Bacillus subtilis MreB paralogues have different filament architectures and lead to shape remodelling of a heterologous cell system

Enhancing single-cell hyaluronic acid biosynthesis by microbial morphology engineering

Microbial morphology engineering is a novel approach for cell factory to improve the titer of target product in bio-manufacture. Hyaluronic acid (HA), a valuable glycosaminoglycan polymerized by HA synthase (HAS), a membrane protein, is particularly selected as the model product to improve its single-cell HA-producing capacity via morphology engineering. DivIVA and FtsZ, the cell-elongation and cell division related protein, respectively, were both down/up dual regulated in C. glutamicum via weak promoter substitution or plasmid overexpression. Different from the natural short-rod shape, varied morphologies of engineered cells, i.e. small-ellipsoid-like (DivIVA-reduced), bulb-like (DivIVA-enhanced), long-rod (FtsZ-reduced) and dumbbell-like (FtsZ-enhanced), were observed. Applying these morphology-changed cells as hosts for HA production, the reduced expression of both DivIVA and FtsZ seriously inhibited normal cell growth; meanwhile, overexpression of DivIVA didn't show morphology changes, but overexpression of FtsZ surprisingly change the cell-shape into long and thick rod with remarkably enlarged single-cell surface area (more than 5.2-fold-increase). And finally, the single-cell HA-producing capacity of the FtsZ-overexpressed C. glutamicum was immensely improved by 13.5-folds. Flow cytometry analyses verified that the single-cell HAS amount on membrane was enhanced by 2.1 folds. This work is pretty valuable for high titer synthesis of diverse metabolic products with microbial cell factory.

Polymerization of Bacillus subtilis MreB on a lipid membrane reveals lateral co-polymerization of MreB paralogs and strong effects of cations on filament formation

BACKGROUND

MreB is a bacterial ortholog of actin and forms mobile filaments underneath the cell membrane, perpendicular to the long axis of the cell, which play a crucial role for cell shape maintenance. We wished to visualize Bacillus subtilis MreB in vitro and therefore established a protocol to obtain monomeric protein, which could be polymerized on a planar membrane system, or associated with large membrane vesicles.

RESULTS

Using a planar membrane system and electron microscopy, we show that Bacillus subtilis MreB forms bundles of filaments, which can branch and fuse, with an average width of 70 nm. Fluorescence microscopy of non-polymerized YFP-MreB, CFP-Mbl and mCherry-MreBH proteins showed uniform binding to the membrane, suggesting that 2D diffusion along the membrane could facilitate filament formation. After addition of divalent magnesium and calcium ions, all three proteins formed highly disordered sheets of filaments that could split up or merge, such that at high protein concentration, MreB and its paralogs generated a network of filaments extending away from the membrane. Filament formation was positively affected by divalent ions and negatively by monovalent ions. YFP-MreB or CFP-Mbl also formed filaments between two adjacent membranes, which frequently has a curved appearance. New MreB, Mbl or MreBH monomers could add to the lateral side of preexisting filaments, and MreB paralogs co-polymerized, indicating direct lateral interaction between MreB paralogs.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data show that B. subtilis MreB paralogs do not easily form ordered filaments in vitro, possibly due to extensive lateral contacts, but can co-polymerise. Monomeric MreB, Mbl and MreBH uniformly bind to a membrane, and form irregular and frequently split up filamentous structures, facilitated by the addition of divalent ions, and counteracted by monovalent ions, suggesting that intracellular potassium levels may be one important factor to counteract extensive filament formation and filament splitting in vivo.

MreB Forms Subdiffraction Nanofilaments during Active Growth in Bacillus subtilis

The construction of the bacterial cell envelope is a fundamental topic, as it confers its integrity to bacteria and is consequently the target of numerous antibiotics. MreB is an essential protein suspected to regulate the cell wall synthetic machineries. Despite two decades of study, its localization remains the subject of controversies, its description ranging from helical filaments spanning the entire cell to small discrete entities. The true structure of these filaments is important because it impacts the model describing how the machineries building the cell wall are associated, how they are coordinated at the scale of the entire cell, and how MreB mediates this regulation. Our results shed light on this debate, revealing the size of native filaments in B. subtilis during growth. They argue against models where MreB filament size directly affects the speed of synthesis of the cell wall and where MreB would coordinate distant machineries along the side wall.

