The region immediately downstream from the miaA tRNA modification gene at 94.8 min contains the hfq gene and the hflA region, which are important in the bacteriophage Q beta and lambda life cycles. The roles of these genes in bacteria remain largely unknown. We report here the characterization of two chromosomal hfq insertion mutations. An omega (omega) cassette insertion near the end of hfq resulted in phenotypes only slightly different from the parent, although transcript mapping demonstrated that the insertion was completely polar on hflX expression. In contrast, an equally polar omega cassette insertion near the beginning of hfq caused pronounced pleiotropic phenotypes, including decreased growth rates and yields, decreased negative supercoiling of plasmids in stationary phase, increased cell size, osmosensitivity, increased oxidation of carbon sources, increased sensitivity to ultraviolet light, and suppression of bgl activation by hns mutations. hfq::omega mutant phenotypes were distinct from those caused by omega insertions early in the miaA tRNA modification gene. On the other hand, both hfq insertions interfered with lambda phage plaque formation, probably by means of polarity at the hflA region. Together, these results show that hfq function plays a fundamental role in Escherichia coli physiology and that hfq and the hflA-region are in the amiB-mutL-miaA-hfq-hflX superoperon.

SUMMARY In ellipsoid-shaped ovococcus bacteria, such as the pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus), side-wall (peripheral) peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis emanates from midcells and is catalyzed by the essential class B penicillin-binding protein PBP2b transpeptidase (TP). We report that mutations that inactivate the pneumococcal YceG-domain protein, Spd_1346 (renamed MltG), remove the requirement for PBP2b. ΔmltG mutants in unencapsulated strains accumulate inactivation mutations of class A PBP1a, which possesses TP and transglycosylase (TG) activities. The “synthetic viable” genetic relationship between Δpbp1a and ΔmltG mutations extends to essential ΔmreCD and ΔrodZ mutations that misregulate peripheral PG synthesis. Remarkably, the single MltG(Y488D) change suppresses the requirement for PBP2b, MreCD, RodZ, and RodA. Structural modeling and comparisons, catalytic-site changes, and an interspecies chimera indicate that pneumococcal MltG is the functional homologue of the recently reported MltG endo-lytic transglycosylase of Escherichia coli. Depletion of pneumococcal MltG or mltG(Y488D) increases sphericity of cells, and MltG localizes with peripheral PG synthesis proteins during division. Finally, growth of Δpbp1a ΔmltG or mltG(Y488D) mutants depends on induction of expression of the WalRK TCS regulon of PG hydrolases. These results fit a model in which MltG releases anchored PG glycan strands synthesized by PBP1a for crosslinking by a PBP2b:RodA complex in peripheral PG synthesis.

Bacterial cell division and peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis are orchestrated by the coordinated dynamic movement of essential protein complexes. Recent studies show that bidirectional treadmilling of FtsZ filaments/bundles is tightly coupled to and limiting for both septal PG synthesis and septum closure in some bacteria, but not in others. Here we report the dynamics of FtsZ movement leading to septal and equatorial ring formation in the ovoid-shaped pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae. Conventional and single-molecule total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFm) showed that nascent rings of FtsZ and its anchoring and stabilizing proteins FtsA and EzrA move out from mature septal rings coincident with MapZ rings early in cell division. This mode of continuous nascent ring movement contrasts with a failsafe streaming mechanism of FtsZ/FtsA/EzrA observed in a ΔmapZ mutant and another Streptococcus species. This analysis also provides several parameters of FtsZ treadmilling in nascent and mature rings, including treadmilling velocity in wild-type cells and ftsZ(GTPase) mutants, lifetimes of FtsZ subunits in filaments and of entire FtsZ filaments/bundles, and the processivity length of treadmilling of FtsZ filament/bundles. In addition, we delineated the motion of the septal PBP2x transpeptidase and its FtsW glycosyl transferase-binding partner relative to FtsZ treadmilling in S. pneumoniae cells. Five lines of evidence support the conclusion that movement of the bPBP2x:FtsW complex in septa depends on PG synthesis and not on FtsZ treadmilling. Together, these results support a model in which FtsZ dynamics and associations organize and distribute septal PG synthesis, but do not control its rate in S. pneumoniae.

