The Use of Transposon Insertion Sequencing to Interrogate the Core Functional Genome of the Legume Symbiont Rhizobium leguminosarum

Factors governing attachment of Rhizobium leguminosarum to legume roots at acid, neutral, and alkaline pHs

Rhizobial attachment to host legume roots is the first physical interaction of bacteria and plants in symbiotic nitrogen fixation. The pH-dependent primary attachment of Rhizobium leguminosarum biovar viciae 3841 to Pisum sativum (pea) roots was investigated by genome-wide insertion sequencing, luminescence-based attachment assays, and proteomic analysis. Under acid, neutral, or alkaline pH, a total of 115 genes are needed for primary attachment under one or more environmental pH, with 22 genes required for all. These include components of cell surfaces and membranes, together with enzymes that construct and modify them. Mechanisms of dealing with stress also play a part; however, exact requirements vary depending on environmental pH. RNASeq showed that knocking out the two transcriptional regulators required for attachment causes massive changes in the bacterial cell surface. Approximately half of the 54 proteins required for attachment at pH 7.0 have a role in the later stages of nodule formation. We found no evidence for a single rhicadhesin responsible for alkaline attachment, although sonicated cell surface fractions inhibited root attachment at alkaline pH. Our results demonstrate the complexity of primary root attachment and illustrate the diversity of mechanisms involved.

IMPORTANCE

The first step by which bacteria interact with plant roots is by attachment. In this study, we use a combination of insertion sequencing and biochemical analysis to determine how bacteria attach to pea roots and how this is influenced by pH. We identify several key adhesins, which are molecules that enable bacteria to stick to roots. This includes a novel filamentous hemagglutinin which is needed at all pHs for attachment. Overall, 115 proteins are required for attachment at one or more pHs.

A protease and a lipoprotein jointly modulate the conserved ExoR-ExoS-ChvI signaling pathway critical in Sinorhizobium meliloti for symbiosis with legume hosts

Sinorhizobium meliloti is a model alpha-proteobacterium for investigating microbe-host interactions, in particular nitrogen-fixing rhizobium-legume symbioses. Successful infection requires complex coordination between compatible host and endosymbiont, including bacterial production of succinoglycan, also known as exopolysaccharide-I (EPS-I). In S. meliloti EPS-I production is controlled by the conserved ExoS-ChvI two-component system. Periplasmic ExoR associates with the ExoS histidine kinase and negatively regulates ChvI-dependent expression of exo genes, necessary for EPS-I synthesis. We show that two extracytoplasmic proteins, LppA (a lipoprotein) and JspA (a lipoprotein and a metalloprotease), jointly influence EPS-I synthesis by modulating the ExoR-ExoS-ChvI pathway and expression of genes in the ChvI regulon. Deletions of jspA and lppA led to lower EPS-I production and competitive disadvantage during host colonization, for both S. meliloti with Medicago sativa and S. medicae with M. truncatula. Overexpression of jspA reduced steady-state levels of ExoR, suggesting that the JspA protease participates in ExoR degradation. This reduction in ExoR levels is dependent on LppA and can be replicated with ExoR, JspA, and LppA expressed exogenously in Caulobacter crescentus and Escherichia coli. Akin to signaling pathways that sense extracytoplasmic stress in other bacteria, JspA and LppA may monitor periplasmic conditions during interaction with the plant host to adjust accordingly expression of genes that contribute to efficient symbiosis. The molecular mechanisms underlying host colonization in our model system may have parallels in related alpha-proteobacteria.

