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Halladin DK, Ortega FE, Ng KM, Footer MJ, Mitić NS, Malkov SN, Gopinathan A, Huang KC, Theriot JA. Entropy-driven translocation of disordered proteins through the Gram-positive bacterial cell wall. Nat Microbiol 2021; 6:1055-1065. [PMID: 34326523 DOI: 10.1038/s41564-021-00942-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
In Gram-positive bacteria, a thick cross-linked cell wall separates the membrane from the extracellular space. Some surface-exposed proteins, such as the Listeria monocytogenes actin nucleation-promoting factor ActA, remain associated with the bacterial membrane but somehow thread through tens of nanometres of cell wall to expose their amino terminus to the exterior. Here, we report that entropy enables the translocation of disordered transmembrane proteins through the Gram-positive cell wall. We build a physical model, which predicts that the entropic constraint imposed by a thin periplasm is sufficient to drive the translocation of an intrinsically disordered protein such as ActA across a porous barrier similar to a peptidoglycan cell wall. We experimentally validate our model and show that ActA translocation depends on the cell-envelope dimensions and disordered-protein length, and that translocation is reversible. We also show that disordered regions of eukaryotic proteins can translocate Gram-positive cell walls via entropy. We propose that entropic forces are sufficient to drive the translocation of specific proteins to the outer surface.
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Affiliation(s)
- David K Halladin
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Fabian E Ortega
- Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Katharine M Ng
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Matthew J Footer
- Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.,Department of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Nenad S Mitić
- Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Saša N Malkov
- Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Ajay Gopinathan
- Department of Physics, University of California, Merced, CA, USA
| | - Kerwyn Casey Huang
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. .,Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA. .,Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Julie A Theriot
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. .,Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA. .,Department of Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
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Źródłowski T, Sobońska J, Salamon D, McFarlane IM, Ziętkiewicz M, Gosiewski T. Classical Microbiological Diagnostics of Bacteremia: Are the Negative Results Really Negative? What is the Laboratory Result Telling Us About the "Gold Standard"? Microorganisms 2020; 8:microorganisms8030346. [PMID: 32121353 PMCID: PMC7143506 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8030346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2020] [Revised: 02/25/2020] [Accepted: 02/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Standard blood cultures require at least 24–120 h to be reported as preliminary positive. The objective of this study was to compare the reliability of Gram staining and fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) for detecting bacteria in otherwise negative blood culture bottles. Ninety-six sets were taken from patients with a diagnosis of sepsis. Six incomplete blood culture sets and eight blood cultures sets demonstrating positive growth were excluded. We performed Gram stain and FISH on 82 sets taken from post-operative septic patients: 82 negative aerobic blood cultures, 82 anaerobic blood cultures, and 82 blood samples, as well as 57 blood samples taken from healthy volunteers. From the eighty-two blood sets analyzed from the septic patients, Gram stain visualized bacteria in 62.2% of blood samples, 35.4% of the negative aerobic bottles, and in 31.7% of the negative anaerobic bottles. Utilizing FISH, we detected bacteria in 75.6%, 56.1%, and 64.6% respectively. Among the blood samples from healthy volunteers, FISH detected bacteria in 64.9%, while Gram stain detected bacteria in only 38.6%. The time needed to obtain the study results using Gram stain was 1 h, for FISH 4 h, and for the culture method, considering the duration of growth, 5 days. Gram stain and FISH allow quick detection of bacteria in the blood taken directly from a patient. Finding phagocytosed bacteria, which were also detected among healthy individuals, confirms the hypothesis that blood microbiome exists.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomasz Źródłowski
- Thoracic Anesthesia and Respiratory Intensive Care Unit, John Paul II Hospital, 31- 202 Kraków, Poland;
- Department of Internal Medicine, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY 11691, USA
| | - Joanna Sobońska
- Department of Molecular Medical Microbiology, Chair of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-121 Krakow, Poland
| | - Dominika Salamon
- Department of Molecular Medical Microbiology, Chair of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-121 Krakow, Poland
| | - Isabel M. McFarlane
- Department of Medicine, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA
| | - Mirosław Ziętkiewicz
- Thoracic Anesthesia and Respiratory Intensive Care Unit, John Paul II Hospital, 31- 202 Kraków, Poland;
- Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-501 Krakow, Poland
- Correspondence: (M.Z.); (T.G.)
| | - Tomasz Gosiewski
- Department of Molecular Medical Microbiology, Chair of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Medical College, 31-121 Krakow, Poland
- Correspondence: (M.Z.); (T.G.)
