Project description:Short-term adaptation to changing environments relies on regulatory elements translating changing metabolite concentrations into a specifically optimized transcriptome. So far the focus of analyses has been divided between regulatory elements identified in vivo and kinetic studies of small molecules interacting with the regulatory elements in vitro. Here we describe how in vivo Regulatory Kinetics can describe a regulon through the effects of the metabolite controlling it, exemplified by temporal purine exhaustion in Lactococcus lactis. We deduced a causal relation between the pathway precursor 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) and each individual mRNA levels, whereby unambiguous and homogenous relations could be obtained for PurR regulated genes, thus linking a specific regulon to a specific metabolite. As PurR activates gene expression upon binding of PRPP, the pur mRNA curves reflect the in vivo kinetics of PurR PRPP binding and activation. The method singled out the xpt-pbuX operon as kinetically distinct, which was found to be caused by a guanine riboswitch whose regulation was overlaying the PurR regulation. The strategy outlined here can be adapted to analyze the individual effects of members from larger metabolomes in virtually any organism, for elucidating regulatory networks in vivo. Agilent 8x15k custom microarrays Fifteen samples from two cultures were taken in a time-course experiment.
Project description:Short-term adaptation to changing environments relies on regulatory elements translating changing metabolite concentrations into a specifically optimized transcriptome. So far the focus of analyses has been divided between regulatory elements identified in vivo and kinetic studies of small molecules interacting with the regulatory elements in vitro. Here we describe how in vivo Regulatory Kinetics can describe a regulon through the effects of the metabolite controlling it, exemplified by temporal purine exhaustion in Lactococcus lactis. We deduced a causal relation between the pathway precursor 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) and each individual mRNA levels, whereby unambiguous and homogenous relations could be obtained for PurR regulated genes, thus linking a specific regulon to a specific metabolite. As PurR activates gene expression upon binding of PRPP, the pur mRNA curves reflect the in vivo kinetics of PurR PRPP binding and activation. The method singled out the xpt-pbuX operon as kinetically distinct, which was found to be caused by a guanine riboswitch whose regulation was overlaying the PurR regulation. The strategy outlined here can be adapted to analyze the individual effects of members from larger metabolomes in virtually any organism, for elucidating regulatory networks in vivo. Agilent 8x15k custom microarrays
Project description:The contribution of small RNAs to the regulation of cell wall defense mechanisms, which play a central role in protecting bacteria from environmental insults, remains poorly understood in Lactococcus cremoris, a paradigmatic organism for studying lactic acid bacteria. Analysis of the profiles of 193 putative sRNAs, including 131 newly identified in this study, revealed altered expression of 20 and 25 sRNAs following treatment with major cell wall-targeting antimicrobials lysozyme and penicillin G, respectively. Further analysis and genome-wide functional screening identified four sRNAs that modulate the lysozyme response in opposite directions, with sLLM1042+, sLLM2-, and sLLM1993+ conferring increased, and sLLM461+ decreased, resistance. Moreover, elevated expression of sLLM2- or sLLM1042+ promoted the sensitivity of cells to penicillin G and certain abiotic stresses, and had pleiotropic effects on gene regulation at both RNA and protein levels, positioning them as key elements in regulatory networks. Notably, the sLLM2- mediated decrease in four putative tellurium resistance proteins resulted in L. cremoris sensitivity to tellurite stress. As sLLM2- mutations, altering lysozyme and penicillin responses, reduce the expression of alanine racemase Alr, we suggest that its upregulation possibly modulates D-alanine levels, thereby affecting lipoteichoic acid modification or peptidoglycan synthesis. Our findings underscored the broad roles of sRNAs in defensive responses to cell wall-targeting antimicrobials in lactic acid bacteria.