Regulation of L-cystine transport in Salmonella typhimurium

Cysteine and resistance to oxidative stress: implications for virulence and antibiotic resistance

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), including the superoxide radical anion (O2•-), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and the hydroxyl radical (•HO), are inherent components of bacterial metabolism in an aerobic environment. Bacteria also encounter exogenous ROS, such as those produced by the host cells during the respiratory burst. As ROS have the capacity to damage bacterial DNA, proteins, and lipids, detoxification of ROS is critical for bacterial survival. It has been recently recognised that low-molecular-weight (LMW) thiols play a central role in this process. Here, we review the emerging role of cysteine in bacterial resistance to ROS with a link to broader elements of bacterial lifestyle closely associated with cysteine-mediated oxidative stress response, including virulence and antibiotic resistance.

Escherichia coli Uses a Dedicated Importer and Desulfidase To Ferment Cysteine

CyuA of Escherichia coli is an inducible desulfidase that degrades cysteine to pyruvate, ammonium, and hydrogen sulfide. Workers have conjectured that its role may be to defend bacteria against the toxic effects of cysteine. However, cyuA sits in an operon alongside cyuP, which encodes a cysteine importer that seems ill suited to protecting the cell from environmental cysteine. In this study, transport measurements established that CyuP is a cysteine-specific, high-flux importer. The concerted action of CyuP and CyuA allowed anaerobic E. coli to employ cysteine as either the sole nitrogen or the sole carbon/energy source. CyuA was essential for this function, and although other transporters can slowly bring cysteine into the cell, CyuP-proficient cells outcompeted cyuP mutants. Cells immediately consumed the ammonia and pyruvate that CyuA generated, with little or none escaping from the cell. The expression of the cyuPA operon depended upon both CyuR, a cysteine-activated transcriptional activator, and Crp. This control is consistent with its catabolic function. In fact, the cyuPA operon sits immediately downstream of the thrABCDEFG operon, which allows the analogous fermentation of serine and threonine; this arrangement suggests that this gene cluster may have moved jointly through the anaerobic biota, providing E. coli with the ability to ferment a limited set of amino acids. Interestingly, both the cyu- and thr-encoded pathways depend upon oxygen-sensitive enzymes and cannot contribute to amino acid catabolism in oxic environments.

CdsH Contributes to the Replication of Salmonella Typhimurium inside Epithelial Cells in a Cysteine-Supplemented Medium

Salmonella Typhimurium is a facultative, intracellular pathogen whose products range from self-limited gastroenteritis to systemic diseases. Food ingestion increases biomolecules' concentration in the intestinal lumen, including amino acids such as cysteine, which is toxic in a concentration-dependent manner. When cysteine's intracellular concentration reaches toxic levels, S. Typhimurium expresses a cysteine-inducible enzyme (CdsH), which converts cysteine into pyruvate, sulfide, and ammonia. Despite this evidence, the biological context of cdsH's role is not completely clear, especially in the infective cycle. Since inside epithelial cells both cdsH and its positive regulator, ybaO, are overexpressed, we hypothesized a possible role of cdsH in the intestinal phase of the infection. To test this hypothesis, we used an in vitro model of HT-29 cell infection, adding extra cysteine to the culture medium during the infective process. We observed that, at 6 h post-invasion, the wild type S. Typhimurium proliferated 30% more than the ΔcdsH strain in the presence of extra cysteine. This result shows that cdsH contributes to the bacterial replication in the intracellular environment in increased concentrations of extracellular cysteine, strongly suggesting that cdsH participates by increasing the bacterial fitness in the intestinal phase of the S. Typhimurium infection.

