Marie Deghorain

The biosynthesis and functionality of the cell-wall of lactic acid bacteria.

The cell wall of lactic acid bacteria has the typical Gram-positive structure made of a thick, multilayered peptidoglycan sacculus decorated with proteins, teichoic acids and polysaccharides, and surrounded in some species by an outer shell of proteins packed in a paracrystalline layer (S-layer). Specific biochemical or genetic data on the biosynthesis pathways of the cell wall constituents are scarce in lactic acid bacteria, but together with genomics information they indicate close similarities with those described in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, with one notable exception regarding the peptidoglycan precursor. In several species or strains of enterococci and lactobacilli, the terminal D-alanine residue of the muramyl pentapeptide is replaced by D-lactate or D-serine, which entails resistance to the glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin. Diverse physiological functions may be assigned to the cell wall, which contribute to the technological and health-related attribut es of lactic acid bacteria. For instance, phage receptor activity relates to the presence of specific substituents on teichoic acids and polysaccharides; resistance to stress (UV radiation, acidic pH) depends on genes involved in peptidoglycan and teichoic acid biosynthesis; autolysis is controlled by the degree of esterification of teichoic acids with D-alanine; mucosal immunostimulation may result from interactions between epithelial cells and peptidoglycan or teichoic acids.

Imaging the nanoscale organization of peptidoglycan in living Lactococcus lactis cells

Peptidoglycans provide bacterial cell walls with mechanical strength. The spatial organization of peptidoglycan has previously been difficult to study. Here, atomic force microscopy, together with cells carrying mutations in cell-wall polysaccharides, has allowed an in-depth study of these molecules.

Use of the alr gene as a food-grade selection marker in lactic acid bacteria

ABSTRACT Both Lactococcus lactis and Lactobacillus plantarum contain a single alr gene, encoding an alanine racemase (EC 5.1.1.1), which catalyzes the interconversion of d-alanine and l-alanine. The alr genes of these lactic acid bacteria were investigated for their application as food-grade selection markers in a heterologous complementation approach. Since isogenic mutants of both species carrying an alr deletion (Δalr) showed auxotrophy for d-alanine, plasmids carrying a heterologous alr were constructed and could be selected, since they complemented d-alanine auxotrophy in the L. plantarum Δalr and L. lactis Δalr strains. Selection was found to be highly stringent, and plasmids were stably maintained over 200 generations of culturing. Moreover, the plasmids carrying the heterologous alr genes could be stably maintained in wild-type strains of L. plantarum and L. lactis by selection for resistance to d-cycloserine, a competitive inhibitor of Alr (600 and 200 μg/ml, respectively). In addition, a plasmid carrying the L. plantarum alr gene under control of the regulated nisA promoter was constructed to demonstrate that d-cycloserine resistance of L. lactis is linearly correlated to the alr expression level. Finally, the L. lactis alr gene controlled by the nisA promoter, together with the nisin-regulatory genes nisRK, were integrated into the chromosome of L. plantarum Δalr. The resulting strain could grow in the absence of d-alanine only when expression of the alr gene was induced with nisin.

Autolysis of Lactococcus lactis Is Increased upon d-Alanine Depletion of Peptidoglycan and Lipoteichoic Acids

