1
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The Role of Transmembrane Proteins in Plant Growth, Development, and Stress Responses. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms232113627. [PMID: 36362412 PMCID: PMC9655316 DOI: 10.3390/ijms232113627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2022] [Revised: 11/02/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Transmembrane proteins participate in various physiological activities in plants, including signal transduction, substance transport, and energy conversion. Although more than 20% of gene products are predicted to be transmembrane proteins in the genome era, due to the complexity of transmembrane domains they are difficult to reliably identify in the predicted protein, and they may have different overall three-dimensional structures. Therefore, it is challenging to study their biological function. In this review, we describe the typical structures of transmembrane proteins and their roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses. We propose a model illustrating the roles of transmembrane proteins during plant growth and response to various stresses, which will provide important references for crop breeding.
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2
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Dobson L, Szekeres LI, Gerdán C, Langó T, Zeke A, Tusnády GE. TmAlphaFold database: membrane localization and evaluation of AlphaFold2 predicted alpha-helical transmembrane protein structures. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 51:D517-D522. [PMID: 36318239 PMCID: PMC9825488 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 09/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
AI-driven protein structure prediction, most notably AlphaFold2 (AF2) opens new frontiers for almost all fields of structural biology. As traditional structure prediction methods for transmembrane proteins were both complicated and error prone, AF2 is a great help to the community. Complementing the relatively meager number of experimental structures, AF2 provides 3D predictions for thousands of new alpha-helical membrane proteins. However, the lack of reliable structural templates and the fact that AF2 was not trained to handle phase boundaries also necessitates a delicate assessment of structural correctness. In our new database, Transmembrane AlphaFold database (TmAlphaFold database), we apply TMDET, a simple geometry-based method to visualize the likeliest position of the membrane plane. In addition, we calculate several parameters to evaluate the location of the protein into the membrane. This also allows TmAlphaFold database to show whether the predicted 3D structure is realistic or not. The TmAlphaFold database is available at https://tmalphafold.ttk.hu/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laszlo Dobson
- Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary,Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Levente I Szekeres
- Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Csongor Gerdán
- Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Tamás Langó
- Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - András Zeke
- Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, H-1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gábor E Tusnády
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +36 1 382 6709;
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3
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Ferreira R, Sousa C, Gonçalves RFS, Pinheiro AC, Oleastro M, Wagemans J, Lavigne R, Figueiredo C, Azeredo J, Melo LDR. Characterization and Genomic Analysis of a New Phage Infecting Helicobacter pylori. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23147885. [PMID: 35887231 PMCID: PMC9319048 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23147885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2022] [Revised: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Helicobacter pylori, a significant human gastric pathogen, has been demonstrating increased antibiotic resistance, causing difficulties in infection treatment. It is therefore important to develop alternatives or complementary approaches to antibiotics to tackle H. pylori infections, and (bacterio)phages have proven to be effective antibacterial agents. In this work, prophage isolation was attempted using H. pylori strains and UV radiation. One phage was isolated and further characterized to assess potential phage-inspired therapeutic alternatives to H. pylori infections. HPy1R is a new podovirus prophage with a genome length of 31,162 bp, 37.1% GC, encoding 36 predicted proteins, of which 17 were identified as structural. Phage particles remained stable at 37 °C, from pH 3 to 11, for 24 h in standard assays. Moreover, when submitted to an in vitro gastric digestion model, only a small decrease was observed in the gastric phase, suggesting that it is adapted to the gastric tract environment. Together with its other characteristics, its capability to suppress H. pylori population levels for up to 24 h post-infection at multiplicities of infection of 0.01, 0.1, and 1 suggests that this newly isolated phage is a potential candidate for phage therapy in the absence of strictly lytic phages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rute Ferreira
- CEB—Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; (R.F.); (C.S.); (R.F.S.G.); (A.C.P.); (J.A.)
- LABBELS—Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal;
| | - Cláudia Sousa
- CEB—Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; (R.F.); (C.S.); (R.F.S.G.); (A.C.P.); (J.A.)
- LABBELS—Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Raquel F. S. Gonçalves
- CEB—Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; (R.F.); (C.S.); (R.F.S.G.); (A.C.P.); (J.A.)
- LABBELS—Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Ana Cristina Pinheiro
- CEB—Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; (R.F.); (C.S.); (R.F.S.G.); (A.C.P.); (J.A.)
- LABBELS—Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Mónica Oleastro
- Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), 1649-016 Lisbon, Portugal;
| | - Jeroen Wagemans
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium; (J.W.); (R.L.)
| | - Rob Lavigne
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium; (J.W.); (R.L.)
| | - Ceu Figueiredo
- i3S—Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal;
- Ipatimup—Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the University of Porto, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal
- Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
| | - Joana Azeredo
- CEB—Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; (R.F.); (C.S.); (R.F.S.G.); (A.C.P.); (J.A.)
- LABBELS—Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Luís D. R. Melo
- CEB—Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal; (R.F.); (C.S.); (R.F.S.G.); (A.C.P.); (J.A.)
- LABBELS—Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
- Correspondence:
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4
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Nogueira CL, Pires DP, Monteiro R, Santos SB, Carvalho CM. Exploitation of a Klebsiella Bacteriophage Receptor-Binding Protein as a Superior Biorecognition Molecule. ACS Infect Dis 2021; 7:3077-3087. [PMID: 34618422 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Klebsiella pneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium that has become one of the leading causes of life-threatening healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), including pneumonia and sepsis. Moreover, due to its increasingly antibiotic resistance, K. pneumoniae has been declared a global top priority concern. The problem of K. pneumoniae infections is due, in part, to the inability to detect this pathogen rapidly and accurately and thus to treat patients within the early stages of infections. The success in bacterial detection is greatly dictated by the biorecognition molecule used, with the current diagnostic tools relying on expensive probes often lacking specificity and/or sensitivity. (Bacterio)phage receptor-binding proteins (RBPs) are responsible for the recognition and adsorption of phages to specific bacterial host receptors and thus present high potential as biorecognition molecules. In this study, we report the identification and characterization of a novel RBP from the K. pneumoniae phage KpnM6E1 that presents high specificity against the target bacteria and high sensitivity (80%) to recognize K. pneumoniae strains. Moreover, adsorption studies validated the role of gp86 in the attachment to bacterial receptors, as it highly inhibits (86%) phage adsorption to its Klebsiella host. Overall, in this study, we unravel the role and potential of a novel Klebsiella phage RBP as a powerful tool to be used coupled with analytical techniques or biosensing platforms for the diagnosis of K. pneumoniae infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catarina L. Nogueira
- International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n, 4715-330 Braga, Portugal
- Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas E Computadores─Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC MN), Rua Alves Redol, 9, 1000-029 Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Diana P. Pires
- Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Rodrigo Monteiro
- Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Sílvio B. Santos
- Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Carla M. Carvalho
- International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), Av. Mestre José Veiga s/n, 4715-330 Braga, Portugal
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Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO 1 In Vitro Time-Kill Kinetics Using Single Phages and Phage Formulations-Modulating Death, Adaptation, and Resistance. Antibiotics (Basel) 2021; 10:antibiotics10070877. [PMID: 34356798 PMCID: PMC8300829 DOI: 10.3390/antibiotics10070877] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2021] [Revised: 07/02/2021] [Accepted: 07/08/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is responsible for nosocomial and chronic infections in healthcare settings. The major challenge in treating P. aeruginosa-related diseases is its remarkable capacity for antibiotic resistance development. Bacteriophage (phage) therapy is regarded as a possible alternative that has, for years, attracted attention for fighting multidrug-resistant infections. In this work, we characterized five phages showing different lytic spectrums towards clinical isolates. Two of these phages were isolated from the Russian Microgen Sextaphage formulation and belong to the Phikmvviruses, while three Pbunaviruses were isolated from sewage. Different phage formulations for the treatment of P. aeruginosa PAO1 resulted in diversified time–kill outcomes. The best result was obtained with a formulation with all phages, prompting a lower frequency of resistant variants and considerable alterations in cell motility, resulting in a loss of 73.7% in swimming motility and a 79% change in swarming motility. These alterations diminished the virulence of the phage-resisting phenotypes but promoted their growth since most became insensitive to a single or even all phages. However, not all combinations drove to enhanced cell killings due to the competition and loss of receptors. This study highlights that more caution is needed when developing cocktail formulations to maximize phage therapy efficacy. Selecting phages for formulations should consider the emergence of phage-resistant bacteria and whether the formulations are intended for short-term or extended antibacterial application.
