They promote root elongation and growth. Plants typically do not uptake hydrophobic long sidechain AHL such as oxo-C14-HSL, although they prime plants for enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stress. Many studies have focused on priming effects of oxo-C14-HSL for enhanced plant resistance to stress. However, specific plant factors mediating oxo-C14-HSL responses in plants remain unexplored. Here, we identify the Arabidopsis protein ALI1 as a mediator of oxo-C14-HSL-induced priming in plants.

RESULTS

We compared oxo-C14-HSL-induced priming between wild-type Arabidopsis Col-0 and an oxo-C14-HSL insensitive mutant ali1. The function of the candidate protein ALI1 was assessed through biochemical, genetic, and physiological approaches to investigate if the loss of the ALI1 gene resulted in subsequent loss of AHL priming. Through different assays, including MAP kinase activity assay, gene expression and transcriptome analysis, and pathogenicity assays, we revealed a loss of AHL priming in ali1. This phenomenon was reverted by the reintroduction of ALI1 into ali1. We also investigated the interaction between ALI1 protein and oxo-C14-HSL using biochemical and biophysical assays. Although biophysical assays did not reveal an interaction between oxo-C14-HSL and ALI1, a pull-down assay and an indirect method employing biosensor E. coli LuxCDABE support such interaction. We expressed fluorescently tagged ALI1 in tobacco leaves to assess the localization of ALI1 and demonstrate that ALI1 colocalizes with the plasma membrane, tonoplast, and endoplasmic reticulum.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that the candidate protein ALI1 is indispensable for oxo-C14-HSL-dependent priming for enhanced resistance in Arabidopsis and that the ALI1 protein may interact with oxo-C14-HSL. Furthermore, ALI1 protein is localized in the cell periphery. Our findings advance the understanding of interactions between plants and bacteria and provide an avenue to explore desired outcomes such as enhanced stress resistance, which is useful for sustainable crop protection.

Interrogating Plant-Microbe Interactions with Chemical Tools: Click Chemistry Reagents for Metabolic Labeling and Activity-Based Probes

Continued expansion of the chemical biology toolbox presents many new and diverse opportunities to interrogate the fundamental molecular mechanisms driving complex plant-microbe interactions. This review will examine metabolic labeling with click chemistry reagents and activity-based probes for investigating the impacts of plant-associated microbes on plant growth, metabolism, and immune responses. While the majority of the studies reviewed here used chemical biology approaches to examine the effects of pathogens on plants, chemical biology will also be invaluable in future efforts to investigate mutualistic associations between beneficial microbes and their plant hosts.

Total synthesis and functional analysis of microbial signalling molecules

Communication is essential for all domains of life. Bacteria use a plethora of small molecules to sense and orchestrate intra- and interspecies communication. Within this review, we will discuss different groups of signalling molecules, including autoinducers, virulence factors and morphogenic substances. On selected examples, we will shortly discuss their ecological roles and biosynthetic proposals. The major part of this review will focus on a systematic overview of the different synthetic methods applied towards the synthesis of signalling molecules and derivatives thereof. The described examples highlight the importance of organic synthetic method development and diversity-oriented total syntheses for structure verification, structure-function analysis and target identification.

Interactions of Salmonella with animals and plants

Salmonella enterica species are Gram-negative bacteria, which are responsible for a wide range of food- and water-borne diseases in both humans and animals, thereby posing a major threat to public health. Recently, there has been an increasing number of reports, linking Salmonella contaminated raw vegetables and fruits with food poisoning. Many studies have shown that an essential feature of the pathogenicity of Salmonella is its capacity to cross a number of barriers requiring invasion of a large variety of cells and that the extent of internalization may be influenced by numerous factors. However, it is poorly understood how Salmonella successfully infects hosts as diversified as animals or plants. The aim of this review is to describe the different stages required for Salmonella interaction with its hosts: (i) attachment to host surfaces; (ii) entry processes; (iii) multiplication; (iv) suppression of host defense mechanisms; and to point out similarities and differences between animal and plant infections.