Dataset Information

Bacterial cell surface nanoenvironment requires a specialized chaperone to activate a peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzyme.

ABSTRACT: Bacillus subtilis spores are produced inside the cytosol of a mother cell. Spore surface assembly requires the SpoVK protein in the mother cell, but its function is unknown. Here, we report that SpoVK is a dedicated chaperone from a distinct higher-order clade of AAA+ ATPases that activates the peptidoglycan glycosyltransferase MurG during sporulation, even though MurG does not normally require activation by a chaperone during vegetative growth. MurG redeploys to the spore surface during sporulation, where we show that the local pH is reduced and propose that this change in cytosolic nanoenvironment necessitates a specific chaperone for proper MurG function. Further, we show that SpoVK participates in a developmental checkpoint in which improper spore surface assembly inactivates SpoVK, which leads to sporulation arrest. The AAA+ ATPase clade containing SpoVK includes other dedicated chaperones involved in secretion, cell-envelope biosynthesis, and carbohydrate metabolism, suggesting that such fine-tuning might be a widespread feature of different subcellular nanoenvironments.

SUBMITTER: Delerue T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10659427 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Bacterial cell surface nanoenvironment requires a specialized chaperone to activate a peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzyme.

Delerue Thomas T Chareyre Sylvia S Anantharaman Vivek V Gilmore Michael C MC Popham David L DL Cava Felipe F Aravind L L Ramamurthi Kumaran S KS

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 20231006

<i>Bacillus subtilis</i> spores are produced inside the cytosol of a mother cell. Spore surface assembly requires the SpoVK protein in the mother cell, but its function is unknown. Here, we report that SpoVK is a dedicated chaperone from a distinct higher-order clade of AAA+ ATPases that activates the peptidoglycan glycosyltransferase MurG during sporulation, even though MurG does not normally require activation by a chaperone during vegetative growth. MurG redeploys to the spore surface during ...[more]

PMID: 37986874

Similar Datasets

Project description:UnlabelledMost bacterial cells are enclosed in a single macromolecule of the cell wall polymer, peptidoglycan, which is required for shape determination and maintenance of viability, while peptidoglycan biosynthesis is an important antibiotic target. It is hypothesized that cellular enlargement requires regional expansion of the cell wall through coordinated insertion and hydrolysis of peptidoglycan. Here, a group of (apparent glucosaminidase) peptidoglycan hydrolases are identified that are together required for cell enlargement and correct cellular morphology of Staphylococcus aureus, demonstrating the overall importance of this enzyme activity. These are Atl, SagA, ScaH, and SagB. The major advance here is the explanation of the observed morphological defects in terms of the mechanical and biochemical properties of peptidoglycan. It was shown that cells lacking groups of these hydrolases have increased surface stiffness and, in the absence of SagB, substantially increased glycan chain length. This indicates that, beyond their established roles (for example in cell separation), some hydrolases enable cellular enlargement by making peptidoglycan easier to stretch, providing the first direct evidence demonstrating that cellular enlargement occurs via modulation of the mechanical properties of peptidoglycan.ImportanceUnderstanding bacterial growth and division is a fundamental problem, and knowledge in this area underlies the treatment of many infectious diseases. Almost all bacteria are surrounded by a macromolecule of peptidoglycan that encloses the cell and maintains shape, and bacterial cells must increase the size of this molecule in order to enlarge themselves. This requires not only the insertion of new peptidoglycan monomers, a process targeted by antibiotics, including penicillin, but also breakage of existing bonds, a potentially hazardous activity for the cell. Using Staphylococcus aureus, we have identified a set of enzymes that are critical for cellular enlargement. We show that these enzymes are required for normal growth and define the mechanism through which cellular enlargement is accomplished, i.e., by breaking bonds in the peptidoglycan, which reduces the stiffness of the cell wall, enabling it to stretch and expand, a process that is likely to be fundamental to many bacteria.

