Evidence Supporting an Antimicrobial Origin of Targeting Peptides to Endosymbiotic Organelles

Regulation of chloroplast biogenesis, development, and signaling by endogenous and exogenous cues

Chloroplasts are one of the defining features in most plants, primarily known for their unique property to carry out photosynthesis. Besides this, chloroplasts are also associated with hormone and metabolite productions. For this, biogenesis and development of chloroplast are required to be synchronized with the seedling growth to corroborate the maximum rate of photosynthesis following the emergence of seedlings. Chloroplast biogenesis and development are dependent on the signaling to and from the chloroplast, which are in turn regulated by several endogenous and exogenous cues. Light and hormones play a crucial role in chloroplast maturation and development. Chloroplast signaling involves a coordinated two-way connection between the chloroplast and nucleus, termed retrograde and anterograde signaling, respectively. Anterograde and retrograde signaling are involved in regulation at the transcriptional level and downstream modifications and are modulated by several metabolic and external cues. The communication between chloroplast and nucleus is essential for plants to develop strategies to cope with various stresses including high light or high heat. In this review, we have summarized several aspects of chloroplast development and its regulation through the interplay of various external and internal factors. We have also discussed the involvement of chloroplasts as sensors of various external environment stress factors including high light and temperature, and communicate via a series of retrograde signals to the nucleus, thus playing an essential role in plants' abiotic stress response.

Understanding protein import in diverse non-green plastids

The spectacular diversity of plastids in non-green organs such as flowers, fruits, roots, tubers, and senescing leaves represents a Universe of metabolic processes in higher plants that remain to be completely characterized. The endosymbiosis of the plastid and the subsequent export of the ancestral cyanobacterial genome to the nuclear genome, and adaptation of the plants to all types of environments has resulted in the emergence of diverse and a highly orchestrated metabolism across the plant kingdom that is entirely reliant on a complex protein import and translocation system. The TOC and TIC translocons, critical for importing nuclear-encoded proteins into the plastid stroma, remain poorly resolved, especially in the case of TIC. From the stroma, three core pathways (cpTat, cpSec, and cpSRP) may localize imported proteins to the thylakoid. Non-canonical routes only utilizing TOC also exist for the insertion of many inner and outer membrane proteins, or in the case of some modified proteins, a vesicular import route. Understanding this complex protein import system is further compounded by the highly heterogeneous nature of transit peptides, and the varying transit peptide specificity of plastids depending on species and the developmental and trophic stage of the plant organs. Computational tools provide an increasingly sophisticated means of predicting protein import into highly diverse non-green plastids across higher plants, which need to be validated using proteomics and metabolic approaches. The myriad plastid functions enable higher plants to interact and respond to all kinds of environments. Unraveling the diversity of non-green plastid functions across the higher plants has the potential to provide knowledge that will help in developing climate resilient crops.

Converting antimicrobial into targeting peptides reveals key features governing protein import into mitochondria and chloroplasts

We asked what peptide features govern targeting to the mitochondria versus the chloroplast, using antimicrobial peptides as a starting point. This approach was inspired by the endosymbiotic hypothesis that organelle-targeting peptides derive from antimicrobial amphipathic peptides delivered by the host cell, to which organelle progenitors became resistant. To explore the molecular changes required to convert antimicrobial into targeting peptides, we expressed a set of 13 antimicrobial peptides in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Peptides were systematically modified to test distinctive features of mitochondrion- and chloroplast-targeting peptides, and we assessed their targeting potential by following the intracellular localization and maturation of a Venus fluorescent reporter used as a cargo protein. Mitochondrial targeting can be achieved by some unmodified antimicrobial peptide sequences. Targeting to both organelles is improved by replacing lysines with arginines. Chloroplast targeting is enabled by the presence of flanking unstructured sequences, additional constraints consistent with chloroplast endosymbiosis having occurred in a cell that already contained mitochondria. If indeed targeting peptides evolved from antimicrobial peptides, then required modifications imply a temporal evolutionary scenario with an early exchange of cationic residues and a late acquisition of chloroplast-specific motifs.