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Ferreira R, Amado R, Padrão J, Ferreira V, Dias NM, Melo LDR, Santos SB, Nicolau A. The first sequenced Sphaerotilus natans bacteriophage- characterization and potential to control its filamentous bacterium host. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2021; 97:6136272. [PMID: 33587121 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiab029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2020] [Accepted: 02/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacteriophages (phages) are ubiquitous entities present in every conceivable habitat as a result of their bacterial parasitism. Their prevalence and impact in the ecology of bacterial communities and their ability to control pathogens make their characterization essential, particularly of new phages, improving knowledge and potential application. The isolation and characterization of a new lytic phage against Sphaerotilus natans strain DSM 6575, named vB_SnaP-R1 (SnaR1), is here described. Besides being the first sequenced genome of a Sphaerotilus natans infecting phage, 99% of its 41507 bp genome lacks homology with any other sequenced phage, revealing its uniqueness and previous lack of knowledge. Moreover, SnaR1 is the first Podoviridae phage described infecting this bacterium. Sphaerotilus natans is an important filamentous bacterium due to its deleterious effect on wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and thus, phages may play a role as novel biotechnological tools against filamentous overgrowth in WWTP. The lytic spectrum of SnaR1 was restricted to its host strain, infecting only one out of three S. natans strains and infection assays revealed its ability to reduce bacterial loads. Results suggest SnaR1 as the prototype of a new phage genus and demonstrates its potential as a non-chemical alternative to reduce S. natans DSM 6575 cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rute Ferreira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Rui Amado
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Jorge Padrão
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Vânia Ferreira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Nicolina M Dias
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Luís D R Melo
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Sílvio B Santos
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Ana Nicolau
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
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7
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Oliveira VC, Bim FL, Monteiro RM, Macedo AP, Santos ES, Silva-Lovato CH, Paranhos HFO, Melo LDR, Santos SB, Watanabe E. Identification and Characterization of New Bacteriophages to Control Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm on Endotracheal Tubes. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:580779. [PMID: 33123112 PMCID: PMC7573221 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.580779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies involving antimicrobial-coated endotracheal tubes are scarce, and new approaches to control multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm on these devices should be investigated. In this study, five new P. aeruginosa bacteriophages from domestic sewage were isolated. All of them belong to the order Caudovirales, Myoviridae family. They are pH and heat stable and produce 27 to 46 particles after a latent period of 30 min at 37°C. Their dsDNA genome (ranging from ∼62 to ∼65 kb) encodes 65 to 89 different putative proteins. They exhibit a broad lytic spectrum and infect 69.7% of the P. aeruginosa strains tested. All the bacteriophages were able to reduce the growth of P. aeruginosa strains in planktonic form. The bacteriophages were also able to reduce the biofilm viability rates and the metabolic activity of P. aeruginosa strains in a model of biofilms associated with endotracheal tubes. In addition, scanning electron microscopy micrographs showed disrupted biofilms and cell debris after treatment of bacteriophages, revealing remarkable biofilm reduction. The lytic activity on multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa biofilm indicates that the isolated bacteriophages might be considered as good candidates for therapeutic studies and for the application of bacteriophage-encoded products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viviane C Oliveira
- Human Exposome and Infectious Diseases Network, School of Nursing of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Department of Dental Materials and Prostheses, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Felipe L Bim
- Human Exposome and Infectious Diseases Network, School of Nursing of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Rachel M Monteiro
- Human Exposome and Infectious Diseases Network, School of Nursing of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Ana Paula Macedo
- Department of Dental Materials and Prostheses, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Emerson S Santos
- Department of Clinical Toxicological and Bromatologic Analysis, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Cláudia H Silva-Lovato
- Department of Dental Materials and Prostheses, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Helena F O Paranhos
- Department of Dental Materials and Prostheses, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
| | - Luís D R Melo
- Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Sílvio B Santos
- Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Evandro Watanabe
- Human Exposome and Infectious Diseases Network, School of Nursing of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.,Department of Restorative Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
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8
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A Tailspike with Exopolysaccharide Depolymerase Activity from a New Providencia stuartii Phage Makes Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Susceptible to Serum-Mediated Killing. Appl Environ Microbiol 2020; 86:AEM.00073-20. [PMID: 32357999 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00073-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Providencia stuartii is emerging as a significant drug-resistant nosocomial pathogen, which encourages the search for alternative therapies. Here, we have isolated Providencia stuartii phage Stuart, a novel podovirus infecting multidrug-resistant hospital isolates of this bacterium. Phage Stuart is a proposed member of a new Autographivirinae subfamily genus, with a 41,218-bp genome, direct 345-bp repeats at virion DNA ends, and limited sequence similarity of proteins to proteins in databases. Twelve out of the 52 predicted Stuart proteins are virion components. We found one to be a tailspike with depolymerase activity. The tailspike could form a highly thermostable oligomeric β-structure migrating close to the expected trimer in a nondenaturing gel. It appeared to be essential for the infection of three out of four P. stuartii hosts infected by phage Stuart. Moreover, it degraded the exopolysaccharide of relevant phage Stuart hosts, making the bacteria susceptible to serum killing. Prolonged exposure of a sensitive host to the tailspike did not cause the emergence of bacteria resistant to the phage or to serum killing, opposite to the prolonged exposure to the phage. This indicates that phage tail-associated depolymerases are attractive antivirulence agents that could complement the immune system in the fight with P. stuartii IMPORTANCE The pace at which multidrug-resistant strains emerge has been alarming. P. stuartii is an infrequent but relevant drug-resistant nosocomial pathogen causing local to systemic life-threatening infections. We propose an alternative approach to fight this bacterium based on the properties of phage tailspikes with depolymerase activity that degrade the surface bacterial polymers, making the bacteria susceptible to the immune system. Unlike antibiotics, phage tailspikes have narrow and specific substrate spectra, and by acting as antivirulent but not bactericidal agents they do not cause the selection of resistant bacteria.
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9
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Ribeiro HG, Melo LDR, Oliveira H, Boon M, Lavigne R, Noben JP, Azeredo J, Oliveira A. Characterization of a new podovirus infecting Paenibacillus larvae. Sci Rep 2019; 9:20355. [PMID: 31889094 PMCID: PMC6937236 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56699-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The Paenibacillus larvae infecting phage API480 (vB_PlaP_API480) is the first reported podovirus for this bacterial species, with an 58 nm icosahedral capsid and a 12 × 8 nm short, non-contractile tail. API480 encodes 77 coding sequences (CDSs) on its 45,026 bp dsDNA genome, of which 47 were confirmed using mass spectrometry. This phage has got very limited genomic and proteomic similarity to any other known ones registered in public databases, including P. larvae phages. Comparative genomics indicates API480 is a new species as it's a singleton with 28 unique proteins. Interestingly, the lysis module is highly conserved among P. larvae phages, containing a predicted endolysin and two putative holins. The well kept overall genomic organisation (from the structural and morphogenetic modules to the host lysis, DNA replication and metabolism related proteins) confirms a common evolutionary ancestor among P. larvae infecting phages. API480 is able to infect 69% of the 61 field strains with an ERIC I genotype, as well as ERIC II strains. Furthermore, this phage is very stable when exposed to high glucose concentrations and to larval gastrointestinal conditions. This highly-specific phage, with its broad lytic activity and stability in hive conditions, might potentially be used in the biocontrol of American Foulbrood (AFB).
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Affiliation(s)
- Henrique G Ribeiro
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Luís D R Melo
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Hugo Oliveira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Maarten Boon
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Rob Lavigne
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jean-Paul Noben
- Biomedical Research Institute and Transnational University Limburg, Hasselt University, Agoralaan D, 3590, Hasselt, Belgium
| | - Joana Azeredo
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Ana Oliveira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
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10
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Milho C, Silva MD, Alves D, Oliveira H, Sousa C, Pastrana LM, Azeredo J, Sillankorva S. Escherichia coli and Salmonella Enteritidis dual-species biofilms: interspecies interactions and antibiofilm efficacy of phages. Sci Rep 2019; 9:18183. [PMID: 31796870 PMCID: PMC6890764 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-54847-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Escherichia coli and Salmonella Enteritidis are foodborne pathogens forming challenging biofilms that contribute to their virulence, antimicrobial resistance, and survival on surfaces. Interspecies interactions occur between species in mixed biofilms promoting different outcomes to each species. Here we describe the interactions between E. coli and S. Enteritidis strains, and their control using specific phages. Single-species biofilms presented more cells compared to dual-species biofilms. The spatial organization of strains, observed by confocal microscopy, revealed similar arrangements in both single- and dual-species biofilms. The EPS matrix composition, assessed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, disclosed that the spectra extracted from the different dual-species biofilms can either be a combination of both species EPS matrix components or that the EPS matrix of one species predominates. Phages damaged more the single-species biofilms than the mixed biofilms, showing also that the killing efficacy was greatly dependent on the phage growth characteristics, bacterial growth parameters, and bacterial spatial distribution in biofilms. This combination of methodologies provides new knowledge of species-species and phage-host interactions in biofilms of these two major foodborne pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catarina Milho
- Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Maria Daniela Silva
- Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Diana Alves
- Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Hugo Oliveira
- Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Clara Sousa
- LAQV/REQUIMTE, Chemical Science Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal
| | - Lorenzo M Pastrana
- INL- International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Av. Mestre José Veiga, 4715-330, Braga, Portugal
| | - Joana Azeredo
- Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Sanna Sillankorva
- INL- International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Av. Mestre José Veiga, 4715-330, Braga, Portugal.
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11
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Functional Analysis and Antivirulence Properties of a New Depolymerase from a Myovirus That Infects Acinetobacter baumannii Capsule K45. J Virol 2019; 93:JVI.01163-18. [PMID: 30463964 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01163-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2018] [Accepted: 11/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Acinetobacter baumannii is an important pathogen causative of health care-associated infections and is able to rapidly develop resistance to all known antibiotics, including colistin. As an alternative therapeutic agent, we have isolated a novel myovirus (vB_AbaM_B9) which specifically infects and makes lysis from without in strains of the K45 and K30 capsule types, respectively. Phage B9 has a genome of 93,641 bp and encodes 167 predicted proteins, of which 29 were identified by mass spectrometry. This phage holds a capsule depolymerase (B9gp69) able to digest extracted exopolysaccharides of both K30 and K45 strains and remains active in a wide range of pH values (5 to 9), ionic strengths (0 to 500 mM), and temperatures (20 to 80°C). B9gp69 was demonstrated to be nontoxic in a cell line model of the human lung and to make the K45 strain fully susceptible to serum killing in vitro Contrary to the case with phage, no resistance development was observed by bacteria targeted with the B9gp69. Therefore, capsular depolymerases may represent attractive antimicrobial agents against A. baumannii infections.IMPORTANCE Currently, phage therapy has revived interest for controlling hard-to-treat bacterial infections. Acinetobacter baumannii is an emerging Gram-negative pathogen able to cause a variety of nosocomial infections. Additionally, this species is becoming more resistant to several classes of antibiotics. Here we describe the isolation of a novel lytic myophage B9 and its recombinant depolymerase. While the phage can be a promising alternative antibacterial agent, its success in the market will ultimately depend on new regulatory frameworks and general public acceptance. We therefore characterized the phage-encoded depolymerase, which is a natural enzyme that can be more easily managed and used. To our knowledge, the therapeutic potential of phage depolymerase against A. baumannii is still unknown. We show for the first time that the K45 capsule type is an important virulence factor of A. baumannii and that capsule removal via the recombinant depolymerase activity helps the host immune system to combat the bacterial infection.
