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Hall KT, Kenedy MR, Johnson DK, Hefty PS, Akins DR. A conserved C-terminal domain of TamB interacts with multiple BamA POTRA domains in Borreliella burgdorferi. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0304839. [PMID: 39208212 PMCID: PMC11361582 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Lyme disease is the leading tick-borne infection in the United States, caused by the pathogenic spirochete Borreliella burgdorferi, formerly known as Borrelia burgdorferi. Diderms, or bacteria with dual-membrane ultrastructure, such as B. burgdorferi, have multiple methods of transporting and integrating outer membrane proteins (OMPs). Most integral OMPs are transported through the β-barrel assembly machine (BAM) complex. This complex consists of the channel-forming OMP BamA and accessory lipoproteins that interact with the five periplasmic, polypeptide transport-associated (POTRA) domains of BamA. Another system, the translocation and assembly module (TAM) system, has also been implicated in OMP assembly and export. The TAM system consists of two proteins, the BamA paralog TamA which has three POTRA domains and the inner membrane protein TamB. TamB is characterized by a C-terminal DUF490 domain that interacts with the POTRA domains of TamA. Interestingly, while TamB is found in almost all diderms, including B. burgdorferi, TamA is found almost exclusively in Proteobacteria. This strongly suggests a TamA-independent role of TamB in most diderms. We previously demonstrated that BamA interacts with TamB in B. burgdorferi and hypothesized that this is facilitated by the BamA POTRA domains interacting with the TamB DUF490 domain. In this study, we utilized protein-protein co-purification assays to empirically demonstrate that the B. burgdorferi TamB DUF490 domain interacts with BamA POTRA2 and POTRA3. We also observed that the DUF490 domain of TamB interacts with the accessory lipoprotein BamB. To examine if the BamA-TamB interaction is more ubiquitous among diderms, we examined BamA-TamB interactions in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (St). Interestingly, even though St encodes a TamA protein that interacts with TamB, we observed that the TamB DUF490 of St interacts with BamA in this organism. Our combined findings strongly suggest that the TamB-BamA interaction occurs independent of the TamA component of the TAM protein export system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kari T. Hall
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America
| | - Melisha R. Kenedy
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America
| | - David K. Johnson
- Chemical Computational Biology Core and the Molecular Graphics and Modeling Laboratory, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - P. Scott Hefty
- Department of Molecular Biosciences and the Center for Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, United States of America
| | - Darrin R. Akins
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States of America
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Rai AK, Sawasato K, Bennett HC, Kozlova A, Sparagna GC, Bogdanov M, Mitchell AM. Genetic evidence for functional diversification of gram-negative intermembrane phospholipid transporters. PLoS Genet 2024; 20:e1011335. [PMID: 38913742 PMCID: PMC11226057 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Revised: 07/05/2024] [Accepted: 06/07/2024] [Indexed: 06/26/2024] Open
Abstract
The outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria is a barrier to chemical and physical stress. Phospholipid transport between the inner and outer membranes has been an area of intense investigation and, in E. coli K-12, it has recently been shown to be mediated by YhdP, TamB, and YdbH, which are suggested to provide hydrophobic channels for phospholipid diffusion, with YhdP and TamB playing the major roles. However, YhdP and TamB have different phenotypes suggesting distinct functions. It remains unclear whether these functions are related to phospholipid metabolism. We investigated a synthetic cold sensitivity caused by deletion of fadR, a transcriptional regulator controlling fatty acid degradation and unsaturated fatty acid production, and yhdP, but not by ΔtamB ΔfadR or ΔydbH ΔfadR. Deletion of tamB recuses the ΔyhdP ΔfadR cold sensitivity further demonstrating the phenotype is related to functional diversification between these genes. The ΔyhdP ΔfadR strain shows a greater increase in cardiolipin upon transfer to the non-permissive temperature and genetically lowering cardiolipin levels can suppress cold sensitivity. These data also reveal a qualitative difference between cardiolipin synthases in E. coli, as deletion of clsA and clsC suppresses cold sensitivity but deletion of clsB does not. Moreover, increased fatty acid saturation is necessary for cold sensitivity and lowering this level genetically or through supplementation of oleic acid suppresses the cold sensitivity of the ΔyhdP ΔfadR strain. Together, our data clearly demonstrate that the diversification of function between YhdP and TamB is related to phospholipid metabolism. Although indirect regulatory effects are possible, we favor the parsimonious hypothesis that YhdP and TamB have differential phospholipid-substrate transport preferences. Thus, our data provide a potential mechanism for independent control of the phospholipid composition of the inner and outer membranes in response to changing conditions based on regulation of abundance or activity of YhdP and TamB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashutosh K. Rai
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Katsuhiro Sawasato
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Haley C. Bennett
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
| | - Anastasiia Kozlova
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Genevieve C. Sparagna
- Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Mikhail Bogdanov
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Angela M. Mitchell
- Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States of America
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Sposato D, Mercolino J, Torrini L, Sperandeo P, Lucidi M, Alegiani R, Varone I, Molesini G, Leoni L, Rampioni G, Visca P, Imperi F. Redundant essentiality of AsmA-like proteins in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. mSphere 2024; 9:e0067723. [PMID: 38305166 PMCID: PMC10900882 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00677-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
The outer membrane (OM) is an essential structure of Gram-negative bacteria that provides mechanical strength and protection from large and/or hydrophobic toxic molecules, including many antibiotics. The OM is composed of glycerophospholipids (GPLs) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the inner and outer leaflets, respectively, and hosts integral β-barrel proteins and lipoproteins. While the systems responsible for translocation and insertion of LPS and OM proteins have been elucidated, the mechanism(s) mediating transport of GPLs from the inner membrane to the OM has remained elusive for decades. Very recently, studies performed in Escherichia coli proposed a role in this process for AsmA-like proteins that are predicted to share structural features with eukaryotic lipid transporters. In this study, we provide the first systematic investigation of AsmA-like proteins in a bacterium other than E. coli, the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that P. aeruginosa possesses seven AsmA-like proteins. Deletion of asmA-like genes in many different combinations, coupled with conditional mutagenesis, revealed that four AsmA-like proteins are redundantly essential for growth and OM integrity in P. aeruginosa, including a novel AsmA-like protein (PA4735) that is not present in E. coli. Cells depleted of AsmA-like proteins showed severe defects in the OM permeability barrier that were partially rescued by lowering the synthesis or transport of LPS. Since fine balancing of GPL and LPS levels is crucial for OM integrity, this evidence supports the role of AsmA-like proteins in GPL transport toward the OM. IMPORTANCE Given the importance of the outer membrane (OM) for viability and antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria, in the last decades, several studies have focused on the characterization of the systems involved in OM biogenesis, which have also been explored as targets for antibacterial drug development. However, the mechanism mediating translocation of glycerophospholipids (GPLs) to the OM remained unknown until recent studies provided evidence that AsmA-like proteins could be responsible for this process. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that AsmA-like proteins are essential and redundant for growth and OM integrity in a Gram-negative bacterium other than the model organism Escherichia coli and demonstrate that the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa has an additional essential AsmA-like protein that is not present in E. coli, thus expanding the range of AsmA-like proteins that play key functions in Gram-negative bacteria.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Luisa Torrini
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
| | - Paola Sperandeo
- Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Milano, Milan, Italy
| | - Massimiliano Lucidi
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
| | | | - Ilaria Varone
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Livia Leoni
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
| | - Giordano Rampioni
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Paolo Visca
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesco Imperi
- Department of Science, University Roma Tre, Rome, Italy
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Palermo, Italy
- IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome, Italy
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