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Minasyan H. Sepsis: mechanisms of bacterial injury to the patient. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med 2019; 27:19. [PMID: 30764843 PMCID: PMC6376788 DOI: 10.1186/s13049-019-0596-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 97] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2018] [Accepted: 02/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In bacteremia the majority of bacterial species are killed by oxidation on the surface of erythrocytes and digested by local phagocytes in the liver and the spleen. Sepsis-causing bacteria overcome this mechanism of human innate immunity by versatile respiration, production of antioxidant enzymes, hemolysins, exo- and endotoxins, exopolymers and other factors that suppress host defense and provide bacterial survival. Entering the bloodstream in different forms (planktonic, encapsulated, L-form, biofilm fragments), they cause different types of sepsis (fulminant, acute, subacute, chronic, etc.). Sepsis treatment includes antibacterial therapy, support of host vital functions and restore of homeostasis. A bacterium killing is only one of numerous aspects of antibacterial therapy. The latter should inhibit the production of bacterial antioxidant enzymes and hemolysins, neutralize bacterial toxins, modulate bacterial respiration, increase host tolerance to bacterial products, facilitate host bactericidal mechanism and disperse bacterial capsule and biofilm.
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Potgieter M, Bester J, Kell DB, Pretorius E. The dormant blood microbiome in chronic, inflammatory diseases. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2015; 39:567-91. [PMID: 25940667 PMCID: PMC4487407 DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuv013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 272] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/02/2015] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Blood in healthy organisms is seen as a ‘sterile’ environment: it lacks proliferating microbes. Dormant or not-immediately-culturable forms are not absent, however, as intracellular dormancy is well established. We highlight here that a great many pathogens can survive in blood and inside erythrocytes. ‘Non-culturability’, reflected by discrepancies between plate counts and total counts, is commonplace in environmental microbiology. It is overcome by improved culturing methods, and we asked how common this would be in blood. A number of recent, sequence-based and ultramicroscopic studies have uncovered an authentic blood microbiome in a number of non-communicable diseases. The chief origin of these microbes is the gut microbiome (especially when it shifts composition to a pathogenic state, known as ‘dysbiosis’). Another source is microbes translocated from the oral cavity. ‘Dysbiosis’ is also used to describe translocation of cells into blood or other tissues. To avoid ambiguity, we here use the term ‘atopobiosis’ for microbes that appear in places other than their normal location. Atopobiosis may contribute to the dynamics of a variety of inflammatory diseases. Overall, it seems that many more chronic, non-communicable, inflammatory diseases may have a microbial component than are presently considered, and may be treatable using bactericidal antibiotics or vaccines. Atopobiosis of microbes (the term describing microbes that appear in places other than where they should be), as well as the products of their metabolism, seems to correlate with, and may contribute to, the dynamics of a variety of inflammatory diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marnie Potgieter
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Arcadia 0007, South Africa
| | - Janette Bester
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Arcadia 0007, South Africa
| | - Douglas B Kell
- School of Chemistry and The Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, 131, Princess St, Manchester M1 7DN, Lancs, UK
| | - Etheresia Pretorius
- Department of Physiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Arcadia 0007, South Africa