The Staphylococcus aureus Cystine Transporters TcyABC and TcyP Facilitate Nutrient Sulfur Acquisition during Infection

Staphylococcus aureus is a significant human pathogen due to its capacity to cause a multitude of diseases. As such, S. aureus efficiently pillages vital nutrients from the host; however, the molecular mechanisms that support sulfur acquisition during infection have not been established. One of the most abundant extracellular sulfur-containing metabolites within the host is cysteine, which acts as the major redox buffer in the blood by transitioning between reduced and oxidized (cystine) forms. We therefore hypothesized that S. aureus acquires host-derived cysteine and cystine as sources of nutrient sulfur during systemic infection. To test this hypothesis, we used the toxic cystine analogue selenocystine to initially characterize S. aureus homologues of the Bacillus subtilis cystine transporters TcyABC and TcyP. We found that genetic inactivation of both TcyA and TcyP induced selenocystine resistance. The double mutant also failed to proliferate in medium supplemented with cystine, cysteine, or N-acetyl cysteine as the sole sulfur source. However, only TcyABC was necessary for proliferation in defined medium containing homocystine as the sulfur source. Using a murine model of systemic infection, we observed tcyP-dependent competitive defects in the liver and heart, indicating that this sulfur acquisition strategy supports proliferation of S. aureus in these organs. Phylogenetic analyses identified TcyP homologues in many pathogenic species, implying that this sulfur procurement strategy is conserved. In total, this study is the first to experimentally validate sulfur acquisition systems in S. aureus and establish their importance during pathogenesis.

Structural and biochemical characterization of ligand recognition by CysB, the master regulator of sulfate metabolism

CysB, a member of LysR-type transcriptional regulators, up-regulates the expression of genes associated with sulfate metabolism and cysteine biosynthesis. CysB is activated under sulfur limiting conditions by O-acetylserine (OAS) and N-acetylserine (NAS), but the activation mechanism of CysB remain unknown. Here, we report four crystal structures of ligand binding domains of CysB (CysB-LBD) in apo form and in complex with sulfate, OAS, and NAS. Our results show that CysB has two distinct allosteric ligand binding sites; a sulfate and NAS specific site-1 and a second, NAS and OAS specific site-2. All three ligands bind through the induced-fit mechanism. Surprisingly, OAS remodels the site-1 by binding to site-2, suggesting that site-1 and site-2 are coupled allosterically. Using DNA binding and site-directed mutagenesis approach, we show that OAS enhances NAS mediated activation and mutation at site-1 has no effect on site-2 mediated OAS activation. Results indicate that inducer binding triggered signals from OAS-Specific site-2 are relayed to DBD through site-1. Together, results presented here suggest that induced-fit binding and allosteric coupling between two ligand binding sites and DBD underlie the key feature of CysB activation. Further, this study provides first structural glimpse into recognition of inducer ligands by CysB and provides a general framework to understand how LTTR family regulators respond to dual activators.

Anaerobic Cysteine Degradation and Potential Metabolic Coordination in Salmonella enterica and Escherichia coli

Salmonella enterica has two CyuR-activated enzymes that degrade cysteine, i.e., the aerobic CdsH and an unidentified anaerobic enzyme; Escherichia coli has only the latter. To identify the anaerobic enzyme, transcript profiling was performed for E. coli without cyuR and with overexpressed cyuR Thirty-seven genes showed at least 5-fold changes in expression, and the cyuPA (formerly yhaOM) operon showed the greatest difference. Homology suggested that CyuP and CyuA represent a cysteine transporter and an iron-sulfur-containing cysteine desulfidase, respectively. E. coli and S. enterica ΔcyuA mutants grown with cysteine generated substantially less sulfide and had lower growth yields. Oxygen affected the CyuR-dependent genes reciprocally; cyuP-lacZ expression was greater anaerobically, whereas cdsH-lacZ expression was greater aerobically. In E. coli and S. enterica, anaerobic cyuP expression required cyuR and cysteine and was induced by l-cysteine, d-cysteine, and a few sulfur-containing compounds. Loss of either CyuA or RidA, both of which contribute to cysteine degradation to pyruvate, increased cyuP-lacZ expression, which suggests that CyuA modulates intracellular cysteine concentrations. Phylogenetic analysis showed that CyuA homologs are present in obligate and facultative anaerobes, confirming an anaerobic function, and in archaeal methanogens and bacterial acetogens, suggesting an ancient origin. Our results show that CyuA is the major anaerobic cysteine-catabolizing enzyme in both E. coli and S. enterica, and it is proposed that anaerobic cysteine catabolism can contribute to coordination of sulfur assimilation and amino acid synthesis.IMPORTANCE Sulfur-containing compounds such as cysteine and sulfide are essential and reactive metabolites. Exogenous sulfur-containing compounds can alter the thiol landscape and intracellular redox reactions and are known to affect several cellular processes, including swarming motility, antibiotic sensitivity, and biofilm formation. Cysteine inhibits several enzymes of amino acid synthesis; therefore, increasing cysteine concentrations could increase the levels of the inhibited enzymes. This inhibition implies that control of intracellular cysteine levels, which is the immediate product of sulfide assimilation, can affect several pathways and coordinate metabolism. For these and other reasons, cysteine and sulfide concentrations must be controlled, and this work shows that cysteine catabolism contributes to this control.

