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Ortiz Charneco G, Kelleher P, Buivydas A, de Waal PP, van Rijswijck IM, van Peij NN, Cambillau C, Mahony J, Van Sinderen D. Discovering genetic determinants for cell-to-cell adhesion in two prevalent conjugative lactococcal plasmids. CURRENT RESEARCH IN MICROBIAL SCIENCES 2024; 6:100239. [PMID: 38706493 PMCID: PMC11067333 DOI: 10.1016/j.crmicr.2024.100239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Plasmids pNP40 and pUC11B encode two prevalent yet divergent conjugation systems, which have been characterized in detail recently. Here, we report the elucidation of the putative adhesins of the pNP40 and pUC11B conjugation systems, encoded by traAd and trsAd, respectively. Despite their significant sequence divergence, TraAd and TrsAd represent the most conserved component between the pNP40- and the pUC11B-encoded conjugation systems and share similar peptidoglycan-hydrolase domains. Protein structure prediction using AlphaFold2 highlighted the structural similarities between their predicted domains, as well as the potential homo-dimeric state of both proteins. Expression of the putative surface adhesins resulted in a cell clumping phenotype not only among cells expressing these surface adhesins but also between adhesin-expressing and non-producing cells. Furthermore, mutant derivatives of plasmids pNP40 or pUC11B carrying a mutation in traAd or trsAd, respectively, were shown to act as efficient donors provided the corresponding recipient expresses either traAd or trsAd, thus demonstrating in trans reciprocal complementarity of these proteins in conjugation systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillermo Ortiz Charneco
- School of Microbiology & APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland
| | - Philip Kelleher
- School of Microbiology & APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland
| | - Andrius Buivydas
- School of Microbiology & APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland
| | - Paul P. de Waal
- dsm-firmenich; Taste, Texture & Health, Center for Food Innovation, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, the Netherlands
| | - Irma M.H. van Rijswijck
- dsm-firmenich; Taste, Texture & Health, Center for Food Innovation, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, the Netherlands
| | - Noël N.M.E. van Peij
- dsm-firmenich; Taste, Texture & Health, Center for Food Innovation, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, the Netherlands
| | - Christian Cambillau
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires (LISM), Institut de Microbiologie, Bioénergies et Biotechnologie (IMM), Aix-Marseille Université – CNRS, UMR 7255, Marseille, France
| | - Jennifer Mahony
- School of Microbiology & APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland
| | - Douwe Van Sinderen
- School of Microbiology & APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, Western Road, Cork, Ireland
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Gurinovich AS, Titok MA. Molecular Genetic and Functional Analysis of the Conjugation System of the pBS72 Plasmid from Bacillus subtilis Environmental Isolates. Microbiology (Reading) 2022. [DOI: 10.1134/s002626172230018x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
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Val-Calvo J, Miguel-Arribas A, Abia D, Wu LJ, Meijer WJJ. pLS20 is the archetype of a new family of conjugative plasmids harboured by Bacillus species. NAR Genom Bioinform 2021; 3:lqab096. [PMID: 34729475 PMCID: PMC8557374 DOI: 10.1093/nargab/lqab096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2021] [Revised: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Conjugation plays important roles in genome plasticity, adaptation and evolution but is also the major horizontal gene-transfer route responsible for spreading toxin, virulence and antibiotic resistance genes. A better understanding of the conjugation process is required for developing drugs and strategies to impede the conjugation-mediated spread of these genes. So far, only a limited number of conjugative elements have been studied. For most of them, it is not known whether they represent a group of conjugative elements, nor about their distribution patterns. Here we show that pLS20 from the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis is the prototype conjugative plasmid of a family of at least 35 members that can be divided into four clades, and which are harboured by different Bacillus species found in different global locations and environmental niches. Analyses of their phylogenetic relationship and their conjugation operons have expanded our understanding of a family of conjugative plasmids of Gram-positive origin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorge Val-Calvo
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Andrés Miguel-Arribas
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - David Abia
- Bioinformatics Facility, Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ling Juan Wu
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4AX, UK
| | - Wilfried J J Meijer
- Centro de Biología Molecular “Severo Ochoa” (CSIC-UAM), C. Nicolás Cabrera 1, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Canto Blanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
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Mori K, Verrone V, Amatsu R, Fukui K, Meijer WJJ, Ishikawa S, Wipat A, Yoshida KI. Assessment of Bacillus subtilis Plasmid pLS20 Conjugation in the Absence of Quorum Sensing Repression. Microorganisms 2021; 9:microorganisms9091931. [PMID: 34576826 PMCID: PMC8470214 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9091931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2021] [Revised: 09/04/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacillus subtilis conjugative plasmid pLS20 uses a quorum-sensing mechanism to control expression levels of its conjugation genes, involving the repressor RcopLS20, the anti-repressor RappLS20, and the signaling peptide Phr*pLS20. In previous studies, artificial overexpression of rappLS20 in the donor cells was shown to enhance conjugation efficiency. However, we found that the overexpression of rappLS20 led to various phenotypic traits, including cell aggregation and death, which might have affected the correct determination of the conjugation efficiency when determined by colony formation assay. In the current study, conjugation efficiencies were determined under different conditions using a two-color fluorescence-activated flow cytometry method and measuring a single-round of pLS20-mediated transfer of a mobilizable plasmid. Under standard conditions, the conjugation efficiency obtained by fluorescence-activated flow cytometry was 23-fold higher than that obtained by colony formation. Furthermore, the efficiency difference increased to 45-fold when rappLS20 was overexpressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kotaro Mori
- Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan; (K.M.); (R.A.); (K.F.); (S.I.)
| | - Valeria Verrone
- School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Science Central, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5TG, UK; (V.V.); (A.W.)
| | - Ryotaro Amatsu
- Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan; (K.M.); (R.A.); (K.F.); (S.I.)
| | - Kaho Fukui
- Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan; (K.M.); (R.A.); (K.F.); (S.I.)
| | - Wilfried J. J. Meijer
- Centro de Biología Molecular ‘Severo Ochoa’ (CSIC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma, Canto Blanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain;
| | - Shu Ishikawa
- Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan; (K.M.); (R.A.); (K.F.); (S.I.)
| | - Anil Wipat
- School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Science Central, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 5TG, UK; (V.V.); (A.W.)
| | - Ken-ichi Yoshida
- Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Nada, Kobe 657-8501, Japan; (K.M.); (R.A.); (K.F.); (S.I.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +81-78-803-5891
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