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Milho C, Silva MD, Melo L, Santos S, Azeredo J, Sillankorva S. Control of Salmonella Enteritidis on food contact surfaces with bacteriophage PVP-SE2. BIOFOULING 2018; 34:753-768. [PMID: 30270665 DOI: 10.1080/08927014.2018.1501475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2018] [Revised: 07/06/2018] [Accepted: 07/09/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Salmonella is one of the worldwide leading foodborne pathogens responsible for illnesses and hospitalizations, and its capacity to form biofilms is one of its many virulence factors. This work evaluated (bacterio)phage control of adhered and biofilm cells of Salmonella Enteritidis on three different substrata at refrigerated and room temperatures, and also a preventive approach in poultry skin. PVP-SE2 phage was efficient in reducing both 24- and 48-h old Salmonella biofilms from polystyrene and stainless steel causing 2 to 5 log CFU cm-2 reductions with a higher killing efficiency at room temperature. PVP-SE2 phage application on poultry skins reduced levels of Salmonella. Freezing phage-pretreated poultry skin samples had no influence on the viability of phage PVP-SE2 and their in vitro contamination with S. Enteritidis provided evidence that phages prevented their further growth. Although not all conditions favor phage treatment, this study endorses their use to prevent and control foodborne pathogen colonization of surfaces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catarina Milho
- a Centre of Biological Engineering , LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho , Braga , Portugal
| | - Maria Daniela Silva
- a Centre of Biological Engineering , LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho , Braga , Portugal
| | - Luís Melo
- a Centre of Biological Engineering , LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho , Braga , Portugal
| | - Sílvio Santos
- a Centre of Biological Engineering , LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho , Braga , Portugal
| | - Joana Azeredo
- a Centre of Biological Engineering , LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho , Braga , Portugal
| | - Sanna Sillankorva
- a Centre of Biological Engineering , LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho , Braga , Portugal
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Melo LDR, Brandão A, Akturk E, Santos SB, Azeredo J. Characterization of a New Staphylococcus aureus Kayvirus Harboring a Lysin Active against Biofilms. Viruses 2018; 10:v10040182. [PMID: 29642449 PMCID: PMC5923476 DOI: 10.3390/v10040182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2018] [Revised: 03/29/2018] [Accepted: 04/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most relevant opportunistic pathogens involved in many biofilm-associated diseases, and is a major cause of nosocomial infections, mainly due to the increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant strains. Consequently, alternative methods to eradicate the pathogen are urgent. It has been previously shown that polyvalent staphylococcal kayviruses and their derived endolysins are excellent candidates for therapy. Here we present the characterization of a new bacteriophage: vB_SauM-LM12 (LM12). LM12 has a broad host range (>90%; 56 strains tested), and is active against several MRSA strains. The genome of LM12 is composed of a dsDNA molecule with 143,625 bp, with average GC content of 30.25% and codes for 227 Coding Sequences (CDSs). Bioinformatics analysis did not identify any gene encoding virulence factors, toxins, or antibiotic resistance determinants. Antibiofilm assays have shown that this phage significantly reduced the number of viable cells (less than one order of magnitude). Moreover, the encoded endolysin also showed activity against biofilms, with a consistent biomass reduction during prolonged periods of treatment (of about one order of magnitude). Interestingly, the endolysin was shown to be much more active against stationary-phase cells and suspended biofilm cells than against intact and scraped biofilms, suggesting that cellular aggregates protected by the biofilm matrix reduced protein activity. Both phage LM12 and its endolysin seem to have a strong antimicrobial effect and broad host range against S. aureus, suggesting their potential to treat S. aureus biofilm infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luís D R Melo
- LIBRO-Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057, Braga, Portugal.
| | - Ana Brandão
- LIBRO-Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057, Braga, Portugal.
| | - Ergun Akturk
- LIBRO-Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057, Braga, Portugal.
| | - Silvio B Santos
- LIBRO-Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057, Braga, Portugal.
| | - Joana Azeredo
- LIBRO-Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057, Braga, Portugal.
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Oliveira A, Ribeiro HG, Silva AC, Silva MD, Sousa JC, Rodrigues CF, Melo LDR, Henriques AF, Sillankorva S. Synergistic Antimicrobial Interaction between Honey and Phage against Escherichia coli Biofilms. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:2407. [PMID: 29276503 PMCID: PMC5727068 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2017] [Accepted: 11/20/2017] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Chronic wounds afford a hostile environment of damaged tissues that allow bacterial proliferation and further wound colonization. Escherichia coli is among the most common colonizers of infected wounds and it is a prolific biofilm former. Living in biofilm communities, cells are protected, become more difficult to control and eradicate, and less susceptible to antibiotic therapy. This work presents insights into the proceedings triggering E. coli biofilm control with phage, honey, and their combination, achieved through standard antimicrobial activity assays, zeta potential and flow cytometry studies and further visual insights sought by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Two Portuguese honeys (PF2 and U3) with different floral origin and an E. coli-specific phage (EC3a), possessing depolymerase activity, were tested against 24- and 48-h-old biofilms. Synergic and additive effects were perceived in some phage–honey experiments. Combined therapy prompted similar phenomena in biofilm cells, visualized by electron microscopy, as the individual treatments. Honey caused minor membrane perturbations to complete collapse and consequent discharge of cytoplasmic content, and phage completely destroyed cells leaving only vesicle-like structures and debris. Our experiments show that the addition of phage to low honey concentrations is advantageous, and that even fourfold diluted honey combined with phage, presents no loss of antibacterial activity toward E. coli. Portuguese honeys possess excellent antibiofilm activity and may be potential alternative therapeutic agents in biofilm-related wound infection. Furthermore, to our knowledge this is the first study that assessed the impacts of phage–honey combinations in bacterial cells. The synergistic effect obtained was shown to be promising, since the antiviral effect of honey limits the emergence of phage resistant phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ana Oliveira
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Henrique G Ribeiro
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Ana C Silva
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Maria D Silva
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Jessica C Sousa
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Célia F Rodrigues
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Luís D R Melo
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Ana F Henriques
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
| | - Sanna Sillankorva
- LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
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Oliveira H, Costa AR, Konstantinides N, Ferreira A, Akturk E, Sillankorva S, Nemec A, Shneider M, Dötsch A, Azeredo J. Ability of phages to infectAcinetobacter calcoaceticus-Acinetobacter baumanniicomplex species through acquisition of different pectate lyase depolymerase domains. Environ Microbiol 2017; 19:5060-5077. [DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.13970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2017] [Accepted: 10/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Hugo Oliveira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira; University of Minho; 4710-057 Braga Portugal
| | - Ana R. Costa
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira; University of Minho; 4710-057 Braga Portugal
| | - Nico Konstantinides
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira; University of Minho; 4710-057 Braga Portugal
- Laboratory of Microbiology; Wageningen University; Stippeneng 6708 WE Wageningen The Netherlands
| | - Alice Ferreira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira; University of Minho; 4710-057 Braga Portugal
| | - Ergun Akturk
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira; University of Minho; 4710-057 Braga Portugal
| | - Sanna Sillankorva
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira; University of Minho; 4710-057 Braga Portugal
| | - Alexandr Nemec
- Laboratory of Bacterial Genetics; National Institute of Public Health, Šrobárova 48; 100 42 Prague Czech Republic
| | - Mikhail Shneider
- Laboratory of Molecular Bioengineering, 16/10 Miklukho-Maklaya St; Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry; 117997 Moscow Russia
| | - Andreas Dötsch
- Institute of Functional Interfaces, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT); Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen Germany
- Max Rubner-Institute, Institute for Physiologie and Biochemistry of Nutrition, Haid-und-Neu-Str. 9; 76131 Karlsruhe Germany
| | - Joana Azeredo
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira; University of Minho; 4710-057 Braga Portugal
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A Lytic Providencia rettgeri Virus of Potential Therapeutic Value Is a Deep-Branching Member of the T5virus Genus. Appl Environ Microbiol 2017; 83:AEM.01567-17. [PMID: 28939601 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01567-17] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2017] [Accepted: 09/12/2017] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Providencia rettgeri is emerging as a new opportunistic pathogen with high antibiotic resistance. The need to find alternative methods to control antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the recent advances in phage therapy motivate the search for new phages able to infect Providencia spp. This study describes the isolation and characterization of an obligatory lytic phage, vB_PreS_PR1 (PR1), with therapeutic potential against drug-resistant P. rettgeri PR1 is a siphovirus. Its virion DNA size (118,537 bp), transcriptional organization, terminal repeats (10,461 bp), and nicks in the 3'-to-5' strand are similar to those of phage T5. However, sequence similarities of PR1 to phages of the T5virus genus at the DNA and protein levels are limited, suggesting that it belongs to a new species within the Siphoviridae family. PR1 exhibits the ability to kill P. rettgeri antibiotic-resistant strains, is highly specific to the species, and did not present known genomic markers indicating a temperate lifestyle. The lack of homologies between its proteins and proteins of the only other sequenced Providencia prophage, Redjac, suggests that these two phages evolved separately and may target different host proteins.IMPORTANCE The alarming increase in the number of bacteria resistant to antibiotics has been observed worldwide. This is particularly true for Gram-negative bacteria. For certain of their strains, no effective antibiotics are available. Providencia sp. has been a neglected pathogen but is emerging as a multidrug-resistant bacterium. This has revived interest in bacteriophages as alternative therapeutic agents against this bacterium. We describe the morphological, physiological, and genomic characterization of a novel lytic virus, PR1, which is able to kill drug-resistant P. rettgeri clinical isolates. Genomic and phylogenetic analyses indicate that PR1 is a distant relative of T5virus genus representatives. The lack of known virulence- or temperate lifestyle-associated genes in the genome of PR1 makes this phage a potential candidate for therapeutic use. Analysis of its genome also improves our knowledge of the ecology and diversity of T5-like siphoviruses, providing a new link for evolutionary studies of this phage group.
