Purification and properties of a periplasmic protein related to sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport in Escherichia coli

Pseudomonas aeruginosa fosfomycin resistance mechanisms affect non-inherited fluoroquinolone tolerance

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that poses a threat in clinical settings due to its intrinsic and acquired resistance to a wide spectrum of antibiotics. Additionally, the presence of a subpopulation of cells surviving high concentrations of antibiotics, called persisters, makes it virtually impossible to eradicate a chronic infection. The mechanism underlying persistence is still unclear, partly due to the fact that it is a non-inherited phenotype. Based on our findings from a previously performed screening effort for P. aeruginosa persistence genes, we hypothesize that crosstalk can occur between two clinically relevant mechanisms: the persistence phenomenon and antibiotic resistance. This was tested by determining the persistence phenotype of P. aeruginosa strains that are resistant to the antibiotic fosfomycin due to either of two unrelated fosfomycin resistance mechanisms. Overexpression of fosA (PA1129) confers fosfomycin resistance by enzymic modification of the antibiotic, and in addition causes a decrease in the number of persister cells surviving ofloxacin treatment. Both phenotypes require the enzymic function of FosA, as mutation of the Arg119 residue abolishes fosfomycin resistance as well as low persistence. The role for fosfomycin resistance mechanisms in persistence is corroborated by demonstrating a similar phenotype in a strain with a mutation in glpT (PA5235), which encodes a glycerol-3-phosphate transporter essential for fosfomycin uptake. These results indicate that fosfomycin resistance, conferred by glpT mutation or by overexpression of fosA, results in a decrease in the number of persister cells after treatment with ofloxacin and additionally stress that further research into the interplay between fosfomycin resistance and persistence is warranted.

Purification and characterization of glpQ-encoded glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase from Escherichia coli K-12

Periplasmic glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase (EC 3.1.4.2) of Escherichia coli was purified seven-fold to near homogeneity from the cold osmotic shock fraction of a strain harboring a multicopy plasmid carrying the glpQ gene. The enzyme had a minimum subunit molecular weight of 40,000 as assessed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The native size of the enzyme was 70,000 as assessed by gel filtration chromatography and 75,000 as assessed by nondenaturing gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, indicating that the native state of the enzyme is dimeric. The enzyme hydrolyzed the deacylation products of all glycerophospholipids tested including glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoethanolamine, glycerophosphoglycerol, glycerophosphoinositol, and glycerophosphoserine. The enzyme did not release glycerol or sn-glycerol 3-phosphate from phosphatidyl-DL-glycerol or lysophosphatidyl-DL-glycerol present in Triton X-100 micelles. The enzyme functioned optimally at pH 7.8. The enzyme was totally inactivated by dilution into 1 mM ethylenediaminetetraacetate or ethylene glycol bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N-tetraacetic acid. Activity was restored by the addition of Ca2+ or Cd2+, and was partially restored by the addition of Mn2+ or Cu2+. Co2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, and Fe2+ did not restore activity. The presence of calcium ions decreased the Km of the enzyme for the substrate, glycerophosphoglycerol, and increased the Vmax.

sn-Glycerol-3-phosphate transport in Salmonella typhimurium

Salmonella typhimurium contains a transport system for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate that is inducible by growth on glycerol and sn-glycerol-3-phosphate. In fully induced cells, the system exhibited an apparent Km of 50 microM and a Vmax of 2.2 nmol/min . 10(8) cells. The corresponding system in Escherichia coli exhibits, under comparable conditions, a Km of 14 microM and a Vmax of 2.2 nmol/min . 10(8) cells. Transport-defective mutants were isolated by selecting for resistance against the antibiotic fosfomycin. They mapped in glpT at 47 min in the S. typhimurium linkage map, 37% cotransducible with gyrA. In addition to the glpT-dependent system, S. typhimurium LT2 contains, like E. coli, a second, ugp-dependent transport system for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate that was derepressed by phosphate starvation. A S. typhimurium DNA bank containing EcoRI restriction fragments in phage lambda gt7 was used to clone the glpT gene in E. coli. Lysogens that were fully active in the transport of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate with a Km of 33 microM and a Vmax of 2.0 nmol/min . 10(8) cells were isolated in a delta glpT mutant of E. coli. The EcoRI fragment harboring glpT was 3.5 kilobases long and carried only part of glpQ, a gene distal to glpT but on the same operon. The fragment was subcloned in multicopy plasmid pACYC184. Strains carrying this hybrid plasmid produced large amounts of cytoplasmic membrane protein with an apparent molecular weight of 33,000, which was identified as the sn-glycerol-3-phosphate permease. Its properties were similar to the corresponding E. coli permease. The presence of the multicopy glpT hybrid plasmid had a strong influence on the synthesis or assembly of other cell envelope proteins of E. coli. For instance, the periplasmic ribose-binding protein was nearly absent. On the other hand, the quantity of an unidentified E. coli outer membrane protein usually present only in small amounts increased.

