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Arias D, Zepeda V, Nancucheo I, Saldaña M, Galleguillos PA. Osmotic response in Leptospirillum ferriphilum isolated from an industrial copper bioleaching environment to sulfate. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1369244. [PMID: 38855770 PMCID: PMC11157003 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1369244] [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] [Received: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/08/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
Iron and sulfur-oxidizing microorganisms play important roles in several natural and industrial processes. Leptospirillum (L.) ferriphilum, is an iron-oxidizing microorganism with a remarkable adaptability to thrive in extreme acidic environments, including heap bioleaching processes, acid mine drainage (AMD) and natural acidic water. A strain of L. ferriphilum (IESL25) was isolated from an industrial bioleaching process in northern Chile. This strain was challenged to grow at increasing concentrations of sulfate in order to assess changes in protein expression profiles, cells shape and to determine potential compatible solute molecules. The results unveiled changes in three proteins: succinyl CoA (SCoA) synthetase, isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) and aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase (ASD); which were notably overexpressed when the strain grew at elevated concentrations of sulfate. ASD plays a pivotal role in the synthesis of the compatible solute ectoine, which was identified along with hydroxyectoine by using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). The relationship between IDH, SCoA, and ectoine production could be due to the TCA cycle, in which both enzymes produce metabolites that can be utilized as precursors or intermediates in the biosynthesis of ectoine. In addition, distinct filamentous cellular morphology in L. ferriphilum IESL25 was observed when growing under sulfate stress conditions. This study highlights a new insight into the possible cellular responses of L. ferriphilum under the presence of high sulfate levels, commonly found in bioleaching of sulfide minerals or AMD environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dayana Arias
- Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Applied Microbiology, Centro de Investigación en Fisiología y Medicina de Altura (FIMEDALT), Departamento Biomédico, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile
| | - Víctor Zepeda
- Scientific and Technological Research Centre for Mining Research, CICITEM, Antofagasta, Chile
| | - Ivan Nancucheo
- Facultad de Ingeniería, Arquitectura y Diseño, Universidad San Sebastián, Concepción, Chile
| | - Manuel Saldaña
- Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Arturo Prat University, Iquique, Chile
| | - Pedro A. Galleguillos
- Scientific and Technological Research Centre for Mining Research, CICITEM, Antofagasta, Chile
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Rojano-Nisimura AM, Grismore KB, Ruzek JS, Avila JL, Contreras LM. The Post-Transcriptional Regulatory Protein CsrA Amplifies Its Targetome through Direct Interactions with Stress-Response Regulatory Hubs: The EvgA and AcnA Cases. Microorganisms 2024; 12:636. [PMID: 38674581 PMCID: PMC11052181 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms12040636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2024] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Global rewiring of bacterial gene expressions in response to environmental cues is mediated by regulatory proteins such as the CsrA global regulator from E. coli. Several direct mRNA and sRNA targets of this protein have been identified; however, high-throughput studies suggest an expanded RNA targetome for this protein. In this work, we demonstrate that CsrA can extend its network by directly binding and regulating the evgA and acnA transcripts, encoding for regulatory proteins. CsrA represses EvgA and AcnA expression and disrupting the CsrA binding sites of evgA and acnA, results in broader gene expression changes to stress response networks. Specifically, altering CsrA-evgA binding impacts the genes related to acidic stress adaptation, and disrupting the CsrA-acnA interaction affects the genes involved in metal-induced oxidative stress responses. We show that these interactions are biologically relevant, as evidenced by the improved tolerance of evgA and acnA genomic mutants depleted of CsrA binding sites when challenged with acid and metal ions, respectively. We conclude that EvgA and AcnA are intermediate regulatory hubs through which CsrA can expand its regulatory role. The indirect CsrA regulation of gene networks coordinated by EvgA and AcnA likely contributes to optimizing cellular resources to promote exponential growth in the absence of stress.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kobe B. Grismore
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (K.B.G.); (J.S.R.); (J.L.A.)
| | - Josie S. Ruzek
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (K.B.G.); (J.S.R.); (J.L.A.)
| | - Jacqueline L. Avila
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (K.B.G.); (J.S.R.); (J.L.A.)
| | - Lydia M. Contreras
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, 100 East 24th St. Stop A5000, Austin, TX 78712, USA;
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton St. Stop C0400, Austin, TX 78712, USA; (K.B.G.); (J.S.R.); (J.L.A.)
