AFM Unravels the Unique Adhesion Properties of the Caulobacter Type IVc Pilus Nanomachine

The type IVc pilus: just a Tad different

Bacteria utilize type IV pili (T4P) to interact with their environment, where they facilitate processes including motility, adherence, and DNA uptake. T4P require multisubunit, membrane-spanning nanomachines for assembly. The tight adherence (Tad) pili are an Archaea-derived T4P subgroup whose machinery exhibits significant mechanistic and architectural differences from bacterial type IVa and IVb pili. Most Tad biosynthetic genes are encoded in a single locus that is widespread in bacteria due to facile acquisition via horizontal gene transfer. These loci experience extensive structural rearrangements, including the acquisition of novel regulatory or biosynthetic genes, which fine-tune their function. This has permitted their integration into many different bacterial lifestyles, including the Caulobacter crescentus cell cycle, Myxococcus xanthus predation, and numerous plant and mammalian pathogens and symbionts.

Tad and toxin-coregulated pilus structures reveal unexpected diversity in bacterial type IV pili

Type IV pili (T4P) are ubiquitous in both bacteria and archaea. They are polymers of the major pilin protein, which has an extended and protruding N-terminal helix, α1, and a globular C-terminal domain. Cryo-EM structures have revealed key differences between the bacterial and archaeal T4P in their C-terminal domain structure and in the packing and continuity of α1. This segment forms a continuous α-helix in archaeal T4P but is partially melted in all published bacterial T4P structures due to a conserved helix breaking proline at position 22. The tad (tight adhesion) T4P are found in both bacteria and archaea and are thought to have been acquired by bacteria through horizontal transfer from archaea. Tad pilins are unique among the T4 pilins, being only 40 to 60 residues in length and entirely lacking a C-terminal domain. They also lack the Pro22 found in all high-resolution bacterial T4P structures. We show using cryo-EM that the bacterial tad pilus from Caulobacter crescentus is composed of continuous helical subunits that, like the archaeal pilins, lack the melted portion seen in other bacterial T4P and share the packing arrangement of the archaeal T4P. We further show that a bacterial T4P, the Vibrio cholerae toxin coregulated pilus, which lacks Pro22 but is not in the tad family, has a continuous N-terminal α-helix, yet its α1 s are arranged similar to those in other bacterial T4P. Our results highlight the role of Pro22 in helix melting and support an evolutionary relationship between tad and archaeal T4P.

Rational design of multivalent biosensor surfaces to enhance viral particle capture

Viral particles bind to receptors through multivalent protein interactions. Such high avidity interactions on sensor surfaces are less studied. In this work, three polyelectrolytes that can form biosensing surfaces with different interfacial characteristics in probe density and spatial arrangement were designed. Quartz crystal microbalance, interferometry and atomic force microscopy were used to study their surface density and binding behaviors with proteins and virus particles. A multivalent adsorption kinetic model was developed to estimate the number of bonds from the viral particles bound to the polyelectrolyte surfaces. Experimental results show that the heterogeneous 3D surface with jagged forest-like structure enhances the virus capture ability by maximizing the multivalent interactions. As a proof of concept, specific coronavirus detection was achieved in spiked swab samples. These results indicate the importance of both probe density and their spatial arrangement on the sensing performance, which could be used as a guideline for rational biosensing surface design.

AFM Force Mapping Elucidates Pilus Deployment and Key Lifestyle-Dependent Surface Properties in Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus

Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is known for predation of a wide variety of Gram-negative bacteria, making it of interest as an alternative or supplement to chemical antibiotics. However, a fraction of B. bacteriovorus follows a nonpredatory, "host-independent" (HI) life cycle. In this study, live predatory and HI B. bacteriovorus were captured on a surface and examined, in buffer, by collecting force maps using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The approach curves obtained on HI cells are similar to those on other Gram-negative cells, with a short nonlinear region followed by a linear region. In contrast, the approach curves obtained on predatory cells have a large nonlinear region, reflecting the unusual flexibility of the predatory cell. As the AFM tip is retracted, it shows virtually no adhesion to predatory B. bacteriovorus but has multiple adhesion events on HI cells and the 200-500+ nm region immediately surrounding them. Measured pull-off forces, pull-off distances, and effective spring constants are consistent with the multiple stretching events of Type IV pili, both on and especially adjacent to the cells. Exposure of the HI B. bacteriovorus to a pH-neutral 10% cranberry juice solution, which contains type A proanthocyanidins that are known to interfere with the adhesion of multiple types of pili, results in a substantial reduction in adhesion. Type IV pili are required for successful predation by B. bacteriovorus, but pili used in the predation process are located at the non-flagellated pole of the cell and can retract when not in use. Such pili are rarely observed under the conditions of this study, where the predator has not encountered a prey cell. In contrast, HI cells appear to have many pili distributed on and around the whole cell, presumably ready to be utilized for a variety of HI cell activities including attachment to surfaces.

