Giulia Runti

Functional characterization of SbmA, a bacterial inner membrane transporter required for importing the antimicrobial peptide Bac7(1-35).

SbmA is an inner membrane protein of Gram-negative bacteria that is involved in the internalization of glycopeptides and prokaryotic and eukaryotic antimicrobial peptides, as well as of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) oligomers. The SbmA homolog BacA is required for the development of Sinorhizobium meliloti bacteroids within plant cells and favors chronic infections with Brucella abortus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in mice. Here, we investigated functional features of SbmA/BacA using the proline-rich antimicrobial peptide Bac7(1-35) as a substrate. Circular dichroism and affinity chromatography studies were used to investigate the ability of SbmA to bind the peptide, and a whole-cell transport assay with fluorescently labeled peptide allowed the determination of transport kinetic parameters with a calculated Km value of 6.95 ± 0.89 μM peptide and a Vmax of 53.91 ± 3.17 nmol/min/mg SbmA. Use of a bacterial two-hybrid system coupled to SEC-MALLS (size exclusion chromatography coupled with multiangle laser light scattering) analyses established that SbmA is a homodimer in the membrane, and treatment of the cells with arsenate or ionophores indicated that the peptide transport mediated by SbmA is driven by the electrochemical gradient. Overall, these results shed light on the SbmA-mediated internalization of peptide substrates and suggest that the transport of an unknown substrate(s) represents the function of this protein.

Non-Membrane Permeabilizing Modes of Action of Antimicrobial Peptides on Bacteria

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a large class of innate immunity effectors with a remarkable capacity to inactivate microorganisms. Their ability to kill bacteria by membranolytic effects has been well established. However, a lot of evidence points to alternative, non-lytic modes of action for a number of AMPs, which operate through interactions with specific molecular targets. It has been reported that non-membrane-permeabilizing AMPs can bind to and inhibit DNA, RNA or protein synthesis processes, inactivate essential intracellular enzymes, or affect membrane septum formation and cell wall synthesis. This minireview summarizes recent findings on these alternative, non-lytic modes of antimicrobial action with an emphasis to the experimental approaches used to clarify each step of their intracellular action, i.e. the cell penetration mechanism, intracellular localization and molecular mechanisms of antibacterial action. Despite the fact that such data exists for a large number of peptides, our analysis indicates that only for a small number of AMPs sufficient data have been collected to support a mode of action with an authentic and substantial contribution by intracellular targeting. In most cases, peptides with non-lytic features have not been thoroughly analyzed, or only a single aspect of their mode of action has been taken into consideration and therefore their mechanism of action can only be hypothesized. A more detailed knowledge of this class of AMPs would be important in the design of novel antibacterial agents against unexploited targets, endowed with the capacity to penetrate into pathogen cells and kill them from within.

Functional and Structural Study of the Dimeric Inner Membrane Protein SbmA

SbmA protein has been proposed as a dimeric secondary transporter. The protein is involved in the transport of microcins B17 and J25, bleomycin, proline-rich antimicrobial peptides, antisense peptide phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers, and peptide nucleic acids into the Escherichia coli cytoplasm. The sbmA homologue is found in a variety of bacteria, though the physiological role of the protein is hitherto unknown. In this work, we carried out a functional and structural analysis to determine which amino acids are critical for the transport properties of SbmA. We created a set of 15 site-directed sbmA mutants in which single conserved amino acids were replaced by glycine residues. Our work demonstrated that strains carrying the site-directed mutants V102G, F219G, and E276G had a null phenotype for SbmA transport functions. In contrast, strains carrying the single point mutants W19G, W53G, F60G, S69G, N155G, R190, L233G, A344G, T255G, N308G, and R385G showed transport capacities indistinguishable from those of strains harboring a wild-type sbmA. The strain carrying the Y116G mutant exhibited mixed phenotypic characteristics. We also demonstrated that those sbmA mutants with severely impaired transport capacity showed a dominant negative phenotype. Electron microscopy data and in silico three-dimensional (3D) homology modeling support the idea that SbmA forms a homodimeric complex, closely resembling the membrane-spanning region of the ATP-binding cassette transporter family. Direct mapping of the sbmA single point mutants on the protein surface allowed us to explain the observed phenotypic differences in transport ability.

