Zinc is an important component of many proteins, but in large concentrations it is poisonous to the cell. Thus its transport is regulated by zinc repressors ZUR of proteobacteria and Gram-positive bacteria from the Bacillus group and AdcR of bacteria from the Streptococcus group. Comparative computational analysis allowed us to identify binding signals of ZUR repressors GAAATGTTATANTATAA-CATTTC for ␥-proteobacteria, GTAATGTAATAACATTAC for the Agrobacterium group, GATATGTTATAACATATC for the Rhododoccus group, TAAATCGTAATNATTACGATTTA for Gram-positive bacteria, and TTAACYRGTTAA of the streptococcal AdcR repressor. In addition to known transporters and their paralogs, zinc regulons were predicted to contain a candidate component of the ATP binding cassette, zinT (b1995 in Escherichia coli and yrpE in Bacillus subtilis). Candidate AdcR-binding sites were identified upstream of genes encoding pneumococcal histidine triad (PHT) proteins from a number of pathogenic streptococci. Protein functional analysis of this family suggests that PHT proteins are involved in the invasion process. Finally, repression by zinc was predicted for genes encoding a variety of paralogs of ribosomal proteins. The original copies of all these proteins contain zinc-ribbon motifs and thus likely bind zinc, whereas these motifs are destroyed in zinc-regulated paralogs. We suggest that the induction of these paralogs in conditions of zinc starvation leads to their incorporation in a fraction of ribosomes instead of the original ribosomal proteins; the latter are then degraded with subsequent release of some zinc for the utilization by other proteins. Thus we predict a mechanism for maintaining zinc availability for essential enzymes.
SummaryBordetella bronchiseptica utilizes a type III secretion system (TTSS) for induction of non-apoptotic cytotoxicity in host cells and modulation of host immunity. The identity of Bordetella TTSS effectors, however, has remained elusive. Here we report a genome-wide screen for TTSS effectors based on shared biophysical and functional characteristics of class I chaperones and their frequent colocalization with TTSS effectors. When applied to B. bronchiseptica , the screen identified the first TTSS chaperone-effector locus, btcA-bteA , and we experimentally confirmed its function. Expression of bteA is co-ordinated with expression of TTSS apparatus genes, BteA is secreted through the TTSS of B. bronchiseptica , it is required for cytotoxicity towards mammalian cells, and it is highly conserved in the human-adapted subspecies B. pertussis and B. parapertussis . Transfection of bteA into epithlieal cells results in rapid cell death, indicating that BteA alone is sufficient to induce potent cytotoxicity. Finally, an in vitro interaction between BteA and BtcA was demonstrated. The search for TTSS chaperones and effectors was then expanded to other bacterial genomes, including mammalian and insect pathogens, where we identified a large number of novel candidate chaperones and effectors. Although the majority of putative effectors are proteins of unknown function, several have similarities to eukaryotic protein domains or previously identified effectors from other species.
The Bordetella type III secretion system (T3SS) effector protein BteA is necessary and sufficient for rapid cytotoxicity in a wide range of mammalian cells. We show that BteA is highly conserved and functionally interchangeable between Bordetella bronchiseptica, Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis. The identification of BteA sequences required for cytotoxicity allowed the construction of non-cytotoxic mutants for localization studies. BteA derivatives were targeted to lipid rafts and showed clear colocalization with cortical actin, ezrin and the lipid raft marker GM1. We hypothesized that BteA associates with the cytoplasmic face of lipid rafts to locally modulate host cell responses to Bordetella attachment. B. bronchiseptica adhered to host cells almost exclusively to GM1-enriched lipid raft microdomains and BteA colocalized to these same sites following T3SS-mediated translocation. Disruption of lipid rafts with methyl-β-cyclodextrin protected cells from T3SS-induced cytotoxicity. Localization to lipid rafts was mediated by a 130-amino-acid lipid raft targeting domain at the N-terminus of BteA, and homologous domains were identified in virulence factors from other bacterial species. Lipid raft targeting sequences from a T3SS effector (Plu4750) and an RTX-type toxin (Plu3217) from Photorhabdus luminescens directed fusion proteins to lipid rafts in a manner identical to the N-terminus of BteA.
