J.A. Cole

Modulation of Shigella virulence in response to available oxygen in vivo

Bacteria coordinate expression of virulence determinants in response to localized microenvironments in their hosts. Here we show that Shigella flexneri, which causes dysentery, encounters varying oxygen concentrations in the gastrointestinal tract, which govern activity of its type three secretion system (T3SS). The T3SS is essential for cell invasion and virulence. In anaerobic environments (for example, the gastrointestinal tract lumen), Shigella is primed for invasion and expresses extended T3SS needles while reducing Ipa (invasion plasmid antigen) effector secretion. This is mediated by FNR (fumarate and nitrate reduction), a regulator of anaerobic metabolism that represses transcription of spa32 and spa33, virulence genes that regulate secretion through the T3SS. We demonstrate there is a zone of relative oxygenation adjacent to the gastrointestinal tract mucosa, caused by diffusion from the capillary network at the tips of villi. This would reverse the anaerobic block of Ipa secretion, allowing T3SS activation at its precise site of action, enhancing invasion and virulence.

Escherichia coli K-12 genes essential for the synthesis of c-type cytochromes and a third nitrate reductase located in the periplasm

The ‘aeg46.5 ’ operon was originally detected as an ‘anaerobically expressed gene’ located at minute 46.5 on the Escherichia coli linkage map. Subsequent results from the E. coli Genome Sequencing Project revealed that the ‘aeg46.5 ’ promoter was located in the centisome 49 (minute 47) region. Downstream from this promoter are 15 genes, seven of which are predicted to encode a periplasmic nitrate reductase and eight encode proteins homologous to proteins essential for cytochrome c assembly in other bacteria. All of these genes, together with the ‘aeg46.5 ’ promoter, have been subcloned on a 20 kb EcoRI fragment from Kohara phage 19D1. Evidence is presented that, as predicted, the region includes structural genes for two c‐type cytochromes of mass 16 kDa and 24 kDa, which are transcribed from the previously described ‘aeg46.5 ’ promoter, and that the first seven genes encode a functional nitrate reductase. We, therefore, propose that they should be designated nap (nitrate reductase in the periplasm) genes. Plasmids encoding the entire 20 kb region, or only the downstream eight genes, complemented five mutations resulting in total absence of all five known c‐type cytochromes in E. coli, providing biochemical evidence that these are ccm (for cytochrome c maturation) genes. The ccm region was transcribed both from the FNR‐dependent, NarL‐ and NarP‐regulated nap promoter (formerly the ‘aeg46.5 ’ promoter) and from constitutive or weakly regulated promoters apparently located within the downstream nap and ccm genes.

Involvement of products of the nrfEFG genes in the covalent attachment of haem c to a novel cysteine-lysine motif in the cytochrome c552 nitrite reductase from Escherichia coli.

Cytochrome c552 is the terminal component of the formate‐dependent nitrite reduction pathway of Escherichia coli. In addition to four ‘typical’ haem‐binding motifs, CXXCH‐, characteristic of c‐type cytochromes, the N‐terminal region of NrfA includes a motif, CWSCK. Peptides generated by digesting the cytochrome from wild‐type bacteria with cyanogen bromide followed by trypsin were analysed by on‐line HPLC MS/MS in parent scanning mode. A strong signal at mass 619, corresponding to haem, was generated by fragmentation of a peptide of mass 1312 that included the sequence CWSCK. Neither this signal nor the haem‐containing peptide of mass 1312 was detected in parallel experiments with cytochrome that had been purified from a transformant unable to synthesize NrfE, NrfF and NrfG: this is consistent with our previous report that NrfE and NrfG (but not NrfF) are essential for formate‐dependent nitrite reduction. Redox titrations clearly revealed the presence of high and low mid‐point potential redox centres. The best fit to the experimental data is for three n = 1 components with mid‐point redox potentials (pH 7.0) of +45 mV (21% of the total absorbance change), −90 mV (36% of the total) and −210 mV (43% of the total). Plasmids in which the lysine codon of the cysteine–lysine motif, AAA, was changed to the histidine codon CAT (to create a fifth ‘typical’ haem c‐binding motif), or to the isoleucine and leucine codons, ATT and CTT, were unable to transform a Nrf− deletion mutant to Nrf+ or to restore formate‐dependent nitrite reduction to the transformants. The presence of a 50 kDa periplasmic c‐type cytochrome was confirmed by staining proteins separated by SDS–PAGE for covalently bound haem, but the methyl‐viologen‐dependent nitrite reductase activities associated with the mutated proteins, although still detectable, were far lower than that of the native protein. The combined data establish not only that there is a haem group bound covalently to the cysteine–lysine motif of cytochrome c552 but also that one or more products of the last three genes of the nrf operon are essential for the haem ligation to this motif.