The Biosynthesis and Functions of Polyamines in the Interaction of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria with Plants

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are members of the plant rhizomicrobiome that enhance plant growth and stress resistance by increasing nutrient availability to the plant, producing phytohormones or other secondary metabolites, stimulating plant defense responses against abiotic stresses and pathogens, or fixing nitrogen. The use of PGPR to increase crop yield with minimal environmental impact is a sustainable and readily applicable replacement for a portion of chemical fertilizer and pesticides required for the growth of high-yielding varieties. Increased plant health and productivity have long been gained by applying PGPR as commercial inoculants to crops, although with uneven results. The establishment of plant-PGPR relationships requires the exchange of chemical signals and nutrients between the partners, and polyamines (PAs) are an important class of compounds that act as physiological effectors and signal molecules in plant-microbe interactions. In this review, we focus on the role of PAs in interactions between PGPR and plants. We describe the basic ecology of PGPR and the production and function of PAs in them and the plants with which they interact. We examine the metabolism and the roles of PAs in PGPR and plants individually and during their interaction with one another. Lastly, we describe some directions for future research.

Identification of Ensifer meliloti genes required for survival during peat-based bioinoculant maturation by STM-seq

Rhizobial inoculants are sold either as rhizobia within a liquid matrix; or as rhizobia adhered to granules composed of peat prill or finely ground peat moss. During the production of peat-based inoculants, a series of physiological changes occur that result in an increased capability of the rhizobia to survive on the seeds. The number of viable rhizobia on preinoculated seeds at the point of sale, however, is often a limiting factor, as is the inefficiency of the inoculant bacteria to compete with the local rhizobia for the host colonization. In the present work, we used STM-seq for the genome-wide screening of Ensifer meliloti mutants affected in the survival during the maturation of peat-based inoculant formulations. Through this approach, we were able to identify a set of mutants whose behavior suggests that persistence in peat inoculants involves a complex phenotype that is connected to diverse cellular activities, mainly related to satisfying the requirements of bacterial nutrition (e.g., carbon sources, ions) and to coping with specific stresses (e.g., oxidative, mutational). These results also provide a base knowledge that could be used to more completely understand the survival mechanisms used by rhizobia during the maturation of peat-based inoculants, as well as for the design and implementation of practical strategies to improve inoculant formulations.

Modeling Site-Specific Nucleotide Biases Affecting Himar1 Transposon Insertion Frequencies in TnSeq Data Sets

TnSeq is a widely used methodology for determining gene essentiality, conditional fitness, and genetic interactions in bacteria. The Himar1 transposon is restricted to insertions at TA dinucleotides, but otherwise, few site-specific biases have been identified. As a result, most analytical approaches assume that insertions are expected to be randomly distributed among TA sites in nonessential regions. However, through analysis of Himar1 transposon libraries in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we demonstrate that there are site-specific biases that affect the frequency of insertion of the Himar1 transposon at different TA sites. We use machine learning and statistical models to characterize patterns in the nucleotides surrounding TA sites that correlate with high or low insertion counts. We then develop a quantitative model based on these patterns that can be used to predict the expected counts at each TA site based on nucleotide context, which can explain up to half of the variance in insertion counts. We show that these insertion preferences exist in Himar1 TnSeq data sets from other mycobacterial and nonmycobacterial species. We present an improved method for identification of essential genes, called TTN-Fitness, that can better distinguish true biological fitness effects by comparing observed counts to expected counts based on our site-specific model of insertion preferences. Compared to previous essentiality methods, TTN-Fitness can make finer distinctions among genes whose disruption causes a fitness defect (or advantage), separating them out from the large pool of nonessentials, and is able to classify many smaller genes (with few TA sites) that were previously characterized as uncertain. IMPORTANCE When using the Himar1 transposon to create transposon insertion mutant libraries, it is known that the transposon is restricted to insertions at TA dinucleotide sites throughout the genome, and the absence of insertions is used to infer which genes are essential (or conditionally essential) in a bacterial organism. It is widely assumed that insertions in nonessential regions are otherwise random, and this assumption is used as the basis of several methods for statistical analysis of TnSeq data. In this paper, we show that the nucleotide sequence surrounding TA sites influences the magnitude of insertions, and these Himar1 insertion preferences (sequence biases) can partially explain why some sites have higher counts than others. We use this predictive model to make improved estimates of the fitness effects of genes, which help make finer distinctions of the phenotype and biological consequences of disruption of nonessential genes.