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Baker JA, Wong WC, Eisenhaber B, Warwicker J, Eisenhaber F. Charged residues next to transmembrane regions revisited: "Positive-inside rule" is complemented by the "negative inside depletion/outside enrichment rule". BMC Biol 2017; 15:66. [PMID: 28738801 PMCID: PMC5525207 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-017-0404-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2017] [Accepted: 07/07/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Transmembrane helices (TMHs) frequently occur amongst protein architectures as means for proteins to attach to or embed into biological membranes. Physical constraints such as the membrane’s hydrophobicity and electrostatic potential apply uniform requirements to TMHs and their flanking regions; consequently, they are mirrored in their sequence patterns (in addition to TMHs being a span of generally hydrophobic residues) on top of variations enforced by the specific protein’s biological functions. Results With statistics derived from a large body of protein sequences, we demonstrate that, in addition to the positive charge preference at the cytoplasmic inside (positive-inside rule), negatively charged residues preferentially occur or are even enriched at the non-cytoplasmic flank or, at least, they are suppressed at the cytoplasmic flank (negative-not-inside/negative-outside (NNI/NO) rule). As negative residues are generally rare within or near TMHs, the statistical significance is sensitive with regard to details of TMH alignment and residue frequency normalisation and also to dataset size; therefore, this trend was obscured in previous work. We observe variations amongst taxa as well as for organelles along the secretory pathway. The effect is most pronounced for TMHs from single-pass transmembrane (bitopic) proteins compared to those with multiple TMHs (polytopic proteins) and especially for the class of simple TMHs that evolved for the sole role as membrane anchors. Conclusions The charged-residue flank bias is only one of the TMH sequence features with a role in the anchorage mechanisms, others apparently being the leucine intra-helix propensity skew towards the cytoplasmic side, tryptophan flanking as well as the cysteine and tyrosine inside preference. These observations will stimulate new prediction methods for TMHs and protein topology from a sequence as well as new engineering designs for artificial membrane proteins. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-017-0404-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Alexander Baker
- Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), 30 Biopolis Street #07-01, Matrix, Singapore, 138671, Singapore.,School of Chemistry, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK
| | - Wing-Cheong Wong
- Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), 30 Biopolis Street #07-01, Matrix, Singapore, 138671, Singapore
| | - Birgit Eisenhaber
- Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), 30 Biopolis Street #07-01, Matrix, Singapore, 138671, Singapore
| | - Jim Warwicker
- School of Chemistry, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, 131 Princess Street, Manchester, M1 7DN, UK.
| | - Frank Eisenhaber
- Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), 30 Biopolis Street #07-01, Matrix, Singapore, 138671, Singapore. .,School of Computer Engineering (SCE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), 50 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637553, Singapore.
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Oliveira H, Pinto G, Oliveira A, Noben JP, Hendrix H, Lavigne R, Łobocka M, Kropinski AM, Azeredo J. Characterization and genomic analyses of two newly isolated Morganella phages define distant members among Tevenvirinae and Autographivirinae subfamilies. Sci Rep 2017; 7:46157. [PMID: 28387353 PMCID: PMC5384007 DOI: 10.1038/srep46157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2016] [Accepted: 03/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Morganella morganii is a common but frequent neglected environmental opportunistic pathogen which can cause deadly nosocomial infections. The increased number of multidrug-resistant M. morganii isolates motivates the search for alternative and effective antibacterials. We have isolated two novel obligatorily lytic M. morganii bacteriophages (vB_MmoM_MP1, vB_MmoP_MP2) and characterized them with respect to specificity, morphology, genome organization and phylogenetic relationships. MP1's dsDNA genome consists of 163,095 bp and encodes 271 proteins, exhibiting low DNA (<40%) and protein (<70%) homology to other members of the Tevenvirinae. Its unique property is a >10 kb chromosomal inversion that encompass the baseplate assembly and head outer capsid synthesis genes when compared to other T-even bacteriophages. MP2 has a dsDNA molecule with 39,394 bp and encodes 55 proteins, presenting significant genomic (70%) and proteomic identity (86%) but only to Morganella bacteriophage MmP1. MP1 and MP2 are then novel members of Tevenvirinae and Autographivirinae, respectively, but differ significantly from other tailed bacteriophages of these subfamilies to warrant proposing new genera. Both bacteriophages together could propagate in 23 of 27 M. morganii clinical isolates of different origin and antibiotic resistance profiles, making them suitable for further studies on a development of bacteriophage cocktail for potential therapeutic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugo Oliveira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Graça Pinto
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Ana Oliveira
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Jean-Paul Noben
- Biomedical Research Institute and Transnational University Limburg, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek 3590, Belgium
| | - Hanne Hendrix
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 21 box 2462, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Rob Lavigne
- Laboratory of Gene Technology, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 21 box 2462, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Małgorzata Łobocka
- Department of Microbial Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.,Autonomous Department of Microbial Biology, Faculty of Agriculture and Biology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Andrew M Kropinski
- Departments of Food Science; Molecular and Cellular Biology; and, Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Joana Azeredo
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
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Varga J, Dobson L, Reményi I, Tusnády GE. TSTMP: target selection for structural genomics of human transmembrane proteins. Nucleic Acids Res 2016; 45:D325-D330. [PMID: 27924015 PMCID: PMC5210638 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkw939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2016] [Revised: 10/04/2016] [Accepted: 10/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The TSTMP database is designed to help the target selection of human transmembrane proteins for structural genomics projects and structure modeling studies. Currently, there are only 60 known 3D structures among the polytopic human transmembrane proteins and about a further 600 could be modeled using existing structures. Although there are a great number of human transmembrane protein structures left to be determined, surprisingly only a small fraction of these proteins have 'selected' (or above) status according to the current version the TargetDB/TargetTrack database. This figure is even worse regarding those transmembrane proteins that would contribute the most to the structural coverage of the human transmembrane proteome. The database was built by sorting out proteins from the human transmembrane proteome with known structure and searching for suitable model structures for the remaining proteins by combining the results of a state-of-the-art transmembrane specific fold recognition algorithm and a sequence similarity search algorithm. Proteins were searched for homologues among the human transmembrane proteins in order to select targets whose successful structure determination would lead to the best structural coverage of the human transmembrane proteome. The pipeline constructed for creating the TSTMP database guarantees to keep the database up-to-date. The database is available at http://tstmp.enzim.ttk.mta.hu.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Varga
- Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rakpart 3, H1111 Hungary
| | - László Dobson
- 'Momentum' Membrane Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, HAS, Budapest PO Box 7, H-1518 Hungary
| | - István Reményi
- 'Momentum' Membrane Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, HAS, Budapest PO Box 7, H-1518 Hungary
| | - Gábor E Tusnády
- 'Momentum' Membrane Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, HAS, Budapest PO Box 7, H-1518 Hungary
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Oliveira H, Pinto G, Oliveira A, Oliveira C, Faustino MA, Briers Y, Domingues L, Azeredo J. Characterization and genome sequencing of a Citrobacter freundii phage CfP1 harboring a lysin active against multidrug-resistant isolates. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2016; 100:10543-10553. [PMID: 27683211 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-016-7858-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2016] [Revised: 08/29/2016] [Accepted: 09/13/2016] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Citrobacter spp., although frequently ignored, is emerging as an important nosocomial bacterium able to cause various superficial and systemic life-threatening infections. Considered to be hard-to-treat bacterium due to its pattern of high antibiotic resistance, it is important to develop effective measures for early and efficient therapy. In this study, the first myovirus (vB_CfrM_CfP1) lytic for Citrobacter freundii was microbiologically and genomically characterized. Its morphology, activity spectrum, burst size, and biophysical stability spectrum were determined. CfP1 specifically infects C. freundii, has broad host range (>85 %; 21 strains tested), a burst size of 45 PFU/cell, and is very stable under different temperatures (-20 to 50 °C) and pH (3 to 11) values. CfP1 demonstrated to be highly virulent against multidrug-resistant clinical isolates up to 12 antibiotics, including penicillins, cephalosporins, carbapenems, and fluroquinoles. Genomically, CfP1 has a dsDNA molecule with 180,219 bp with average GC content of 43.1 % and codes for 273 CDSs. The genome architecture is organized into function-specific gene clusters typical for tailed phages, sharing 46 to 94 % nucleotide identity to other Citrobacter phages. The lysin gene encoding a predicted D-Ala-D-Ala carboxypeptidase was also cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli and its activity evaluated in terms of pH, ionic strength, and temperature. The lysine optimum activity was reached at 20 mM HEPES, pH 7 at 37 °C, and was able to significantly reduce all C. freundii (>2 logs) as well as Citrobacter koseri (>4 logs) strains tested. Interestingly, the antimicrobial activity of this enzyme was performed without the need of pretreatment with outer membrane-destabilizing agents. These results indicate that CfP1 lysin is a good candidate to control problematic Citrobacter infections, for which current antibiotics are no longer effective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hugo Oliveira
- CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Graça Pinto
- CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Ana Oliveira
- CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Carla Oliveira
- CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | | | - Yves Briers
- Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 21, Box 2462, 3001, Leuven, Belgium.,Department of Applied Biosciences, Ghent University, Valentin Vaerwijckweg 1, 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Lucília Domingues
- CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal
| | - Joana Azeredo
- CEB-Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal.