Project description:Bdellovibrio are predatory bacteria that have evolved to invade virtually all gram-negative bacteria, including many prominent pathogens. Upon invasion, prey bacteria become rounded up into an osmotically stable niche for the Bdellovibrio, preventing further superinfection and allowing Bdellovibrio to replicate inside without competition, killing the prey bacterium and degrading its contents. Historically, prey rounding was hypothesized to be associated with peptidoglycan (PG) metabolism; we found two Bdellovibrio genes, bd0816 and bd3459, expressed at prey entry and encoding proteins with limited homologies to conventional dacB/PBP4 DD-endo/carboxypeptidases (responsible for peptidoglycan maintenance during growth and division). We tested possible links between Bd0816/3459 activity and predation. Bd3459, but not an active site serine mutant protein, bound β-lactam, exhibited DD-endo/carboxypeptidase activity against purified peptidoglycan and, importantly, rounded up E. coli cells upon periplasmic expression. A ΔBd0816 ΔBd3459 double mutant invaded prey more slowly than the wild type (with negligible prey cell rounding) and double invasions of single prey by more than one Bdellovibrio became more frequent. We solved the crystal structure of Bd3459 to 1.45 Å and this revealed predation-associated domain differences to conventional PBP4 housekeeping enzymes (loss of the regulatory domain III, alteration of domain II and a more exposed active site). The Bd3459 active site (and by similarity the Bd0816 active site) can thus accommodate and remodel the various bacterial PGs that Bdellovibrio may encounter across its diverse prey range, compared to the more closed active site that "regular" PBP4s have for self cell wall maintenance. Therefore, during evolution, Bdellovibrio peptidoglycan endopeptidases have adapted into secreted predation-specific proteins, preventing wasteful double invasion, and allowing activity upon the diverse prey peptidoglycan structures to sculpt the prey cell into a stable intracellular niche for replication.

Project description:UnlabelledGrowth in a surface-attached bacterial community, or biofilm, confers a number of advantages. However, as a biofilm matures, high-density growth imposes stresses on individual cells, and it can become less advantageous for progeny to remain in the community. Thus, bacteria employ a variety of mechanisms to control attachment to and dispersal from surfaces in response to the state of the environment. The freshwater oligotroph Caulobacter crescentus can elaborate a polysaccharide-rich polar organelle, known as the holdfast, which enables permanent surface attachment. Holdfast development is strongly inhibited by the small protein HfiA; mechanisms that control HfiA levels in the cell are not well understood. We have discovered a connection between the essential general protein chaperone, DnaK, and control of C. crescentus holdfast development. C. crescentus mutants partially or completely lacking the C-terminal substrate binding "lid" domain of DnaK exhibit enhanced bulk surface attachment. Partial or complete truncation of the DnaK lid domain increases the probability that any single cell will develop a holdfast by 3- to 10-fold. These results are consistent with the observation that steady-state levels of an HfiA fusion protein are significantly diminished in strains that lack the entire lid domain of DnaK. While dispensable for growth, the lid domain of C. crescentus DnaK is required for proper chaperone function, as evidenced by observed dysregulation of HfiA and holdfast development in strains expressing lidless DnaK mutants. We conclude that DnaK is an important molecular determinant of HfiA stability and surface adhesion control.ImportanceRegulatory control of cell adhesion ensures that bacterial cells can transition between free-living and surface-attached states. We define a role for the essential protein chaperone, DnaK, in the control of Caulobacter crescentus cell adhesion. C. crescentus surface adhesion is mediated by an envelope-attached organelle known as the holdfast. Holdfast development is tightly controlled by HfiA, a small protein inhibitor that directly interacts with a WecG/TagA-family glycosyltransferase required for holdfast biosynthesis. We demonstrate that the C-terminal lid domain of DnaK is not essential for growth but is necessary for proper control of HfiA levels in the cell and for control of holdfast adhesin development.

Dataset Information

Bacterial cell surface nanoenvironment requires a specialized chaperone to activate a peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzyme.

Publications

Bacterial cell surface nanoenvironment requires a specialized chaperone to activate a peptidoglycan biosynthetic enzyme.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets