NrdR controls differential expression of the Escherichia coli ribonucleotide reductase genes

Overlap of replication rounds disturbs the progression of replicating forks in a ribonucleotide reductase mutant of Escherichia coli

Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) is the only enzyme specifically required for the synthesis of deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs). Surprisingly, Escherichia coli cells carrying the nrdA101 allele, which codes for a thermosensitive RNR101, are able to replicate entire chromosomes at 42 °C under RNA or protein synthesis inhibition. Here we show that the RNR101 protein is unstable at 42 °C and that its degradation under restrictive conditions is prevented by the presence of rifampicin. Nevertheless, the mere stability of the RNR protein at 42 °C cannot explain the completion of chromosomal DNA replication in the nrdA101 mutant. We found that inactivation of the DnaA protein by using several dnaAts alleles allows complete chromosome replication in the absence of rifampicin and suppresses the nucleoid segregation and cell division defects observed in the nrdA101 mutant at 42 °C. As both inactivation of the DnaA protein and inhibition of RNA synthesis block the occurrence of new DNA initiations, the consequent decrease in the number of forks per chromosome could be related to those effects. In support of this notion, we found that avoiding multifork replication rounds by the presence of moderate extra copies of datA sequence increases the relative amount of DNA synthesis of the nrdA101 mutant at 42 °C. We propose that a lower replication fork density results in an improvement of the progression of DNA replication, allowing replication of the entire chromosome at the restrictive temperature. The mechanism related to this effect is also discussed.

Control of metallation and active cofactor assembly in the class Ia and Ib ribonucleotide reductases: diiron or dimanganese?

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) convert nucleotides to deoxynucleotides in all organisms. Activity of the class Ia and Ib RNRs requires a stable tyrosyl radical (Yⁱ), which can be generated by the reaction of O2 with a diferrous cluster on the β subunit to form active diferric-Yⁱ cofactor. Recent experiments have demonstrated, however, that in vivo the class Ib RNR contains an active dimanganese(III)-Yⁱ cofactor. The similar metal binding sites of the class Ia and Ib RNRs, their ability to bind both MnII and FeII, and the activity of the class Ib RNR with both diferric-Yⁱ and dimanganese(III)-Y cofactors raise the intriguing question of how the cell prevents mismetallation of these essential enzymes. The presence of the class Ib RNR in numerous pathogenic bacteria also highlights the importance of manganese for these organisms' growth and virulence.

The alternative aerobic ribonucleotide reductase of Escherichia coli, NrdEF, is a manganese-dependent enzyme that enables cell replication during periods of iron starvation

The genome of Escherichia coli encodes two class I ribonucleotide reductases. The first, NrdAB, is a well-studied iron-dependent enzyme that is essential for aerobic growth. The second, NrdEF, is not functional under routine conditions, and its role is obscure. Recent studies demonstrated that NrdEF can be activated in vitro by manganese as well as iron. Since iron enzymes are potential targets for hydrogen peroxide, and since the nrdHIEF operon is induced during H(2) O(2) stress, we hypothesized that H(2) O(2) might inactivate NrdAB and that NrdEF might be induced to compensate. This idea was tested using E. coli mutants that are chronically stressed by H(2) O(2) . Contrary to expectation, NrdAB remained active. Its resistance to H(2) O(2) depended upon YfaE, which helps to activate NrdB. The induction of NrdEF during H(2) O(2) stress was mediated by the inactivation of Fur, an iron-dependent repressor. This regulatory arrangement implied that NrdEF has a physiological role during periods of iron starvation. Indeed, NrdEF supported cell replication in iron-depleted cells. Iron bound to NrdF when it was expressed in iron-rich cells, but NrdEF was functional only in cells that were both iron-depleted and manganese-rich. Thus NrdEF supports DNA replication when iron is unavailable to activate the housekeeping NrdAB enzyme.

Making DNA without iron - induction of a manganese-dependent ribonucleotide reductase in response to iron starvation

Ribonucleotide reductases supply cells with their deoxyribonucleotides. Three enzyme types are known, classes I, II and III. Class II enzymes are anaerobic whereas class I enzymes are aerobic, and so class I and II enzymes are often produced by the same organism under opposing oxygen regimes. Escherichia coli contains two types of class I enzyme (Ia and Ib) with the Fe-dependent Ia enzyme (NrdAB) performing the major role aerobically, leaving the purpose of the Ib enzyme (NrdEF) unclear. Several papers have recently focused on the class Ib enzymes showing that they are Mn (rather than Fe) dependent and suggesting that the E. coli NrdEF may function under redox-stress conditions. A paper published in this issue of Molecular Microbiology from James Imlay's group confirms that this unexplained NrdEF Ib enzyme is Mn-dependent, but shows that it does not substitute for NrdAB during redox stress. Instead, a role during iron restriction is demonstrated. Thus, the purpose of NrdEF (and possibly other class Ib enzymes) is to enhance growth under aerobic, low-iron conditions, and to functionally replace the Fe-dependent NrdAB when iron is unavailable. This finding reveals a new mechanism by which bacteria adjust to life under iron deprivation.

COMODO: an adaptive coclustering strategy to identify conserved coexpression modules between organisms

Increasingly large-scale expression compendia for different species are becoming available. By exploiting the modularity of the coexpression network, these compendia can be used to identify biological processes for which the expression behavior is conserved over different species. However, comparing module networks across species is not trivial. The definition of a biologically meaningful module is not a fixed one and changing the distance threshold that defines the degree of coexpression gives rise to different modules. As a result when comparing modules across species, many different partially overlapping conserved module pairs across species exist and deciding which pair is most relevant is hard. Therefore, we developed a method referred to as conserved modules across organisms (COMODO) that uses an objective selection criterium to identify conserved expression modules between two species. The method uses as input microarray data and a gene homology map and provides as output pairs of conserved modules and searches for the pair of modules for which the number of sharing homologs is statistically most significant relative to the size of the linked modules. To demonstrate its principle, we applied COMODO to study coexpression conservation between the two well-studied bacteria Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. COMODO is available at: http://homes.esat.kuleuven.be/∼kmarchal/Supplementary_Information_Zarrineh_2010/comodo/index.html.

Transcriptome analysis of parallel-evolved Escherichia coli strains under ethanol stress

Background

Understanding ethanol tolerance in microorganisms is important for the improvement of bioethanol production. Hence, we performed parallel-evolution experiments using Escherichia coli cells under ethanol stress to determine the phenotypic changes necessary for ethanol tolerance.

Results

After cultivation of 1,000 generations under 5% ethanol stress, we obtained 6 ethanol-tolerant strains that showed an approximately 2-fold increase in their specific growth rate in comparison with their ancestor. Expression analysis using microarrays revealed that common expression changes occurred during the adaptive evolution to the ethanol stress environment. Biosynthetic pathways of amino acids, including tryptophan, histidine, and branched-chain amino acids, were commonly up-regulated in the tolerant strains, suggesting that activating these pathways is involved in the development of ethanol tolerance. In support of this hypothesis, supplementation of isoleucine, tryptophan, and histidine to the culture medium increased the specific growth rate under ethanol stress. Furthermore, genes related to iron ion metabolism were commonly up-regulated in the tolerant strains, which suggests the change in intracellular redox state during adaptive evolution.

Conclusions

The common phenotypic changes in the ethanol-tolerant strains we identified could provide a fundamental basis for designing ethanol-tolerant strains for industrial purposes.

Ribonucleotide reductases of Salmonella typhimurium: transcriptional regulation and differential role in pathogenesis

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) are essential enzymes that carry out the de novo synthesis of deoxyribonucleotides by reducing ribonucleotides. There are three different classes of RNRs (I, II and III), all having different oxygen dependency and biochemical characteristics. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) harbors class Ia, class Ib and class III RNRs in its genome. We have studied the transcriptional regulation of these three RNR classes in S. Typhimurium as well as their differential function during infection of macrophage and epithelial cells. Deletion of both NrdR and Fur, two main transcriptional regulators, indicates that Fur specifically represses the class Ib enzyme and that NrdR acts as a global repressor of all three classes. A Fur recognition sequence within the nrdHIEF promoter has also been described and confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA). In order to elucidate the role of each RNR class during infection, S. Typhimurium single and double RNR mutants (as well as Fur and NrdR mutants) were used in infection assays with macrophage and epithelial cell lines. Our results indicate class Ia to be mainly responsible for deoxyribonucleotide production during invasion and proliferation inside macrophages and epithelial cells. Neither class Ib nor class III seem to be essential for growth under these conditions. However, class Ib is able to maintain certain growth in an nrdAB mutant during the first hours of macrophage infection. Our results suggest that, during the early stages of macrophage infection, class Ib may contribute to deoxyribonucleotide synthesis by means of both an NrdR and a Fur-dependent derepression of nrdHIEF due to hydrogen peroxide production and DNA damage associated with the oxidative burst, thus helping to overcome the host defenses.

DnaA-ATP acts as a molecular switch to control levels of ribonucleotide reductase expression in Escherichia coli

Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) is the bottleneck enzyme in the synthesis of dNTPs required for DNA replication. In order to avoid the mutagenic effects of imbalances in dNTPs the amount and activity of RNR enzyme in the cell is tightly regulated. RNR expression from the nrdAB operon is thus coupled to coincide with the initiation of DNA replication. However, the mechanism for the co-ordination of gene transcription and DNA replication remains to be elucidated. The timing and synchrony of DNA replication initiation in Escherichia coli is controlled in part by the binding of the DnaA protein to the origin of replication. DnaA is also a transcription factor of the nrdAB operon and could thus be the link between these two processes. Here we show that RNA polymerase can form a stable transcription initiation complex at the nrdAB promoter by direct interaction with the far upstream sites required for the timing of expression as a function of DNA replication. In addition, we show that the binding of DnaA on the promoter can either activate or repress transcription as a function of its concentration and its nucleotide-bound state. However, transcription regulation by DnaA does not significantly affect the timing of expression of RNR from the nrdAB operon.

RNRdb, a curated database of the universal enzyme family ribonucleotide reductase, reveals a high level of misannotation in sequences deposited to Genbank

Background

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) catalyse the only known de novo pathway for deoxyribonucleotide synthesis, and are therefore essential to DNA-based life. While ribonucleotide reduction has a single evolutionary origin, significant differences between RNRs nevertheless exist, notably in cofactor requirements, subunit composition and allosteric regulation. These differences result in distinct operational constraints (anaerobicity, iron/oxygen dependence and cobalamin dependence), and form the basis for the classification of RNRs into three classes.

Description

In RNRdb (Ribonucleotide Reductase database), we have collated and curated all known RNR protein sequences with the aim of providing a resource for exploration of RNR diversity and distribution. By comparing expert manual annotations with annotations stored in Genbank, we find that significant inaccuracies exist in larger databases. To our surprise, only 23% of protein sequences included in RNRdb are correctly annotated across the key attributes of class, role and function, with 17% being incorrectly annotated across all three categories. This illustrates the utility of specialist databases for applications where a high degree of annotation accuracy may be important. The database houses information on annotation, distribution and diversity of RNRs, and links to solved RNR structures, and can be searched through a BLAST interface. RNRdb is accessible through a public web interface at http://rnrdb.molbio.su.se.

Conclusion

RNRdb is a specialist database that provides a reliable annotation and classification resource for RNR proteins, as well as a tool to explore distribution patterns of RNR classes. The recent expansion in available genome sequence data have provided us with a picture of RNR distribution that is more complex than believed only a few years ago; our database indicates that RNRs of all three classes are found across all three cellular domains. Moreover, we find a number of organisms that encode all three classes.

A reduction in ribonucleotide reductase activity slows down the chromosome replication fork but does not change its localization

Background

It has been proposed that the enzymes of nucleotide biosynthesis may be compartmentalized or concentrated in a structure affecting the organization of newly replicated DNA. Here we have investigated the effect of changes in ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) activity on chromosome replication and organization of replication forks in Escherichia coli.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Reduced concentrations of deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs) obtained by reducing the activity of wild type RNR by treatment with hydroxyurea or by mutation, resulted in a lengthening of the replication period. The replication fork speed was found to be gradually reduced proportionately to moderate reductions in nucleotide availability. Cells with highly extended C periods showed a “delay” in cell division i.e. had a higher cell mass. Visualization of SeqA structures by immunofluorescence indicated no change in organization of the new DNA upon moderate limitation of RNR activity. Severe nucleotide limitation led to replication fork stalling and reversal. Well defined SeqA structures were not found in situations of extensive replication fork repair. In cells with stalled forks obtained by UV irradiation, considerable DNA compaction was observed, possibly indicating a reorganization of the DNA into a “repair structure” during the initial phase of the SOS response.