Iron is an essential element for the survival and pathogenesis of bacteria. The strict control of iron homeostasis is mediated by the FUR repressor, which is highly conserved among various bacterial species. Here we apply the comparative genomics approach to analyze candidate Fur-binding sites in the genomes of Escherichia coli (K12 and O157:H7), Salmonella typhi, Yersinia pestis and Vibrio cholerae. We describe a number of new loci encoding siderophore biosynthesis and transport proteins. A new regulator of iron-acquisition systems was found in S.typhi. We predict FUR regulation for several virulence systems. We also predict FUR regulation for the chemotaxis system of V.cholerae that is probably involved in the process of pathogenesis.
Computational comparative techniques were applied to analysis of the aromatic amino acid regulon in Gram-positive bacteria. A new candidate transcription regulation signal of 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate synthase and shikimate kinase genes was identified in Streptococcus and Lactococcus species. New T-boxes were found upstream of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis and transport genes in the Bacillus/Clostridium group. The substrate specificity of proteins from the PabA/TrpG family was assigned based on metabolic reconstruction and analysis of regulatory signals and phylogenetic patterns. New candidate tryptophan transporters were identified; their specificity was predicted by analysis of T-box regulatory sites. Comparison of all available genomes shows that regulation of genes of the aromatic amino acid biosynthesis pathway is quite labile and involves at least four regulatory systems, two at the DNA level and two more involving competition of alternative RNA secondary structures for transcription and/or translation regulation at the RNA level.
The identification of the enzymes involved in the metabolism of simple and complex carbohydrates presents one bioinformatic challenge in the post-genomic era. Here, we present the PFIT and PFRIT algorithms for identifying those proteins adopting the ␣/ barrel fold that function as glycosidases. These algorithms are based on the observation that proteins adopting the ␣/ barrel fold share positions in their tertiary structures having equivalent sets of atomic interactions. These are conserved tertiary interaction positions, which have been implicated in both structure and function. Glycosidases adopting the ␣/ barrel fold share more conserved tertiary interactions than ␣/ barrel proteins having other functions. The enrichment pattern of conserved tertiary interactions in the glycosidases is the information that PFIT and PFRIT use to predict whether any given ␣/ barrel will function as a glycosidase or not. Using as a test set a database of 19 glycosidase and 45 nonglycosidase ␣/ barrel proteins with low sequence similarity, PFIT and PFRIT can correctly predict glycosidase function for 84% of the proteins known to function as glycosidases. PFIT and PFRIT incorrectly predict glycosidase function for 25% of the nonglycosidases. The program PSI-BLAST can also correctly identify 84% of the 19 glycosidases, however, it incorrectly predicts glycosidase function for 50% of the nonglycosidases (twofold greater than PFIT and PFRIT). Overall, we demonstrate that the structure-based PFIT and PFRIT algorithms are both more selective and sensitive for predicting glycosidase function than the sequence-based PSI-BLAST algorithm.Keywords: glycosidase; tertiary interaction; bioinformatics; structure; ␣/ barrel; fold Protein sequence and structural data are being generated by genomic sequencing and structural genomics projects at such a tremendous rate that immediate biochemical characterization of the functions of these proteins is impossible (Kanehisa and Bork 2003). Therefore, one goal of functional genomics is to identify the function of a newly identified protein through computational methods .Sequence or structural similarity between two proteins is evidence that they share related functions; however, use of homology-based methods often yields ambiguous or negative results. For example, only a minor fraction (20%-30%) of proteins identified from genomic sequencing projects share significant sequence similarity with proteins of known function . In addition, many folds have proven highly adaptable at accommodating several different functions, such that two proteins sharing the same fold may have different functions. For example, at least 64 different enzymatic functions have been recorded for enzymes adopt-
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