The actin-like MreB protein is a key player of the machinery controlling the elongation and maintenance of the cell shape of most rod-shaped bacteria. This protein is known to be highly dynamic, moving along the short axis of cells, presumably reflecting the movement of cell wall synthetic machineries during the enzymatic assembly of the peptidoglycan mesh. The ability of MreB proteins to form polymers is not debated, but their structure, length, and conditions of establishment have remained unclear and the subject of conflicting reports. Here we analyze various strains of Bacillus subtilis, the model for Gram-positive bacteria, and we show that MreB forms subdiffraction-limited, less than 200 nm-long nanofilaments on average during active growth, while micron-long filaments are a consequence of artificial overaccumulation of the protein. Our results also show the absence of impact of the size of the filaments on their speed, orientation, and other dynamic properties conferring a large tolerance to B. subtilis toward the levels and consequently the lengths of MreB polymers. Our data indicate that the density of mobile filaments remains constant in various strains regardless of their MreB levels, suggesting that another factor determines this constant.

MreB filaments align along greatest principal membrane curvature to orient cell wall synthesis

MreB is essential for rod shape in many bacteria. Membrane-associated MreB filaments move around the rod circumference, helping to insert cell wall in the radial direction to reinforce rod shape. To understand how oriented MreB motion arises, we altered the shape of Bacillus subtilis. MreB motion is isotropic in round cells, and orientation is restored when rod shape is externally imposed. Stationary filaments orient within protoplasts, and purified MreB tubulates liposomes in vitro, orienting within tubes. Together, this demonstrates MreB orients along the greatest principal membrane curvature, a conclusion supported with biophysical modeling. We observed that spherical cells regenerate into rods in a local, self-reinforcing manner: rapidly propagating rods emerge from small bulges, exhibiting oriented MreB motion. We propose that the coupling of MreB filament alignment to shape-reinforcing peptidoglycan synthesis creates a locally-acting, self-organizing mechanism allowing the rapid establishment and stable maintenance of emergent rod shape.

Many bacteria are surrounded by both a cell membrane and a cell wall – a rigid outer covering made of sugars and short protein chains. The cell wall often determines which of a variety of shapes – such as rods or spheres – the bacteria grow into. One protein required to form the rod shape is called MreB. This protein forms filaments that bind to the bacteria’s cell membrane and associate with the enzymes that build the cell wall. Together, these filament-enzyme complexes rotate around the cell to build and reinforce the cell wall in a hoop-like manner. But how do the MreB filaments know how to move around the circumference of the rod, instead of moving in any other direction?

Using a technique called total internal reflection microscopy to study how MreB filaments move across bacteria cells, Hussain, Wivagg et al. show that the filaments sense the shape of a bacterium by orienting along the direction of greatest curvature. As a result, the filaments in rod-shaped cells orient and move around the rod, while in spherical bacteria they move in all directions. However, spherical bacteria can regenerate into rods from small surface ‘bulges’. The MreB filaments in the bulges move in an oriented way, helping them to generate the rod shape.

Hussain, Wivagg et al. also found that forcing cells that lack a cell wall into a rod shape caused the MreB filaments bound to the cell membrane to orient and circle around the rod. This shows that the organization of the filaments is sufficient to shape the cell wall.

In the future, determining what factors control the activity of the MreB filaments and the enzymes they associate with might reveal new targets for antibiotics that disrupt the cell wall and so kill the bacteria. This will require higher resolution microscopes to be used to examine the cell wall in more detail. The activity of all the proteins involved in building cell walls will also need to be extensively characterized.

Interaction of the Morphogenic Protein RodZ with the Bacillus subtilis Min System

Vegetative cell division in Bacillus subtilis takes place precisely at the middle of the cell to ensure that two viable daughter cells are formed. The first event in cell division is the positioning of the FtsZ Z-ring at the correct site. This is controlled by the coordinated action of both negative and positive regulators. The existence of positive regulators has been inferred, but none have presently been identified in B. subtilis. Noc and the Min system belong to negative regulators; Noc prevents division from occurring over the chromosomes, and the Min system inhibits cell division at the poles. Here we report that the morphogenic protein, RodZ, an essential cell shape determinant, is also required for proper septum positioning during vegetative growth. In rodZ mutant cells, the vegetative septum is positioned off center, giving rise to small, round, DNA-containing cells. Searching for the molecular mechanism giving rise to this phenotype led us to discover that RodZ directly interacts with MinJ. We hypothesize that RodZ may aid the Min system in preventing non-medial vegetative division.