Thiol trapping and metabolic redistribution of sulfur metabolites enable cells to overcome cysteine overload

Cysteine is an essential requirement in living organisms. However, due to its reactive thiol side chain, elevated levels of intracellular cysteine can be toxic and therefore need to be rapidly eliminated from the cellular milieu. In mammals and many other organisms, excess cysteine is believed to be primarily eliminated by the cysteine dioxygenase dependent oxidative degradation of cysteine, followed by the removal of the oxidative products. However, other mechanisms of tackling excess cysteine are also likely to exist, but have not thus far been explored. In this study, we use Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which naturally lacks a cysteine dioxygenase, to investigate mechanisms for tackling cysteine overload. Overexpressing the high affinity cysteine transporter, YCT1, enabled yeast cells to rapidly accumulate high levels of intracellular cysteine. Using targeted metabolite analysis, we observe that cysteine is initially rapidly interconverted to non-reactive cystine in vivo. A time course revealed that cells systematically convert excess cysteine to inert thiol forms; initially to cystine, and subsequently to cystathionine, S-Adenosyl-L-homocysteine (SAH) and S-Adenosyl L-methionine (SAM), in addition to eventually accumulating glutathione (GSH) and polyamines. Microarray based gene expression studies revealed the upregulation of arginine/ornithine biosynthesis a few hours after the cysteine overload, and suggest that the non-toxic, non-reactive thiol based metabolic products are eventually utilized for amino acid and polyamine biogenesis, thereby enabling cell growth. Thus, cells can handle potentially toxic amounts of cysteine by a combination of thiol trapping, metabolic redistribution to non-reactive thiols and subsequent consumption for anabolism.

Biosynthesis of Cysteine

The synthesis of L-cysteine from inorganic sulfur is the predominant mechanism by which reduced sulfur is incorporated into organic compounds. L-cysteineis used for protein and glutathione synthesis and serves as the primary source of reduced sulfur in L-methionine, lipoic acid, thiamin, coenzyme A (CoA), molybdopterin, and other organic molecules. Sulfate and thiosulfate uptake in E. coli and serovar Typhimurium are achieved through a single periplasmic transport system that utilizes two different but similar periplasmic binding proteins. Kinetic studies indicate that selenate and selenite share a single transporter with sulfate, but molybdate also has a separate transport system. During aerobic growth, the reduction of sulfite to sulfide is catalyzed by NADPH-sulfite reductase (SiR), and serovar Typhimurium mutants lacking this enzyme accumulate sulfite from sulfate, implying that sulfite is a normal intermediate in assimilatory sulfate reduction. L-Cysteine biosynthesis in serovar Typhimurium and E. coli ceases almost entirely when cells are grown on L-cysteine or L-cystine, owing to a combination of end product inhibition of serine transacetylase by L-cysteine and a gene regulatory system known as the cysteine regulon, wherein genes for sulfate assimilation and alkanesulfonate utilization are expressed only when sulfur is limiting. In vitro studies with the cysJIH, cysK, and cysP promoters have confirmed that they are inefficient at forming transcription initiation complexes without CysB and N-acetyl-L-serine. Activation of the tauA and ssuE promoters requires Cbl. It has been proposed that the three serovar Typhimurium anaerobic reductases for sulfite, thiosulfate, and tetrathionate may function primarily in anaerobic respiration.

