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Brown AR, Gordon RA, Hyland SN, Siegrist MS, Grimes CL. Chemical Biology Tools for Examining the Bacterial Cell Wall. Cell Chem Biol 2020; 27:1052-1062. [PMID: 32822617 DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2020.07.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2020] [Revised: 07/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/29/2020] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Bacteria surround themselves with cell walls to maintain cell rigidity and protect against environmental insults. Here we review chemical and biochemical techniques employed to study bacterial cell wall biogenesis. Recent advances including the ability to isolate critical intermediates, metabolic approaches for probe incorporation, and isotopic labeling techniques have provided critical insight into the biochemistry of cell walls. Fundamental manuscripts that have used these techniques to discover cell wall-interacting proteins, flippases, and cell wall stoichiometry are discussed in detail. The review highlights that these powerful methods and techniques have exciting potential to identify and characterize new targets for antibiotic development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley R Brown
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| | - Rebecca A Gordon
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-9298, USA; Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003-9298, USA
| | - Stephen N Hyland
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
| | - M Sloan Siegrist
- Department of Microbiology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003-9298, USA; Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Program, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003-9298, USA
| | - Catherine L Grimes
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
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Abstract
The evolutionary separated Gram-negative Chlamydiales show a biphasic life cycle and replicate exclusively within eukaryotic host cells. Members of the genus Chlamydia are responsible for many acute and chronic diseases in humans, and Chlamydia-related bacteria are emerging pathogens. We revisit past efforts to detect cell wall material in Chlamydia and Chlamydia-related bacteria in the context of recent breakthroughs in elucidating the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms of the chlamydial cell wall biosynthesis. In this review, we also discuss the role of cell wall biosynthesis in chlamydial FtsZ-independent cell division and immune modulation. In the past, penicillin susceptibility of an invisible wall was referred to as the "chlamydial anomaly." In light of new mechanistic insights, chlamydiae may now emerge as model systems to understand how a minimal and modified cell wall biosynthetic machine supports bacterial cell division and how cell wall-targeting beta-lactam antibiotics can also act bacteriostatically rather than bactericidal. On the heels of these discussions, we also delve into the effects of other cell wall antibiotics in individual chlamydial lineages.
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Dik DA, Fisher JF, Mobashery S. Cell-Wall Recycling of the Gram-Negative Bacteria and the Nexus to Antibiotic Resistance. Chem Rev 2018; 118:5952-5984. [PMID: 29847102 PMCID: PMC6855303 DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 121] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The importance of the cell wall to the viability of the bacterium is underscored by the breadth of antibiotic structures that act by blocking key enzymes that are tasked with cell-wall creation, preservation, and regulation. The interplay between cell-wall integrity, and the summoning forth of resistance mechanisms to deactivate cell-wall-targeting antibiotics, involves exquisite orchestration among cell-wall synthesis and remodeling and the detection of and response to the antibiotics through modulation of gene regulation by specific effectors. Given the profound importance of antibiotics to the practice of medicine, the assertion that understanding this interplay is among the most fundamentally important questions in bacterial physiology is credible. The enigmatic regulation of the expression of the AmpC β-lactamase, a clinically significant and highly regulated resistance response of certain Gram-negative bacteria to the β-lactam antibiotics, is the exemplar of this challenge. This review gives a current perspective to this compelling, and still not fully solved, 35-year enigma.