The DUF1013 protein TrcR tracks with RNA polymerase to control the bacterial cell cycle and protect against antibiotics

How DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RNAP) acts on bacterial cell cycle progression during transcription elongation is poorly investigated. A forward genetic selection for Caulobacter crescentus cell cycle mutants unearthed the uncharacterized DUF1013 protein (TrcR, transcriptional cell cycle regulator). TrcR promotes the accumulation of the essential cell cycle transcriptional activator CtrA in late S-phase but also affects transcription at a global level to protect cells from the quinolone antibiotic nalidixic acid that induces a multidrug efflux pump and from the RNAP inhibitor rifampicin that blocks transcription elongation. We show that TrcR associates with promoters and coding sequences in vivo in a rifampicin-dependent manner and that it interacts physically and genetically with RNAP. We show that TrcR function and its RNAP-dependent chromatin recruitment are conserved in symbiotic Sinorhizobium sp. and pathogenic Brucella spp Thus, TrcR represents a hitherto unknown antibiotic target and the founding member of the DUF1013 family, an uncharacterized class of transcriptional regulators that track with RNAP during the elongation phase to promote transcription during the cell cycle.

Complete Genome Sequences of Trifolium spp. Inoculant Strains Rhizobium leguminosarum sv. trifolii TA1 and CC275e: Resources for Genomic Study of the Rhizobium-Trifolium Symbiosis

Rhizobium leguminosarum symbiovar trifolii strains TA1 and CC275e are nitrogen-fixing microsymbionts of Trifolium spp. and have been used as commercial inoculant strains for clovers in pastoral agriculture in Australia and New Zealand. Here we present the complete genome sequences of both strains, resolving their multipartite genome structures and allowing for future studies using genomic approaches.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY 4.0 International license.

Connecting signals and benefits through partner choice in plant-microbe interactions

Stabilizing mechanisms in plant-microbe symbioses are critical to maintaining beneficial functions, with two main classes: host sanctions and partner choice. Sanctions are currently presumed to be more effective and widespread, based on the idea that microbes rapidly evolve cheating while retaining signals matching cooperative strains. However, hosts that effectively discriminate among a pool of compatible symbionts would gain a significant fitness advantage. Using the well-characterized legume-rhizobium symbiosis as a model, we evaluate the evidence for partner choice in the context of the growing field of genomics. Empirical studies that rely upon bacteria varying only in nitrogen-fixation ability ignore host-symbiont signaling and frequently conclude that partner choice is not a robust stabilizing mechanism. Here, we argue that partner choice is an overlooked mechanism of mutualism stability and emphasize that plants need not use the microbial services provided a priori to discriminate among suitable partners. Additionally, we present a model that shows that partner choice signaling increases symbiont and host fitness in the absence of sanctions. Finally, we call for a renewed focus on elucidating the signaling mechanisms that are critical to partner choice while further aiming to understand their evolutionary dynamics in nature.

Application of Transposon Insertion Sequencing to Agricultural Science

Many plant-associated bacteria have the ability to positively affect plant growth and there is growing interest in utilizing such bacteria in agricultural settings to reduce reliance on pesticides and fertilizers. However, our capacity to utilize microbes in this way is currently limited due to patchy understanding of bacterial-plant interactions at a molecular level. Traditional methods of studying molecular interactions have sought to characterize the function of one gene at a time, but the slow pace of this work means the functions of the vast majority of bacterial genes remain unknown or poorly understood. New approaches to improve and speed up investigations into the functions of bacterial genes in agricultural systems will facilitate efforts to optimize microbial communities and develop microbe-based products. Techniques enabling high-throughput gene functional analysis, such as transposon insertion sequencing analyses, have great potential to be widely applied to determine key aspects of plant-bacterial interactions. Transposon insertion sequencing combines saturation transposon mutagenesis and high-throughput sequencing to simultaneously investigate the function of all the non-essential genes in a bacterial genome. This technique can be used for both in vitro and in vivo studies to identify genes involved in microbe-plant interactions, stress tolerance and pathogen virulence. The information provided by such investigations will rapidly accelerate the rate of bacterial gene functional determination and provide insights into the genes and pathways that underlie biotic interactions, metabolism, and survival of agriculturally relevant bacteria. This knowledge could be used to select the most appropriate plant growth promoting bacteria for a specific set of conditions, formulating crop inoculants, or developing crop protection products. This review provides an overview of transposon insertion sequencing, outlines how this approach has been applied to study plant-associated bacteria, and proposes new applications of these techniques for the benefit of agriculture.