Catabolism of Amino Acids and Related Compounds

This review considers the pathways for the degradation of amino acids and a few related compounds (agmatine, putrescine, ornithine, and aminobutyrate), along with their functions and regulation. Nitrogen limitation and an acidic environment are two physiological cues that regulate expression of several amino acid catabolic genes. The review considers Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Klebsiella species. The latter is included because the pathways in Klebsiella species have often been thoroughly characterized and also because of interesting differences in pathway regulation. These organisms can essentially degrade all the protein amino acids, except for the three branched-chain amino acids. E. coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, and Klebsiella aerogenes can assimilate nitrogen from D- and L-alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartate, glutamate, glutamine, glycine, proline, and D- and L-serine. There are species differences in the utilization of agmatine, citrulline, cysteine, histidine, the aromatic amino acids, and polyamines (putrescine and spermidine). Regardless of the pathway of glutamate synthesis, nitrogen source catabolism must generate ammonia for glutamine synthesis. Loss of glutamate synthase (glutamineoxoglutarate amidotransferase, or GOGAT) prevents utilization of many organic nitrogen sources. Mutations that create or increase a requirement for ammonia also prevent utilization of most organic nitrogen sources.

Physiological Roles and Adverse Effects of the Two Cystine Importers of Escherichia coli

When cystine is added to Escherichia coli, the bacterium becomes remarkably sensitive to hydrogen peroxide. This effect is due to enlarged intracellular pools of cysteine, which can drive Fenton chemistry. Genetic analysis linked the sensitivity to YdjN, a secondary transporter that along with the FliY-YecSC ABC system is responsible for cystine uptake. FliY-YecSC has a nanomolar Km and is essential for import of trace cystine, whereas YdjN has a micromolar Km and is the predominant importer when cystine is more abundant. Oddly, both systems are strongly induced by the CysB response to sulfur scarcity. The FliY-YecSC system can import a variety of biomolecules, including diaminopimelate; it is therefore vulnerable to competitive inhibition, presumably warranting YdjN induction under low-sulfur conditions. But the consequence is that if micromolar cystine then becomes available, the abundant YdjN massively overimports it, at >30 times the total sulfur demand of the cell. The imported cystine is rapidly reduced to cysteine in a glutathione-dependent process. This action avoids the hazard of disulfide stress, but it precludes feedback inhibition of YdjN by cystine. We conjecture that YdjN possesses no cysteine allosteric site because the isostructural amino acid serine might inappropriately bind in its place. Instead, the cell partially resolves the overaccumulation of cysteine by immediately excreting it, completing a futile import/reduction/export cycle that consumes a large amount of cellular energy. These unique, wasteful, and dangerous features of cystine metabolism are reproduced by other bacteria. We propose to rename ydjN as tcyP and fliY-yecSC as tcyJLN.

IMPORTANCE

In general, intracellular metabolite pools are kept at steady, nontoxic levels by a sophisticated combination of transcriptional and allosteric controls. Surprisingly, in E. coli allosteric control is utterly absent from the primary importer of cystine. This flaw allows massive overimport of cystine, which causes acute vulnerability to oxidative stress and is remedied only by wasteful cysteine efflux. The lack of import control may be rationalized by the unusual properties of cysteine itself. This phenomenon justifies the existence of countervailing cysteine export systems, whose purpose is otherwise hard to understand. It also highlights an unexpected link between sulfur metabolism and oxidative damage. Although this investigation focused upon E. coli, experiments confirmed that similar phenomena occur in other species.

