Potential Whole-Cell Biosensors for Detection of Metal Using MerR Family Proteins from Enterobacter sp. YSU and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia OR02

Cell-based biosensors harness a cell's ability to respond to the environment by repurposing its sensing mechanisms. MerR family proteins are activator/repressor switches that regulate the expression of bacterial metal resistance genes and have been used in metal biosensors. Upon metal binding, a conformational change switches gene expression from off to on. The genomes of the multimetal resistant bacterial strains, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Oak Ridge strain 02 (S. maltophilia 02) and Enterobacter sp. YSU, were recently sequenced. Sequence analysis and gene cloning identified three mercury resistance operons and three MerR switches in these strains. Transposon mutagenesis and sequence analysis identified Enterobacter sp. YSU zinc and copper resistance operons, which appear to be regulated by the protein switches, ZntR and CueR, respectively. Sequence analysis and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) showed that a CueR switch appears to activate a S. maltophilia 02 copper transport gene in the presence of CuSO₄ and HAuCl₄·3H₂O. In previous studies, genetic engineering replaced metal resistance genes with the reporter genes for β-galactosidase, luciferase or the green fluorescence protein (GFP). These produce a color change of a reagent, produce light, or fluoresce in the presence of ultraviolet (UV) light, respectively. Coupling these discovered operons with reporter genes has the potential to create whole-cell biosensors for HgCl₂, ZnCl₂, CuSO₄ and HAuCl₄·3H₂O.

Identification of peptide sequences that selectively bind to pentaerythritol trinitrate hemisuccinate-a surrogate of PETN, via phage display technology

The present research investigates the identification of amino acid sequences that selectively bind to a pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) explosive surrogate. Through the use of a phage display technique and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), a peptide library was tested against pentaerythritol trinitrate hemisuccinate (PETNH), a surrogate of PETN, to screen for those with amino acids having affinity toward the explosive. The results suggest that the library contains peptides selective to PETNH. Following three rounds of panning, clones were picked and tested for specificity toward PETNH. ELISA results from these samples show that each phage clone has some level of selectivity for binding to PETNH. The peptides from these clones have been sequenced and shown to contain certain common amino acid segments among them. This work represents a technological platform for identifying amino-acid sequences selective toward any bio-chem analyte of interest.

Proteomic profiling of L-cysteine induced selenite resistance in Enterobacter sp. YSU

Background

Enterobacter sp. YSU is resistant to several different heavy metal salts, including selenite. A previous study using M-9 minimal medium showed that when the selenite concentration was 100,000 times higher than the sulfate concentration, selenite entered Escherichia coli cells using two pathways: a specific and a non-specific pathway. In the specific pathway, selenite entered the cells through a yet to be characterized channel dedicated for selenite. In the non-specific pathway, selenite entered the cells through a sulfate permease channel. Addition of L-cystine, an L-cysteine dimer, appeared to indirectly decrease selenite import into the cell through the non-specific pathway. However, it did not affect the level of selenite transport into the cell through the specific pathway.

Results

Growth curves using M-9 minimal medium containing 40 mM selenite and 1 mM sulfate showed that Enterobacter sp. YSU grew when L-cysteine was present but died when it was absent. Differential protein expression analysis by two dimensional gel electrophoresis showed that CysK was present in cultures containing selenite and lacking L-cysteine but absent in cultures containing both selenite and L-cysteine. Additional RT-PCR studies demonstrated that transcripts for the sulfate permease genes, cysA, cysT and cysW, were down-regulated in the presence of L-cysteine.

Conclusion

L-cysteine appeared to confer selenite resistance upon Enterobacter sp. YSU by decreasing the level of selenite transport into the cell through the non-specific pathway.