Modulating Pathogenesis with Mobile-CRISPRi

Conditionally essential (CE) genes are required by pathogenic bacteria to establish and maintain infections. CE genes encode virulence factors, such as secretion systems and effector proteins, as well as biosynthetic enzymes that produce metabolites not found in the host environment. Due to their outsized importance in pathogenesis, CE gene products are attractive targets for the next generation of antimicrobials. However, the precise manipulation of CE gene expression in the context of infection is technically challenging, limiting our ability to understand the roles of CE genes in pathogenesis and accordingly design effective inhibitors. We previously developed a suite of CRISPR interference-based gene knockdown tools that are transferred by conjugation and stably integrate into bacterial genomes that we call Mobile-CRISPRi. Here, we show the efficacy of Mobile-CRISPRi in controlling CE gene expression in an animal infection model. We optimize Mobile-CRISPRi in Pseudomonas aeruginosa for use in a murine model of pneumonia by tuning the expression of CRISPRi components to avoid nonspecific toxicity. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate that knock down of a CE gene encoding the type III secretion system (T3SS) activator ExsA blocks effector protein secretion in culture and attenuates virulence in mice. We anticipate that Mobile-CRISPRi will be a valuable tool to probe the function of CE genes across many bacterial species and pathogenesis models.IMPORTANCE Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to global health. To optimize the use of our existing antibiotics and identify new targets for future inhibitors, understanding the fundamental drivers of bacterial growth in the context of the host immune response is paramount. Historically, these genetic drivers have been difficult to manipulate precisely, as they are requisite for pathogen survival. Here, we provide the first application of Mobile-CRISPRi to study conditionally essential virulence genes in mouse models of lung infection through partial gene perturbation. We envision the use of Mobile-CRISPRi in future pathogenesis models and antibiotic target discovery efforts.

Periplasmic protein EipA determines envelope stress resistance and virulence in Brucella abortus

Molecular components of the Brucella abortus cell envelope play a major role in its ability to infect, colonize and survive inside mammalian host cells. In this study, we have defined a role for a conserved gene of unknown function in B. abortus envelope stress resistance and infection. Expression of this gene, which we name eipA, is directly activated by the essential cell cycle regulator, CtrA. eipA encodes a soluble periplasmic protein that adopts an unusual eight-stranded β-barrel fold. Deletion of eipA attenuates replication and survival in macrophage and mouse infection models, and results in sensitivity to treatments that compromise the cell envelope integrity. Transposon disruption of genes required for LPS O-polysaccharide biosynthesis is synthetically lethal with eipA deletion. This genetic connection between O-polysaccharide and eipA is corroborated by our discovery that eipA is essential in Brucella ovis, a naturally rough species that harbors mutations in several genes required for O-polysaccharide production. Conditional depletion of eipA expression in B. ovis results in a cell chaining phenotype, providing evidence that eipA directly or indirectly influences cell division in Brucella. We conclude that EipA is a molecular determinant of Brucella virulence that functions to maintain cell envelope integrity and influences cell division.