Induction of the Escherichia coli yijE gene expression by cystine

Cystine is formed from two molecules of the cysteine under oxidized conditions, but is reversibly converted to cysteine by reduction. Growth of Escherichia coli is retarded in the presence of excess cystine. Transcriptome analysis showed 11 up-regulated and 26 down-regulated genes upon exposure to excess cystine. The reporter assay confirmed regulation by cystine of the expression of one up-regulated membrane gene, yijE, and two down-regulated membrane genes, yhdT and yihN. In order to identify the as yet unidentified gene encoding cystine efflux transporter, the putative cystine efflux candidate, yijE gene, was over-expressed. Expression of the yijE gene suppressed the slow growth of E. coli in the presence of high concentration of extracellular cystine. In good agreement, the knock-out of yijE gene increased the sensibility to cystine. These observations altogether imply that the yijE gene is involved in response to cystine in E. coli.

The cysteine desulfhydrase CdsH is conditionally required for sulfur mobilization to the thiamine thiazole in Salmonella enterica

Thiamine pyrophosphate is a required coenzyme that contains a mechanistically important sulfur atom. In Salmonella enterica, sulfur is trafficked to both thiamine biosynthesis and 4-thiouridine biosynthesis by the enzyme ThiI using persulfide (R-S-S-H) chemistry. It was previously reported that a thiI mutant strain could grow independent of exogenous thiamine in the presence of cysteine, suggesting there was a second mechanism for sulfur mobilization. Data reported here show that oxidation products of cysteine rescue the growth of a thiI mutant strain by a mechanism that requires the transporter YdjN and the cysteine desulfhydrase CdsH. The data are consistent with a model in which sulfide produced by CdsH reacts with cystine (Cys-S-S-Cys), S-sulfocysteine (Cys-S-SO3 (-)), or another disulfide to form a small-molecule persulfide (R-S-S-H). We suggest that this persulfide replaced ThiI by donating sulfur to the thiamine sulfur carrier protein ThiS. This model describes a potential mechanism used for sulfur trafficking in organisms that lack ThiI but are capable of thiamine biosynthesis.

Cysteine catabolism and cysteine desulfhydrase (CdsH/STM0458) in Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium

Cysteine is potentially toxic and can affect diverse functions such as oxidative stress, antibiotic resistance, and swarming motility. The contribution of cysteine catabolism in modulating responses to cysteine has not been examined, in part because the genes have not been identified and mutants lacking these genes have not been isolated or characterized. We identified the gene for a previously described cysteine desulfhydrase, which we designated cdsH (formerly STM0458). We also identified a divergently transcribed gene that regulates cdsH expression, which we designated cutR (formerly ybaO, or STM0459). CdsH appears to be the major cysteine-degrading and sulfide-producing enzyme aerobically but not anaerobically. Mutants with deletions of cdsH and ybaO exhibited increased sensitivity to cysteine toxicity and altered swarming motility but unaltered cysteine-enhanced antibiotic resistance and survival in macrophages.

Salmonella chemoreceptors McpB and McpC mediate a repellent response to L-cystine: a potential mechanism to avoid oxidative conditions

Chemoreceptors McpB and McpC in Salmonella enterica have been reported to promote chemotaxis in LB motility-plate assays. Of the chemicals tested as potential effectors of these receptors, the only response was towards L-cysteine and its oxidized form, L-cystine. Although enhanced radial migration in plates suggested positive chemotaxis to both amino acids, capillary assays failed to show an attractant response to either, in cells expressing only these two chemoreceptors. In vivo fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements of kinase activity revealed that in wild-type bacteria, cysteine and cystine are chemoeffectors of opposing sign, the reduced form being a chemoattractant and the oxidized form a repellent. The attractant response to cysteine was mediated primarily by Tsr, as reported earlier for Escherichia coli. The repellent response to cystine was mediated by McpB/C. Adaptive recovery upon cystine exposure required the methyl-transferase/-esterase pair, CheR/CheB, but restoration of kinase activity was never complete (i.e. imperfect adaptation). We provide a plausible explanation for the attractant-like responses to both cystine and cysteine in motility plates, and speculate that the opposing signs of response to this redox pair might afford Salmonella a mechanism to gauge and avoid oxidative environments.

