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Wilson SA, Tank RKJ, Hobbs JK, Foster SJ, Garner EC. An exhaustive multiple knockout approach to understanding cell wall hydrolase function in Bacillus subtilis. mBio 2023; 14:e0176023. [PMID: 37768080 PMCID: PMC10653849 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01760-23] [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: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 08/03/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE In order to grow, bacterial cells must both create and break down their cell wall. The enzymes that are responsible for these processes are the target of some of our best antibiotics. Our understanding of the proteins that break down the wall- cell wall hydrolases-has been limited by redundancy among the large number of hydrolases many bacteria contain. To solve this problem, we identified 42 cell wall hydrolases in Bacillus subtilis and created a strain lacking 40 of them. We show that cells can survive using only a single cell wall hydrolase; this means that to understand the growth of B. subtilis in standard laboratory conditions, it is only necessary to study a very limited number of proteins, simplifying the problem substantially. We additionally show that the ∆40 strain is a research tool to characterize hydrolases, using it to identify three "helper" hydrolases that act in certain stress conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sean A. Wilson
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Raveen K. J. Tank
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Jamie K. Hobbs
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Simon J. Foster
- School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Ethan C. Garner
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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Sassine J, Pazos M, Breukink E, Vollmer W. Lytic transglycosylase MltG cleaves in nascent peptidoglycan and produces short glycan strands. Cell Surf 2021; 7:100053. [PMID: 34036206 PMCID: PMC8135044 DOI: 10.1016/j.tcsw.2021.100053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2021] [Revised: 04/17/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacteria encase their cytoplasmic membrane with peptidoglycan (PG) to maintain the shape of the cell and protect it from bursting. The enlargement of the PG layer is facilitated by the coordinated activities of PG synthesising and -cleaving enzymes. In Escherichia coli, the cytoplasmic membrane-bound lytic transglycosylase MltG associates with PG synthases and was suggested to terminate the polymerisation of PG glycan strands. Using pull-down and surface plasmon resonance, we detected interactions between MltG from Bacillus subtilis and two PG synthases; the class A PBP1 and the class B PBP2B. Using in vitro PG synthesis assays with radio-labelled or fluorophore-labelled B. subtilis-type and/or E. coli-type lipid II, we showed that both, BsMltG and EcMltG, are lytic tranglycosylases and that their activity is higher during ongoing glycan strand polymerisation. MltG competed with the transpeptidase activity of class A PBPs, but had no effect on their glycosyltransferase activity, and produced glycan strands with a length of 7 disaccharide units from cleavage in the nascent strands. We hypothesize that MltG cleaves the nascent strands to produce short glycan strands that are used in the cell for a yet unknown process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jad Sassine
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Manuel Pazos
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
| | - Eefjan Breukink
- Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics, Bijvoet Centre of Biomolecular Research, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Waldemar Vollmer
- Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Biosciences Institute, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
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Bharadwaj VS, Knott BC, Ståhlberg J, Beckham GT, Crowley MF. The hydrolysis mechanism of a GH45 cellulase and its potential relation to lytic transglycosylase and expansin function. J Biol Chem 2020; 295:4477-4487. [PMID: 32054684 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.ra119.011406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Revised: 02/12/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Family 45 glycoside hydrolases (GH45) are endoglucanases that are integral to cellulolytic secretomes, and their ability to break down cellulose has been successfully exploited in textile and detergent industries. In addition to their industrial relevance, understanding the molecular mechanism of GH45-catalyzed hydrolysis is of fundamental importance because of their structural similarity to cell wall-modifying enzymes such as bacterial lytic transglycosylases (LTs) and expansins present in bacteria, plants, and fungi. Our understanding of the catalytic itinerary of GH45s has been incomplete because a crystal structure with substrate spanning the -1 to +1 subsites is currently lacking. Here we constructed and validated a putative Michaelis complex in silico and used it to elucidate the hydrolytic mechanism in a GH45, Cel45A from the fungus Humicola insolens, via unbiased simulation approaches. These molecular simulations revealed that the solvent-exposed active-site architecture results in lack of coordination for the hydroxymethyl group of the substrate at the -1 subsite. This lack of coordination imparted mobility to the hydroxymethyl group and enabled a crucial hydrogen bond with the catalytic acid during and after the reaction. This suggests the possibility of a nonhydrolytic reaction mechanism when the catalytic base aspartic acid is missing, as is the case in some LTs (murein transglycosylase A) and expansins. We calculated reaction free energies and demonstrate the thermodynamic feasibility of the hydrolytic and nonhydrolytic reaction mechanisms. Our results provide molecular insights into the hydrolysis mechanism in HiCel45A, with possible implications for elucidating the elusive catalytic mechanism in LTs and expansins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek S Bharadwaj
- Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401
| | - Brandon C Knott
- Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401
| | - Jerry Ståhlberg
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P. O. Box 7015, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Gregg T Beckham
- National Bioenergy Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401
| | - Michael F Crowley
- Biosciences Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401
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Kaur G, Kapoor S, Thakur KG. Bacillus subtilis HelD, an RNA Polymerase Interacting Helicase, Forms Amyloid-Like Fibrils. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:1934. [PMID: 30186259 PMCID: PMC6111841 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01934] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Accepted: 07/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