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Berude JC, Kennouche P, Reniere ML, Portnoy DA. Listeria monocytogenes utilizes glutathione and limited inorganic sulfur compounds as sources of essential cysteine. Infect Immun 2024; 92:e0042223. [PMID: 38289071 PMCID: PMC10929415 DOI: 10.1128/iai.00422-23] [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: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular pathogen that leads a biphasic lifecycle, transitioning its metabolism and selectively inducing virulence genes when it encounters mammalian hosts. Virulence gene expression is controlled by the master virulence regulator PrfA, which is allosterically activated by the host- and bacterially derived glutathione (GSH). The amino acid cysteine is the rate-limiting substrate for GSH synthesis in bacteria and is essential for bacterial growth. Unlike many bacteria, Lm is auxotrophic for cysteine and must import exogenous cysteine for growth and virulence. GSH is enriched in the host cytoplasm, and previous work suggests that Lm utilizes exogenous GSH for PrfA activation. Despite these observations, the import mechanism(s) for GSH remains elusive. Analysis of known GSH importers predicted a homologous importer in Lm comprised of the Ctp ABC transporter and the OppDF ATPases of the Opp oligopeptide importer. Here, we demonstrated that the Ctp complex is a high-affinity GSH/GSSG importer that is required for Lm growth at physiologically relevant concentrations. Furthermore, we demonstrated that OppDF is required for GSH/GSSG import in an Opp-independent manner. These data support a model where Ctp and OppDF form a unique complex for GSH/GSSG import that supports growth and pathogenesis. In addition, we show that Lm utilizes the inorganic sulfur sources thiosulfate and H2S for growth in a CysK-dependent manner in the absence of other cysteine sources. These findings suggest a pathoadaptive role for partial cysteine auxotrophy in Lm, where locally high GSH/GSSG or inorganic sulfur concentrations may signal arrival to distinct host niches.
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Affiliation(s)
- John C. Berude
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Paul Kennouche
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Michelle L. Reniere
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Daniel A. Portnoy
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA
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Berude JC, Kennouche P, Reniere ML, Portnoy DA. Listeria monocytogenes utilizes glutathione and limited inorganic sulfur compounds as a source of essential L-cysteine. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.10.16.562582. [PMID: 37905006 PMCID: PMC10614801 DOI: 10.1101/2023.10.16.562582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes ( Lm ) is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular pathogen that leads a biphasic lifecycle, transitioning its metabolism and selectively inducing virulence genes when it encounters mammalian hosts. Virulence gene expression is controlled by the master virulence regulator PrfA, which is allosterically activated by host- and bacterially-derived glutathione (GSH). The amino acid L-cysteine is the rate-limiting substrate for GSH synthesis in bacteria and is essential for bacterial growth. Unlike many bacteria, Lm is auxotrophic for L-cysteine and must import exogenous cysteine for growth and virulence. GSH is enriched in the host cytoplasm, and previous work suggests that Lm utilizes exogenous GSH for PrfA activation. Despite these observations, the import mechanism(s) for GSH remains elusive. Analysis of known GSH importers predicted a homologous importer in Lm comprised of the Ctp ABC transporter and the OppDF ATPases of the Opp oligopeptide importer. Here, we demonstrated that the Ctp complex is a high-affinity GSH/GSSG importer that is required for Lm growth at physiologically relevant concentrations. Further, we demonstrated that OppDF are required for GSH/GSSG import in an Opp-independent manner. These data support a model where Ctp and OppDF form a unique complex for GSH/GSSG import that supports growth and pathogenesis. Additionally, we show that Lm utilizes the inorganic sulfur sources thiosulfate and H 2 S for growth in a CysK-dependent manner in the absence of other L-cysteine sources. These findings suggest a pathoadaptive role for partial cysteine auxotrophy in Lm , where locally high GSH/GSSG or inorganic sulfur concentrations may signal arrival to distinct host niches.