CgCYN1, a plasma membrane cystine-specific transporter of Candida glabrata with orthologues prevalent among pathogenic yeast and fungi

We describe a novel plasma membrane cystine transporter, CgCYN1, from Candida glabrata, the first such transporter to be described from yeast and fungi. C. glabrata met15Δ strains, organic sulfur auxotrophs, were observed to utilize cystine as a sulfur source, and this phenotype was exploited in the discovery of CgCYN1. Heterologous expression of CgCYN1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae met15Δ strains conferred the ability of S. cerevisiae strains to grow on cystine. Deletion of the CgCYN1 ORF (CAGL0M00154g) in C. glabrata met15Δ strains caused abrogation of growth on cystine with growth being restored when CgCYN1 was reintroduced. The CgCYN1 protein belongs to the amino acid permease family of transporters, with no similarity to known plasma membrane cystine transporters of bacteria and humans, or lysosomal cystine transporters of humans/yeast. Kinetic studies revealed a K(m) of 18 ± 5 μM for cystine. Cystine uptake was inhibited by cystine, but not by other amino acids, including cysteine. The structurally similar cystathionine, lanthionine, and selenocystine alone inhibited transport, confirming that the transporter was specific for cystine. CgCYN1 localized to the plasma membrane and transport was energy-dependent. Functional orthologues could be demonstrated from other pathogenic yeast like Candida albicans and Histoplasma capsulatum, but were absent in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and S. cerevisiae.

A novel cdsAB operon is involved in the uptake of L-cysteine and participates in the pathogenesis of Yersinia ruckeri

Application of in vivo expression technology (IVET) to Yersinia ruckeri, an important fish pathogen, allowed the identification of two adjacent genes that represent a novel bacterial system involved in the uptake and degradation of l-cysteine. Analysis of the translational products of both genes showed permease domains (open reading frame 1 [ORF1]) and amino acid position identities (ORF2) with the l-cysteine desulfidase from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, a new type of enzyme involved in the breakdown of l-cysteine. The operon was named cdsAB (cysteine desulfidase) and is found widely in anaerobic and facultative bacteria. cdsAB promoter analysis using lacZY gene fusion showed highest induction in the presence of l-cysteine. Two cdsA and cdsB mutant strains were generated. The limited toxic effect and the low utilization of l-cysteine observed in the cdsA mutant, together with radiolabeled experiments, strongly suggested that CdsA is an l-cysteine permease. Fifty percent lethal dose (LD(50)) and competence index experiments showed that both the cdsA and cdsB loci were involved in the pathogenesis of the bacteria. In conclusion, this study has shown for the first time in bacteria the existence of an l-cysteine uptake system that together with an additional l-cysteine desulfidase-encoding gene constitutes a novel operon involved in bacterial virulence.

Listeria monocytogenes CtaP is a multifunctional cysteine transport-associated protein required for bacterial pathogenesis

The bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes survives under a myriad of conditions in the outside environment and within the human host where infections can result in severe disease. Bacterial life within the host requires the expression of genes with roles in nutrient acquisition as well as the biosynthesis of bacterial products required to support intracellular growth. A gene product identified as the substrate-binding component of a novel oligopeptide transport system (encoded by lmo0135) was recently shown to be required for L. monocytogenes virulence. Here we demonstrate that lmo0135 encodes a multifunctional protein that is associated with cysteine transport, acid resistance, bacterial membrane integrity and adherence to host cells. The lmo0135 gene product (designated CtaP, for cysteine transport associated protein) was required for bacterial growth in the presence of low concentrations of cysteine in vitro, but was not required for bacterial replication within the host cytosol. Loss of CtaP increased membrane permeability and acid sensitivity, and reduced bacterial adherence to host cells. ctaP deletion mutants were severely attenuated following intragastric and intravenous inoculation of mice. Taken together, the data presented indicate that CtaP contributes to multiple facets of L. monocytogenes physiology, growth and survival both inside and outside of animal cells.