SUMMARY GpsB regulatory protein and StkP protein kinase have been proposed as molecular switches that balance septal and peripheral (side-wall like) peptidoglycan (PG) synthesis in Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus); yet, mechanisms of this switching remain unknown. We report that ΔdivIVA mutations are not epistatic to ΔgpsB division-protein mutations in progenitor D39 and related genetic backgrounds; nor is GpsB required for StkP localization or FDAA labeling at septal division rings. However, we confirm that reduction of GpsB amount leads to decreased protein phosphorylation by StkP and report that the essentiality of ΔgpsB mutations is suppressed by inactivation of PhpP protein phosphatase, which concomitantly restores protein phosphorylation levels. ΔgpsB mutations are also suppressed by other classes of mutations, including one that eliminates protein phosphorylation and may alter division. Moreover, ΔgpsB mutations are synthetically lethal with Δpbp1a, but not Δpbp2a or Δpbp1b mutations, suggesting GpsB activation of PBP2a activity. Consistent with this result, co-IP experiments showed that GpsB complexes with EzrA, StkP, PBP2a, PBP2b, and MreC in pneumococcal cells. Furthermore, depletion of GpsB prevents PBP2x migration to septal centers. These results support a model in which GpsB negatively regulates peripheral PG synthesis by PBP2b and positively regulates septal ring closure through its interactions with StkP-PBP2x.

The MutS, MutL, and MutH proteins play major roles in several DNA repair pathways. We previously reported that the cellular amounts of MutS and MutH decreased by as much as 10-fold in stationary-phase cultures. Consequently, we tested whether the amounts of MutS, MutL, and MutH were regulated by two global regulators, RpoS ( 38 ) and Hfq (HF-I [putative RNA chaperone]), which are involved in stationary-phase transition. We report here that mutations in hfq and rpoS reversed the stationary-phase down-regulation of the amounts of MutS and MutH. hfq regulation of the amount of MutS in stationary-phase cultures was mediated by RpoS-dependent and -independent mechanisms, whereas hfq regulation of the amount of MutH was mediated only through RpoS. Consistent with this interpretation, the amount of MutS but not MutH was regulated by Hfq, but not RpoS, in exponentially growing cells. The amount of MutL remained unchanged in rpoS, hfq-1, and rpoS ؉ , hfq ؉ strains in exponentially growing and stationary-phase cultures and served as a control. The ␤-galactosidase activities of single-copy mutS-lacZ operon and gene fusions suggested that hfq regulates mutS posttranscriptionally in exponentially growing cultures. RNase T 2 protection assays revealed increased amounts of mutS transcript that are attributed to increased mutS transcript stability in hfq-1 mutants. Lack of Hfq also increased the amounts and stabilities of transcripts initiated from P miaA and P1 hfq HS, two of the promoters for hfq, suggesting autoregulation, but did not change the half-life of bulk mRNA. These results suggest that the amounts of MutS and MutH may be adjusted in cells subjected to different stress conditions by an RpoS-dependent mechanism. In addition, Hfq directly or indirectly regulates several genes, including mutS, hfq, and miaA, by an RpoS-independent mechanism that destabilizes transcripts.The MutS, MutL, and MutH proteins of Escherichia coli play important roles in several DNA repair pathways and the maintenance of chromosomal stability (51, 53). In the methyl-directed-mismatch (MDM) repair pathway, MutS, MutL, and MutH function as a DNA mismatch binding protein (75, 76), a putative molecular matchmaker (66), and a d(GATC)-specific endonuclease (83), respectively. MDM repair is a major pathway that sets spontaneous mutation rates by correcting mismatched base pairs and small single-strand loops that arise as replication errors (9,60,75). In addition, MutL and MutS play roles in very-short-patch repair (38, 40), transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair (48), and the prevention of homeologous recombination (61, 62). Homologs of E. coli MutL and MutS have been found in most other bacteria and in eukaryotes (26, 51, 53), in which they play crucial roles in DNA repair, in maintaining chromosome stability, in meiotic recombination, and in preventing colon and sporadic cancers (31,52,53).Direct measurements showed that MutS and MutL proteins are present at about 186 and 113 dimers, respectively, per exponentially growing cell (15), wher...