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Melo LDR, Veiga P, Cerca N, Kropinski AM, Almeida C, Azeredo J, Sillankorva S. Development of a Phage Cocktail to Control Proteus mirabilis Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections. Front Microbiol 2016; 7:1024. [PMID: 27446059 PMCID: PMC4923195 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2016] [Accepted: 06/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Proteus mirabilis is an enterobacterium that causes catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) due to its ability to colonize and form crystalline biofilms on the catheters surface. CAUTIs are very difficult to treat, since biofilm structures are highly tolerant to antibiotics. Phages have been used widely to control a diversity of bacterial species, however, a limited number of phages for P. mirabilis have been isolated and studied. Here we report the isolation of two novel virulent phages, the podovirus vB_PmiP_5460 and the myovirus vB_PmiM_5461, which are able to target, respectively, 16 of the 26 and all the Proteus strains tested in this study. Both phages have been characterized thoroughly and sequencing data revealed no traces of genes associated with lysogeny. To further evaluate the phages’ ability to prevent catheter’s colonization by Proteus, the phages adherence to silicone surfaces was assessed. Further tests in phage-coated catheters using a dynamic biofilm model simulating CAUTIs, have shown a significant reduction of P. mirabilis biofilm formation up to 168 h of catheterization. These results highlight the potential usefulness of the two isolated phages for the prevention of surface colonization by this bacterium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luís D R Melo
- Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho Braga Braga, Portugal
| | - Patrícia Veiga
- Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho Braga Braga, Portugal
| | - Nuno Cerca
- Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho Braga Braga, Portugal
| | - Andrew M Kropinski
- Departments of Food Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph ON, Canada
| | - Carina Almeida
- Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho Braga Braga, Portugal
| | - Joana Azeredo
- Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho Braga Braga, Portugal
| | - Sanna Sillankorva
- Laboratório de Investigação em Biofilmes Rosário Oliveira, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho Braga Braga, Portugal
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Hayat M, Tahir M. PSOFuzzySVM-TMH: identification of transmembrane helix segments using ensemble feature space by incorporated fuzzy support vector machine. MOLECULAR BIOSYSTEMS 2016; 11:2255-62. [PMID: 26054033 DOI: 10.1039/c5mb00196j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Membrane protein is a central component of the cell that manages intra and extracellular processes. Membrane proteins execute a diversity of functions that are vital for the survival of organisms. The topology of transmembrane proteins describes the number of transmembrane (TM) helix segments and its orientation. However, owing to the lack of its recognized structures, the identification of TM helix and its topology through experimental methods is laborious with low throughput. In order to identify TM helix segments reliably, accurately, and effectively from topogenic sequences, we propose the PSOFuzzySVM-TMH model. In this model, evolutionary based information position specific scoring matrix and discrete based information 6-letter exchange group are used to formulate transmembrane protein sequences. The noisy and extraneous attributes are eradicated using an optimization selection technique, particle swarm optimization, from both feature spaces. Finally, the selected feature spaces are combined in order to form ensemble feature space. Fuzzy-support vector Machine is utilized as a classification algorithm. Two benchmark datasets, including low and high resolution datasets, are used. At various levels, the performance of the PSOFuzzySVM-TMH model is assessed through 10-fold cross validation test. The empirical results reveal that the proposed framework PSOFuzzySVM-TMH outperforms in terms of classification performance in the examined datasets. It is ascertained that the proposed model might be a useful and high throughput tool for academia and research community for further structure and functional studies on transmembrane proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maqsood Hayat
- Department of Computer Science, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Pakistan.
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Dobson L, Reményi I, Tusnády GE. The human transmembrane proteome. Biol Direct 2015; 10:31. [PMID: 26018427 PMCID: PMC4445273 DOI: 10.1186/s13062-015-0061-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2015] [Accepted: 05/15/2015] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Transmembrane proteins have important roles in cells, as they are involved in energy production, signal transduction, cell-cell interaction, cell-cell communication and more. In human cells, they are frequently targets for pharmaceuticals; therefore, knowledge about their properties and structure is crucial. Topology of transmembrane proteins provide a low resolution structural information, which can be a starting point for either laboratory experiments or modelling their 3D structures. Results Here, we present a database of the human α-helical transmembrane proteome, including the predicted and/or experimentally established topology of each transmembrane protein, together with the reliability of the prediction. In order to distinguish transmembrane proteins in the proteome as well as for topology prediction, we used a newly developed consensus method (CCTOP) that incorporates recent state of the art methods, with tested accuracies on a novel human benchmark protein set. CCTOP utilizes all available structure and topology data as well as bioinformatical evidences for topology prediction in a probabilistic framework provided by the hidden Markov model. This method shows the highest accuracy (98.5 % for discrinimating between transmembrane and non-transmembrane proteins and 84 % for per protein topology prediction) among the dozen tested topology prediction methods. Analysis of the human proteome with the CCTOP indicates that it contains 4998 (26 %) transmembrane proteins. Besides predicting topology, reliability of the predictions is estimated as well, and it is demonstrated that the per protein prediction accuracies of more than 60 % of the predictions are over 98 % on the benchmark sets and most probably on the predicted human transmembrane proteome too. Conclusions Here, we present the most accurate prediction of the human transmembrane proteome together with the experimental topology data. These data, as well as various statistics about the human transmembrane proteins and their topologies can be downloaded from and can be visualized at the website of the human transmembrane proteome (http://htp.enzim.hu). Reviewers This article was reviewed by Dr. Sandor Pongor, Dr. Michael Galperin and Dr. Pascale Gaudet (nominated by Dr Michael Galperin). Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13062-015-0061-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- László Dobson
- "Momentum" Membrane Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, HAS, Budapest, PO Box 7, H-1518, Hungary.
| | - István Reményi
- "Momentum" Membrane Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, HAS, Budapest, PO Box 7, H-1518, Hungary.
| | - Gábor E Tusnády
- "Momentum" Membrane Protein Bioinformatics Research Group, Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, HAS, Budapest, PO Box 7, H-1518, Hungary.
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Goel S, Palmkvist M, Moll K, Joannin N, Lara P, Akhouri RR, Moradi N, Öjemalm K, Westman M, Angeletti D, Kjellin H, Lehtiö J, Blixt O, Ideström L, Gahmberg CG, Storry JR, Hult AK, Olsson ML, von Heijne G, Nilsson I, Wahlgren M. RIFINs are adhesins implicated in severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Nat Med 2015; 21:314-7. [PMID: 25751816 DOI: 10.1038/nm.3812] [Citation(s) in RCA: 138] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2014] [Accepted: 01/29/2015] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Rosetting is a virulent Plasmodium falciparum phenomenon associated with severe malaria. Here we demonstrate that P. falciparum-encoded repetitive interspersed families of polypeptides (RIFINs) are expressed on the surface of infected red blood cells (iRBCs), where they bind to RBCs--preferentially of blood group A--to form large rosettes and mediate microvascular binding of iRBCs. We suggest that RIFINs have a fundamental role in the development of severe malaria and thereby contribute to the varying global distribution of ABO blood groups in the human population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suchi Goel
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mia Palmkvist
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kirsten Moll
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Nicolas Joannin
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Patricia Lara
- Center for Biomembrane Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Reetesh R Akhouri
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Nasim Moradi
- Center for Biomembrane Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Karin Öjemalm
- Center for Biomembrane Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mattias Westman
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Davide Angeletti
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Hanna Kjellin
- SciLifeLab, Departments of Oncology, Pathology, Molecular Medicine, and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Janne Lehtiö
- SciLifeLab, Departments of Oncology, Pathology, Molecular Medicine, and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ola Blixt
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Fredriksberg, Denmark
| | - Lars Ideström
- Department of Medical Physics, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Carl G Gahmberg
- Department of Biosciences, Division of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Jill R Storry
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Annika K Hult
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Martin L Olsson
- Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Gunnar von Heijne
- Center for Biomembrane Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - IngMarie Nilsson
- Center for Biomembrane Research, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mats Wahlgren
- Center for Infectious Disease Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
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Melo LDR, Sillankorva S, Ackermann HW, Kropinski AM, Azeredo J, Cerca N. Characterization of Staphylococcus epidermidis phage vB_SepS_SEP9 - a unique member of the Siphoviridae family. Res Microbiol 2014; 165:679-85. [PMID: 25303835 DOI: 10.1016/j.resmic.2014.09.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2014] [Revised: 09/22/2014] [Accepted: 09/29/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Relatively few phages (<10) of coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) have been described. Staphylococcus epidermidis phage vB_SepS_SEP9 is a siphovirus with a unique morphology as a staphylococcal phage, possessing a very long tail. Its genome is unique and unrelated to any phage genomes deposited in public databases. It appears to encode a nonfunctional integrase. Due to the not having a recognizable lysogeny module, the phage is unable lysogenize. The genome comprises 129 coding sequences (CDS), 46 of which have an assigned function and 59 are unique. Its unique morphology and genome led to the proposal of the establishment of a new Siphoviridae genus named "Sep9likevirus".
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Affiliation(s)
- Luís D R Melo
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratory of Research in Biofilms Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Sanna Sillankorva
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratory of Research in Biofilms Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectiology, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Québec, QC G1X 4C6, Canada
| | - Andrew M Kropinski
- Public Health Agency of Canada, Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses, Guelph, ON N1G 3W4, Canada; Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
| | - Joana Azeredo
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratory of Research in Biofilms Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Nuno Cerca
- CEB - Centre of Biological Engineering, LIBRO - Laboratory of Research in Biofilms Rosário Oliveira, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal.
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Abstract
Proteomic analysis of membrane proteins is a promising approach for the identification of novel drug targets and/or disease biomarkers. Despite notable technological developments, obstacles related to extraction and solublization of membrane proteins are encountered. A critical discussion of the different preparative methods of membrane proteins is offered in relation to downstream proteomic applications, mainly gel-based analyses and mass spectrometry. Frequently, unknown proteins are identified by high-throughput profiling of membrane proteins. In search for novel membrane proteins, analysis of protein sequences using computational tools is performed to predict the presence of transmembrane domains. This review also presents these bioinformatic tools with the human proteome as a case study. Along with technological innovations, advancements in the areas of sample preparation and computational prediction of membrane proteins will lead to exciting discoveries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mamoun Ahram
- Biological Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Battelle, PO Box 999, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
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27
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Melo LDR, Sillankorva S, Ackermann HW, Kropinski AM, Azeredo J, Cerca N. Isolation and characterization of a new Staphylococcus epidermidis broad-spectrum bacteriophage. J Gen Virol 2013; 95:506-515. [PMID: 24189619 DOI: 10.1099/vir.0.060590-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Staphylococcus epidermidis is considered an important nosocomial pathogen, being very tolerant to the host immune system and antibiotherapy, particularly when in biofilms. Due to its high resistance, alternative antimicrobial strategies are under development. The use of bacteriophages is seen as an important strategy to combat pathogenic organisms. In this study, a S. epidermidis myovirus, SEP1, was isolated and characterized. The genome of this phage was sequenced and shown to be related peripherally to the genus Twortlikevirus. However, when compared with other phages of this genus, it showed DNA sequence identities no greater than 58.2 %. As opposed to other polyvalent viruses of the genus Twortlikevirus, SEP1 is highly specific to S. epidermidis strains. The good infectivity shown by this phage as well as its high lytic spectrum suggested that it might be a good candidate for therapeutic studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luís D R Melo
- Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Sanna Sillankorva
- Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Hans-Wolfgang Ackermann
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectiology, Faculty of Medicine, Laval University, Québec, QC G1X 4C6, Canada
| | - Andrew M Kropinski
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.,Public Health Agency of Canada, Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses, Guelph, ON N1G 3W4, Canada
| | - Joana Azeredo
- Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057 Braga, Portugal
| | - Nuno Cerca
- Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4700-057 Braga, Portugal
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28
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Complete Genome Sequence of the Broad-Host-Range Paenibacillus larvae Phage phiIBB_Pl23. GENOME ANNOUNCEMENTS 2013; 1:1/5/e00438-13. [PMID: 24009112 PMCID: PMC3764407 DOI: 10.1128/genomea.00438-13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Paenibacillus larvae is a Gram-positive bacterium that causes American foulbrood, an important disease in apiculture. We report the first complete genome sequence of a P. larvae phage, phiIBB_Pl23, isolated from a hive in northern Portugal. This phage belongs to the family Siphoviridae.
