The Histidine Kinase CckA Is Directly Inhibited by a Response Regulator-like Protein in a Negative Feedback Loop

In alphaproteobacteria, the two-component system (TCS) formed by the hybrid histidine kinase CckA, the phosphotransfer protein ChpT, and the response regulator CtrA is widely distributed. In these microorganisms, this system controls diverse functions such as motility, DNA repair, and cell division. In Caulobacterales and Rhizobiales, CckA is regulated by the pseudo- histidine kinase DivL, and the response regulator DivK. However, this regulatory circuit differs for other bacterial groups. For instance, in Rhodobacterales, DivK is absent and DivL consists of only the regulatory PAS domain. In this study, we report that, in Rhodobacter sphaeroides, the kinase activity of CckA is inhibited by Osp, a single domain response regulator (SDRR) protein that directly interacts with the transmitter domain of CckA. In vitro, the kinase activity of CckA was severely inhibited with an equimolar amount of Osp, whereas the phosphatase activity of CckA was not affected. We also found that the expression of osp is activated by CtrA creating a negative feedback loop. However, under growth conditions known to activate the TCS, the increased expression of osp does not parallel Osp accumulation, indicating a complex regulation. Phylogenetic analysis of selected species of Rhodobacterales revealed that Osp is widely distributed in several genera. For most of these species, we found a sequence highly similar to the CtrA-binding site in the control region of osp, suggesting that the TCS CckA/ChpT/CtrA is controlled by a novel regulatory circuit that includes Osp in these bacteria. IMPORTANCE The two-component systems (TCS) in bacteria in its simplest architecture consist of a histidine kinase (HK) and a response regulator (RR). In response to a specific stimulus, the HK is activated and drives phosphorylation of the RR, which is responsible of generating an adaptive response. These systems are ubiquitous among bacteria and are frequently controlled by accessory proteins. In alphaproteobacteria, the TCS formed by the HK CckA, the phosphotransferase ChpT, and the RR CtrA is widely distributed. Currently, most of the information of this system and its regulatory proteins comes from findings carried out in microorganisms where it is essential. However, this is not the case in many species, and studies of this TCS and its regulatory proteins are lacking. In this study, we found that Osp, a RR-like protein, inhibits the kinase activity of CckA in a negative feedback loop since osp expression is activated by CtrA. The inhibitory role of Osp and the similar action of the previously reported FixT protein, suggests the existence of a new group of RR-like proteins whose main function is to interact with the HK and prevent its phosphorylation.

Challenges and advances in genetic manipulation of filamentous actinomycetes - the remarkable producers of specialized metabolites

Covering: up to February 2019Actinomycetes are Gram positive bacteria of the phylum Actinobacteria. These organisms are one of the most important sources of structurally diverse, clinically used antibiotics and other valuable bioactive products, as well as biotechnologically relevant enzymes. Most strains were discovered by their ability to produce a given molecule and were often poorly characterized, physiologically and genetically. The development of genetic methods for Streptomyces and related filamentous actinomycetes has led to the successful manipulation of antibiotic biosynthesis to attain structural modification of microbial metabolites that would have been inaccessible by chemical means and improved production yields. Moreover, genome mining reveals that actinomycete genomes contain multiple biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), however only a few of them are expressed under standard laboratory conditions, leading to the production of the respective compound(s). Thus, to access and activate the so-called "silent" BGCs, to improve their biosynthetic potential and to discover novel natural products methodologies for genetic manipulation are required. Although different methods have been applied for many actinomycete strains, genetic engineering is still remaining very challenging for some "underexplored" and poorly characterized actinomycetes. This review summarizes the strategies developed to overcome the obstacles to genetic manipulation of actinomycetes and allowing thereby rational genetic engineering of this industrially relevant group of microorganisms. At the end of this review we give some tips to researchers with limited or no previous experience in genetic manipulation of actinomycetes. The article covers the most relevant literature published until February 2019.

Identification of promoter elements in mycobacteria: mutational analysis of a highly symmetric dual promoter directing the expression of replication genes of the Mycobacterium plasmid pAL5000

The 120 bp origin of replication (ori) for the Mycobacterium plasmid pAL5000 has been shown to comprise the binding sites for the replication protein RepB as well as the start site of transcription for the repA and repB genes, encoding the replication proteins RepA and RepB. In this work it is demonstrated that a third gene product, Rap, is involved in replication in addition to the previously described proteins. Mycobacterium smegmatis cells transformed with replicons carrying the rap gene recover markedly faster upon electroporation than those transformed with the minimal replicon, which lacks rap. The rap gene, oppositely orientated to repA/B, was shown to be transcribed from a promoter orientated back-to-back to and overlapping the repA/B promoter. As a consequence of the extensive dyad symmetry in this region the two promoters share several elements, most of which are situated inside the high-affinity RepB-binding motif in the ori. Transcription of rap runs through the low-affinity RepB-binding site, which is part of the ori and necessary for replication. Both promoters were shown to be repressed by RepB. These divergent promoters were studied through site-specific mutagenesis in a xylE reporter gene assay. The analysis furnished evidence supporting the existence of a distal as well as a proximal element in mycobacterial promoters.

Mutational analysis of the regulatory region of the Mycobacterium plasmid pAL5000

The regulatory region of the Mycobacterium fortuitum plasmid pAL5000 was studied in vivo and in vitro by mutational analysis. This region comprises the origin of replication for the plasmid and the start point of transcription for the repA/B genes, which encode the two replication proteins RepA and RepB. In this region there are two binding sites for RepB: a low-affinity site which is probably the origin of replication and a high-affinity-site which overlaps the promoter and implies an autoregulated expression of RepB. The high-affinity site contains two 8 bp palindromes, as well as an inverted repeat structure. By introducing point mutations into each of these motifs and monitoring changes to RepB binding in a gel-retardation assay, it was shown that the central, GC-rich palindrome (the GC-box) is the most important motif for protein binding. Mutations in the second, AT-rich palindrome (the AT-box) had no effect on protein binding and the inverted repeat structure per se was not needed, though some single-base changes affected binding to one or other of the DNA strands. These mutations were subsequently tested in vivo for their effects on plasmid replication in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Any change to the GC-box abolished replication, but changes to the other motifs were dependent on the position of the changed base, again indicating that the inverted repeats are not essential and that the AT-box is part of the promoter and not primarily recognised by RepB. The mutated plasmids did not show any changes in copy number to that of the wild-type. The expression of RepB was boosted by introducing a stronger promoter upstream of the repA/B genes. The resulting plasmid was capable of increasing to a degree in trans the copy number of other plasmids carrying the ori region, but was unstable when present on its own in M.smegmatis.