A Novel Cell Type Enables B. subtilis to Escape from Unsuccessful Sporulation in Minimal Medium

Sporulation is the most enduring survival strategy developed by several bacterial species. However, spore development of the model organism Bacillus subtilis has mainly been studied by means of media or conditions optimized for the induction of sporogenesis. Here, I show that during prolonged growth during stationary phase in minimal medium, B. subtilis undergoes an asymmetric cell division that produces small and round-shaped, DNA containing cells. In contrast to wild-type cells, mutants harboring spo0A or spoIIIE/sftA double mutations neither sporulate nor produce this special cell type, providing evidence that the small round cells emerge from the abortion of endospore formation. In most cases observed, the small round cells arise in the presence of sigma H but absence of sigma F activity, different from cases of abortive sporulation described for rich media. These data suggest that in minimal media, many cells are able to initiate but fail to complete spore development, and therefore return to normal growth as rods. This work reveals that the continuation of asymmetric cell division, which results in the formation of the small round cells, is a way for cells to delay or escape from—unsuccessful—sporulation. Based on these findings, I suggest to name the here described cell type as “dwarf cells” to distinguish them from the well-known minicells observed in mutants defective in septum placement or proper chromosome partitioning.

MreB Orientation Correlates with Cell Diameter in Escherichia coli

Bacteria have remarkably robust cell shape control mechanisms. For example, cell diameter only varies by a few percent across a given population. The bacterial actin homolog, MreB, is necessary for establishment and maintenance of rod shape although the detailed properties of MreB that are important for shape control remained unknown. In this study, we perturb MreB in two ways: by treating cells with the polymerization-inhibiting drug A22 and by creating point mutants in mreB. These perturbations modify the steady-state diameter of cells over a wide range, from 790 ± 30 nm to 1700 ± 20 nm. To determine which properties of MreB are important for diameter control, we correlated structural characteristics of fluorescently tagged MreB polymers with cell diameter by simultaneously analyzing three-dimensional images of MreB and cell shape. Our results indicate that the helical pitch angle of MreB inversely correlates with the cell diameter of Escherichia coli. Other correlations between MreB and cell diameter are not found to be significant. These results demonstrate that the physical properties of MreB filaments are important for shape control and support a model in which MreB organizes the cell wall growth machinery to produce a chiral cell wall structure and dictate cell diameter.

Polar Fixation of Plasmids during Recombinant Protein Production in Bacillus megaterium Results in Population Heterogeneity

During the past 2 decades, Bacillus megaterium has been systematically developed for the gram-per-liter scale production of recombinant proteins. The plasmid-based expression systems employed use a xylose-controlled promoter. Protein production analyses at the single-cell level using green fluorescent protein as a model product revealed cell culture heterogeneity characterized by a significant proportion of less productive bacteria. Due to the enormous size of B. megaterium, such bistable behavior seen in subpopulations was readily analyzed by time lapse microscopy and flow cytometry. Cell culture heterogeneity was not caused simply by plasmid loss: instead, an asymmetric distribution of plasmids during cell division was detected during the exponential-growth phase. Multicopy plasmids are generally randomly distributed between daughter cells. However, in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that under conditions of strong protein production, plasmids are retained at one of the cell poles. Furthermore, it was found that cells with accumulated plasmids and high protein production ceased cell division. As a consequence, the overall protein production of the culture was achieved mainly by the subpopulation with a sufficient plasmid copy number. Based on our experimental data, we propose a model whereby the distribution of multicopy plasmids is controlled by polar fixation under protein production conditions. Thereby, cell lines with fluctuating plasmid abundance arise, which results in population heterogeneity. Our results provide initial insights into the mechanism of cellular heterogeneity during plasmid-based recombinant protein production in a Bacillus species.

Translation elongation factor EF-Tu modulates filament formation of actin-like MreB protein in vitro

EF-Tu has been shown to interact with actin-like protein MreB and to affect its localization in Escherichia coli and in Bacillus subtilis cells. We have purified YFP-MreB in an active form, which forms filaments on glass slides in vitro and was active in dynamic light-scattering assays, polymerizing in milliseconds after addition of magnesium. Purified EF-Tu enhanced the amount of MreB filaments, as seen by sedimentation assays, the speed of filament formation and the length of MreB filaments in vitro. EF-Tu had the strongest impact on MreB filaments in a 1:1 ratio, and EF-Tu co-sedimented with MreB filaments, revealing a stoichiometric interaction between both proteins. This was supported by cross-linking assays where 1:1 species were well detectable. When expressed in E. coli cells, B. subtilis MreB formed filaments and induced the formation of co-localizing B. subtilis EF-Tu structures, indicating that MreB can direct the positioning of EF-Tu structures in a heterologous cell system. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis showed that MreB filaments have a higher turnover in B. subtilis cells than in E. coli cells, indicating different filament kinetics in homologous or heterologous cell systems. The data show that MreB can direct the localization of EF-Tu in vivo, which in turn positively affects the formation and dynamics of MreB filaments. Thus, EF-Tu is a modulator of the activity of a bacterial actin-like protein.