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29
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Wang H, He Z, Zhang C, Zhang L, Xu D. Transmembrane protein alignment and fold recognition based on predicted topology. PLoS One 2013; 8:e69744. [PMID: 23894534 PMCID: PMC3716705 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2012] [Accepted: 06/15/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although Transmembrane Proteins (TMPs) are highly important in various biological processes and pharmaceutical developments, general prediction of TMP structures is still far from satisfactory. Because TMPs have significantly different physicochemical properties from soluble proteins, current protein structure prediction tools for soluble proteins may not work well for TMPs. With the increasing number of experimental TMP structures available, template-based methods have the potential to become broadly applicable for TMP structure prediction. However, the current fold recognition methods for TMPs are not as well developed as they are for soluble proteins. METHODOLOGY We developed a novel TMP Fold Recognition method, TMFR, to recognize TMP folds based on sequence-to-structure pairwise alignment. The method utilizes topology-based features in alignment together with sequence profile and solvent accessibility. It also incorporates a gap penalty that depends on predicted topology structure segments. Given the difference between α-helical transmembrane protein (αTMP) and β-strands transmembrane protein (βTMP), parameters of scoring functions are trained respectively for these two protein categories using 58 αTMPs and 17 βTMPs in a non-redundant training dataset. RESULTS We compared our method with HHalign, a leading alignment tool using a non-redundant testing dataset including 72 αTMPs and 30 βTMPs. Our method achieved 10% and 9% better accuracies than HHalign in αTMPs and βTMPs, respectively. The raw score generated by TMFR is negatively correlated with the structure similarity between the target and the template, which indicates its effectiveness for fold recognition. The result demonstrates TMFR provides an effective TMP-specific fold recognition and alignment method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Wang
- School of Computer Science and Information Technology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
- Department of Computer Science, Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Zhiquan He
- Department of Computer Science, Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Chao Zhang
- Department of Computer Science, Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America
| | - Li Zhang
- School of Computer Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun, People’s Republic of China
| | - Dong Xu
- Department of Computer Science, Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America
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30
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Bendz M, Skwark M, Nilsson D, Granholm V, Cristobal S, Käll L, Elofsson A. Membrane protein shaving with thermolysin can be used to evaluate topology predictors. Proteomics 2013; 13:1467-80. [DOI: 10.1002/pmic.201200517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2012] [Revised: 01/23/2013] [Accepted: 02/25/2013] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Bendz
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Science for Life Laboratory, Center for Biomembrane Research, Stockholm University; Stockholm Sweden
| | - Marcin Skwark
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Science for Life Laboratory, Center for Biomembrane Research, Stockholm University; Stockholm Sweden
| | - Daniel Nilsson
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Science for Life Laboratory, Center for Biomembrane Research, Stockholm University; Stockholm Sweden
| | - Viktor Granholm
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Science for Life Laboratory, Center for Biomembrane Research, Stockholm University; Stockholm Sweden
| | - Susana Cristobal
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Cell Biology; Faculty of Health Science, Linköping University; Linköping Sweden
- IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science; Department of Physiology, Basque Country Medical School; Bilbao Spain
| | - Lukas Käll
- Science for Life Laboratory, School of Biotechnology; Royal Institute of Technology (KTH); Solna Sweden
| | - Arne Elofsson
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Science for Life Laboratory, Center for Biomembrane Research, Stockholm University; Stockholm Sweden
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Hayat M, Khan A. WRF-TMH: predicting transmembrane helix by fusing composition index and physicochemical properties of amino acids. Amino Acids 2013; 44:1317-28. [PMID: 23494269 DOI: 10.1007/s00726-013-1466-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2012] [Accepted: 01/23/2013] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Membrane protein is the prime constituent of a cell, which performs a role of mediator between intra and extracellular processes. The prediction of transmembrane (TM) helix and its topology provides essential information regarding the function and structure of membrane proteins. However, prediction of TM helix and its topology is a challenging issue in bioinformatics and computational biology due to experimental complexities and lack of its established structures. Therefore, the location and orientation of TM helix segments are predicted from topogenic sequences. In this regard, we propose WRF-TMH model for effectively predicting TM helix segments. In this model, information is extracted from membrane protein sequences using compositional index and physicochemical properties. The redundant and irrelevant features are eliminated through singular value decomposition. The selected features provided by these feature extraction strategies are then fused to develop a hybrid model. Weighted random forest is adopted as a classification approach. We have used two benchmark datasets including low and high-resolution datasets. tenfold cross validation is employed to assess the performance of WRF-TMH model at different levels including per protein, per segment, and per residue. The success rates of WRF-TMH model are quite promising and are the best reported so far on the same datasets. It is observed that WRF-TMH model might play a substantial role, and will provide essential information for further structural and functional studies on membrane proteins. The accompanied web predictor is accessible at http://111.68.99.218/WRF-TMH/ .
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Wang H, Zhang C, Shi X, Zhang L, Zhou Y. Improving transmembrane protein consensus topology prediction using inter-helical interaction. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-BIOMEMBRANES 2012; 1818:2679-86. [PMID: 22683598 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2012.05.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2012] [Revised: 05/29/2012] [Accepted: 05/31/2012] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Alpha helix transmembrane proteins (αTMPs) represent roughly 30% of all open reading frames (ORFs) in a typical genome and are involved in many critical biological processes. Due to the special physicochemical properties, it is hard to crystallize and obtain high resolution structures experimentally, thus, sequence-based topology prediction is highly desirable for the study of transmembrane proteins (TMPs), both in structure prediction and function prediction. Various model-based topology prediction methods have been developed, but the accuracy of those individual predictors remain poor due to the limitation of the methods or the features they used. Thus, the consensus topology prediction method becomes practical for high accuracy applications by combining the advances of the individual predictors. Here, based on the observation that inter-helical interactions are commonly found within the transmembrane helixes (TMHs) and strongly indicate the existence of them, we present a novel consensus topology prediction method for αTMPs, CNTOP, which incorporates four top leading individual topology predictors, and further improves the prediction accuracy by using the predicted inter-helical interactions. The method achieved 87% prediction accuracy based on a benchmark dataset and 78% accuracy based on a non-redundant dataset which is composed of polytopic αTMPs. Our method derives the highest topology accuracy than any other individual predictors and consensus predictors, at the same time, the TMHs are more accurately predicted in their length and locations, where both the false positives (FPs) and the false negatives (FNs) decreased dramatically. The CNTOP is available at: http://ccst.jlu.edu.cn/JCSB/cntop/CNTOP.html.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Wang
- Jilin University, Changchun, China
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Ahmed R, Rangwala H, Karypis G. TOPTMH: topology predictor for transmembrane alpha-helices. J Bioinform Comput Biol 2010; 8:39-57. [PMID: 20183873 DOI: 10.1142/s0219720010004501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2009] [Accepted: 10/22/2009] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Alpha-helical transmembrane proteins mediate many key biological processes and represent 20%-30% of all genes in many organisms. Due to the difficulties in experimentally determining their high-resolution 3D structure, computational methods to predict the location and orientation of transmembrane helix segments using sequence information are essential. We present TOPTMH, a new transmembrane helix topology prediction method that combines support vector machines, hidden Markov models, and a widely used rule-based scheme. The contribution of this work is the development of a prediction approach that first uses a binary SVM classifier to predict the helix residues and then it employs a pair of HMM models that incorporate the SVM predictions and hydropathy-based features to identify the entire transmembrane helix segments by capturing the structural characteristics of these proteins. TOPTMH outperforms state-of-the-art prediction methods and achieves the best performance on an independent static benchmark.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rezwan Ahmed
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
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Klammer M, Messina DN, Schmitt T, Sonnhammer ELL. MetaTM - a consensus method for transmembrane protein topology prediction. BMC Bioinformatics 2009; 10:314. [PMID: 19785723 PMCID: PMC2761906 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2105-10-314] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2009] [Accepted: 09/28/2009] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Transmembrane (TM) proteins are proteins that span a biological membrane one or more times. As their 3-D structures are hard to determine, experiments focus on identifying their topology (i. e. which parts of the amino acid sequence are buried in the membrane and which are located on either side of the membrane), but only a few topologies are known. Consequently, various computational TM topology predictors have been developed, but their accuracies are far from perfect. The prediction quality can be improved by applying a consensus approach, which combines results of several predictors to yield a more reliable result. Results A novel TM consensus method, named MetaTM, is proposed in this work. MetaTM is based on support vector machine models and combines the results of six TM topology predictors and two signal peptide predictors. On a large data set comprising 1460 sequences of TM proteins with known topologies and 2362 globular protein sequences it correctly predicts 86.7% of all topologies. Conclusion Combining several TM predictors in a consensus prediction framework improves overall accuracy compared to any of the individual methods. Our proposed SVM-based system also has higher accuracy than a previous consensus predictor. MetaTM is made available both as downloadable source code and as DAS server at