A mitochondrion-free eukaryote contains proteins capable of import into an exogenous mitochondrion-related organelle

The endobiotic flagellate Monocercomonoides exilis is the only known eukaryote to have lost mitochondria and all its associated proteins in its evolutionary past. This final stage of the mitochondrial evolutionary pathway may serve as a model to explain events at their very beginning such as the initiation of protein import. We have assessed the capability of proteins from this eukaryote to enter emerging mitochondria using a specifically designed in vitro assay. Hydrogenosomes (reduced mitochondria) of Trichomonas vaginalis were incubated with a soluble protein pool derived from a cytosolic fraction of M. exilis, and proteins entering hydrogenosomes were subsequently detected by mass spectrometry. The assay detected 19 specifically and reproducibly imported proteins, and in 14 cases the import was confirmed by the overexpression of their tagged version in T. vaginalis. In most cases, only a small portion of the signal reached the hydrogenosomes, suggesting specific but inefficient transport. Most of these proteins represent enzymes of carbon metabolism, and none exhibited clear signatures of proteins targeted to hydrogenosomes or mitochondria, which is consistent with their inefficient import. The observed phenomenon may resemble a primaeval type of protein import which might play a role in the establishment of the organelle and shaping of its proteome in the initial stages of endosymbiosis.

Light-driven processes: key players of the functional biodiversity in microalgae

Microalgae are prominent aquatic organisms, responsible for about half of the photosynthetic activity on Earth. Over the past two decades, breakthroughs in genomics and ecosystem biology, as well as the development of genetic resources in model species, have redrawn the boundaries of our knowledge on the relevance of these microbes in global ecosystems. However, considering their vast biodiversity and complex evolutionary history, our comprehension of algal biology remains limited. As algae rely on light, both as their main source of energy and for information about their environment, we focus here on photosynthesis, photoperception, and chloroplast biogenesis in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and marine diatoms. We describe how the studies of light-driven processes are key to assessing functional biodiversity in evolutionary distant microalgae. We also emphasize that integration of laboratory and environmental studies, and dialogues between different scientific communities are both timely and essential to understand the life of phototrophs in complex ecosystems and to properly assess the consequences of environmental changes on aquatic environments globally.

Plant photoreceptors and their signalling components in chloroplastic anterograde and retrograde communication

The red phytochrome and blue cryptochrome plant photoreceptors play essential roles in promoting genome-wide changes in nuclear and chloroplastic gene expression for photomorphogenesis, plastid development, and greening. While their importance in anterograde signalling has been long recognized, the molecular mechanisms involved remain under active investigation. More recently, the intertwining of the light signalling cascades with the retrograde signals for the optimization of chloroplast functions has been acknowledged. Advances in the field support the participation of phytochromes, cryptochromes, and key light-modulated transcription factors, including HY5 and the PIFs, in the regulation of chloroplastic biochemical pathways that produce retrograde signals, including the tetrapyrroles and the chloroplastic MEP-isoprenoids. Interestingly, in a feedback loop, the photoreceptors and their signalling components are targets themselves of these retrograde signals, aimed at optimizing photomorphogenesis to the status of the chloroplasts, with GUN proteins functioning at the convergence points. High light and shade are also conditions where the photoreceptors tune growth responses to chloroplast functions. Interestingly, photoreceptors and retrograde signals also converge in the modulation of dual-localized proteins (chloroplastic/nuclear) including WHIRLY and HEMERA/pTAC12, whose functions are required for the optimization of photosynthetic activities in changing environments and are proposed to act themselves as retrograde signals.

Increasing the Efficiency of the Accumulation of Recombinant Proteins in Plant Cells: The Role of Transport Signal Peptides

The problem with increasing the yield of recombinant proteins is resolvable using different approaches, including the transport of a target protein to cell compartments with a low protease activity. In the cell, protein targeting involves short-signal peptide sequences recognized by intracellular protein transport systems. The main systems of the protein transport across membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum and endosymbiotic organelles are reviewed here, as are the major types and structure of the signal sequences targeting proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum and its derivatives, to plastids, and to mitochondria. The role of protein targeting to certain cell organelles depending on specific features of recombinant proteins and the effect of this targeting on the protein yield are discussed, in addition to the main directions of the search for signal sequences based on their primary structure. This knowledge makes it possible not only to predict a protein localization in the cell but also to reveal the most efficient sequences with potential biotechnological utility.