Multidisciplinary approaches for studying rhizobium–legume symbioses

The rhizobium–legume symbiosis is a major source of fixed nitrogen (ammonia) in the biosphere. The potential for this process to increase agricultural yield while reducing the reliance on nitrogen-based fertilizers has generated interest in understanding and manipulating this process. For decades, rhizobium research has benefited from the use of leading techniques from a very broad set of fields, including population genetics, molecular genetics, genomics, and systems biology. In this review, we summarize many of the research strategies that have been employed in the study of rhizobia and the unique knowledge gained from these diverse tools, with a focus on genome- and systems-level approaches. We then describe ongoing synthetic biology approaches aimed at improving existing symbioses or engineering completely new symbiotic interactions. The review concludes with our perspective of the future directions and challenges of the field, with an emphasis on how the application of a multidisciplinary approach and the development of new methods will be necessary to ensure successful biotechnological manipulation of the symbiosis.

Robustness encoded across essential and accessory replicons of the ecologically versatile bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti

Bacterial genome evolution is characterized by gains, losses, and rearrangements of functional genetic segments. The extent to which large-scale genomic alterations influence genotype-phenotype relationships has not been investigated in a high-throughput manner. In the symbiotic soil bacterium Sinorhizobium meliloti, the genome is composed of a chromosome and two large extrachromosomal replicons (pSymA and pSymB, which together constitute 45% of the genome). Massively parallel transposon insertion sequencing (Tn-seq) was employed to evaluate the contributions of chromosomal genes to growth fitness in both the presence and absence of these extrachromosomal replicons. Ten percent of chromosomal genes from diverse functional categories are shown to genetically interact with pSymA and pSymB. These results demonstrate the pervasive robustness provided by the extrachromosomal replicons, which is further supported by constraint-based metabolic modeling. A comprehensive picture of core S. meliloti metabolism was generated through a Tn-seq-guided in silico metabolic network reconstruction, producing a core network encompassing 726 genes. This integrated approach facilitated functional assignments for previously uncharacterized genes, while also revealing that Tn-seq alone missed over a quarter of wild-type metabolism. This work highlights the many functional dependencies and epistatic relationships that may arise between bacterial replicons and across a genome, while also demonstrating how Tn-seq and metabolic modeling can be used together to yield insights not obtainable by either method alone.

S. meliloti, which has traditionally facilitated ground-breaking insights into symbiotic communication, is also emerging as an excellent model for studying the evolution of functional relationships between bacterial chromosomes and anciently acquired accessory replicons. Multi-replicon genome architecture is present in ~ 10% of presently sequenced bacterial genomes. The S. meliloti genome is composed of three circular replicons, two of which are dispensable even though they encompass nearly half of the protein-coding genes in this organism. The construction of strains lacking these replicons has enabled a straightforward, genome-wide analysis of interactions between the chromosome and the non-essential replicons, revealing extensive functional cooperation between these genomic components. This analysis enabled a substantial refinement of a metabolic network model for S. meliloti. The integration of massively parallel genotype-phenotype screening with in silico metabolic reconstruction has enhanced our understanding of metabolic network structure as it relates to genome evolution in S. meliloti, and exemplifies an approach that may be productively applied to other taxa. The combined experimental and computational approach employed here further provides unique insights into the pervasive genetic interactions that may exist within large bacterial genomes.

A Metagenome-Wide Association Study and Arrayed Mutant Library Confirm Acetobacter Lipopolysaccharide Genes Are Necessary for Association with Drosophila melanogaster