Differentiated roles for MreB-actin isologues and autolytic enzymes in Bacillus subtilis morphogenesis

Cell morphogenesis in most bacteria is governed by spatiotemporal growth regulation of the peptidoglycan cell wall layer. Much is known about peptidoglycan synthesis but regulation of its turnover by hydrolytic enzymes is much less well understood. Bacillus subtilis has a multitude of such enzymes. Two of the best characterized are CwlO and LytE: cells lacking both enzymes have a lethal block in cell elongation. Here we show that activity of CwlO is regulated by an ABC transporter, FtsEX, which is required for cell elongation, unlike cell division as in Escherichia coli. Actin-like MreB proteins are thought to play a key role in orchestrating cell wall morphogenesis. B. subtilis has three MreB isologues with partially differentiated functions. We now show that the three MreB isologues have differential roles in regulation of the CwlO and LytE systems and that autolysins control different aspects of cell morphogenesis. The results add major autolytic activities to the growing list of functions controlled by MreB isologues in bacteria and provide new insights into the different specialized functions of essential cell wall autolysins.

Motion of variable-length MreB filaments at the bacterial cell membrane influences cell morphology

The maintenance of rod-cell shape in many bacteria depends on actin-like MreB proteins and several membrane proteins that interact with MreB. Using superresolution microscopy, we show that at 50-nm resolution, Bacillus subtilis MreB forms filamentous structures of length up to 3.4 μm underneath the cell membrane, which run at angles diverging up to 40° relative to the cell circumference. MreB from Escherichia coli forms at least 1.4-μm-long filaments. MreB filaments move along various tracks with a maximal speed of 85 nm/s, and the loss of ATPase activity leads to the formation of extended and static filaments. Suboptimal growth conditions lead to formation of patch-like structures rather than extended filaments. Coexpression of wild-type MreB with MreB mutated in the subunit interface leads to formation of shorter MreB filaments and a strong effect on cell shape, revealing a link between filament length and cell morphology. Thus MreB has an extended-filament architecture with the potential to position membrane proteins over long distances, whose localization in turn may affect the shape of the cell wall.

Physics of bacterial morphogenesis

Bacterial cells utilize three-dimensional (3D) protein assemblies to perform important cellular functions such as growth, division, chemoreception, and motility. These assemblies are composed of mechanoproteins that can mechanically deform and exert force. Sometimes, small-nucleotide hydrolysis is coupled to mechanical deformations. In this review, we describe the general principle for an understanding of the coupling of mechanics with chemistry in mechanochemical systems. We apply this principle to understand bacterial cell shape and morphogenesis and how mechanical forces can influence peptidoglycan cell wall growth. We review a model that can potentially reconcile the growth dynamics of the cell wall with the role of cytoskeletal proteins such as MreB and crescentin. We also review the application of mechanochemical principles to understand the assembly and constriction of the FtsZ ring. A number of potential mechanisms are proposed, and important questions are discussed.

Alp7R regulates expression of the actin-like protein Alp7A in Bacillus subtilis

Alp7A is a bacterial actin from Bacillus subtilis plasmid pLS20 that functions in plasmid segregation. Alp7A's function requires that it assemble into filaments that treadmill and exhibit dynamic instability. These dynamic properties require the two other components of the alp7A operon, the downstream alp7R gene and the upstream alp7C sequence, as does the ability of Alp7A to form filaments at its physiological concentration in the cell. Here, we show that these two other components of the operon also determine the amount of Alp7A that is produced in the cell. The deletion of alp7R leads to overproduction of Alp7A, which assembles into large, amorphous, static filaments that disrupt chromosome segregation and cell division. The product of the alp7R gene is a DNA-binding protein that represses transcription of the alp7A operon. Purified Alp7R protein binds specifically to alp7C, which contains two σ(A) promoters embedded within a series of near-repeats of a 10-mer. Alp7R also shows the typical nonspecific binding activity of a DNA-binding protein: Alp7R-GFP (green fluorescent protein) associates with the chromosomes of cells that lack alp7C. When Alp7A-GFP is produced in B. subtilis along with untagged Alp7R, Alp7A-GFP also colocalizes with the chromosome, indicating that Alp7R associates with Alp7A. Hence Alp7R, determines both the activity and the cellular concentration of Alp7A, and it can associate with Alp7A even if it is not bound to alp7C.