Selenophene-Modified Boron Dipyrromethene-Based Photosensitizers Exhibit Photodynamic Inhibition on a Broad Range of Bacteria

Microorganisms are crucial for human survival in view of both mutualistic and pathogen interactions. The control of the balance could be achieved by use of the antibiotics. There is a continuous arms race that exists between the pathogen and the antibiotics. The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria threatens health even for insignificant injuries. However, the discovery of new antibiotics is not a fast process, and the healthcare system will suffer if the evolution of MDR lingers in its current frequency. The cationic photosensitizers (PSs) provide a unique approach to develop novel, light-inducible antimicrobial drugs. Here, we examine the antimicrobial activity of innovative selenophene-modified boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY)-based PSs on a variety of Gram (+) and Gram (-) bacteria. The candidates demonstrate a level of confidence in both light-dependent and independent inhibition of bacterial growth. Among them, selenophene conjugated PS candidates (BOD-Se and BOD-Se-I) are promising agents to induce photodynamic inhibition (PDI) on all experimented bacteria: E. coli, S. aureus, B. cereus, and P. aeruginosa. Further characterizations revealed that photocleavage ability on DNA molecules could be potentially advantageous over extracellular DNA possessing biofilm-forming bacteria such as B. cereus and P. aeruginosa. Microscopy analysis with fluorescent BOD-H confirmed the colocalization on GFP expressing E. coli.

The evolutionary history of peptidases involved in the processing of Organelle-Targeting Peptides

Most of the proteins present in mitochondria and chloroplasts, the organelles acquired via endosymbiotic events, are encoded in the nucleus and translated into the cytosol. Most of such nuclear-encoded proteins are specifically recognized via an N-terminal-encoded targeting peptide (TP) and imported into the organelles via a translocon machinery. Once imported, the TP is degraded by a succession of cleavage steps ensured by dedicated peptidases. Here, we retrace the evolution of the families of the mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP), stromal processing peptidase (SPP), presequence protease (PreP), and organellar oligo-peptidase (OOP) that play a central role in TP processing and degradation across the tree of life. Their bacterial distributions are widespread but patchy, revealing unsurprisingly complex history of lateral transfers among bacteria. We provide evidence for the eukaryotic acquisition of MPP, OOP, and PreP by lateral gene transfers from bacteria at the time of the mitochondrial endosymbiosis. We show that the acquisition of SPP and of a second copy of OOP and PreP at the time of the chloroplast endosymbiosis was followed by a differential loss of one PreP paralog in photosynthetic eukaryotes. We identified some contrasting sequence conservations between bacterial and eukaryotic homologs that could reflect differences in the functional context of their peptidase activity. The close vicinity of the eukaryotic peptidases MPP and OOP to those of several bacterial pathogens, showing antimicrobial resistance, supports a scenario where such bacteria were instrumental in the establishment of the proteolytic pathway for TP degradation in organelles. The evidence for their role in the acquisition of PreP is weaker, and none is observed for SPP, although it cannot be excluded by the present study.

Transit Peptides Often Require Downstream Unstructured Sequence for Efficient Chloroplast Import in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

The N-terminal sequence stretch that defines subcellular targeting for most nuclear encoded chloroplast proteins is usually considered identical to the sequence that is cleaved upon import. Yet here this study shows that for eight out of ten tested Chlamydomonas chloroplast transit peptides, significant additional sequence stretches past the cleavage site are required to enable efficient chloroplast import of heterologous cargo proteins. Analysis of Chlamydomonas cTPs with known cleavage sites and replacements of native post-cleavage residues with alternative sequences points to a role for unstructured sequence at mature protein N-termini.

Plant mitochondria - past, present and future

The study of plant mitochondria started in earnest around 1950 with the first isolations of mitochondria from animal and plant tissues. The first 35 years were spent establishing the basic properties of plant mitochondria and plant respiration using biochemical and physiological approaches. A number of unique properties (compared to mammalian mitochondria) were observed: (i) the ability to oxidize malate, glycine and cytosolic NAD(P)H at high rates; (ii) the partial insensitivity to rotenone, which turned out to be due to the presence of a second NADH dehydrogenase on the inner surface of the inner mitochondrial membrane in addition to the classical Complex I NADH dehydrogenase; and (iii) the partial insensitivity to cyanide, which turned out to be due to an alternative oxidase, which is also located on the inner surface of the inner mitochondrial membrane, in addition to the classical Complex IV, cytochrome oxidase. With the appearance of molecular biology methods around 1985, followed by genomics, further unique properties were discovered: (iv) plant mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is 10-600 times larger than the mammalian mtDNA, yet it only contains approximately 50% more genes; (v) plant mtDNA has kept the standard genetic code, and it has a low divergence rate with respect to point mutations, but a high recombinatorial activity; (vi) mitochondrial mRNA maturation includes a uniquely complex set of activities for processing, splicing and editing (at hundreds of sites); (vii) recombination in mtDNA creates novel reading frames that can produce male sterility; and (viii) plant mitochondria have a large proteome with 2000-3000 different proteins containing many unique proteins such as 200-300 pentatricopeptide repeat proteins. We describe the present and fairly detailed picture of the structure and function of plant mitochondria and how the unique properties make their metabolism more flexible allowing them to be involved in many diverse processes in the plant cell, such as photosynthesis, photorespiration, CAM and C4 metabolism, heat production, temperature control, stress resistance mechanisms, programmed cell death and genomic evolution. However, it is still a challenge to understand how the regulation of metabolism and mtDNA expression works at the cellular level and how retrograde signaling from the mitochondria coordinates all those processes.

