scholarly journals Principles of RNA and nucleotide discrimination by the RNA processing enzyme RppH

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 3776-3788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ang Gao ◽  
Nikita Vasilyev ◽  
Abhishek Kaushik ◽  
Wenqian Duan ◽  
Alexander Serganov

Abstract All enzymes face a challenge of discriminating cognate substrates from similar cellular compounds. Finding a correct substrate is especially difficult for the Escherichia coli Nudix hydrolase RppH, which triggers 5′-end-dependent RNA degradation by removing orthophosphate from the 5′-diphosphorylated transcripts. Here we show that RppH binds and slowly hydrolyzes NTPs, NDPs and (p)ppGpp, which each resemble the 5′-end of RNA. A series of X-ray crystal structures of RppH-nucleotide complexes, trapped in conformations either compatible or incompatible with hydrolysis, explain the low reaction rates of mononucleotides and suggest two distinct mechanisms for their hydrolysis. While RppH adopts the same catalytic arrangement with 5′-diphosphorylated nucleotides as with RNA, the enzyme hydrolyzes 5′-triphosphorylated nucleotides by extending the active site with an additional Mg2+ cation, which coordinates another reactive nucleophile. Although the average intracellular pH minimizes the hydrolysis of nucleotides by slowing their reaction with RppH, they nevertheless compete with RNA for binding and differentially inhibit the reactivity of RppH with triphosphorylated and diphosphorylated RNAs. Thus, E. coli RppH integrates various signals, such as competing non-cognate substrates and a stimulatory protein factor DapF, to achieve the differential degradation of transcripts involved in cellular processes important for the adaptation of bacteria to different growth conditions.

Author(s):  
Lisha Ha ◽  
Jennifer Colquhoun ◽  
Nicholas Noinaj ◽  
Chittaranjan Das ◽  
Paul M. Dunman ◽  
...  

Staphylococcus aureus ribonuclease-P-protein subunit (RnpA) is a promising antimicrobial target that is a key protein component for two essential cellular processes, RNA degradation and transfer-RNA (tRNA) maturation. The first crystal structure of RnpA from the pathogenic bacterial species, S. aureus, is reported at 2.0 Å resolution. The structure presented maintains key similarities with previously reported RnpA structures from bacteria and archaea, including the highly conserved RNR-box region and aromatic residues in the precursor-tRNA 5′-leader-binding domain. This structure will be instrumental in the pursuit of structure-based designed inhibitors targeting RnpA-mediated RNA processing as a novel therapeutic approach for treating S. aureus infections.


2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (a1) ◽  
pp. C1211-C1211
Author(s):  
Joseph Ng ◽  
Ronny Hughes ◽  
Michelle Morris ◽  
Leighton Coates ◽  
Matthew Blakeley ◽  
...  

Soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase (IPPase) catalyzes the hydrolysis of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) to form orthophosphate (Pi). The action of this enzyme shifts the overall equilibrium in favor of synthesis during a number of ATP-dependent cellular processes such as in the polymerization of nucleic acids, production of coenzymes and proteins and sulfate assimilation pathways. Two Neutron crystallographic (2.10-2.50Å) and five high-resolution X-ray (0.99Å-1.92Å) structures of the archaeal IPPase from Thermococcus thioreducens have been determined under both cryo and room temperatures. The structures determined include the recombinant IPPase bound to Mg+2, Ca+2, Br-, SO2-2 or PO4-2 involving those with non-hydrolyzed and hydrolyzed pyrophosphate complexes. All the crystallographic structures provide snapshots of the active site corresponding to different stages of the hydrolysis of inorganic pyrophosphate. As a result, a structure-based model of IPPase catalysis is devised showing the enzyme's low-energy conformations, hydration states, movements and nucleophile generation within the active site.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yashasvika Duggal ◽  
Jennifer E. Kurasz ◽  
Benjamin M. Fontaine ◽  
Nick J. Marotta ◽  
Shikha S. Chauhan ◽  
...  