Conclusion/Significance

The results indicate that the replication fork is slowed down in a controlled manner during moderate nucleotide depletion and that a change in the activity of RNR does not lead to a change in the organization of newly replicated DNA. Control of cell division but not control of initiation was affected by the changes in replication elongation.

Genetic makeup of the Corynebacterium glutamicum LexA regulon deduced from comparative transcriptomics and in vitro DNA band shift assays

The lexA gene of Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13032 was deleted to create the mutant strain C. glutamicum NJ2114, which has an elongated cell morphology and an increased doubling time. To characterize the SOS regulon in C. glutamicum, the transcriptomes of NJ2114 and a DNA-damage-induced wild-type strain were compared with that of a wild-type control using DNA microarray hybridization. The expression data were combined with bioinformatic pattern searches for LexA binding sites, leading to the detection of 46 potential SOS boxes located upstream of differentially expressed transcription units. Binding of a hexahistidyl-tagged LexA protein to 40 double-stranded oligonucleotides containing the potential SOS boxes was demonstrated in vitro by DNA band shift assays. It turned out that LexA binds not only to SOS boxes in the promoter-operator region of upregulated genes, but also to SOS boxes detected upstream of downregulated genes. These results demonstrated that LexA controls directly the expression of at least 48 SOS genes organized in 36 transcription units. The deduced genes encode a variety of physiological functions, many of them involved in DNA repair and survival after DNA damage, but nearly half of them have hitherto unknown functions. Alignment of the LexA binding sites allowed the corynebacterial SOS box consensus sequence TcGAA(a/c)AnnTGTtCGA to be deduced. Furthermore, the common intergenic region of lexA and the differentially expressed divS-nrdR operon, encoding a cell division suppressor and a regulator of deoxyribonucleotide biosynthesis, was characterized in detail. Promoter mapping revealed differences in divS-nrdR expression during SOS response and normal growth conditions. One of the four LexA binding sites detected in the intergenic region is involved in regulating divS-nrdR transcription, whereas the other sites are apparently used for negative autoregulation of lexA expression.

Functional analysis of the Streptomyces coelicolor NrdR ATP-cone domain: role in nucleotide binding, oligomerization, and DNA interactions

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) are essential enzymes in all living cells, providing the only known de novo pathway for the biosynthesis of deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs), the immediate precursors of DNA synthesis and repair. RNRs catalyze the controlled reduction of all four ribonucleotides to maintain a balanced pool of dNTPs during the cell cycle. Streptomyces species contain genes, nrdAB and nrdJ, coding for oxygen-dependent class I and oxygen-independent class II RNRs, either of which is sufficient for vegetative growth. Both sets of genes are transcriptionally repressed by NrdR. NrdR contains a zinc ribbon DNA-binding domain and an ATP-cone domain similar to that present in the allosteric activity site of many class I and class III RNRs. Purified NrdR contains up to 1 mol of tightly bound ATP or dATP per mol of protein and binds to tandem 16-bp sequences, termed NrdR-boxes, present in the upstream regulatory regions of bacterial RNR operons. Previously, we showed that the ATP-cone domain alone determines nucleotide binding and that an NrdR mutant defective in nucleotide binding was unable to bind to DNA probes containing NrdR-boxes. These observations led us to propose that when NrdR binds ATP/dATP it undergoes a conformational change that affects DNA binding and hence RNR gene expression. In this study, we analyzed a collection of ATP-cone mutant proteins containing changes in residues inferred to be implicated in nucleotide binding and show that they result in pleiotrophic effects on ATP/dATP binding, on protein oligomerization, and on DNA binding. A model is proposed to integrate these observations.

