Functional compartmentalization and metabolic separation in a prokaryotic cell

The prokaryotic cell is traditionally seen as a “bag of enzymes,” yet its organization is much more complex than in this simplified view. By now, various microcompartments encapsulating metabolic enzymes or pathways are known for Bacteria. These microcompartments are usually small, encapsulating and concentrating only a few enzymes, thus protecting the cell from toxic intermediates or preventing unwanted side reactions. The hyperthermophilic, strictly anaerobic Crenarchaeon Ignicoccus hospitalis is an extraordinary organism possessing two membranes, an inner and an energized outer membrane. The outer membrane (termed here outer cytoplasmic membrane) harbors enzymes involved in proton gradient generation and ATP synthesis. These two membranes are separated by an intermembrane compartment, whose function is unknown. Major information processes like DNA replication, RNA synthesis, and protein biosynthesis are located inside the “cytoplasm” or central cytoplasmic compartment. Here, we show by immunogold labeling of ultrathin sections that enzymes involved in autotrophic CO2 assimilation are located in the intermembrane compartment that we name (now) a peripheric cytoplasmic compartment. This separation may protect DNA and RNA from reactive aldehydes arising in the I. hospitalis carbon metabolism. This compartmentalization of metabolic pathways and information processes is unprecedented in the prokaryotic world, representing a unique example of spatiofunctional compartmentalization in the second domain of life.

The Escherichia coli K5 Capsule Is Not Synthesized in a Protected Compartment within the Cytoplasm

ABSTRACT The intracellular expression of the K5 lyase enzyme, which degrades the K5 polysaccharide, decreased cell surface expression of the Escherichia coli K5 capsule. This indicates that biosynthesis of K5 polysaccharide in the cytoplasm is accessible to the action of K5 lyase and is not synthesized within a protected cytoplasmic compartment.

Chlamydial Effector Proteins Localized to the Host Cell Cytoplasmic Compartment

ABSTRACT Disease-causing microbes utilize various strategies to modify their environment in order to create a favorable location for growth and survival. Gram-negative bacterial pathogens often use specialized secretion systems to translocate effector proteins directly into the cytosol of the eukaryotic cells they infect. These bacterial proteins are responsible for modulating eukaryotic cell functions. Identification of the bacterial effectors has been a critical step toward understanding the molecular basis for the pathogenesis of the bacteria that use them. Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens that have a type III secretion system believed to translocate virulence effector proteins into the cytosol of their host cells. Selective permeabilization of the eukaryotic cell membrane was used in conjunction with metabolic labeling of bacterial proteins to identify chlamydial proteins that localize within the cytosol of infected cells. More than 20 Chlamydia trachomatis and C. pneumoniae proteins were detected within the cytoplasmic compartment of infected cells. While a number of cytosolic proteins were shared, others were unique to each species, suggesting that variation among cytosolic chlamydial proteins contributes to the differences in the pathogenesis of the chlamydial species. The spectrum of chlamydial proteins exported differed concomitant with the progress of the developmental cycle. These data confirm that a dynamic relationship exists between Chlamydia and its host and that translocation of bacterial proteins into the cytosol is developmentally dependent.