Organismal adaptations to environmental stimuli are governed by intracellular signaling molecules such as nucleotide second messengers. Recent studies have identified functional roles for the non-canonical 2´,3´-cyclic nucleotide monophosphates (2´,3´-cNMPs) in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In Escherichia coli , 2´,3´-cNMPs are produced by RNase I-catalyzed RNA degradation, and these cyclic nucleotides modulate biofilm formation through unknown mechanisms. The present work dissects cellular processes in E. coli and Salmonella Typhimurium that are modulated by 2´,3´-cNMPs through the development of cell-permeable 2´,3´-cNMP analogs and a 2´,3´-cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase. Utilization of these chemical and enzymatic tools, in conjunction with phenotypic and transcriptomic investigations, identified pathways regulated by 2´,3´-cNMPs, including flagellar motility and biofilm formation, and by oligoribonucleotides with 3’-terminal 2´,3´-cyclic phosphates, including responses to cellular stress. Furthermore, interrogation of metabolomic and organismal databases has identified 2´,3´-cNMPs in numerous organisms and homologs of the E. coli metabolic proteins that are involved in key eukaryotic pathways. Thus, the present work provides key insights into the roles of these understudied facets of nucleotide metabolism and signaling in prokaryotic physiology and suggest broad roles for 2´,3´-cNMPs among bacteria and eukaryotes. IMPORTANCE Bacteria adapt to environmental challenges by producing intracellular signaling molecules which control downstream pathways and alter cellular processes for survival. Nucleotide second messengers serve to transduce extracellular signals and regulate a wide array of intracellular pathways. Recently, 2´,3´-cyclic nucleotide monophosphates (2´,3´-cNMPs) were identified for contributing to the regulation of cellular pathways in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In this study we define previously unknown cell processes that are affected by fluctuating 2´,3´-cNMP levels or RNA oligomers with 2´,3´-cyclic phosphate termini in E. coli and Salmonella Typhimurium, providing a framework for studying novel signaling networks in prokaryotes. Furthermore, we utilize metabolomics databases to identify additional prokaryotic and eukaryotic species that generate 2´,3´-cNMPs as a resource for future studies.


Author(s):  
Zuokun Lu ◽  
Han Wang ◽  
Aili Zhang ◽  
Yusheng Tan

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a major human pathogen, encodes at least 88 toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems. Remarkably, more than half of these modules belong to the VapBC family. Under normal growth conditions, the toxicity of the toxin VapC is neutralized by the protein antitoxin VapB. When bacteria face an unfavourable environment, the antitoxin is degraded and the free toxin VapC targets important cellular processes in order to inhibit cell growth. TA systems function in many biological processes, such as in the stringent response, in biofilm formation and in drug tolerance. To explore the structure of the VapBC1 complex, the toxin VapC1 and the antitoxin VapB1 were separately cloned, co-expressed and crystallized. The best crystal was obtained using a crystallization solution consisting of optimized solution with commercial sparse-matrix screen solutions as additives. The crystal diffracted to a resolution of 2.7 Å and belonged to space groupP21, with unit-cell parametersa= 59.3,b= 106.7,c = 250.0 Å, β = 93.75°.


2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik Szurmant ◽  
George W. Ordal

SUMMARY The study of chemotaxis describes the cellular processes that control the movement of organisms toward favorable environments. In bacteria and archaea, motility is controlled by a two-component system involving a histidine kinase that senses the environment and a response regulator, a very common type of signal transduction in prokaryotes. Most insights into the processes involved have come from studies of Escherichia coli over the last three decades. However, in the last 10 years, with the sequencing of many prokaryotic genomes, it has become clear that E. coli represents a streamlined example of bacterial chemotaxis. While general features of excitation remain conserved among bacteria and archaea, specific features, such as adaptational processes and hydrolysis of the intracellular signal CheY-P, are quite diverse. The Bacillus subtilis chemotaxis system is considerably more complex and appears to be similar to the one that existed when the bacteria and archaea separated during evolution, so that understanding this mechanism should provide insight into the variety of mechanisms used today by the broad sweep of chemotactic bacteria and archaea. However, processes even beyond those used in E. coli and B. subtilis have been discovered in other organisms. This review emphasizes those used by B. subtilis and these other organisms but also gives an account of the mechanism in E. coli.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan McNulty ◽  
Duluxan Sritharan ◽  
Shichen Liu ◽  
Sahand Hormoz ◽  
Adam Z. Rosenthal

AbstractClonal bacterial populations rely on transcriptional variation to differentiate into specialized cell states that increase the community’s fitness. Such heterogeneous gene expression is implicated in many fundamental microbial processes including sporulation, cell communication, detoxification, substrate utilization, competence, biofilm formation, motility, pathogenicity, and antibiotic resistance1. To identify these specialized cell states and determine the processes by which they develop, we need to study isogenic bacterial populations at the single cell level2,3. Here, we develop a method that uses DNA probes and leverages an existing commercial microfluidic platform (10X Chromium) to conduct bacterial single cell RNA sequencing. We sequenced the transcriptome of over 15,000 individual bacterial cells, detecting on average 365 transcripts mapping to 265 genes per cell in B. subtilis and 329 transcripts mapping to 149 genes per cell in E. coli. Our findings correctly identify known cell states and uncover previously unreported cell states. Interestingly, we find that some metabolic pathways segregate into distinct subpopulations across different bacteria and growth conditions, suggesting that some cellular processes may be more prone to differentiation than others. Our high throughput, highly resolved single cell transcriptomic platform can be broadly used for understanding heterogeneity in microbial populations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Morcinek-Orłowska ◽  
Beata Maria Walter ◽  
Raphaël Forquet ◽  
Dominik Cysewski ◽  
Maxime Carlier ◽  
...  