Comparison of two multimetal resistant bacterial strains: Enterobacter sp. YSU and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ORO2

The Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, TN, which manufactured nuclear weapons during World War II and the Cold War, contaminated East Fork Poplar Creek with heavy metals. The multimetal resistant bacterial strain, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia Oak Ridge strain O2 (S. maltophilia O2), was isolated from East Fork Poplar Creek. Sequence analysis of 16s rDNA suggested that our working strain of S. maltophilia O2 was a strain of Enterobacter. Phylogenetic tree analysis and biochemical tests confirmed that it belonged to an Enterobacter species. This new strain was named Enterobacter sp. YSU. Using a modified R3A growth medium, R3A-Tris, the Hg(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), Cu(II), Au(III), Cr(VI), Ag(I), As(III), and Se(IV) MICs for a confirmed strain of S. maltophilia O2 were 0.24, 0.33, 5, 5, 0.25, 7, 0.03, 14, and 40 mM, respectively, compared to 0.07, 0.24, 0.8, 3, 0.05, 0.4, 0.08, 14, and 40 mM, respectively, for Enterobacter sp. YSU. Although S. maltophilia O2 was generally more metal resistant than Enterobacter sp. YSU, in comparison to Escherichia coli strain HB101, Enterobacter sp. YSU was resistant to Hg(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), Au(III), Ag(I), As(III), and Se(IV). By studying metal resistances in these two strains, it may be possible to understand what makes one microorganism more metal resistant than another microorganism. This work also provided benchmark MICs that can be used to evaluate the metal resistance properties of other bacterial isolates from East Fork Poplar Creek and other metal contaminated sites.

Engineered single-chain, antiparallel, coiled coil mimics the MerR metal binding site

The repressor-activator MerR that controls transcription of the mercury resistance (mer) operon is unusual for its high sensitivity and specificity for Hg(II) in in vivo and in vitro transcriptional assays. The metal-recognition domain of MerR resides at the homodimer interface in a novel antiparallel arrangement of alpha-helix 5 that forms a coiled-coil motif. To facilitate the study of this novel metal binding motif, we assembled this antiparallel coiled coil into a single chain by directly fusing two copies of the 48-residue alpha-helix 5 of MerR. The resulting 107-residue polypeptide, called the metal binding domain (MBD), and wild-type MerR were overproduced and purified, and their metal-binding properties were determined in vivo and in vitro. In vitro MBD bound ca. 1.0 equivalent of Hg(II) per pair of binding sites, just as MerR does, and it showed only a slightly lower affinity for Hg(II) than did MerR. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure data showed that MBD has essentially the same Hg(II) coordination environment as MerR. In vivo, cells overexpressing MBD accumulated 70 to 100% more (203)Hg(II) than cells bearing the vector alone, without deleterious effects on cell growth. Both MerR and MBD variously bound other thiophilic metal ions, including Cd(II), Zn(II), Pb(II), and As(III), in vitro and in vivo. We conclude that (i) it is possible to simulate in a single polypeptide chain the in vitro and in vivo metal-binding ability of dimeric, full-length MerR and (ii) MerR's specificity in transcriptional activation does not reside solely in the metal-binding step.

ATP hydrolysis catalyzed by a beta subunit preparation purified from the chloroplast energy transducing complex CF1.CF0

Washing thylakoid membranes with 1 M LiCl causes the release of the beta subunit from the chloroplast energy transducing complex (CF1.CF0) in spinach chloroplasts. This protein purifies by size exclusion chromatography as a 180-kDa aggregate and, thus, is probably composed of a trimer of beta polypeptides. The purified aggregate binds ADP to a high and a low affinity site with dissociation constants of 15 and 202 microM, respectively. Mg2+ is required for ADP to bind to both sites. Manganese binds to the protein in a cooperative manner to at least two sites with high affinity. The beta subunit preparation catalyzes Mg2+-dependent ATP hydrolysis at rates which are comparable to other subunit-deficient CF1 preparations and is increased by treatments known to activate the Mg2+-ATPase activity of CF1. However, Ca2+ is not an effective cofactor for this reaction and treatments which activate the Ca2+-ATPase of CF1 are either ineffective or inhibitory.