Within the larger ABC superfamily of ATPases, ABCF family members eEF3 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and EttA in Escherichia coli have been found to function as ribosomal translation factors. Several other ABCFs including biochemically characterized VgaA, LsaA and MsrE confer resistance to antibiotics that target the peptidyl transferase center and exit tunnel of the ribosome. However, the diversity of ABCF subfamilies, the relationships among subfamilies and the evolution of antibiotic resistance (ARE) factors from other ABCFs have not been explored. To address this, we analyzed the presence of ABCFs and their domain architectures in 4505 genomes across the tree of life. We find 45 distinct subfamilies of ABCFs that are widespread across bacterial and eukaryotic phyla, suggesting that they were present in the last common ancestor of both. Surprisingly, currently known ARE ABCFs are not confined to a distinct lineage of the ABCF family tree, suggesting that ARE can readily evolve from other ABCF functions. Our data suggest that there are a number of previously unidentified ARE ABCFs in antibiotic producers and important human pathogens. We also find that ATPase-deficient mutants of all four E. coli ABCFs (EttA, YbiT, YheS and Uup) inhibit protein synthesis, indicative of their ribosomal function, and demonstrate a genetic interaction of ABCFs Uup and YheS with translational GTPase BipA involved in assembly of the 50S ribosome subunit. Finally, we show that the ribosome-binding resistance factor VmlR from Bacillus subtilis is localized to the cytoplasm, ruling out a role in antibiotic efflux.

All living organisms adapt their membrane lipid composition in response to changes in their environment or diet. These conserved membrane-adaptive processes have been studied extensively. However, key concepts of membrane biology linked to regulation of lipid composition including homeoviscous adaptation maintaining stable levels of membrane fluidity, and gel-fluid phase separation resulting in domain formation, heavily rely upon in vitro studies with model membranes or lipid extracts. Using the bacterial model organisms Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, we now show that inadequate in vivo membrane fluidity interferes with essential complex cellular processes including cytokinesis, envelope expansion, chromosome replication/segregation and maintenance of membrane potential. Furthermore, we demonstrate that very low membrane fluidity is indeed capable of triggering large-scale lipid phase separation and protein segregation in intact, protein-crowded membranes of living cells; a process that coincides with the minimal level of fluidity capable of supporting growth. Importantly, the in vivo lipid phase separation is not associated with a breakdown of the membrane diffusion barrier function, thus explaining why the phase separation process induced by low fluidity is biologically reversible.

Within the larger ABC superfamily of ATPases, ABCF family members eEF3 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and EttA in Escherichia coli have been characterised as ribosomal translation factors.Several other ABCFs including VgaA and LsaA confer resistance to MLS-type ribosome-targeting antibiotics. However, the diversity of ABCF subfamilies, the relationships among subfamilies and the evolution of antibiotic resistance factors from other ABCFs have not been explored. To address this, we analysed the presence of ABCFs and their domain architectures in 4505 genomes across the tree of life. We find that there are 45 distinct subfamilies of ABCFs, which are widespread across bacterial and eukaryotic phyla, suggesting they were present in the last common ancestor of both. Surprisingly, currently known antibiotic resistance (ARE) ABCFs are not confined to a distinct lineage of the ABCF family tree. This suggests that either antibiotic resistance is a general feature of bacterial ABCFs, or it is relatively easy to evolve antibiotic resistance from other ABCF functions. While eEF3 was thought to be fungi-specific, we have found eEF3-like factors in a range of single celled eukaryotes, suggesting an ancient origin in this domain of life. Finally, we address

Important physicochemical properties of cell membranes such as fluidity sensitively depend on fluctuating environmental factors including temperature, pH or diet. To counteract these disturbances, living cells universally adapt their lipid composition in return. In contrast to eukaryotic cells, bacteria tolerate surprisingly drastic changes in their lipid composition while retaining viability, thus making them a more tractable model to study this process. Using the model organisms Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, which regulate their membrane fluidity with different fatty acid types, we show here that inadequate membrane fluidity interferes with essential cellular processes such as morphogenesis and maintenance of membrane potential, and triggers large-scale lipid phase separation that drives protein segregation into the fluid phase. These findings illustrate why lipid homeostasis is such a critical cellular process. Finally, our results provide direct in vivo support for current in vitro and in silico models regarding lipid phase separation and associated protein segregation.Keywords: Lipid phase separation, lipid domains, protein partitioning, membrane fluidity, homeoviscous adaptation, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, WALP, FOF1 ATP synthase liquid-disordered phase characterized by low packing density and high diffusion rates that forms the regular state of biological membranes, (ii) the more ordered, cholesterol/hopanoid-dependent liquidordered phase found in biological membranes in form of lipid rafts, and (iii) the gel phase characterized by dense lipid packing with little lateral or rotational diffusion, which is generally assumed to be absent in biologically active membranes (Schmid, 2017;Veatch, 2007). In fact, the temperature associated with gel phase formation has been postulated to define the lower end of the temperature range able to support vital cell functions (Burns et al., 2017;Drobnis et al., 1993;Ghetler et al., 2005). At last, the lipid phases can co-exist, resulting in separated membrane areas exhibiting distinctly different composition and characteristics (Baumgart et al., 2007;Elson et al., 2010;Heberle and Feigenson, 2011). This principal mechanism of lipid domain formation is best studied in the context of lipid rafts (Lingwood and Simons, 2010).While in vitro and in silico approaches with simplified lipid models have provided detailed insights into the complex physicochemical behavior of lipid bilayers, testing the formed hypotheses and models in the context of protein-rich biological membranes is now crucial. Bacteria tolerate surprisingly drastic changes in their lipid composition and only possess one or two membrane layers as part of their cell envelope. Consequently, bacteria are both a suitable and a more tractable model to study the fundamental biological process linked to membrane fluidity and phase separation in vivo.We analyzed the biological importance of membrane homeoviscous adaptation in Escherichia coli (phylum Proteobacteria) and Bacillus subtilis (phylum Firmic...

Bacterial cell division requires synthesis of a septal peptidoglycan (sPG) wall across the middle of the cell. This is accomplished by the divisome synthesis complex in coordination with numerous other division proteins - such as the essential tubulin homolog FtsZ - but the molecular mechanism of its spatiotemporal regulation remains unclear. Here, we investigate the dynamics of sPG synthesis in the model Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis using live-cell single-molecule imaging of the divisome transpeptidase PBP2B. In contrast to previous models for division, we show that there is a single population of processively-moving PBP2B molecules whose motion is driven by peptidoglycan synthesis and is not associated with FtsZ treadmilling. However, although the motions of PBP2B and FtsZ are asynchronous, we demonstrate that processive PBP2B motion is regulated by FtsZ treadmilling. Additionally, we provide evidence that the divisome synthesis complex is multimeric. Our results support a new model for division in B. subtilis where a multimeric synthesis complex follows a single track dependent on sPG synthesis whose activity is regulated by FtsZ treadmilling.