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Affiliation(s)
- David A. Dik
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, McCourtney Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States
| | - Jed F. Fisher
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, McCourtney Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States
| | - Shahriar Mobashery
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, McCourtney Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States
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Abstract
Peptidoglycan (PG), an essential stress-bearing component of the bacterial cell wall, is synthesised by penicillin binding proteins (PBPs). PG synthesis at the cell division septum is necessary for constructing new poles of progeny cells, and cells cannot elongate without inserting new PG in the side-wall. The cell division regulator GpsB appears to co-ordinate PG synthesis at the septum during division and at the side-wall during elongation in rod-shaped and ovococcoid Gram-positive bacteria. How the control over PG synthesis is exerted is unknown. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, Rued et al. show that in pneumococci GpsB forms complexes with PBP2a and PBP2b, and that deletion or depletion of GpsB prevents closure of the septal ring that in itself is PBP2x-dependent. Loss of GpsB can be suppressed by spontaneous mutations, including within the gene encoding the only PP2C Ser/Thr phosphatase in Streptococcus pneumoniae, indicating that GpsB plays a key - but unknown - role in protein phosphorylation in pneumococci. Rued et al. combine phenotypic and genotypic analyses of mutant strains that suggest discrepancies in the literature concerning GpsB might have arisen from accumulation of unidentified suppressors, highlighting the importance and power of strain validation and whole genome sequencing in this context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard J Lewis
- Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
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Elhenawy W, Davis RM, Fero J, Salama NR, Felman MF, Ruiz N. The O-Antigen Flippase Wzk Can Substitute for MurJ in Peptidoglycan Synthesis in Helicobacter pylori and Escherichia coli. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0161587. [PMID: 27537185 PMCID: PMC4990322 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2016] [Accepted: 08/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall is an essential component of the cell envelope of most bacteria. Biogenesis of PG involves a lipid-linked disaccharide-pentapeptide intermediate called lipid II, which must be translocated across the cytoplasmic membrane after it is synthesized in the inner leaflet of this bilayer. Accordingly, it has been demonstrated that MurJ, the proposed lipid II flippase in Escherichia coli, is required for PG biogenesis, and thereby viability. In contrast, MurJ is not essential in Bacillus subtilis because this bacterium produces AmJ, an unrelated protein that is functionally redundant with MurJ. In this study, we investigated why MurJ is not essential in the prominent gastric pathogen, Helicobacter pylori. We found that in this bacterium, Wzk, the ABC (ATP-binding cassette) transporter that flips the lipid-linked O- or Lewis- antigen precursors across the inner membrane, is redundant with MurJ for cell viability. Heterologous expression of wzk in E. coli also suppresses the lethality caused by the loss of murJ. Furthermore, we show that this cross-species complementation is abolished when Wzk is inactivated by mutations that target a domain predicted to be required for ATPase activity. Our results suggest that Wzk can flip lipid II, implying that Wzk is the flippase with the most relaxed specificity for lipid-linked saccharides ever identified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wael Elhenawy
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2E9, Alberta, Canada
| | - Rebecca M. Davis
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, United States of America
| | - Jutta Fero
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, United States of America
| | - Nina R. Salama
- Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, United States of America
| | - Mario F. Felman
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton T6G 2E9, Alberta, Canada
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, United States of America
| | - Natividad Ruiz
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Pomorski TG, Menon AK. Lipid somersaults: Uncovering the mechanisms of protein-mediated lipid flipping. Prog Lipid Res 2016; 64:69-84. [PMID: 27528189 DOI: 10.1016/j.plipres.2016.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2016] [Accepted: 08/10/2016] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Membrane lipids diffuse rapidly in the plane of the membrane but their ability to flip spontaneously across a membrane bilayer is hampered by a significant energy barrier. Thus spontaneous flip-flop of polar lipids across membranes is very slow, even though it must occur rapidly to support diverse aspects of cellular life. Here we discuss the mechanisms by which rapid flip-flop occurs, and what role lipid flipping plays in membrane homeostasis and cell growth. We focus on conceptual aspects, highlighting mechanistic insights from biochemical and in silico experiments, and the recent, ground-breaking identification of a number of lipid scramblases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Günther Pomorski
- Faculty of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Molecular Biochemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, Universitätstrasse 150, D-44780 Bochum, Germany; Centre for Membrane Pumps in Cells and Disease-PUMPKIN, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
| | - Anant K Menon
- Department of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medical College, 1300 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA.
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Ruiz N. Filling holes in peptidoglycan biogenesis of Escherichia coli. Curr Opin Microbiol 2016; 34:1-6. [PMID: 27449418 DOI: 10.1016/j.mib.2016.07.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2016] [Accepted: 07/08/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
The peptidoglycan cell wall is an essential mesh-like structure in most bacteria. It is built outside the cytoplasmic membrane by polymerizing a disaccharide-pentapeptide into glycan chains that are crosslinked by peptides. The disaccharide-pentapeptide is synthetized as a lipid-linked precursor called lipid II, which is exported across the cytoplasmic membrane so that synthases can make new glycan chains. Growth of the peptidoglycan wall requires careful balancing of synthesis of glycan chains and hydrolysis of the preexisting structure to allow incorporation of new material. Recent studies in Escherichia coli have advanced our understanding of lipid II translocation across the membrane and how synthases are regulated to ensure proper envelope growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natividad Ruiz
- Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