Mutations in the genes encoding enzymes responsible for the incorporation of D-Ala into the cell wall of Lactococcus lactis affect autolysis. An L. lactis alanine racemase (alr) mutant is strictly dependent on an external supply of D-Ala to be able to synthesize peptidoglycan and to incorporate D-Ala in the lipoteichoic acids (LTA). The mutant lyses rapidly when D-Ala is removed at mid-exponential growth. AcmA, the major lactococcal autolysin, is partially involved in the increased lysis since an alr acmA double mutant still lyses, albeit to a lesser extent. To investigate the role of D-Ala on LTA in the increased cell lysis, a dltD mutant of L. lactis was investigated, since this mutant is only affected in the D-alanylation of LTA and not the synthesis of peptidoglycan. Mutation of dltD results in increased lysis, showing that D-alanylation of LTA also influences autolysis. Since a dltD acmA double mutant does not lyse, the lysis of the dltD mutant is totally AcmA dependent. Zymographic analysis shows that no degradation of AcmA takes place in the dltD mutant, whereas AcmA is degraded by the extracellular protease HtrA in the wild-type strain. In L. lactis, LTA has been shown to be involved in controlled (directed) binding of AcmA. LTA lacking D-Ala has been reported in other bacterial species to have an improved capacity for autolysin binding. Mutation of dltD in L. lactis, however, does not affect peptidoglycan binding of AcmA; neither the amount of AcmA binding to the cells nor the binding to specific loci is altered. In conclusion, D-Ala depletion of the cell wall causes lysis by two distinct mechanisms. First, it results in an altered peptidoglycan that is more susceptible to lysis by AcmA and also by other factors, e.g., one or more of the other (putative) cell wall hydrolases expressed by L. lactis. Second, reduced amounts of D-Ala on LTA result in decreased degradation of AcmA by HtrA, which results in increased lytic activity.

Lactate Racemization as a Rescue Pathway for Supplying d-Lactate to the Cell Wall Biosynthesis Machinery in Lactobacillus plantarum

Lactobacillus plantarum is a lactic acid bacterium that produces d- and l-lactate using stereospecific NAD-dependent lactate dehydrogenases (LdhD and LdhL, respectively). However, reduction of glycolytic pyruvate by LdhD is not the only pathway for d-lactate production since a mutant defective in this activity still produces both lactate isomers (T. Ferain, J. N. Hobbs, Jr., J. Richardson, N. Bernard, D. Garmyn, P. Hols, N. E. Allen, and J. Delcour, J. Bacteriol. 178:5431-5437, 1996). Production of d-lactate in this species has been shown to be connected to cell wall biosynthesis through its incorporation as the last residue of the muramoyl-pentadepsipeptide peptidoglycan precursor. This particular feature leads to natural resistance to high concentrations of vancomycin. In the present study, we show that L. plantarum possesses two pathways for d-lactate production: the LdhD enzyme and a lactate racemase, whose expression requires l-lactate. We report the cloning of a six-gene operon, which is involved in lactate racemization activity and is positively regulated by l-lactate. Deletion of this operon in an L. plantarum strain that is devoid of LdhD activity leads to the exclusive production of l-lactate. As a consequence, peptidoglycan biosynthesis is affected, and growth of this mutant is d-lactate dependent. We also show that the growth defect can be partially restored by expression of the d-alanyl-d-alanine-forming Ddl ligase from Lactococcus lactis, or by supplementation with various d-2-hydroxy acids but not d-2-amino acids, leading to variable vancomycin resistance levels. This suggests that L. plantarum is unable to efficiently synthesize peptidoglycan precursors ending in d-alanine and that the cell wall biosynthesis machinery in this species is specifically dedicated to the production of peptidoglycan precursors ending in d-lactate. In this context, the lactate racemase could thus provide the bacterium with a rescue pathway for d-lactate production upon inactivation or inhibition of the LdhD enzyme.

The Staphylococci phages family: an overview.

Due to their crucial role in pathogenesis and virulence, phages of Staphylococcus aureus have been extensively studied. Most of them encode and disseminate potent staphylococcal virulence factors. In addition, their movements contribute to the extraordinary versatility and adaptability of this prominent pathogen by improving genome plasticity. In addition to S. aureus, phages from coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) are gaining increasing interest. Some of these species, such as S. epidermidis, cause nosocomial infections and are therefore problematic for public health. This review provides an overview of the staphylococcal phages family extended to CoNS phages. At the morphological level, all these phages characterized so far belong to the Caudovirales order and are mainly temperate Siphoviridae. At the molecular level, comparative genomics revealed an extensive mosaicism, with genes organized into functional modules that are frequently exchanged between phages. Evolutionary relationships within this family, as well as with other families, have been highlighted. All these aspects are of crucial importance for our understanding of evolution and emergence of pathogens among bacterial species such as Staphylococci.