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Guo K, Glatter T, Paczia N, Liesack W. Asparagine Uptake: a Cellular Strategy of Methylocystis to Combat Severe Salt Stress. Appl Environ Microbiol 2023; 89:e0011323. [PMID: 37184406 PMCID: PMC10305061 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00113-23] [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: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Methylocystis spp. are known to have a low salt tolerance (≤1.0% NaCl). Therefore, we tested various amino acids and other well-known osmolytes for their potential to act as an osmoprotectant under otherwise growth-inhibiting NaCl conditions. Adjustment of the medium to 10 mM asparagine had the greatest osmoprotective effect under severe salinity (1.50% NaCl), leading to partial growth recovery of strain SC2. The intracellular concentration of asparagine increased to 264 ± 57 mM, with a certain portion hydrolyzed to aspartate (4.20 ± 1.41 mM). In addition to general and oxidative stress responses, the uptake of asparagine specifically induced major proteome rearrangements related to the KEGG level 3 categories of "methane metabolism," "pyruvate metabolism," "amino acid turnover," and "cell division." In particular, various proteins involved in cell division (e.g., ChpT, CtrA, PleC, FtsA, FtsH1) and peptidoglycan synthesis showed a positive expression response. Asparagine-derived 13C-carbon was incorporated into nearly all amino acids. Both the exometabolome and the 13C-labeling pattern suggest that in addition to aspartate, the amino acids glutamate, glycine, serine, and alanine, but also pyruvate and malate, were most crucially involved in the osmoprotective effect of asparagine, with glutamate being a major hub between the central carbon and amino acid pathways. In summary, asparagine induced significant proteome rearrangements, leading to major changes in central metabolic pathway activity and the sizes of free amino acid pools. In consequence, asparagine acted, in part, as a carbon source for the growth recovery of strain SC2 under severe salinity. IMPORTANCE Methylocystis spp. play a major role in reducing methane emissions into the atmosphere from methanogenic wetlands. In addition, they contribute to atmospheric methane oxidation in upland soils. Although these bacteria are typical soil inhabitants, Methylocystis spp. are thought to have limited capacity to acclimate to salt stress. This called for a thorough study into potential osmoprotectants, which revealed asparagine as the most promising candidate. Intriguingly, asparagine was taken up quantitatively and acted, at least in part, as an intracellular carbon source under severe salt stress. The effect of asparagine as an osmoprotectant for Methylocystis spp. is an unexpected finding. It may provide Methylocystis spp. with an ecological advantage in wetlands, where these methanotrophs colonize the roots of submerged vascular plants. Collectively, our study offers a new avenue into research on compounds that may increase the resilience of Methylocystis spp. to environmental change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kangli Guo
- Methanotrophic Bacteria and Environmental Genomics/Transcriptomics Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Timo Glatter
- Core Facility for Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Nicole Paczia
- Core Facility for Metabolomics and Small Molecule Mass Spectrometry, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
| | - Werner Liesack
- Methanotrophic Bacteria and Environmental Genomics/Transcriptomics Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany
- Center for Synthetic Microbiology (SYNMIKRO), Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany
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Le LQ, Zhu K, Su H. Bridging ribosomal synthesis to cell growth through the lens of kinetics. Biophys J 2023; 122:544-553. [PMID: 36564946 PMCID: PMC9941725 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.12.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding prokaryotic cell growth requires a multiscale modeling framework from the kinetics perspective. The detailed kinetics pathway of ribosomes exhibits features beyond the scope of the classical Hopfield kinetics model. The complexity of the molecular responses to various nutrient conditions poses additional challenge to elucidate the cell growth. Herein, a kinetics framework is developed to bridge ribosomal synthesis to cell growth. For the ribosomal synthesis kinetics, the competitive binding between cognate and near-cognate tRNAs for ribosomes can be modulated by Mg2+. This results in distinct patterns of the speed - accuracy relation comprising "trade-off" and "competition" regimes. Furthermore, the cell growth rate is optimized by varying the characteristics of ribosomal synthesis through cellular responses to different nutrient conditions. In this scenario, cellular responses to nutrient conditions manifest by two quadratic scaling relations: one for nutrient flux versus cell mass, the other for ribosomal number versus growth rate. Both are in quantitative agreement with experimental measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luan Quang Le
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore; Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
| | - Kaicheng Zhu
- Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China
| | - Haibin Su
- Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
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Liu S, Liu X, Shi Y, Zhuang S, Chen Q. RETRACTED: The adaptive mechanism of halophilic Brachybacterium muris in response to salt stress and its mitigation of copper toxicity in hydroponic plants. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2022; 313:120124. [PMID: 36089137 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 08/27/2022] [Accepted: 09/03/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the Authors who have indicated that there are significant errors with the scientific data upon which this study is based. Specifically, the authors have subsequently discovered that the 16S rDNA sequencing of Brachybacterium muris may not be reliable because of the limited identification methods from a few years ago. The authors are now repeating their experiments to reconfirm their data. The Authors take full responsibility for these errors and offer their sincere apologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siyu Liu
- College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Xiayu Liu
- College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Ying Shi
- College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
| | - Shulin Zhuang
- College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Qihe Chen
- College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China; Future Food Laboratory, Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang University, Jiashan, 310000, China.