Helical insertion of peptidoglycan produces chiral ordering of the bacterial cell wall

The regulation of cell shape is a common challenge faced by organisms across all biological kingdoms. In nearly all bacteria, cell shape is determined by the architecture of the peptidoglycan cell wall, a macromolecule consisting of glycan strands crosslinked by peptides. In addition to shape, cell growth must also maintain the wall structural integrity to prevent lysis due to large turgor pressures. Robustness can be accomplished by establishing a globally ordered cell-wall network, although how a bacterium generates and maintains peptidoglycan order on the micron scale using nanometer-sized proteins remains a mystery. Here, we demonstrate that left-handed chirality of the MreB cytoskeleton in the rod-shaped bacterium Escherichia coli gives rise to a global, right-handed chiral ordering of the cell wall. Local, MreB-guided insertion of material into the peptidoglycan network naturally orders the glycan strands and causes cells to twist left-handedly during elongational growth. Through comparison with the right-handed twisting of Bacillus subtilis cells, our work supports a common mechanism linking helical insertion and chiral cell-wall ordering in rod-shaped bacteria. These physical principles of cell growth link the molecular structure of the bacterial cytoskeleton, mechanisms of wall synthesis, and the coordination of cell-wall architecture.

Bacillus subtilis MreB orthologs self-organize into filamentous structures underneath the cell membrane in a heterologous cell system

Actin-like bacterial cytoskeletal element MreB has been shown to be essential for the maintenance of rod cell shape in many bacteria. MreB forms rapidly remodelling helical filaments underneath the cell membrane in Bacillus subtilis and in other bacterial cells, and co-localizes with its two paralogs, Mbl and MreBH. We show that MreB localizes as dynamic bundles of filaments underneath the cell membrane in Drosophila S2 Schneider cells, which become highly stable when the ATPase motif in MreB is modified. In agreement with ATP-dependent filament formation, the depletion of ATP in the cells lead to rapid dissociation of MreB filaments. Extended induction of MreB resulted in the formation of membrane protrusions, showing that like actin, MreB can exert force against the cell membrane. Mbl also formed membrane associated filaments, while MreBH formed filaments within the cytosol. When co-expressed, MreB, Mbl and MreBH built up mixed filaments underneath the cell membrane. Membrane protein RodZ localized to endosomes in S2 cells, but localized to the cell membrane when co-expressed with Mbl, showing that bacterial MreB/Mbl structures can recruit a protein to the cell membrane. Thus, MreB paralogs form a self-organizing and dynamic filamentous scaffold underneath the membrane that is able to recruit other proteins to the cell surface.

Subcellular positioning: unstable filaments on the move

A key question in cell biology is how proteins and entire protein complexes localize to defined subcellular positions in non-compartmentalized cells or within cell compartments. A recent report involving computational modeling and live-cell imaging suggests that dynamically unstable protein filaments provide an adaptable and versatile positioning system.

Cell envelope gene expression in phosphate-limited Bacillus subtilis cells

The high phosphate content of Bacillus subtilis cell walls dictates that cell wall metabolism is an important feature of the PhoPR-mediated phosphate limitation response. Here we report the expression profiles of cell-envelope-associated and PhoPR regulon genes, determined by live cell array and transcriptome analysis, in exponentially growing and phosphate-limited B. subtilis cells. Control by the WalRK two-component system confers a unique expression profile and high level of promoter activity on the genes of its regulon with yocH and cwlO expression differing both qualitatively and quantitatively from all other autolysin-encoding genes examined. The activity of the PhoPR two-component system is restricted to the phosphate-limited state, being rapidly induced in response to the cognate stimulus, and can be sustained for an extended phosphate limitation period. Constituent promoters of the PhoPR regulon show heterogeneous induction profiles and very high promoter activities. Phosphate-limited cells also show elevated expression of the actin-like protein MreBH and reduced expression of the WapA cell wall protein and WprA cell wall protease indicating that cell wall metabolism in this state is distinct from that of exponentially growing and stationary-phase cells. The PhoPR response is very rapidly deactivated upon removal of the phosphate limitation stimulus with concomitant increased expression of cell wall metabolic genes. Moreover expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in sulphur metabolism is significantly altered in the phosphate-limited state with distinct perturbations being observed in wild-type 168 and AH024 (ΔphoPR) cells.