HelD, an RNA polymerase binding protein from Bacillus subtilis, stimulates transcription and helps in timely adaptation of cells under diverse environmental conditions. At present, no structural information is available for HelD. In the current study, we performed size exclusion chromatography coupled to small angle X-ray scattering (SEC-SAXS) which suggests that HelD is predominantly monomeric and globular in solution. Using combination of size exclusion chromatography and analytical ultracentrifugation, we also show that HelD has a tendency to form higher order oligomers in solution. CD experiments suggest that HelD has both α-helical (∼35%) and β sheet (∼26%) secondary structural elements. Thermal melting experiments suggest that even at 90°C, there is only about 30% loss in secondary structural contents with Tm of 44°C. However, with the increase in temperature, there was a gain in the β-sheet content and significant irreversible loss of α-helical content. Using a combination of X-ray fiber diffraction analysis, and dye based assays including Thioflavin-T based fluorescence and Congo red binding assays, we discovered that HelD forms amyloid-like fibrils at physiologically relevant conditions in vitro. Using confocal imaging, we further show that HelD forms amyloid inclusions in Escherichia coli. Bioinformatics-based sequence analysis performed using three independent web-based servers suggests that HelD has more than 20 hot-spots spread across the sequence that may aid the formation of amyloid-like fibrils. This discovery adds one more member to the growing list of amyloid or amyloid-like fibril forming cytosolic proteins in bacteria. Future studies aimed at resolving the function of amyloid-like fibrils or amyloid inclusions may help better understand their role, if any, in the bacterial physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gundeep Kaur
- Structural Biology Laboratory, G. N. Ramachandran Protein Centre, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India
| | - Srajan Kapoor
- Structural Biology Laboratory, G. N. Ramachandran Protein Centre, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India
| | - Krishan G Thakur
- Structural Biology Laboratory, G. N. Ramachandran Protein Centre, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh, India
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Daly P, van Munster JM, Blythe MJ, Ibbett R, Kokolski M, Gaddipati S, Lindquist E, Singan VR, Barry KW, Lipzen A, Ngan CY, Petzold CJ, Chan LJG, Pullan ST, Delmas S, Waldron PR, Grigoriev IV, Tucker GA, Simmons BA, Archer DB. Expression of Aspergillus niger CAZymes is determined by compositional changes in wheat straw generated by hydrothermal or ionic liquid pretreatments. BIOTECHNOLOGY FOR BIOFUELS 2017; 10:35. [PMID: 28184248 PMCID: PMC5294722 DOI: 10.1186/s13068-017-0700-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2016] [Accepted: 01/05/2017] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The capacity of fungi, such as Aspergillus niger, to degrade lignocellulose is harnessed in biotechnology to generate biofuels and high-value compounds from renewable feedstocks. Most feedstocks are currently pretreated to increase enzymatic digestibility: improving our understanding of the transcriptomic responses of fungi to pretreated lignocellulosic substrates could help to improve the mix of activities and reduce the production costs of commercial lignocellulose saccharifying cocktails. RESULTS We investigated the responses of A. niger to untreated, ionic liquid and hydrothermally pretreated wheat straw over a 5-day time course using RNA-seq and targeted proteomics. The ionic liquid pretreatment altered the cellulose crystallinity while retaining more of the hemicellulosic sugars than the hydrothermal pretreatment. Ionic liquid pretreatment of straw led to a dynamic induction and repression of genes, which was correlated with the higher levels of pentose sugars saccharified from the ionic liquid-pretreated straw. Hydrothermal pretreatment of straw led to reduced levels of transcripts of genes encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes as well as the derived proteins and enzyme activities. Both pretreatments abolished the expression of a large set of genes encoding pectinolytic enzymes. These reduced levels could be explained by the removal of parts of the lignocellulose by the hydrothermal pretreatment. The time course also facilitated identification of temporally limited gene induction patterns. CONCLUSIONS The presented transcriptomic and biochemical datasets demonstrate that pretreatments caused modifications of the lignocellulose, to both specific structural features as well as the organisation of the overall lignocellulosic structure, that determined A. niger transcript levels. The experimental setup allowed reliable detection of substrate-specific gene expression patterns as well as hitherto non-expressed genes. Our data suggest beneficial effects of using untreated and IL-pretreated straw, but not HT-pretreated straw, as feedstock for CAZyme production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Daly
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
- Fungal Physiology, CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht University, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Jolanda M. van Munster
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
- Chemical Biology, Manchester Institute for Biotechnology, University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN UK
| | - Martin J. Blythe
- Deep Seq, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Queen’s Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2UH UK
| | - Roger Ibbett
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD UK
| | - Matt Kokolski
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
| | - Sanyasi Gaddipati
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD UK
| | - Erika Lindquist
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 USA
| | - Vasanth R. Singan
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 USA
| | - Kerrie W. Barry
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 USA
| | - Anna Lipzen
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 USA
| | - Chew Yee Ngan
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 USA
| | | | | | - Steven T. Pullan
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
- TB Programme, Microbiology Services, Public Health England, Salisbury, UK
| | - Stéphane Delmas
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
- UPMC, Univ. Paris 06, CNRS UMR7238, Sorbonne Universités, 15 rue de l’Ecole de Médecine, 75270 Paris, France
| | - Paul R. Waldron
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD UK
| | - Igor V. Grigoriev
- US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA 94598 USA
| | - Gregory A. Tucker
- School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, LE12 5RD UK
| | | | - David B. Archer
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD UK
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