Identification of the glpT-encoded sn-glycerol-3-phosphate permease of Escherichia coli, an oligomeric integral membrane protein

A collection of hybrid plasmids carrying either the wild-type or mutated glpT gene was generated in vitro and used to characterize the glpT-dependent active transport system for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate in Escherichia coli K-12. Restriction endonuclease analysis and recloning of DNA fragments localized glpT to a 3-kilobase pair PstI-HpaI segment of DNA. Comparison of DNA carrying glpT-lacZ fusions with DNA carrying intact glpT allowed determination of the direction of transcription. Through characterization of the proteins synthesized by strains harboring hybrid plasmids carrying amber, missense, or deletion mutations in glpT, it was shown that glpT is a promoter-proximal gene in an operon consisting of at least two genes. The gene product of glpT, the sn-glycerol-3-phosphate permease, was found associated with the inner membrane. It could be solubilized by treatment with sodium dodecyl sulfate at 50 degrees C. Its molecular weight, as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was dependent upon sample treatment before electrophoresis. The apparent molecular weight was 44,000 when membrane fractions were heated to 50 degrees C; subsequent treatment at 95 degrees C modified the protein such that it migrated faster (apparent molecular weight = 33,000). Several missense mutations in glpT were negatively dominant over wild-type glpT, indicating that the active form of the permease is multimeric. A gene (named glpQ) promoter distal to glpT codes for a periplasmic protein. This protein had previously been named GLPT protein to indicate its relationship to the glpT gene. The present report demonstrates that it is not the gene product of glpT and is not required for active transport of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate.

Localization of glycerophosphate acyltransferase in Escherichia coli

sn-Glycero-3-phosphate acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.15) the first enzyme involved in phospholipid biosynthesis, is known to be associated with the cytoplasmic membrane of Escherichia coli. The localization of this enzyme in the transverse plane of the membrane was investigated by proteolysis of intact and lysed spheroplasts and by inhibition of glycerol 3-phosphate transport into intact cells in the presence of azide. Glycerophosphate acyltransferase was found to be resistant to proteolysis by trypsin in intact spheroplasts, whereas its enzymatic activity could be destroyed completely by trypsin in lysed spheroplasts. These results are in line with a localization of the acyltransferase at the inner aspect of the cytoplasmic membrane. Sodium azide was shown to have no inhibitory effect on glycerophosphate acyltransferase activity. Lack of incorporation of glycero phosphate into the phospholipids of glycerol phosphate transport-negative cells and inhibition of this incorporation in wild-type and glycerol 3-phosphate transport-constitutive cells by azide support a cytoplasmic-oriented localization of the glycerophosphate acyltransferase.

Only one gene is required for the glpT-dependent transport of sn-glycerol-3-phosphate in Escherichia coli

Deletion and point mutants defective in the glpT-dependent sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport system were isolated and located on the Escherichia coli chromosome. They mapped in glpT in the clockwise order gyrA, glpA, glpT at around 48 min on the Escherichia coli linkage map. The mutations within glpT were ordered by deletion mapping, three factor crosses, and by crosses involving lambda transducing bacteriophages carrying glpT-lac operon fusions. Results obtained using these fusion phages indicated that glpT is transcribed in the counterclockwise direction on the E. coli linkage map. Complementation analysis using these mutants revealed only one complementation group. Thus, one gene is necessary and sufficient for the proton motive force-dependent sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport system.