Fluorescence and Atomic Force Microscopy Imaging of Wall Teichoic Acids in Lactobacillus plantarum

Although teichoic acids are major constituents of bacterial cell walls, little is known about the relationships between their spatial localization and their functional roles. Here, we used single-molecule atomic force microscopy (AFM) combined with fluorescence microscopy to image the distribution of wall teichoic acids (WTAs) in Lactobacillus plantarum, in relation with their physiological roles. Phenotype analysis of the wild-type strain and of mutant strains deficient for the synthesis of WTAs (ΔtagO) or cell wall polysaccharides (Δcps1-4) revealed that WTAs are required for proper cell elongation and cell division. Nanoscale imaging by AFM showed that strains expressing WTAs have a highly polarized surface morphology, the poles being much smoother than the side walls. AFM and fluorescence imaging with specific lectin probes demonstrated that the polarized surface structure correlates with a heterogeneous distribution of WTAs, the latter being absent from the surface of the poles. These observations indicate that the polarized distribution of WTAs in L. plantarum plays a key role in controlling cell morphogenesis (surface roughness, cell shape, elongation, and division).

D-alanyl ester depletion of teichoic acids in Lactobacillus plantarum results in a major modification of lipoteichoic acid composition and cell wall perforations at the septum mediated by the Acm2 autolysin.

The insertional inactivation of the dlt operon from Lactobacillus plantarum NCIMB8826 had a strong impact on lipoteichoic acid (LTA) composition, resulting in a major reduction in D-alanyl ester content. Unexpectedly, mutant LTA showed high levels of glucosylation and were threefold longer than wild-type LTA. The dlt mutation resulted in a reduced growth rate and increased cell lysis during the exponential and stationary growth phases. Microscopy analysis revealed increased cell length, damaged dividing cells, and perforations of the envelope in the septal region. The observed defects in the separation process, cell envelope perforation, and autolysis of the dlt mutant could be partially attributed to the L. plantarum Acm2 peptidoglycan hydrolase.

Characterization of a novel temperate phage originating from a cereulide-producing Bacillus cereus strain.

A novel temperate bacteriophage was isolated from a Bacillus cereus cereulide-producing strain and named vB_BceS-IEBH. vB_BceS-IEBH belongs to the Siphoviridae family. The complete genome sequence (53 kb) was determined and annotated. Eighty-seven ORFs were detected and for 28, a putative function was assigned using the ACLAME database. vB_BceS-IEBH replicates as a plasmid in the prophage state. Accordingly, a 9-kb plasmid-like region composed of 13 ORFs was identified. A fragment of around 2000 bp comprising an ORF encoding a putative plasmid replication protein was shown to be self-replicating in Bacillus thuringiensis. Mass spectrometry analysis of the purified vB_BceS-IEBH particle identified 8 structural proteins and enabled assignment of a supplementary ORF as being part of the morphogenesis module. Genome analysis further illustrates the diversity of mobile genetic elements and their plasticity within the B. cereus group.

Selectivity for D-lactate incorporation into the peptidoglycan precursors of Lactobacillus plantarum: role of Aad, a VanX-like D-alanyl-D-alanine dipeptidase.

Lactobacillus plantarum produces peptidoglycan precursors ending in D-lactate instead of D-alanine, making the bacterium intrinsically resistant to vancomycin. The ligase Ddl of L. plantarum plays a central role in this specificity by synthesizing D-alanyl-D-lactate depsipeptides that are added to the precursor peptide chain by the enzyme MurF. Here we show that L. plantarum also encodes a D-Ala-D-Ala dipeptidase, Aad, which eliminates D-alanyl-D-alanine dipeptides that are produced by the Ddl ligase, thereby preventing their incorporation into the precursors. Although D-alanine-ended precursors can be incorporated into the cell wall, inactivation of Aad failed to suppress growth defects of L. plantarum mutants deficient in d-lactate-ended precursor synthesis.