Roles of NapF, NapG and NapH, subunits of the Escherichia coli periplasmic nitrate reductase, in ubiquinol oxidation.

Summary

Definition of nitrite and nitrate response elements at the anaerobically inducible Escherichia coli nirB promoter: interactions between FNR and NarL

Transcription initiation at the Escherichia coli nirB promoter is induced by anaerobic growth and further increased by the presence of nitrite or nitrate in the growth medium. Expression from this promoter is totally dependent on the transcription factor, FNR, which binds between positions −52 and −30 upstream of the transcription startsite. The 20 base pairs from position −79 to −60 contain an inverted repeat of two 10‐base sequence elements that are related to sequences at the NarL‐binding site at the E. coli narG promoter. Comparison of these, and sequence elements at other promoters regulated by NarL, suggests a consensus NarL‐binding sequence. Mutations in the putative NarL‐binding site at the nirB promoter decrease FNR‐dependent anaerobic induction, suggesting that NarL acts as a helper to FNR during transcription activation. These mutations also suppress induction by nitrite: single mutations at symmetry‐related positions have similar effects, whilst double mutations have more severe effects, probably because two NarL subunits bind to the inverted repeat. Disruption of narL decreases nitrite induction of the nirB promoter whilst not suppressing induction by nitrate, suggesting that there may be a second nitrate‐responsive factor. Nitrate induction was, however, suppressed by double mutations at symmetry‐related positions in the NarL‐binding site, suggesting that this putative second factor may bind to sequences similar to those recognized by NarL.

Nitrite and nitrate regulation at the promoters of two Escherichia coli operons encoding nitrite reductase: identification of common target heptamers for both NarP‐ and NarL‐dependent regulation

Expression from both the Escherichia coli nir and nrf promoters is dependent on anaerobic induction by FNR but is further regulated by NarL and NarP in response to the presence of nitrite and nitrate in the growth medium. The nir promoter is activated by NarL in response to nitrate and nitrite and activated by NarP in response to nitrate but not nitrite. The effects of point mutations suggest that NarL and NarP both bind to the same target, which is a pair of heptamer sequences organized as an inverted repeat, centred 691/2 bp upstream of the transcript startpoint. The nrf promoter can be activated by either NarP or NarL in response to nitrite but is repressed by NarL in response to nitrate. Mutational analysis of the nrf promoter has been exploited to corroborate the location of the ‐10 hexamer and the FNR‐binding site, and to find the sites essential for nitrite‐dependent activation and nitrate‐dependent repression. Optimal activation by NarP or NarL in response to nitrite requires an inverted pair of heptamer sequences, similar to that found at the nir promoter, but centred 741/2 bp upstream from the transcript start. NarL‐dependent repression by nitrate is due to two heptamer sequences that flank the FNR‐binding sequence. We conclude that NarL and NarP bind to the same heptamer sequences, but that the affinities for the two factors vary from site to site.

Microbial reduction of technetium by Escherichia coli and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans: Enhancement via the use of high-activity strains and effect of process parameters