Characteristics of a binding protein-dependent transport system for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate in Escherichia coli that is part of the pho regulon

The ugp-dependent transport system for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate has been characterized. The system is induced under conditions of phosphate starvation and in mutants that are constitutive for the pho regulon. The system does not operate in membrane vesicles and is highly sensitive toward osmotic shock. The participation of a periplasmic binding protein in the transport process can be deduced from the isolation of transport mutants that lack the binding protein. As with other binding protein-dependent transport systems, this protein appears to be necessary but not sufficient for transport activity. The isolation of mutants has become possible by selection for resistance against the toxic analog 3,4-dihydroxybutyl-1-phosphonate that is transported by the system. sn-Glycerol-3-phosphate transported via ugp cannot be used as the sole carbon source. Strains have been constructed that lack alkaline phosphatase and glycerol kinase. In addition, they are constitutive for the glp regulon and contain high levels of glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Despite the fact that these strains exhibit high ugp-dependent transport activity for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate they are unable to grow on it as a sole source of carbon. However, when cells are grown on an alternate carbon source, (14)C label from [(14)C]sn-glycerol-3-phosphate appears in phospholipids as well as in trichloroacetic acid-precipitable material. The incorporation of (14)C label is strongly reduced when sn-glycerol-3-phosphate is the only carbon source. In the presence of an alternate carbon source, this inhibition is relieved, and sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transported by ugp can be used as the sole source of phosphate.

Use of Escherichia coli operon-fusion strains for the study of glycerol 3-phosphate transport activity

Strains of Escherichia coli K-12 deleted in the native lac operon and bearing both a wild-type glpT operon encoding for sn-glycerol 3-phosphate (G3P) transport and a hybrid operon in which glpT operator and promoter regions are fused to the lacZ gene were constructed. In strains with such a hybrid operon, beta-galactosidase and beta-galactoside permease become inducible by G3P. In these mutants the function and maturation of the glpT-coded proteins should be distinguishable from the level of gene expression, since the beta-galactosidase activity can serve as an index of the latter. With the aid of such mutants, it was shown that: (i) the expressions of the two neighboring operons, glpT and glpA (encoding anaerobic G3P dehydrogenase), are not coordinate; (ii) upon induction, the appearance of the cytoplasmic beta-galactosidase activity preceded that of methyl-beta-D-thiogalactoside transport activity (requiring only a cytoplasmic membrane protein) by about 4 min and that of G3P transport activity (requiring both a cytoplasmic membrane protein and a periplasmic protein) by about 9 min; and (iii) when cells grown at several temperatures from 24 to 42 degrees C were measured for G3P transport activity at 30 degrees C, the activity increased with the growth temperature, indicating that, within the range studied, the rate of transport increases with the fluidity of membrane phospholipids.

A second transport system for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate in Escherichia coli

Strains containing phage Mucts inserted into glpT were isolated as fosfomycin-resistant clones. These mutants did not transport sn-glycerol-3-phosphate, and they lacked GLPT, a protein previously shown to be a product of the glpT operon. By plating these mutants on sn-glycerol-3-phosphate at 43 degrees C, we isolated revertants that regained the capacity to grow on G3P. Most of these revertants did not map in glpT and did not regain GLPT. These revertants exhibited a highly efficient uptake system for sn-glycerol-3-phosphate within an apparent Km of 5 micron. In addition, three new proteins (GP 1, 2, and 3) appeared in the periplasm of these revertants. None of these proteins were antigentically related to GLPT. However, like GLPT, GP1 exhibits abnormal behavior on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. GP 2 is an efficient binding protein. The new uptake system showed different characteristics than the system that is coded for by the glpT operon. It was inhibited neither by phosphate nor fosfomycin. So far, none of the systems that transport organic acids in Escherichia coli could be implicated in the new sn-glycerol-3-phosphate uptake activity. The mutation ugp+, which was responsible for the appearance of the new transport system and the appearance of GP 1, 2, and 3 in the periplasm was cotransducible with araD by phage P1 transduction and was recessive in merodiploids.

Cell-free synthesis of proteins related to sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport in Escherichia coli

An Escherichia coli periplasmic protein (GlpT) related to sn-glycerol-3-phosphate transport was synthesized in a cell-free system directed by hybrid plasmic ColE1-glpT DNA. The in vitro product cross-reacted with antisera against the purified protein. The ColE1-glpT DNA-directed cell-free system was induced by sn-glycerol-3-phosphate and phosphonomycin and was dependent on cyclic AMP. The in vitro-synthesized protein showed the characteristics of a multimeric protein, as did the purified periplasmic protein. The main proportion of the newly synthesized product had a higher molecular weight than the mature protein found in the periplasm of cells and showed a more positive charge in two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Thus, a proportion of this protein is presumed to be synthesized in vitro as a precursor. The cell-free system yielded a second protein that is likely to be also coded for by the glpT operon. This protein had a molecular weight of approximately 33,000 in sodium dodecyl sulfate-acrylamide gel electrophoresis and behaved like an intrinsic membrane protein.