Nanomechanical probing of bacterial adhesion to biodegradable Zn alloys

Bacterial infections on implants cause an inflammatory response and even implant failure. Bacterial adhesion is an initial and critical step during implant infection. The prevention of bacterial adhesion to implant materials has attracted much attention, especially for biodegradable metals. A deep understanding of the mechanisms of bacterial adhesion to biodegradable metals is urgently needed. In this work, a bacterial probe based on atomic force spectroscopy was employed to determine the bacterial adhesion to Zn alloy, which depended on surface charge, roughness, and wettability. Negative surface charges of Zn, Zn-0.5Li, and 316L generated electrostatic repulsion force towards bacteria. The surface roughness of Zn-0.5Li was significantly increased by localized corrosion. Bacterial adhesion forces on Zn, Zn-0.5Li, and 316L were 325.2 pN, 519.1 pN, and 727.7 pN, respectively. The density of attached bacteria (early-stage bacterial adhesion) on these samples exhibited a positive correlation with the bacterial adhesion force. The bacterial adhesion force and adhesion work provide a quantitative determination of the interactions between bacteria and biodegradable alloys. These results provide a deeper understanding of early bacterial adhesion on Zn alloys, which can further guide the antibacterial surface design of biodegradable materials for clinical application.

Unveiling molecular interactions that stabilize bacterial adhesion pili

Adhesion pili assembled by the chaperone-usher pathway are superelastic helical filaments on the surface of bacteria, optimized for attachment to target cells. Here, we investigate the biophysical function and structural interactions that stabilize P pili from uropathogenic bacteria. Using optical tweezers, we measure P pilus subunit-subunit interaction dynamics and show that pilus compliance is contour-length dependent. Atomic details of subunit-subunit interactions of pili under tension are shown using steered molecular dynamics (sMD) simulations. sMD results also indicate that the N-terminal "staple" region of P pili, which provides interactions with pilins that are four and five subunits away, significantly stabilizes the helical filament structure. These data are consistent with previous structural data, and suggest that more layer-to-layer interactions could compensate for the lack of a staple in type 1 pili. This study informs our understanding of essential structural and dynamic features of adhesion pili, supporting the hypothesis that the function of pili is critically dependent on their structure and biophysical properties.

AFM force-clamp spectroscopy captures the nanomechanics of the Tad pilus retraction

Motorization of bacterial pili is key to generate traction forces to achieve cellular function. The Tad (or Type IVc) pilus from Caulobacter crescentus is a widespread motorized nanomachine crucial for bacterial survival, evolution and virulence. An unusual bifunctional ATPase motor drives Tad pilus retraction, which helps the bacteria to land on target surfaces. Here, we use a novel platform combining a fluorescence-based screening of piliated bacteria and atomic force microscopy (AFM) force-clamp spectroscopy, to monitor over time (30 s) the nanomechanics and dynamics of the Tad nanofilament retraction under a high constant tension (300 pN). We observe striking transient variations of force and height originating from two phenomena: active pilus retraction and passive hydrophobic interactions between the pilus and the hydrophobic substrate. That the Tad pilus is able to retract under high tensile loading - at a velocity of ∼150 nm s-1 - indicates that this nanomachine is stronger than previously anticipated. Our findings show that pilus retraction and hydrophobic interactions work together to mediate bacterial cell landing and surface adhesion. The motorized pilus retraction actively triggers the cell to approach the substrate. At short distances, passive hydrophobic interactions accelerate the approach phenomenon and promote strong cell-substrate adhesion. This mechanism could provide a strategy to save ATP-based energy by the retraction ATPase. Our force-clamp AFM methodology offers promise to decipher the physics of bacterial nanomotors with high sensitivity and temporal resolution.

Force-Induced Changes of PilY1 Drive Surface Sensing by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

During biofilm formation, the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses its type IV pili (TFP) to sense a surface, eliciting increased second-messenger production and regulating target pathways required to adapt to a surface lifestyle. The mechanisms whereby TFP detect surface contact are still poorly understood, although mechanosensing is often invoked, with few data supporting this claim. Using a combination of molecular genetics and single-cell analysis, with biophysical, biochemical, and genomics techniques, we show that force-induced changes mediated by the von Willebrand A (vWA) domain-containing, TFP tip-associated protein PilY1 are required for surface sensing. Atomic force microscopy shows that TFP/PilY1 can undergo force-induced, sustained conformational changes akin to those observed for mechanosensitive proteins like titin. We show that mutation of a single cysteine residue in the vWA domain of PilY1 results in modestly lower surface adhesion forces, reduced sustained conformational changes, and increased nanospring-like properties, as well as reduced c-di-GMP signaling and biofilm formation. Mutating this cysteine has allowed us to genetically separate a role for TFP in twitching motility from surface-sensing signaling. The conservation of this Cys residue in all P. aeruginosa PA14 strains and its absence in the ∼720 sequenced strains of P. aeruginosa PAO1 may contribute to explaining the observed differences in surface colonization strategies observed for PA14 versus PAO1. IMPORTANCE Most bacteria live on abiotic and biotic surfaces in surface-attached communities known as biofilms. Surface sensing and increased levels of the second-messenger molecule c-di-GMP are crucial to the transition from planktonic to biofilm growth. The mechanism(s) underlying TFP-mediated surface detection that triggers this c-di-GMP signaling cascade is unclear. Here, we provide key insight into this question; we show that the eukaryote-like vWA domain of the TFP tip-associated protein PilY1 responds to mechanical force, which in turn drives the production of a key second messenger needed to regulate surface behaviors. Our studies highlight a potential mechanism that may account for differing surface colonization strategies.