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Nguyen K, Kumar P. Morphological Phenotypes, Cell Division, and Gene Expression of Escherichia coli under High Concentration of Sodium Sulfate. Microorganisms 2022; 10:microorganisms10020274. [PMID: 35208727 PMCID: PMC8875244 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10020274] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 01/13/2022] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Sodium and sulfate ions are among the suggested abundant ions on Europa, a moon of Jupiter. In order to investigate the potential habitability of Europa, we study the effects of sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) on a non-halophilic bacterium by subjecting Escherichia coli (E. coli) to a wide range of Na2SO4 concentrations (0–1.0 m). We discover that, as the concentration of sodium sulfate increases, the biomass doubling time increases and the cell growth is completely inhibited at 1.0 m Na2SO4. Furthermore, we find that E. coli exhibits three distinct morphological phenotypes—(i) shortened, (ii) normal, and (iii) elongated/filamented cells at 0.6 m and 0.8 m Na2SO4. We have examined the expression of different genes involved in sodium and sulfate transport (nhaA, nhaB, cysZ, sbp), osmotically driven transport of water (aqpZ), sulfate metabolism (cysN), fatty acid production (fabA), and a global transcriptional regulator (osmZ). Our results suggest that the expression of these genes is not affected significantly at high concentrations of sodium sulfate in the exponential growth phase. Using our experimental data and the existing data in the literature, we show that the osmotic pressure difference may play a major role in determining the growth inhibition of E. coli and B. subtilis at high concentrations of salt.
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Kaur H, Nguyen K, Kumar P. Pressure and temperature dependence of fluorescence anisotropy of green fluorescent protein. RSC Adv 2022; 12:8647-8655. [PMID: 35424839 PMCID: PMC8984833 DOI: 10.1039/d1ra08977c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We have studied the effect of high hydrostatic pressure and temperature on the steady state fluorescence anisotropy of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). We find that the fluorescence anisotropy of GFP at a constant temperature decreases with increasing pressure. At atmospheric pressure, anisotropy decreases with increasing temperature but exhibits a maximum with temperature for pressure larger than 20 MPa. The temperature corresponding to the maximum of anisotropy increases with increasing pressure. By taking into account of the rotational correlation time changes of GFP with the pressure–temperature dependent viscosity of the solvent, we argue that viscosity increase with pressure is not a major contributing factor to the decrease in anisotropy with pressure. The decrease of anisotropy with pressure may result from changes in H-bonding environment around the chromophore. Effect of high hydrostatic pressure and temperature on the steady state fluorescence anisotropy of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP).![]()
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Affiliation(s)
- Harpreet Kaur
- Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Khanh Nguyen
- Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
| | - Pradeep Kumar
- Department of Physics, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA
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Magnesium Hydroxide Nanoparticles Kill Exponentially Growing and Persister Escherichia coli Cells by Causing Physical Damage. NANOMATERIALS 2021; 11:nano11061584. [PMID: 34208716 PMCID: PMC8234494 DOI: 10.3390/nano11061584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Revised: 06/11/2021] [Accepted: 06/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles are widely used in medicinal and hygiene products because of their low toxicity, environment-friendliness, and low cost. Here, we studied the effects of three different sizes of magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles on antibacterial activity: NM80, NM300, and NM700. NM80 (D50 = 75.2 nm) showed a higher bactericidal effect against Escherichia coli than larger nanoparticles (D50 = 328 nm (NM300) or 726 nm (NM700)). Moreover, NM80 showed a high bactericidal effect against not only exponential cells but also persister cells, which are difficult to eliminate owing to their high tolerance to antibiotics. NM80 eliminated strains in which magnesium-transport genes were knocked out and exhibited a bactericidal effect similar to that observed in the wild-type strain. The bactericidal action involved physical cell damage, as confirmed using scanning electron microscopy, which showed that E. coli cells treated with NM80 were directly injured.
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