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Wang DN, Ding WJ, Pan YZ, Tang KL, Wang T, She XL, Wang H. The Helicobacter pylori L-form: formation and isolation in the human bile cultures in vitro and in the gallbladders of patients with biliary diseases. Helicobacter 2015; 20:98-105. [PMID: 25381932 DOI: 10.1111/hel.12181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Helicobacter pylori is considered the important causative agent causing biliary diseases, but the H. pylori can be isolated from very few gallbladder specimens with diseases. We studied the formation of H. pylori L-forms in bile in vitro and isolated the H. pylori L-forms from gallbladder of patients with biliary diseases. METHODS We inoculated the H. pylori into the human bile to induce the L-form in vitro. The gallbladder specimens were collected from patients with biliary diseases to isolate the bacterial L-forms by the nonhigh osmotic isolation technique, and the H. pylori L-forms in the L-form isolates were identified by the gene assay for the H. pylori-specific genes 16S rRNA and UreA. RESULTS The H. Pylori cannot be isolated from the bile-induced cultures, but the H. pylori L-form can be isolated from the H. pylori-negative bile-induced cultures. The L-form isolates of bile-induced cultures showed a positive reaction of the H. pylori-specific genes by PCR, and the coincidence ratio of the nucleotide sequences between the L-forms and the H. pylori is 99%. The isolation rate of bacteria L-form is 93.2% in the gallbladder specimens with bacteria-negative isolation culture by the nonhigh osmotic isolation technique, and the positive rate of the H. pylori-specific genes in the L-form isolates is 7.1% in the bacterial L-form-positive isolation cultures by the PCR. CONCLUSIONS H. pylori can be rapidly induced into the L-form in the human bile; the L-form, as the latent bacteria, can live in the host gallbladder for a long times, and they made the host became a latent carrier of the H. pylori L-form. The H. pylori L-form can be isolated by the nonhigh osmotic isolation technique, and the variant can be identified by the gene assay for the H. pylori-specific genes 16S rRNA and reA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan N Wang
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Institutes of Medical Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
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Wang DN, Wu WJ, Wang T, Pan YZ, Tang KL, She XL, Ding WJ, Wang H. Salmonella L-forms: formation in human bile in vitro and isolation culture from patients' gallbladder samples by a non-high osmotic isolation technique. Clin Microbiol Infect 2015; 21:470.e9-16. [PMID: 25703211 DOI: 10.1016/j.cmi.2014.12.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2014] [Revised: 12/15/2014] [Accepted: 12/16/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Bacterial L-forms have always been considered as osmotic-pressure-sensitive cell-wall-deficient bacteria and isolation culture of L-forms must use media with high osmotic pressure. However, isolation culture of stable L-forms formed in humans and animals is very difficult because they have adapted to the physiological osmotic pressure condition of the host. We use a non-high osmotic isolation technique to isolate stable L-forms of Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi A from bile-inducer cultures in vitro and from patients' gallbladder specimens. Multiplex PCR assay for Salmonella-specific genes and nucleotide sequencing are used to identify the Salmonella L-forms in stable L-form isolates. Using this method, we confirmed that Salmonella Paratyphi A and Salmonella Typhi cannot be isolated from bile-inducer cultures cultured for 6 h or 48 h, but the L-forms can be isolated from 1 h to 45 days. In the 524 gallbladder samples, the positive rate for bacterial forms was 19.7% and the positive rate for Salmonella spp. was 0.6% by routine bacteriological methods. The positive rate for bacterial L-forms was 75.4% using non-high osmotic isolation culture. In the L-form isolates, the positive rate of Salmonella invA gene was 3.1%. In these invA-positive L-form isolates, four were positive for the invA and flic-d genes of Salmonella Typhi, and ten were positive for the invA and flic-a genes of Salmonella Paratyphi A.
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Affiliation(s)
- D N Wang
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, Institutes of Medical Science, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - W J Wu
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Guiyang Medical University, Guiyang, China; Guiyang City Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Guiyang, China
| | - T Wang
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Guiyang Medical University, Guiyang, China.
| | - Y Z Pan
- Department of Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang Medical University, Guiyang, China
| | - K L Tang
- Department of Surgery, Guizhou Province People's Hospital, Guiyang, China
| | - X L She
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Guiyang Medical University, Guiyang, China
| | - W J Ding
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Guiyang Medical University, Guiyang, China; Guiyang City Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Guiyang, China
| | - H Wang
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Guiyang Medical University, Guiyang, China.
