1
|
Liang QL, Nie LB, Li TT, Elsheikha HM, Sun LX, Zhang ZW, Zhao DY, Zhu XQ, Wang JL. Functional Characterization of 17 Protein Serine/Threonine Phosphatases in Toxoplasma gondii Using CRISPR-Cas9 System. Front Cell Dev Biol 2022; 9:738794. [PMID: 35083211 PMCID: PMC8785970 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.738794] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Protein serine/threonine phosphatases (PSPs), found in various plants and protozoa, are involved in the regulation of various biological processes. However, very little is known about the role of PSPs in the pathogenicity of the apicomplexan protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. Herein, the subcellular localization of 17 PSPs (PP5, PP7, EFPP, SLP, PPM3F, PPM4, PPM5A, PPM5B, PPM6, PPM8, PPM9, PPM12, PPM14, PPM18, CTD1, CTD2, and CTD3) was examined by 6× HA tagging of endogenous genes in C-terminal. The PSPs were detected in the cytoplasm (PP5, EFPP, PPM8, and CTD2), dense granules (SLP), nucleus (PPM4 and PPM9), inner membrane complex (PPM12), basal complex (CTD3), and apical pole (PP7). The remaining PSPs exhibited low or undetectable level of expression. To characterize the contribution of these genes to the infectivity of T. gondii, knock-out (KO) strains of type I RH strain deficient in the 17 psp genes and KO type II Pru strain deficient in pp7 and slp genes were constructed. The pathogenicity of individual RHΔpsp mutants was characterized in vitro using plaque, egress, and intracellular replication assays, and mouse infection, while pathogenicity of PruΔpp7 and PruΔslp mutant strains was evaluated by examining the parasite lytic cycle in vitro and assessment of brain cyst burden in mice. No significant differences were observed between 16 RHΔpsp strains and wild-type (WT) RH strain. However, RHΔpp7 exhibited significantly lower invasion efficiency and parasitophorous vacuole formation in vitro, and less virulence in mice compared with other RHΔpsp and WT strains. In addition, PruΔpp7 exhibited marked attenuation of virulence and significant reduction in the brain cyst burden in mice compared with PruΔslp and WT strains, suggesting the key role of PP7 in the virulence of T. gondii. Comparative transcriptomic profiling of the 17 psp genes showed that they may play different roles in the pathogenesis of different genotypes or life cycle stages of T. gondii. These findings provide new insight into the role of PSPs in the pathogenesis of T. gondii.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qin-Li Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Lan-Bi Nie
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Ting-Ting Li
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Hany M. Elsheikha
- Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Li-Xiu Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Zhi-Wei Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Dan-Yu Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| | - Xing-Quan Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
- College of Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, China
- Key Laboratory of Veterinary Public Health of Higher Education of Yunnan Province, College of Veterinary Medicine, Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming, China
| | - Jin-Lei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Veterinary Etiological Biology, Key Laboratory of Veterinary Parasitology of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Jia Q, Lin Y, Gou X, He L, Shen D, Chen D, Xie W, Lu Y. Legionella pneumophila effector WipA, a bacterial PPP protein phosphatase with PTP activity. Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai) 2018; 50:547-554. [PMID: 29701815 DOI: 10.1093/abbs/gmy042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The gram-negative bacterium Legionella pneumophila invades human's lung and causes Legionnaires' disease. To benefit its survival and replication in cellular milieu, L. pneumophila secrets at least 330 effector proteins into host cells. We found that the effector WipA has the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) activity but does not depend on the classical CX5R motif for activity, suggesting that WipA is an unconventional PTP. Meanwhile, the presence of three other highly conserved motifs typically seen in protein serine/threonine phosphatases and the poor inhibition of WipA activity by okadaic acid led us to propose that WipA is a bacterial protein phosphatase. In addition, the determination of the 2.55-Å crystal structure of WipA revealed that WipA resembles cold-active protein tyrosine phosphatase (CAPTPase), and therefore very likely shares the same catalytic mechanism.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qian Jia
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Yun Lin
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Biomedical Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Xuejing Gou
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Biomedical Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Lei He
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Biomedical Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Dong Shen
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Biomedical Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Dongni Chen
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Biomedical Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Wei Xie
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Key Laboratory of Gene Engineering of the Ministry of Education, State Key Laboratory for Biocontrol, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| | - Yongjun Lu
- School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
- Biomedical Center of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Yang C, Arrizabalaga G. The serine/threonine phosphatases of apicomplexan parasites. Mol Microbiol 2017; 106:1-21. [PMID: 28556455 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.13715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/19/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The balance between phosphorylation and de-phosphorylation, which is delicately regulated by protein kinases and phosphatases, is critical for nearly all biological processes. The Apicomplexa are a large phylum which contains various parasitic protists, including human pathogens, such as Plasmodium, Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium and Babesia species. The diverse life cycles of these parasites are highly complex and, not surprisingly, many of their key steps are exquisitely regulated by phosphorylation. Interestingly, many of the kinases and phosphatases, as well as the substrates involved in these events are unique to the parasites and therefore phosphorylation constitutes a viable target for antiparasitic intervention. Most progress on this realm has come from studies in Toxoplasma and Plasmodium of their respective kinomes and phosphoproteomes. Nonetheless, given their likely importance, phosphatases have recently become the focus of research within the apicomplexan parasites. In this review, we concentrate on serine/threonine phosphatases in apicomplexan parasites, with the focus on comprehensively identifying and naming protein phosphatases in available apicomplexan genomes, and summarizing the progress of their functional analyses in recent years.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chunlin Yang
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Gustavo Arrizabalaga
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Uhrig RG, Moorhead G. AtSLP2 is an intronless protein phosphatase that co-expresses with intronless mitochondrial pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) and tetratricopeptide (TPR) protein encoding genes. PLANT SIGNALING & BEHAVIOR 2017; 12:e1307493. [PMID: 28350216 PMCID: PMC5437834 DOI: 10.1080/15592324.2017.1307493] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2017] [Revised: 03/11/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2017] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Shewanella-like PPP family phosphatases (SLPs) are a unique lineage of eukaryote PPP-family phosphatases of bacterial origin which are not found in metazoans. 1,2 Their absence in metazoans is marked by their ancient bacterial origins and presence in plants. 1 Recently, we found that the SLP2 phosphatase ortholog of Arabidopsis thaliana localized to the mitochondrial intermembrane space (IMS) where it was determined to be activated by mitochondrial intermembrane space protein 40 (MIA40) to regulate seed germination. 3 Through examination of atslp2 knockout (accelerated germination) and 35S::AtSLP2 over-expressing (delayed germination) plants it was found that AtSLP2 influences Arabidopsis thaliana germination rates via gibberellic acid (GA) biosynthesis. 3 However, the exact mechanism by which this occurs remains unresolved. To identify potential partners of AtSLP2 in regulating germination through GA, we undertook a gene co-expression network analysis using RNA-sequencing data available through Genevestigator ( https://genevestigator.com/gv/ ).
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- R. Glen Uhrig
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Group of Plant Biotechnology, Department of Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Greg Moorhead
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
| |
Collapse
|