Enteric YaiW Is a Surface-Exposed Outer Membrane Lipoprotein That Affects Sensitivity to an Antimicrobial Peptide

yaiW is a previously uncharacterized gene found in enteric bacteria that is of particular interest because it is located adjacent to the sbmA gene, whose bacA ortholog is required for Sinorhizobium meliloti symbiosis and Brucella abortus pathogenesis. We show that yaiW is cotranscribed with sbmA in Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Typhimurium strains. We present evidence that the YaiW is a palmitate-modified surface exposed outer membrane lipoprotein. Since BacA function affects the very-long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) modification of S. meliloti and B. abortus lipid A, we tested whether SbmA function might affect either the fatty acid modification of the YaiW lipoprotein or the fatty acid modification of enteric lipid A but found that it did not. Interestingly, we did observe that E. coli SbmA suppresses deficiencies in the VLCFA modification of the lipopolysaccharide of an S. meliloti bacA mutant despite the absence of VLCFA in E. coli. Finally, we found that both YaiW and SbmA positively affect the uptake of proline-rich Bac7 peptides, suggesting a possible connection between their cellular functions.

The Mechanism of Killing by the Proline-Rich Peptide Bac7(1–35) against Clinical Strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Differs from That against Other Gram-Negative Bacteria

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections represent a serious threat to worldwide health. Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PR-AMPs), a particular group of peptide antibiotics, have demonstrated in vitro activity against P. aeruginosa strains. Here we show that the mammalian PR-AMP Bac7(1–35) is active against some multidrug-resistant cystic fibrosis isolates of P. aeruginosa. By confocal microscopy and cytometric analyses, we investigated the mechanism of killing against P. aeruginosa strain PAO1 and three selected isolates, and we observed that the peptide inactivated the target cells by disrupting their cellular membranes. This effect is deeply different from that previously described for PR-AMPs in Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, where these peptides act intracellularly after having been internalized by means of the transporter SbmA without membranolytic effects. The heterologous expression of SbmA in PAO1 cells enhanced the internalization of Bac7(1–35) into the cytoplasm, making the bacteria more susceptible to the peptide but at the same time more resistant to the membrane lysis, similarly to what occurs in E. coli. The results evidenced a new mechanism of action for PR-AMPs and indicate that Bac7 has multiple and variable modes of action that depend on the characteristics of the different target species and the possibility to be internalized by bacterial transporters. This feature broadens the spectrum of activity of the peptide and makes the development of peptide-resistant bacteria a more difficult process.

Inner membrane proteins YgdD and SbmA are required for the complete susceptibility of Escherichia coli to the proline-rich antimicrobial peptide arasin 1(1-25)

Arasin 1 from the spider crab Hyas araneus is a proline-rich antimicrobial peptide, which kills target bacteria by a non-membranolytic mechanism. By using a fluorescent derivative of the peptide, we showed that arasin 1 rapidly penetrates into Escherichia coli cells without membrane damage. To unravel its mode of action, a knock-out gene library of E. coli was screened and two types of mutants with a less susceptible phenotype to the arasin 1 fragment (1-23) were found. The first bore the mutation of sbmA, a gene coding for an inner membrane protein involved in the uptake of different antibiotic peptides. The second one was located in the ygdD gene, coding for a conserved inner membrane protein of unknown function. Functional studies showed that YgdD is required for the full susceptibility to arasin 1(1-25), possibly by supporting its uptake and/or intracellular action. These results indicate that different bacterial proteins are exploited by arasin 1(1-25) to exert its antibacterial activity and add new insights in the complex mode of action of proline-rich antimicrobial peptides.

Methods for Elucidating the Mechanism of Action of Proline-Rich and Other Non-lytic Antimicrobial Peptides

A distinct group of antimicrobial peptides kills bacteria by interfering with internal cellular functions and without concurrent lytic effects on cell membranes. Here we describe some methods to investigate the mechanisms of action of these antimicrobial peptides. They include assays to detect the possible temporal separation between membrane permeabilization and bacterial killing events, to assess the capacity of antimicrobial peptides to cross the bacterial membranes and reside in the cytoplasm, and later to inhibit vital cell functions such as DNA transcription and protein translation.

D-BMAP18 Antimicrobial Peptide Is Active In vitro, Resists to Pulmonary Proteases but Loses Its Activity in a Murine Model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Lung Infection

The spread of antibiotic resistant-pathogens is driving the search for new antimicrobial compounds. Pulmonary infections experienced by cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are a dramatic example of this health-care emergency. Antimicrobial peptides could answer the need for new antibiotics but translating them from basic research to the clinic is a challenge. We have previously evaluated the potential of the small membranolytic peptide BMAP-18 to treat CF-related infections, discovering that while this molecule had a good activity in vitro it was not active in vivo because of its rapid degradation by pulmonary proteases. In this study, we synthesized and tested the proteases-resistant all-D enantiomer. In spite of a good antimicrobial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia clinical isolates and of a tolerable cytotoxicity in vitro, D-BMAP18 was ineffective to treat P. aeruginosa pulmonary infection in mice, in comparison to tobramycin. We observed that different factors other than peptide degradation hampered its efficacy for pulmonary application. These results indicate that D-BMAP18 needs further optimization before being suitable for clinical application and this approach may represent a guide for optimization of other anti-infective peptides eligible for the treatment of pulmonary infections.