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Han J, Shi W, Xu X, Wang S, Zhang S, He L, Sun X, Zhang Y. Conditions and mutations affecting Staphylococcus aureus L-form formation. Microbiology (Reading) 2015; 161:57-66. [DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.082354-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jian Han
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Pathogenic Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, PR China
| | - Wanliang Shi
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Xiaogang Xu
- Institute of Antibiotics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China
| | - Sen Wang
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China
| | - Shuo Zhang
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Lili He
- Department of Pathogenic Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, PR China
| | - Xudong Sun
- Department of Pathogenic Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, PR China
| | - Ying Zhang
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, PR China
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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Han J, He L, Shi W, Xu X, Wang S, Zhang S, Zhang Y. Glycerol uptake is important for L-form formation and persistence in Staphylococcus aureus. PLoS One 2014; 9:e108325. [PMID: 25251561 PMCID: PMC4177120 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0108325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2014] [Accepted: 08/18/2014] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
S. aureus is a significant human pathogen and has previously been shown to form cell wall deficient forms or L-forms in vitro and in vivo during infection. Despite many previous studies on S. aureus L-forms, the mechanisms of L-form formation in this organism remain unknown. Here we established the L-form model in S. aureus and constructed a transposon mutant library to identify genes involved in L-form formation. Screening of the library for mutants defective in L-form formation identified glpF involved in glycerol uptake being important for L-form formation in S. aureus. Consistent with this observation, glpF was found to be highly expressed in L-form S. aureus but hardly expressed in normal walled form. In addition, glpF mutant was found to be defective in antibiotic persistence. The defect in L-form formation and antibiotic persistence of the glpF mutant could be complemented by the wild type glpF gene. These findings provide new insight into the mechanisms of L-form formation and persistence in S. aureus and may have implications for development of new drugs targeting persisters for improved treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Han
- Department of Pathogenic Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Lili He
- Department of Pathogenic Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
| | - Wanliang Shi
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Xiaogang Xu
- Institute of Antibiotics, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Sen Wang
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shuo Zhang
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
| | - Ying Zhang
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- * E-mail:
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A highly unstable transcript makes CwlO D,L-endopeptidase expression responsive to growth conditions in Bacillus subtilis. J Bacteriol 2013; 196:237-47. [PMID: 24163346 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00986-13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The Bacillus subtilis cell wall is a dynamic structure, composed of peptidoglycan and teichoic acid, that is continually remodeled during growth. Remodeling is effected by the combined activities of penicillin binding proteins and autolysins that participate in the synthesis and turnover of peptidoglycan, respectively. It has been established that one or the other of the CwlO and LytE D,L-endopeptidase-type autolysins is essential for cell viability, a requirement that is fulfilled by coordinate control of their expression by WalRK and SigI RsgI. Here we report on the regulation of cwlO expression. The cwlO transcript is very unstable, with its degradation initiated by RNase Y cleavage within the 187-nucleotide leader sequence. An antisense cwlO transcript of heterogeneous length is expressed from a SigB promoter that has the potential to control cellular levels of cwlO RNA and protein under stress conditions. We discuss how a multiplicity of regulatory mechanisms makes CwlO expression and activity responsive to the prevailing growth conditions.
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Salzberg LI, Powell L, Hokamp K, Botella E, Noone D, Devine KM. The WalRK (YycFG) and σ(I) RsgI regulators cooperate to control CwlO and LytE expression in exponentially growing and stressed Bacillus subtilis cells. Mol Microbiol 2012. [PMID: 23199363 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.12092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The WalRK (YycFG) two-component system co-ordinates cell wall metabolism with growth by regulating expression of autolysins and proteins that modulate autolysin activity. Here we extend its role in cell wall metabolism by showing that WalR binds to 22 chromosomal loci in vivo. Among the newly identified genes of the WalRK bindome are those that encode the wall-associated protein WapA, the penicillin binding proteins PbpH and Pbp5, the minor teichoic acid synthetic enzymes GgaAB and the regulators σ(I) RsgI. The putative WalR binding sequence at many newly identified binding loci deviates from the previously defined consensus. Moreover, expression of many newly identified operons is controlled by multiple regulators. An unusual feature is that WalR binds to an extended DNA region spanning multiple open reading frames at some loci. WalRK directly activates expression of the sigIrsgI operon from a newly identified σ(A) promoter and represses expression from the previously identified σ(I) promoter. We propose that this regulatory link between WalRK and σ(I) RsgI expression ensures that the endopeptidase requirement (CwlO or LytE) for cell viability is fulfilled during growth and under stress conditions. Thus the WalRK and σ(I) RsgI regulatory systems cooperate to control cell wall metabolism in growing and stressed cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Letal I Salzberg
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2. Ireland
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