Function and regulation of class I ribonucleotide reductase-encoding genes in mycobacteria

Ribonucleotide reductases (RNRs) are crucial to all living cells, since they provide deoxyribonucleotides (dNTPs) for DNA synthesis and repair. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a class Ib RNR comprising nrdE- and nrdF2-encoded subunits is essential for growth in vitro. Interestingly, the genome of this obligate human pathogen also contains the nrdF1 (Rv1981c) and nrdB (Rv0233) genes, encoding an alternate class Ib RNR small (R2) subunit and a putative class Ic RNR R2 subunit, respectively. However, the role(s) of these subunits in dNTP provision during M. tuberculosis pathogenesis is unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that nrdF1 and nrdB are dispensable for the growth and survival of M. tuberculosis after exposure to various stresses in vitro and, further, that neither gene is required for growth and survival in mice. These observations argue against a specialist role for the alternate R2 subunits under the conditions tested. Through the construction of nrdR-deficient mutants of M. tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis, we establish that the genes encoding the essential class Ib RNR subunits are specifically regulated by an NrdR-type repressor. Moreover, a strain of M. smegmatis mc(2)155 lacking the 56-kb chromosomal region, which includes duplicates of nrdHIE and nrdF2, and a mutant retaining only one copy of nrdF2 are shown to be hypersensitive to the class I RNR inhibitor hydroxyurea as a result of depleted levels of the target. Together, our observations identify a potential vulnerability in dNTP provision in mycobacteria and thereby offer a compelling rationale for pursuing the class Ib RNR as a target for drug discovery.

DnaC inactivation in Escherichia coli K-12 induces the SOS response and expression of nucleotide biosynthesis genes

BACKGROUND

Initiation of chromosome replication in E. coli requires the DnaA and DnaC proteins and conditionally-lethal dnaA and dnaC mutants are often used to synchronize cell populations.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

DNA microarrays were used to measure mRNA steady-state levels in initiation-deficient dnaA46 and dnaC2 bacteria at permissive and non-permissive temperatures and their expression profiles were compared to MG1655 wildtype cells. For both mutants there was altered expression of genes involved in nucleotide biosynthesis at the non-permissive temperature. Transcription of the dnaA and dnaC genes was increased at the non-permissive temperature in the respective mutant strains indicating auto-regulation of both genes. Induction of the SOS regulon was observed in dnaC2 cells at 38 degrees C and 42 degrees C. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that dnaC2 mutant cells at non-permissive temperature had completed the early stages of chromosome replication initiation.

CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE

We suggest that in dnaC2 cells the SOS response is triggered by persistent open-complex formation at oriC and/or by arrested forks that require DnaC for replication restart.

Modes of overinitiation, dnaA gene expression, and inhibition of cell division in a novel cold-sensitive hda mutant of Escherichia coli

The chromosomal replication cycle is strictly coordinated with cell cycle progression in Escherichia coli. ATP-DnaA initiates replication, leading to loading of the DNA polymerase III holoenzyme. The DNA-loaded form of the beta clamp subunit of the polymerase binds the Hda protein, which promotes ATP-DnaA hydrolysis, yielding inactive ADP-DnaA. This regulation is required to repress overinitiation. In this study, we have isolated a novel cold-sensitive hda mutant, the hda-185 mutant. The hda-185 mutant caused overinitiation of chromosomal replication at 25 degrees C, which most likely led to blockage of replication fork progress. Consistently, the inhibition of colony formation at 25 degrees C was suppressed by disruption of the diaA gene, an initiation stimulator. Disruption of the seqA gene, an initiation inhibitor, showed synthetic lethality with hda-185 even at 42 degrees C. The cellular ATP-DnaA level was increased in an hda-185-dependent manner. The cellular concentrations of DnaA protein and dnaA mRNA were comparable at 25 degrees C to those in a wild-type hda strain. We also found that multiple copies of the ribonucleotide reductase genes (nrdAB or nrdEF) or dnaB gene repressed overinitiation. The cellular levels of dATP and dCTP were elevated in cells bearing multiple copies of nrdAB. The catalytic site within NrdA was required for multicopy suppression, suggesting the importance of an active form of NrdA or elevated levels of deoxyribonucleotides in inhibition of overinitiation in the hda-185 cells. Cell division in the hda-185 mutant was inhibited at 25 degrees C in a LexA regulon-independent manner, suggesting that overinitiation in the hda-185 mutant induced a unique division inhibition pathway.