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Klammer
- Stockholm Bioinformatics Centre, Albanova, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
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36
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Natera SHA, Ford KL, Cassin AM, Patterson JH, Newbigin EJ, Bacic A. Analysis of the Oryza sativa Plasma Membrane Proteome Using Combined Protein and Peptide Fractionation Approaches in Conjunction with Mass Spectrometry. J Proteome Res 2008; 7:1159-87. [DOI: 10.1021/pr070255c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Siria H. A. Natera
- Plant Cell Biology Research Centre and Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Kristina L. Ford
- Plant Cell Biology Research Centre and Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Andrew M. Cassin
- Plant Cell Biology Research Centre and Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - John H. Patterson
- Plant Cell Biology Research Centre and Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Edward J. Newbigin
- Plant Cell Biology Research Centre and Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Antony Bacic
- Plant Cell Biology Research Centre and Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Botany, University of Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
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Hu J, Yan C. HMM_RA: an improved method for alpha-helical transmembrane protein topology prediction. Bioinform Biol Insights 2008; 2:67-74. [PMID: 19812766 PMCID: PMC2735969 DOI: 10.4137/bbi.s358] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
alpha-helical transmembrane (TM) proteins play important and diverse functional roles in cells. The ability to predict the topology of these proteins is important for identifying functional sites and inferring function of membrane proteins. This paper presents a Hidden Markov Model (referred to as HMM_RA) that can predict the topology of alpha-helical transmembrane proteins with improved performance. HMM_RA adopts the same structure as the HMMTOP method, which has five modules: inside loop, inside helix tail, membrane helix, outside helix tail and outside loop. Each module consists of one or multiple states. HMM_RA allows using reduced alphabets to encode protein sequences. Thus, each state of HMM_RA is associated with n emission probabilities, where n is the size of the reduced alphabet set. Direct comparisons using two standard data sets show that HMM_RA consistently outperforms HMMTOP and TMHMM in topology prediction. Specifically, on a high-quality data set of 83 proteins, HMM_RA outperforms HMMTOP by up to 7.6% in topology accuracy and 6.4% in alpha-helices location accuracy. On the same data set, HMM_RA outperforms TMHMM by up to 6.4% in topology accuracy and 2.9% in location accuracy. Comparison also shows that HMM_RA achieves comparable performance as Phobius, a recently published method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jing Hu
- Department of Computer Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322 U.S.A
| | - Changhui Yan
- Department of Computer Science, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322 U.S.A
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38
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Reimers K, Choi CY, Bucan V, Vogt PM. The growth-hormone inducible transmembrane protein (Ghitm) belongs to the Bax inhibitory protein-like family. Int J Biol Sci 2007; 3:471-6. [PMID: 18071587 PMCID: PMC2096737 DOI: 10.7150/ijbs.3.471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2007] [Accepted: 11/20/2007] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The conserved protein domain UPF0005 is a protein family signature distributed among many species including fungi and bacteria. Although of unknown functionality this motif has been found in newly identified antiapoptotic proteins comprising the BI-1 family, namely Bax-inhibitory Protein-1 (BI-1), Lifeguard (LFG), and h-GAAP. In a search for vertebrate proteins presumably belonging to the BI-1 family, we found that Growth-hormone inducible transmembrane protein (Ghitm) is another prospective member of the BI-1 family. Here we characterise Ghitm in a first analysis regarding its phylogeny, expression in cancer cell lines, and proteomical properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kerstin Reimers
- Department for Plastic, Hand, Reconstructive Surgery, Medical School Hannover, Podbielskistrasse 380, D-30659 Hannover, Germany.
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39
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Barabote RD, Rendulic S, Schuster SC, Saier MH. Comprehensive analysis of transport proteins encoded within the genome of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. Genomics 2007; 90:424-46. [PMID: 17706914 PMCID: PMC3415317 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygeno.2007.06.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2006] [Revised: 06/07/2007] [Accepted: 06/08/2007] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is a bacterial parasite with an unusual lifestyle. It grows and reproduces in the periplasm of a host prey bacterium. The complete genome sequence of B. bacteriovorus has recently been reported. We have reanalyzed the transport proteins encoded within the B. bacteriovorus genome according to the current content of the Transporter Classification Database. A comprehensive analysis is given on the types and numbers of transport systems that B. bacteriovorus has. In this regard, the potential protein secretory capabilities of at least four types of inner-membrane secretion systems and five types of outer-membrane secretion systems are described. Surprisingly, B. bacteriovorus has a disproportionate percentage of cytoplasmic membrane channels and outer-membrane porins. It has far more TonB/ExbBD-type systems and MotAB-type systems for energizing outer-membrane transport and motility than does Escherichia coli. Analysis of probable substrate specificities of its transporters provides clues to its metabolic preferences. Interesting examples of gene fusions and of potentially overlapping genes are also noted. Our analyses provide a comprehensive, detailed appreciation of the transport capabilities of B. bacteriovorus. They should serve as a guide for functional experimental analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ravi D. Barabote
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116
| | - Snjezana Rendulic
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116
| | - Stephan C. Schuster
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116
| | - Milton H. Saier
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116
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40
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Dolan J, Walshe K, Alsbury S, Hokamp K, O'Keeffe S, Okafuji T, Miller SFC, Tear G, Mitchell KJ. The extracellular leucine-rich repeat superfamily; a comparative survey and analysis of evolutionary relationships and expression patterns. BMC Genomics 2007; 8:320. [PMID: 17868438 PMCID: PMC2235866 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-8-320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 131] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2007] [Accepted: 09/14/2007] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) are highly versatile and evolvable protein-ligand interaction motifs found in a large number of proteins with diverse functions, including innate immunity and nervous system development. Here we catalogue all of the extracellular LRR (eLRR) proteins in worms, flies, mice and humans. We use convergent evidence from several transmembrane-prediction and motif-detection programs, including a customised algorithm, LRRscan, to identify eLRR proteins, and a hierarchical clustering method based on TribeMCL to establish their evolutionary relationships. RESULTS This yields a total of 369 proteins (29 in worm, 66 in fly, 135 in mouse and 139 in human), many of them of unknown function. We group eLRR proteins into several classes: those with only LRRs, those that cluster with Toll-like receptors (Tlrs), those with immunoglobulin or fibronectin-type 3 (FN3) domains and those with some other domain. These groups show differential patterns of expansion and diversification across species. Our analyses reveal several clusters of novel genes, including two Elfn genes, encoding transmembrane proteins with eLRRs and an FN3 domain, and six genes encoding transmembrane proteins with eLRRs only (the Elron cluster). Many of these are expressed in discrete patterns in the developing mouse brain, notably in the thalamus and cortex. We have also identified a number of novel fly eLRR proteins with discrete expression in the embryonic nervous system. CONCLUSION This study provides the necessary foundation for a systematic analysis of the functions of this class of genes, which are likely to include prominently innate immunity, inflammation and neural development, especially the specification of neuronal connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jackie Dolan
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Karen Walshe
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Samantha Alsbury
- MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, New Hunts House, Guys Campus, King's College London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Karsten Hokamp
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Sean O'Keeffe
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Tatsuya Okafuji
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Suzanne FC Miller
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Guy Tear
- MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, New Hunts House, Guys Campus, King's College London SE1 1UL, UK
| | - Kevin J Mitchell
- Smurfit Institute of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
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41
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Abstract
Since high-resolution structural data are still scarce, different kinds of theoretical structure prediction algorithms are of major importance in membrane protein biochemistry. But how well do the current prediction methods perform? Which structural features can be predicted and which cannot? And what can we expect in the next few years?
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Affiliation(s)
- Arne Elofsson
- Center for Biomembrane Research, Stockholm Bioinformatics Center, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.
