Purification and characterisation of a hemolysin with phospholipase C activity from Vibrio cholerae O139

Impact of Phosphate Availability on Membrane Lipid Content of the Model Strains, Streptomyces lividans and Streptomyces coelicolor

In this issue we demonstrated that the phospholipid content of Streptomyces lividans varies greatly with Pi availability being was much lower in Pi limitation than in Pi proficiency whereas that of Streptomyces coelicolor varied little with Pi availability. In contrast the content in phosphate free ornithine lipids was enhanced in both strains in condition of phosphate limitation. Ornithine lipids biosynthesis starts with the N-acylation of ornithine to form lyso-ornithine that is then O-acylated to yield ornithine lipid. The operon sco1222-23 was proposed to be involved in the conversion of specific amino acids into ornithine in condition of phosphate limitation whereas the sco0921-20 operon encoding N- and O-acyltransferase, respectively, was shown to be involved in the biosynthesis of these lipids. The expression of these two operons was shown to be under the positive control of the two components system PhoR/PhoP and thus induced in phosphate limitation. The expression of phoR/phoP being weak in S. coelicolor, the poor expression of these operons resulted into a fivefold lower ornithine lipids content in this strain compared to S. lividans. In the deletion mutant of the sco0921-20 operon of S. lividans, lyso-ornithine and ornithine lipids were barely detectable and TAG content was enhanced. The complementation of this mutant by the sco0921-20 operon or by sco0920 alone restored ornithine lipids and TAG content to wild type level and was correlated with a twofold increase in the cardiolipin content. This suggested that SCO0920 bears, besides its broad O-acyltransferase activity, an N-acyltransferase activity and this was confirmed by the detection of lyso-ornithine in this strain. In contrast, the complementation of the mutant by sco0921 alone had no impact on ornithine lipids, TAG nor cardiolipin content but was correlated with a high lyso-ornithine content. This confirmed that SCO0921 is a strict N-acyltransferase. However, interestingly, the over-expression of the sco0921-20 operon or of sco0921 alone in S. coelicolor, led to an almost total disappearance of phosphatidylinositol that was correlated with an enhanced DAG and TAG content. This suggested that SCO0921 also acts as a phospholipase C, degrading phosphatidylinositol to indirectly supply of phosphate in condition of phosphate limitation.

Cloning and characterization of Photobacterium damselae ssp. piscicida phospholipase: an enzyme that shows haemolytic activity

A phospholipase gene of Photobacterium damselae ssp. piscicida (ppp) was cloned from a genomic library and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The open reading frame consisted of 1218 bp encoding a protein of 405 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 46 kDa. The PPP had identities (53-55%) with phospholipase and haemolysin of Vibrio spp., while it showed low identities (23-26%) with glycerophospholipid cholesterol acyltransferase of Aeromonas spp. A recombinant PPP (rPPP) with a His tag at the C-terminus expressed in Escherichia coli and purified showed phospholipase activity. The rPPP also showed lecithin-dependent haemolytic activity against mammalian erythrocytes and direct haemolytic activity against fish erythrocytes. The culture supernatant of wild-type P. damselae ssp. piscicida showed phospholipase activity, while that of a PPP gene knockout mutant did not.

Overexpression, purification, characterization, and pathogenicity of Vibrio harveyi hemolysin VHH

Vibrio harveyi VHH hemolysin is a putative pathogenicity factor in fish. In this study, the hemolysin gene vhhA was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, and the purified VHH was characterized with regard to pH and temperature profiles, phospholipase activity, cytotoxicity, pathogenicity to flounder, and the signal peptide.

Characterization of Vibrio mimicus phospholipase A (PhlA) and cytotoxicity on fish cell

Vibrio mimicus is a typical strain of Vibrio cholerae and produces a phospholipase (PhlA) which shares a highly conserved amino acid sequence with the lecithinase (Lec) of V. cholerae. The recombinant protein (rPhlA) produced from the phlA gene of V. mimicus was expressed in Escherichia coli as His-tag fused protein. The rPhlA was purified by gel filtration and Ni-metal affinity chromatographies. When the action mode was investigated by TLC and GC-MS, the purified rPhlA protein showed a phospholipase A activity, which cleaved the fatty acids at the sn-1 and sn-2 positions of phosphatidylcholine. However, it did not show lysophospholipase, sphingomyelinase, and phospholipase C activities. The rPhlA showed maximum activity at temperature of about 40 degrees C and pH around 8-9. Some divalent cations could affect the activity of PhlA. The addition of Co(2+) increased the activity, whereas Mg(2+) and Zn(2+) did not enhance the enzyme activity. The rPhlA could lyse the erythrocytes obtained from the fish such as rainbow trout and tilapia. A significant cytotoxic activity on a fish cell line, CHSE-214, was observed after 24h exposure to 40 microg rPhlA protein.

Use of monoclonal antibodies to identify phospholipase C as the enterotoxic factor of the bifunctional hemolysin-phospholipase C molecule of Vibrio cholerae O139

Two hybrid clones producing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) raised against the purified enterotoxic hemolysin-phospholipase C (HlyPC) bifunctional molecule of a Vibrio cholerae O139 strain were used to study its enterotoxicity in relation to its hemolytic and enzymatic activities. Fab fragments of MAbs from ascites produced by the two hybrids neutralized the hemolytic activity of HlyPC, leaving the enzymatic activity unaffected. In ligated rabbit ileal loop and infant mouse intestine, the Fab fragments of the MAbs were not able to neutralize the enterotoxicity of HlyPC, suggesting that PC rather than Hly is the enterotoxic moiety of the molecule. The enterotoxicity of the purified PC molecule isolated from an Hly- spontaneous mutant of the HlyPC-producing parent strain further confirms this contention. The Hly molecule isolated from a PC- mutant was not diarrheagenic.