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Ruiz N. Lipid Flippases for Bacterial Peptidoglycan Biosynthesis. Lipid Insights 2016; 8:21-31. [PMID: 26792999 PMCID: PMC4714577 DOI: 10.4137/lpi.s31783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2015] [Revised: 11/10/2015] [Accepted: 11/30/2015] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The biosynthesis of cellular polysaccharides and glycoconjugates often involves lipid-linked intermediates that need to be translocated across membranes. Essential pathways such as N-glycosylation in eukaryotes and biogenesis of the peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall in bacteria share a common strategy where nucleotide-sugars are used to build a membrane-bound oligosaccharide precursor that is linked to a phosphorylated isoprenoid lipid. Once made, these lipid-linked intermediates must be translocated across a membrane so that they can serve as substrates in a different cellular compartment. How translocation occurs is poorly understood, although it clearly requires a transporter or flippase. Identification of these transporters is notoriously difficult, and, in particular, the identity of the flippase of lipid II, an intermediate required for PG biogenesis, has been the subject of much debate. Here, I will review the body of work that has recently fueled this controversy, centered on proposed flippase candidates FtsW, MurJ, and AmJ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natividad Ruiz
- Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
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Teo ACK, Roper DI. Core Steps of Membrane-Bound Peptidoglycan Biosynthesis: Recent Advances, Insight and Opportunities. Antibiotics (Basel) 2015; 4:495-520. [PMID: 27025638 PMCID: PMC4790310 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics4040495] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2015] [Revised: 10/03/2015] [Accepted: 10/26/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
We are entering an era where the efficacy of current antibiotics is declining, due to the development and widespread dispersion of antibiotic resistance mechanisms. These factors highlight the need for novel antimicrobial discovery. A large number of antimicrobial natural products elicit their effect by directly targeting discrete areas of peptidoglycan metabolism. Many such natural products bind directly to the essential cell wall precursor Lipid II and its metabolites, i.e., preventing the utlisation of vital substrates by direct binding rather than inhibiting the metabolising enzymes themselves. Concurrently, there has been an increase in the knowledge surrounding the proteins essential to the metabolism of Lipid II at and across the cytoplasmic membrane. In this review, we draw these elements together and look to future antimicrobial opportunities in this area.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alvin C K Teo
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
| | - David I Roper
- School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
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MurJ and a novel lipid II flippase are required for cell wall biogenesis in Bacillus subtilis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2015; 112:6437-42. [PMID: 25918422 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1504967112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 132] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacterial surface polysaccharides are synthesized from lipid-linked precursors at the inner surface of the cytoplasmic membrane before being translocated across the bilayer for envelope assembly. Transport of the cell wall precursor lipid II in Escherichia coli requires the broadly conserved and essential multidrug/oligosaccharidyl-lipid/polysaccharide (MOP) exporter superfamily member MurJ. Here, we show that Bacillus subtilis cells lacking all 10 MOP superfamily members are viable with only minor morphological defects, arguing for the existence of an alternate lipid II flippase. To identify this factor, we screened for synthetic lethal partners of MOP family members using transposon sequencing. We discovered that an uncharacterized gene amj (alternate to MurJ; ydaH) and B. subtilis MurJ (murJBs; formerly ytgP) are a synthetic lethal pair. Cells defective for both Amj and MurJBs exhibit cell shape defects and lyse. Furthermore, expression of Amj or MurJBs in E. coli supports lipid II flipping and viability in the absence of E. coli MurJ. Amj is present in a subset of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and is the founding member of a novel family of flippases. Finally, we show that Amj is expressed under the control of the cell envelope stress-response transcription factor σ(M) and cells lacking MurJBs increase amj transcription. These findings raise the possibility that antagonists of the canonical MurJ flippase trigger expression of an alternate translocase that can resist inhibition.
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Biology and Assembly of the Bacterial Envelope. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2015; 883:41-76. [PMID: 26621461 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-23603-2_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
All free-living bacterial cells are delimited and protected by an envelope of high complexity. This physiological barrier is essential for bacterial survival and assures multiple functions. The molecular assembly of the different envelope components into a functional structure represents a tremendous biological challenge and is of high interest for fundamental sciences. The study of bacterial envelope assembly has also been fostered by the need for novel classes of antibacterial agents to fight the problematic of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. This chapter focuses on the two most intensively studied classes of bacterial envelopes that belong to the phyla Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. The envelope of Firmicutes typically has one membrane and is defined as being monoderm whereas the envelope of Proteobacteria contains two distinct membranes and is referred to as being diderm. In this chapter, we will first discuss the multiple roles of the bacterial envelope and clarify the nomenclature used to describe the different types of envelopes. We will then define the architecture and composition of the envelopes of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria while outlining their similarities and differences. We will further cover the extensive progress made in the field of bacterial envelope assembly over the last decades, using Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli as model systems for the study of the monoderm and diderm bacterial envelopes, respectively. We will detail our current understanding of how molecular machines assure the secretion, insertion and folding of the envelope proteins as well as the assembly of the glycosidic components of the envelope. Finally, we will highlight the topics that are still under investigation, and that will surely lead to important discoveries in the near future.
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