Escherichia coli and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans reduce Tc(VII) (TcO(4)(-)) with formate or hydrogen as electron donors. The reaction is catalyzed by the hydrogenase component of the formate hydrogenlyase complex (FHL) of E. coli and is associated with a periplasmic hydrogenase activity in D. desulfuricans. Tc(VII) reduction in E. coli by H(2) and formate was either inhibited or repressed by 10 mM nitrate. By contrast, Tc(VII) reduction catalyzed by D. desulfuricans was less sensitive to nitrate when formate was the electron donor, and unaffected by 10 mM or 100 mM nitrate when H(2) was the electron donor. The optimum pH for Tc(VII) reduction by both organisms was 5.5 and the optimum temperature was 40 degrees C and 20 degrees C for E. coli and D. desulfuricans, respectively. Both strains had an apparent K(m) for Tc(VII) of 0.5 mM, but Tc(VII) was removed from a solution of 300 nM TcO(4)(-) within 30 h by D. desulfuricans at the expense of H(2). The greater bioprocess potential of D. desulfuricans was shown also by the K(s) for formate (>25 mM and 0.5 mM for E. coli and D. desulfuricans, respectively), attributable to the more accessible, periplasmic localization of the enzyme in the latter. The relative rates of Tc(VII) reduction for E. coli and D. desulfuricans (with H(2)) were 12.5 and 800 micromol Tc(VII) reduced/g biomass/h, but the use of an E. coli HycA mutant (which upregulates FHL activities by approx. 50%) had a similarly enhancing effect on the rate of Tc reduction. The more rapid reduction of Tc(VII) by D. desulfuricans compared with the E. coli strains was also shown using cells immobilized in a hollow-fiber reactor, in which the flow residence times sustaining steady-state removal of 80% of the radionuclide were 24.3 h for the wild-type E. coli, 4.25 h for the upregulated mutant, and 1.5 h for D. desulfuricans.

Effects of mutations in genes for proteins involved in disulphide bond formation in the periplasm on the activities of anaerobically induced electron transfer chains in Escherichia coli K12

Abstract The assembly of anaerobically induced electron transfer chains in Escherichia coli strains defective in periplasmic disulphide bond formation was investigated. Strains deficient in DsbA, DsbB or DipZ (DsbD) were unable to catalyse formate-dependent nitrite reduction (Nrf activity) or synthesize any of the known c-type cytochromes. The Nrf+ activity and cytochrome c content of mutants defective in DsbC, DsbE or DsbF were similar to those of the parental, wild-type strain. Neither DsbC expressed from a multicopy plasmid nor a second mutation in dipZ (dsbD) was able to compensate for a dsbA mutation by restoring nitrite reductase activity and cytochrome c synthesis. In contrast, only the dsbB and dipZ (dsbD) strains were defective in periplasmic nitrate reductase activity, suggesting that DsbB might fulfil an additional role in anaerobic electron transport. Mutants defective in dipZ (dsbD) were only slightly more sensitive to Cu++ ions at concentrations above 5 mM than the parental strain, but strains defective in DsbA, DsbB, DsbC, DsbE or DsbF were unaffected. These results are consistent with our earlier proposals that DsbA, DsbB and DipZ (DsbD) are part of the same pathway for ensuring that haem groups are attached to the correct pairs of cysteine residues of apocytochromes c in the E. coli periplasm. However, neither DsbE nor DsbF are essential for the reduction of DipZ (DsbD).

Microarray analysis of gene regulation by oxygen, nitrate, nitrite, FNR, NarL and NarP during anaerobic growth of Escherichia coli: new insights into microbial physiology

RNA was isolated from cultures of Escherichia coli strain MG1655 and derivatives defective in fnr, narXL, or narXL with narP, during aerobic growth, or anaerobic growth in the presence or absence of nitrate or nitrite, in non-repressing media in which both strain MG1655 and an fnr deletion mutant grew at similar rates. Glycerol was used as the non-repressing carbon source and both trimethylamine-N-oxide and fumarate were added as terminal electron acceptors. Microarray data supplemented with bioinformatic data revealed that the FNR (fumarate and nitrate reductase regulator) regulon includes at least 104, and possibly as many as 115, operons, 68 of which are activated and 36 are repressed during anaerobic growth. A total of 51 operons were directly or indirectly activated by NarL in response to nitrate; a further 41 operons were repressed. Four subgroups of genes implicated in management of reactive nitrogen compounds, NO and products of NO metabolism, were identified; they included proteins of previously unknown function. Global repression by the nitrate- and nitrite-responsive two-component system, NarQ-NarP, was shown for the first time. In contrast with the frdABCD, aspA and ansB operons that are repressed only by NarL, the dcuB-fumB operon was among 37 operons that are repressed by NarP.

Cytochrome c nitrite reductase: from structural to physicochemical analysis

The recent structural characterization of the NrfA from Escherichia coli provides a framework to rationalize the spectroscopic and functional properties of this enzyme. Analyses by EPR and magnetic CD spectroscopies have been complemented by protein-film voltammetry and these are discussed in relation to the essential structural features of the enzyme.