How retrograde signaling is intertwined with the evolution of photosynthetic eukaryotes

Chloroplasts and mitochondria evolved from free-living prokaryotic organisms that entered the eukaryotic cell through endosymbiosis. The gradual conversion from endosymbiont to organelle during the course of evolution was accompanied by the development of a communication system between the host and the endosymbiont, referred to as retrograde signaling or organelle-to-nucleus signaling. In higher plants, plastid-to-nucleus signaling involves multiple signaling pathways necessary to coordinate plastid function and cellular responses to developmental and environmental stimuli. Phylogenetic reconstructions using sequence information from evolutionarily diverse photosynthetic eukaryotes have begun to provide information about how retrograde signaling pathways were adopted and modified in different lineages over time. A tight communication system was likely a major facilitator of plants conquest of the land because it would have enabled the algal ancestors of land plants to better allocate their cellular resources in response to high light and desiccation, the major stressor for streptophyte algae in a terrestrial habitat. In this review, we aim to give an evolutionary perspective on plastid-to-nucleus signaling.

Understanding the evolution of endosymbiotic organelles based on the targeting sequences of organellar proteins

Organellogenesis, a key aspect of eukaryotic cell evolution, critically depends on the successful establishment of organellar protein import mechanisms. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the evolution of the two endosymbiotic organelles, the mitochondrion and the chloroplast, is thought to have occurred at time periods far from each other. Despite this, chloroplasts and mitochondria have highly similar protein import mechanisms. This raises intriguing questions such as what underlies such similarity in the import mechanisms and how these similar mechanisms have evolved. In this review, we summarise the recent findings regarding sorting and specific targeting of these organellar proteins. Based on these findings, we propose possible evolutionary scenarios regarding how the signal sequences of chloroplasts and mitochondrial proteins ended up having such relationship.

CancerGram: An Effective Classifier for Differentiating Anticancer from Antimicrobial Peptides

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) constitute a diverse group of bioactive molecules that provide multicellular organisms with protection against microorganisms, and microorganisms with weaponry for competition. Some AMPs can target cancer cells; thus, they are called anticancer peptides (ACPs). Due to their small size, positive charge, hydrophobicity and amphipathicity, AMPs and ACPs interact with negatively charged components of biological membranes. AMPs preferentially permeabilize microbial membranes, but ACPs additionally target mitochondrial and plasma membranes of cancer cells. The preference towards mitochondrial membranes is explained by their membrane potential, membrane composition resulting from α-proteobacterial origin and the fact that mitochondrial targeting signals could have evolved from AMPs. Taking into account the therapeutic potential of ACPs and millions of deaths due to cancer annually, it is of vital importance to find new cationic peptides that selectively destroy cancer cells. Therefore, to reduce the costs of experimental research, we have created a robust computational tool, CancerGram, that uses n-grams and random forests for predicting ACPs. Compared to other ACP classifiers, CancerGram is the first three-class model that effectively classifies peptides into: ACPs, AMPs and non-ACPs/non-AMPs, with AU1U amounting to 0.89 and a Kappa statistic of 0.65. CancerGram is available as a web server and R package on GitHub.

Introduction of a leaky stop codon as molecular tool in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Expression of proteins in the chloroplast or mitochondria of the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii can be achieved by directly inserting transgenes into organellar genomes, or through nuclear expression and post-translational import. A number of tools have been developed in the literature for achieving high expression levels from the nuclear genome despite messy genomic integration and widespread silencing of transgenes. Here, recent advances in the field are combined and two systems of bicistronic expression, based on ribosome reinitiation or ribosomal skip induced by a viral 2A sequence, are compared side-by-side. Further, the small subunit of Rubisco (RBCS) was developed as a functional nuclear reporter for successful chloroplast import and restoration of photosynthesis: To be able to combine RBCS with a Venus fluorescent reporter without compromising photosynthetic activity, a leaky stop codon is introduced as a novel molecular tool that allows the simultaneous expression of functional and fluorescently tagged versions of the protein from a single construct.