A metagenome wide association (MGWA) study of bacterial host association determinants in Drosophila predicted that LPS biosynthesis genes are significantly associated with host colonization. We were unable to create site-directed mutants for each of the predicted genes in Acetobacter, so we created an arrayed transposon insertion library using Acetobacter fabarum DsW_054 isolated from Drosophila. Creation of the A. fabarum DsW_054 gene knock-out library was performed by combinatorial mapping and Illumina sequencing of random transposon insertion mutants. Transposon insertion locations for 6,418 mutants were successfully mapped, including hits within 63% of annotated genes in the A. fabarum DsW_054 genome. For 45/45 members of the library, insertion sites were verified by arbitrary PCR and Sanger sequencing. Mutants with insertions in four different LPS biosynthesis genes were selected from the library to validate the MGWA predictions. Insertion mutations in two genes biosynthetically upstream of Lipid-A formation, lpxC and lpxB, show significant differences in host association, whereas mutations in two genes encoding LPS biosynthesis functions downstream of Lipid-A biosynthesis had no effect. These results suggest an impact of bacterial cell surface molecules on the bacterial capacity for host association. Also, the transposon insertion mutant library will be a useful resource for ongoing research on the genetic basis for Acetobacter traits.

Rhizobia: from saprophytes to endosymbionts

Rhizobia are some of the best-studied plant microbiota. These oligotrophic Alphaproteobacteria or Betaproteobacteria form symbioses with their legume hosts. Rhizobia must exist in soil and compete with other members of the microbiota before infecting legumes and forming N₂-fixing bacteroids. These dramatic lifestyle and developmental changes are underpinned by large genomes and even more complex pan-genomes, which encompass the whole population and are subject to rapid genetic exchange. The ability to respond to plant signals and chemoattractants and to colonize nutrient-rich roots are crucial for the competitive success of these bacteria. The availability of a large body of genomic, physiological, biochemical and ecological studies makes rhizobia unique models for investigating community interactions and plant colonization.

Genomic Diversity in the Endosymbiotic Bacterium Rhizobium leguminosarum

Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae is a soil α-proteobacterium that establishes a diazotrophic symbiosis with different legumes of the Fabeae tribe. The number of genome sequences from rhizobial strains available in public databases is constantly increasing, although complete, fully annotated genome structures from rhizobial genomes are scarce. In this work, we report and analyse the complete genome of R. leguminosarum bv. viciae UPM791. Whole genome sequencing can provide new insights into the genetic features contributing to symbiotically relevant processes such as bacterial adaptation to the rhizosphere, mechanisms for efficient competition with other bacteria, and the ability to establish a complex signalling dialogue with legumes, to enter the root without triggering plant defenses, and, ultimately, to fix nitrogen within the host. Comparison of the complete genome sequences of two strains of R. leguminosarum bv. viciae, 3841 and UPM791, highlights the existence of different symbiotic plasmids and a common core chromosome. Specific genomic traits, such as plasmid content or a distinctive regulation, define differential physiological capabilities of these endosymbionts. Among them, strain UPM791 presents unique adaptations for recycling the hydrogen generated in the nitrogen fixation process.

Caulobacter crescentus CdnL is a non-essential RNA polymerase-binding protein whose depletion impairs normal growth and rRNA transcription

CdnL is an essential RNA polymerase (RNAP)-binding activator of rRNA transcription in mycobacteria and myxobacteria but reportedly not in Bacillus. Whether its function and mode of action are conserved in other bacteria thus remains unclear. Because virtually all alphaproteobacteria have a CdnL homolog and none of these have been characterized, we studied the homolog (CdnL_Cc) of the model alphaproteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus. We show that CdnL_Cc is not essential for viability but that its absence or depletion causes slow growth and cell filamentation. CdnL_Cc is degraded in vivo in a manner dependent on its C-terminus, yet excess CdnL_Cc resulting from its stabilization did not adversely affect growth. We find that CdnL_Cc interacts with itself and with the RNAP β subunit, and localizes to at least one rRNA promoter in vivo, whose activity diminishes upon depletion of CdnL_Cc. Interestingly, cells expressing CdnL_Cc mutants unable to interact with the RNAP were cold-sensitive, suggesting that CdnL_Cc interaction with RNAP is especially required at lower than standard growth temperatures in C. crescentus. Our study indicates that despite limited sequence similarities and regulatory differences compared to its myco/myxobacterial homologs, CdnL_Cc may share similar biological functions, since it affects rRNA synthesis, probably by stabilizing open promoter-RNAP complexes.