Cysteine metabolism in Legionella pneumophila: characterization of an L-cystine-utilizing mutant

Growth of Legionella pneumophila on buffered charcoal-yeast extract (BCYE) medium is dependent on L-cysteine (but not L-cystine), which is added in excess over what is required for nutrition. We investigated the biochemical and genetic bases for this unusual requirement and determined that much of the L-cysteine in BCYE medium is rapidly oxidized to L-cystine and is unavailable to the bacteria. Analysis of cysteine consumption during bacterial growth indicated that of the 11% consumed, 3.85% (approximately 0.1 mM) was incorporated into biomass. The activities of two key cysteine biosynthetic enzymes (serine acetyltransferase and cysteine synthase) were not detected in cell extracts of L. pneumophila, and the respective genes were not present in the genome sequences, confirming cysteine auxotrophy. Kinetic studies identified two energy-dependent cysteine transporters, one with high affinity (apparent Km, 3.29 microM) and the other with low affinity (apparent Km, 93 microM), each of which was inhibited by the uncoupling agent carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone. Cystine was not transported by L. pneumophila; however, a mutant strain capable of growth on L-cystine (CYS1 mutant) transported L-cystine with similar kinetics (Km, 4.4 microM and 90 microM). Based on the bipartite kinetics, requirement for proton motive force, and inhibitor studies, we suggest that a high-affinity periplasmic binding protein and a major facilitator/symporter (low affinity) mediate uptake. The latter most likely is functional at high cysteine concentrations and most likely displays altered substrate specificity in the CYS-1 mutant. Our studies provide biochemical evidence to support a general view that L. pneumophila is restricted to an intracellular lifestyle in natural environments by an inability to utilize cystine, which most likely ensures that the dormant cyst-like transmissible forms do not germinate outside suitable protozoan hosts.

Three different systems participate in L-cystine uptake in Bacillus subtilis

The symporter YhcL and two ATP binding cassette transporters, YtmJKLMN and YckKJI, were shown to mediate L-cystine uptake in Bacillus subtilis. A triple DeltayhcL DeltaytmJKLMN DeltayckK mutant was unable to grow in the presence of L-cystine and to take up L-cystine. We propose that yhcL, ytmJKLMN, and yckKJI should be renamed tcyP, tcyJKLMN, and tcyABC, respectively. The L-cystine uptake by YhcL (K(m) = 0.6 microM) was strongly inhibited by seleno-DL-cystine, while the transport due to the YtmJKLMN system (K(m) = 2.5 microM) also drastically decreased in the presence of DL-cystathionine, L-djenkolic acid, or S-methyl-L-cysteine. Accordingly, a DeltaytmJKLMN mutant did not grow in the presence of 100 microM DL-cystathionine, 100 microM L-djenkolic acid, or 100 microM S-methyl-L-cysteine. The expression of the ytmI operon and the yhcL gene was regulated in response to sulfur availability, while the level of expression of the yckK gene remained low under all the conditions tested.

High levels of intracellular cysteine promote oxidative DNA damage by driving the fenton reaction

