Type III-mediated translocation of exoenzyme S (ExoS) into HT-29 epithelial cells by Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes complex alterations in cell function, including inhibition of DNA synthesis, altered cytoskeletal structure, loss of readherence, microvillus effacement, and interruption of signal transduction. ExoS is a bifunctional protein having both GTPase-activating (GAP) and ADP-ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) functional domains. Comparisons of alterations in HT-29 cell function caused by P. aeruginosa strains that translocate ExoS having GAP or ADPRT mutations allowed the independent and coordinate functions of the two activities to be assessed. An E381A ADPRT mutation revealed that ExoS ADPRT activity was required for effects of ExoS on DNA synthesis and long-term cell rounding. Conversely, the R146A GAP mutation appeared to have little impact on the cellular effects of ExoS. While transient cell rounding was detected following exposure to the E381A mutant, this rounding was eliminated by an E379A-E381A ADPRT double mutation, implying that residual ADPRT activity, rather than GAP activity, was effecting transient cell rounding by the E381A mutant. To explore this possibility, E381A and R146A-E381A mutants were examined for their ability to ADP-ribosylate Ras in vitro or in vivo. While no ADP-ribosylation of Ras was detected by either mutant in vitro, both mutants were able to modify Ras when translocated by the bacteria, with the R146A-E381A mutant causing more efficient modification than the E381A mutant, in association with increased inhibition of DNA synthesis. Comparisons of Ras ADP-ribosylation by wild-type and E381A mutant ExoS by two-dimensional electrophoresis found the former to ADP-ribosylate Ras at two sites, while the latter modified Ras only once. These studies draw attention to the key role of ExoS ADPRT activity in causing the effects of bacterially translocated ExoS on DNA synthesis and cell rounding. In addition, the studies provide insight into the enhancement of ExoS ADPRT activity within the eukaryotic cell microenvironment and into possible modulatory roles that the GAP and ADPRT domains might have on the function of each other.The opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, causes serious infections in compromised individuals through the production of multiple virulence factors. ExoS has been implicated in bacterial virulence (21), but an understanding of its cellular mechanism of action has been complicated by its type III-mediated secretion, which requires contact between P. aeruginosa and target cells for ExoS translocation (45). Consistent with ExoS contributing to P. aeruginosa virulence, bacterial-eukaryotic coculture studies comparing the effects of P. aeruginosa strain 388 and its ExoS isogenic mutant on HT-29 epithelial cell function showed ExoS production to be associated with a decrease in DNA synthesis, long-term alterations in cell morphology, microvillus effacement, and a loss of the ability to readhere (34). Epithelial cell sensitivity to ExoS parallels the opportunistic ...
Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was employed to resolve PCR-amplified nifH sequences from vegetated and unvegetated sediments from two oligotrophic seagrass bed sites on San Salvador Island, Bahamas, in order to assess diazotroph species composition. All DGGE profiles from these sites showed the same prominent bands. These bands were sequenced, yielding 67 different nifH sequences, which were used in phylogenetic reconstructions. Most sequences were from anaerobes, but some were affiliated with the alpha- and (gamma-+beta-) Proteobacteria. Several NifH sequences were nearly identical to those from Azospirillum brasilense and Vibrio diazotrophicus. These seagrass bed sediments support a diverse diazotroph assemblage that is, at least superficially, similar to that associated with an intertidal grass (Spartina alterniflora).
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