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42
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White MA, Clark KM, Grayhack EJ, Dumont ME. Characteristics affecting expression and solubilization of yeast membrane proteins. J Mol Biol 2007; 365:621-36. [PMID: 17078969 PMCID: PMC1839945 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2006.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2006] [Revised: 09/27/2006] [Accepted: 10/03/2006] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Biochemical and structural analysis of membrane proteins often critically depends on the ability to overexpress and solubilize them. To identify properties of eukaryotic membrane proteins that may be predictive of successful overexpression, we analyzed expression levels of the genomic complement of over 1000 predicted membrane proteins in a recently completed Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein expression library. We detected statistically significant positive and negative correlations between high membrane protein expression and protein properties such as size, overall hydrophobicity, number of transmembrane helices, and amino acid composition of transmembrane segments. Although expression levels of membrane and soluble proteins exhibited similar negative correlations with overall hydrophobicity, high-level membrane protein expression was positively correlated with the hydrophobicity of predicted transmembrane segments. To further characterize yeast membrane proteins as potential targets for structure determination, we tested the solubility of 122 of the highest expressed yeast membrane proteins in six commonly used detergents. Almost all the proteins tested could be solubilized using a small number of detergents. Solubility in some detergents depended on protein size, number of transmembrane segments, and hydrophobicity of predicted transmembrane segments. These results suggest that bioinformatic approaches may be capable of identifying membrane proteins that are most amenable to overexpression and detergent solubilization for structural and biochemical analyses. Bioinformatic approaches could also be used in the redesign of proteins that are not intrinsically well-adapted to such studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael A. White
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642
| | - Kathleen M. Clark
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642
| | - Elizabeth J. Grayhack
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642
| | - Mark E. Dumont
- Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642
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43
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Dieckman LJ, Zhang W, Rodi DJ, Donnelly MI, Collart FR. Bacterial expression strategies for human angiogenesis proteins. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2006; 7:23-30. [PMID: 16688392 DOI: 10.1007/s10969-006-9006-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
We outline an expression strategy using Escherichia coli to obtain soluble components of a selected group of human proteins implicated in angiogenesis. These targets represent a heterogeneous group of proteins which for expression purposes were separated into cytoplasmic and helical membrane protein categories. Target selection was refined using a bioinformatic approach to generate a list of 50 experimental targets. A group consisting of forty-four cytoplasmic and signal-containing protein targets were amplified and cloned into multiple expression vectors. For this target category, we obtained 48% soluble expression products. In addition, we used a domain expression approach for six high molecular weight proteins predicted to contain membrane spanning helices to obtain soluble domain products. These results validate the utility of a bioinformatically driven high throughput approach to increase the number of soluble proteins or protein domains which can be used for multiple downstream applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- L J Dieckman
- Biosciences Research Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
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44
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Zhao X, Nagai Y, Reeves PJ, Kiley P, Khorana HG, Zhang S. Designer short peptide surfactants stabilize G protein-coupled receptor bovine rhodopsin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2006; 103:17707-12. [PMID: 17098868 PMCID: PMC1693811 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0607167103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 149] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2006] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Membrane proteins play vital roles in every aspect of cellular activities. To study diverse membrane proteins, it is crucial to select the right surfactants to stabilize them for analysis. Despite much effort, little progress has been made in elucidating their structure and function, largely because of a lack of suitable surfactants. Here we report the stabilization of a G protein-coupled receptor bovine rhodopsin in solution, using a new class of designer short and simple peptide surfactants. These surfactants consist of seven amino acids with a hydrophilic head, aspartic acid or lysine, and a hydrophobic tail with six consecutive alanines. These peptide surfactants not only enhance the stability of bovine rhodopsin in the presence of lipids and the common surfactants n-dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside and octyl-D-glucoside, but they also significantly stabilize rhodopsin under thermal denaturation conditions, even after lipids are removed. These peptide surfactants are simple, versatile, effective, and affordable. They represent a designer molecular nanomaterial for use in studies of diverse elusive membrane proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaojun Zhao
- *Center for Biomedical Engineering, NE47-379
- Institute for Nanobiomedical Technology and Membrane Biology, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, China
- State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy of Human Diseases, Cancer Center, West China Hospital, West China Medical School, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China; and
| | - Yusuke Nagai
- *Center for Biomedical Engineering, NE47-379
- Menicon Co., Ltd., 5-1-10 Takamoridai, Kasugai, Aichi 487-0032, Japan
| | - Philip J. Reeves
- Departments of Biology and Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
| | | | - H. Gobind Khorana
- Departments of Biology and Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
| | - Shuguang Zhang
- *Center for Biomedical Engineering, NE47-379
- Center for Bits and Atoms, and
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45
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Martin-Galiano AJ, Frishman D. Defining the fold space of membrane proteins: the CAMPS database. Proteins 2006; 64:906-22. [PMID: 16802318 DOI: 10.1002/prot.21081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Recent progress in structure determination techniques has led to a significant growth in the number of known membrane protein structures, and the first structural genomics projects focusing on membrane proteins have been initiated, warranting an investigation of appropriate bioinformatics strategies for optimal structural target selection for these molecules. What determines a membrane protein fold? How many membrane structures need to be solved to provide sufficient structural coverage of the membrane protein sequence space? We present the CAMPS database (Computational Analysis of the Membrane Protein Space) containing almost 45,000 proteins with three or more predicted transmembrane helices (TMH) from 120 bacterial species. This large set of membrane proteins was subjected to single-linkage clustering using only sequence alignments covering at least 40% of the TMH present in a given family. This process yielded 266 sequence clusters with at least 15 members, roughly corresponding to membrane structural folds, sufficiently structurally homogeneous in terms of the variation of TMH number between individual sequences. These clusters were further subdivided into functionally homogeneous subclusters according to the COG (Clusters of Orthologous Groups) system as well as more stringently defined families sharing at least 30% identity. The CAMPS sequence clusters are thus designed to reflect three main levels of interest for structural genomics: fold, function, and modeling distance. We present a library of Hidden Markov Models (HMM) derived from sequence alignments of TMH at these three levels of sequence similarity. Given that 24 out of 266 clusters corresponding to membrane folds already have associated known structures, we estimate that 242 additional new structures, one for each remaining cluster, would provide structural coverage at the fold level of roughly 70% of prokaryotic membrane proteins belonging to the currently most populated families.
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46
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Gardy JL, Brinkman FSL. Methods for predicting bacterial protein subcellular localization. Nat Rev Microbiol 2006; 4:741-51. [PMID: 16964270 DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro1494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 129] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
The computational prediction of the subcellular localization of bacterial proteins is an important step in genome annotation and in the search for novel vaccine or drug targets. Since the 1991 release of PSORT I--the first comprehensive algorithm to predict bacterial protein localization--many other localization prediction tools have been developed. These methods offer significant improvements in predictive performance over PSORT I and the accuracy of some methods now rivals that of certain high-throughput laboratory methods for protein localization identification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L Gardy
- Centre for Microbial Diseases and Immunity Research, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4 Canada
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47
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Myung JK, Lubec G. Use of Solution-IEF-Fractionation Leads to Separation of 2673 Mouse Brain Proteins Including 255 Hydrophobic Structures. J Proteome Res 2006; 5:1267-75. [PMID: 16674118 DOI: 10.1021/pr060015h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Analyzing complex protein mixtures on a single gel does not allow separation of many extracted proteins. Herein, we tried a prefractionation approach and mouse brain proteins were separated on a narrow pH range ZOOM-IEF Fractionator (MicroSol-IEF device) and run on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. A total number of 2673 protein spots including 255 hydrophobic structures were successfully analyzed by mass spectrometry. This nonsophisticated approach to increase protein identification of a brain protein extract is a step forward in neurochemistry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jae-Kyung Myung
- Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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48
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Aisenbrey C, Kinder R, Goormaghtigh E, Ruysschaert JM, Bechinger B. Interactions Involved in the Realignment of Membrane-associated Helices. J Biol Chem 2006; 281:7708-16. [PMID: 16407268 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m513151200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
A series of histidine-containing peptides (LAH4X6) was designed to investigate the membrane interactions of selected side chains. To this purpose, their pH-dependent transitions from in-plane to transmembrane orientations were investigated by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared and oriented solid-state NMR spectroscopies. Peptides of the same family have previously been shown to exhibit antibiotic and DNA transfection activities. Solution NMR spectroscopy indicates that these peptides form amphipathic helical structures in membrane environments, and the technique was also used to characterize the pK values of all histidines in the presence of detergent micelles. Whereas one face of the amphipathic helix is clearly hydrophobic, the opposite side is flanked by four histidines surrounding six leucine, alanine, glycine, tryptophan, or tyrosine residues, respectively. This diversity in peptide composition causes pronounced shifts in the midpoint pH of the in-plane to transmembrane helical transition, which is completely abolished for the peptides carrying the most hydrophilic amino acid residues. These properties open up a conceptually new approach to study in a quantitative manner the hydrophobic as well as specific interactions of amino acids in membranes. Notably, the resulting scale for whole residue transitions from the bilayer interface to the hydrophobic membrane interior is obtained from extended helical sequences in lipid bilayers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Aisenbrey
- Institut/Faculté de Chimie, Université Louis Pasteur/CNRS LC3-UMR7177, 4 Rue Blaise Pascal, Strasbourg 67070, France
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49
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Gelperin DM, White MA, Wilkinson ML, Kon Y, Kung LA, Wise KJ, Lopez-Hoyo N, Jiang L, Piccirillo S, Yu H, Gerstein M, Dumont ME, Phizicky EM, Snyder M, Grayhack EJ. Biochemical and genetic analysis of the yeast proteome with a movable ORF collection. Genes Dev 2005; 19:2816-26. [PMID: 16322557 PMCID: PMC1315389 DOI: 10.1101/gad.1362105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 386] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2005] [Accepted: 09/26/2005] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Functional analysis of the proteome is an essential part of genomic research. To facilitate different proteomic approaches, a MORF (moveable ORF) library of 5854 yeast expression plasmids was constructed, each expressing a sequence-verified ORF as a C-terminal ORF fusion protein, under regulated control. Analysis of 5573 MORFs demonstrates that nearly all verified ORFs are expressed, suggests the authenticity of 48 ORFs characterized as dubious, and implicates specific processes including cytoskeletal organization and transcriptional control in growth inhibition caused by overexpression. Global analysis of glycosylated proteins identifies 109 new confirmed N-linked and 345 candidate glycoproteins, nearly doubling the known yeast glycome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M Gelperin
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, New York 14642, USA
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50
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Kiley P, Zhao X, Vaughn M, Baldo MA, Bruce BD, Zhang S. Self-assembling peptide detergents stabilize isolated photosystem I on a dry surface for an extended time. PLoS Biol 2005; 3:e230. [PMID: 15954800 PMCID: PMC1151599 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0030230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 109] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2004] [Accepted: 04/26/2005] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We used a class of designed peptide detergents to stabilize photosystem I (PS-I) upon extended drying under N2 on a gold-coated-Ni-NTA glass surface. PS-I is a chlorophyll-containing membrane protein complex that is the primary reducer of ferredoxin and the electron acceptor of plastocyanin. We isolated the complex from the thylakoids of spinach chloroplasts using a chemical detergent. The chlorophyll molecules associated with the PS-I complex provide an intrinsic steady-state emission spectrum between 650 and 800 nm at -196.15 degrees C that reflects the organization of the pigment-protein interactions. In the absence of detergents, a large blue shift of the fluorescence maxima from approximately 735 nm to approximately 685 nm indicates a disruption in light-harvesting subunit organization, thus revealing chlorophyll-protein interactions. The commonly used membrane protein-stabilizing detergents, N-dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside and N-octyl-beta-D-glucoside, only partially stabilized the approximately 735-nm complex with approximately 685-nm spectroscopic shift. However, prior to drying, addition of the peptide detergent acetyl-AAAAAAK at increasing concentration significantly stabilized the PS-I complex. Moreover, in the presence of acetyl-AAAAAAK, the PS-I complex is stable in a dried form at room temperature for at least 3 wk. Another peptide detergent, acetyl-VVVVVVD, also stabilized the complex but to a lesser extent. These observations suggest that the peptide detergents may effectively stabilize membrane proteins in the solid-state. These designed peptide detergents may facilitate the study of diverse types of membrane proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick Kiley
- 1Center for Biomedical Engineering NE47–379, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- 2Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Xiaojun Zhao
- 1Center for Biomedical Engineering NE47–379, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Michael Vaughn
- 3Center for Environmental Biotechnology and Department of Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Marc A Baldo
- 2Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Barry D Bruce
- 3Center for Environmental Biotechnology and Department of Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America
| | - Shuguang Zhang
- 1Center for Biomedical Engineering NE47–379, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- 4Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
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