AbstractE. coli and many other bacterial species can alter their cell cycle according to nutrient availability. Under optimal conditions bacteria grow and divide very fast but they slow down the cell cycle when conditions deteriorate. This adaptability is underlined by mechanisms coordinating cell growth with duplication of genetic material and cell division. Several mechanisms regulating DNA replication process in E. coli have been described with biochemical details so far. Nevertheless we still don’t fully understand the source of remarkable precision that allows bacterial cells to coordinate their growth and chromosome replication. To shed light on regulation of E. coli DNA replication at systemic level, we used affinity purification coupled with mass spectrometry (AP-MS) to characterize protein-protein interactions (PPIs) formed by key E. coli replication proteins, under disparate bacterial growth conditions and phases. We present the resulting dynamic replication protein interaction network (PIN) and highlight links between DNA replication and several cellular processes, like outer membrane synthesis, RNA degradation and modification or starvation response.ImportanceDNA replication is a vital process, ensuring propagation of genetic material to progeny cells. Despite decades of studies we still don’t fully understand how bacteria coordinate chromosomal DNA duplication with cell growth and cell division under optimal and stressful conditions. At molecular level, regulation of processes, including DNA replication, is often executed through direct protein-protein interactions (PPIs). In this work we present PPIs formed by the key E. coli replication proteins under three different bacterial growth conditions. We show novel PPIs with confirmed impact on chromosomal DNA replication. Our results provide also alternative explanations of genetic interactions uncovered before by others for E.coli replication machinery.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Rosenthal ◽  
Ryan McNulty ◽  
Duluxan Sritha ◽  
Shichen Liu ◽  
Sahand Hormoz

Abstract Clonal bacterial populations rely on transcriptional variation to differentiate into specialized cell states that increase the community’s fitness. Such heterogeneous gene expression is implicated in many fundamental microbial processes including sporulation, cell communication, detoxification, substrate utilization, competence, biofilm formation, motility, pathogenicity, and antibiotic resistance1. To identify these specialized cell states and determine the processes by which they develop, we need to study isogenic bacterial populations at the single cell level2,3. Here, we develop a method that uses DNA probes and leverages an existing commercial microfluidic platform (10X Chromium) to conduct bacterial single cell RNA sequencing. We sequenced the transcriptome of over 15,000 individual bacterial cells, detecting on average 365 transcripts mapping to 265 genes per cell in B. subtilis and 329 transcripts mapping to 149 genes per cell in E. coli. Our findings correctly identify known cell states and uncover previously unreported cell states. Interestingly, we find that some metabolic pathways segregate into distinct subpopulations across different bacteria and growth conditions, suggesting that some cellular processes may be more prone to differentiation than others. Our high throughput, highly resolved single cell transcriptomic platform can be broadly used for understanding heterogeneity in microbial populations.


Author(s):  
James A. Lake

The understanding of ribosome structure has advanced considerably in the last several years. Biochemists have characterized the constituent proteins and rRNA's of ribosomes. Complete sequences have been determined for some ribosomal proteins and specific antibodies have been prepared against all E. coli small subunit proteins. In addition, a number of naturally occuring systems of three dimensional ribosome crystals which are suitable for structural studies have been observed in eukaryotes. Although the crystals are, in general, too small for X-ray diffraction, their size is ideal for electron microscopy.


Author(s):  
E. Loren Buhle ◽  
Pamela Rew ◽  
Ueli Aebi

While DNA-dependent RNA polymerase represents one of the key enzymes involved in transcription and ultimately in gene expression in procaryotic and eucaryotic cells, little progress has been made towards elucidation of its 3-D structure at the molecular level over the past few years. This is mainly because to date no 3-D crystals suitable for X-ray diffraction analysis have been obtained with this rather large (MW ~500 kd) multi-subunit (α2ββ'ζ). As an alternative, we have been trying to form ordered arrays of RNA polymerase from E. coli suitable for structural analysis in the electron microscope combined with image processing. Here we report about helical polymers induced from holoenzyme (α2ββ'ζ) at low ionic strength with 5-7 mM MnCl2 (see Fig. 1a). The presence of the ζ-subunit (MW 86 kd) is required to form these polymers, since the core enzyme (α2ββ') does fail to assemble into such structures under these conditions.


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