Escherichia coli is generally resistant to H(2)O(2), with >75% of cells surviving a 3-min challenge with 2.5 mM H(2)O(2). However, when cells were cultured with poor sulfur sources and then exposed to cystine, they transiently exhibited a greatly increased susceptibility to H(2)O(2), with <1% surviving the challenge. Cell death was due to an unusually rapid rate of DNA damage, as indicated by their filamentation, a high rate of mutation among the survivors, and DNA lesions by a direct assay. Cell-permeable iron chelators eliminated sensitivity, indicating that intracellular free iron mediated the conversion of H(2)O(2) into a hydroxyl radical, the direct effector of DNA damage. The cystine treatment caused a temporary loss of cysteine homeostasis, with intracellular pools increasing about eightfold. In vitro analysis demonstrated that cysteine reduces ferric iron with exceptional speed. This action permits free iron to redox cycle rapidly in the presence of H(2)O(2), thereby augmenting the rate at which hydroxyl radicals are formed. During routine growth, cells maintain small cysteine pools, and cysteine is not a major contributor to DNA damage. Thus, the homeostatic control of cysteine levels is important in conferring resistance to oxidants. More generally, this study provides a new example of a situation in which the vulnerability of cells to oxidative DNA damage is strongly affected by their physiological state.

Bacterial transporters for sulfate and organosulfur compounds

Microorganisms require sulfur for growth, and obtain it either from inorganic sulfate or from organosulfur compounds such as sulfonates, sulfate esters, or sulfur-containing amino acids. Transport of sulfate into the cell is catalyzed either by ATP binding cassette (ABC)-type transporters (SulT family) or by major facilitator superfamily-type transporters (SulP family). By contrast, the sulfonate and sulfate ester transporters identified to date are all ABC-type systems, whose synthesis is tightly regulated by the sulfur supply to the cell, mediated by the CysB protein and other transcriptional regulators of the LysR-family.

The molecular basis for positive regulation of cys promoters in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli

Most genes required for cysteine biosynthesis in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli are positively regulated by cysB, which encodes a transcriptional activator belonging to the LysR family of regulatory proteins. CysB protein binds just upstream of the -35 region of positively regulated promoters, where in the presence of inducer it facilitates formation of a transcription initiation complex. CysB protein also autoregulates its own synthesis by binding to the cysB promoter as a repressor. Cysteine down-regulates the pathway by inhibiting synthesis of O-acetylserine, a direct cysteine precursor and possibly an inducer of gene expression. O-Acetylserine spontaneously isomerizes to N-acetylserine, which is clearly an inducer. Sulphide and thiosulphate provide additional regulation by acting as anti-inducers. Inducer stimulates CysB protein binding to sites involved in positive regulation, and inhibits binding to the negatively autoregulated cysB promoter. For three sites with unknown function, binding is stimulated at one and inhibited at the other two.

Isolation and characterization of the Escherichia coli htrD gene, whose product is required for growth at high temperatures

Those genes in Escherichia coli defined by mutations which result in an inability to grow at high temperatures are designated htr, indicating a high temperature requirement. A new htr mutant of E. coli was isolated and characterized and is designated htrD. The htrD gene has been mapped to 19.3 min on the E. coli chromosome. Insertional inactivation of htrD with a mini-Tn10 element resulted in a pleiotropic phenotype characterized by a severe inhibition of growth at 42 degrees C and decreased survival at 50 degrees C in rich media. Furthermore, htrD cells were sensitive to H2O2. Growth rate analysis revealed that htrD cells grow very slowly in minimal media supplemented with amino acids. This inhibitory effect has been traced to the presence of cysteine in the growth medium. Further studies indicated that the rate of cysteine transport is higher in htrD cells relative to the wild type. All of these results, taken together, indicate that the htrD gene product may be required for proper regulation of intracellular cysteine levels and that an increased rate of cysteine transport greatly affects the growth characteristics of E. coli.

Negative autoregulation of cysB in Salmonella typhimurium: in vitro interactions of CysB protein with the cysB promoter

CysB protein positively regulates genes of the Salmonella typhimurium cysteine regulon and negatively autoregulates cysB. The cysB promoter was characterized by primer extension of cellular RNA, which gave products identifying a major in vivo transcription start site located 95 bp upstream of the cysB start codon and two minor sites located 9 and 10 bp downstream of the major site. Gel shift binding studies and DNase I footprinting experiments showed that CysB protein binds to the cysB promoter from position -10 to +36 relative to the major transcription start site. We have designated this binding site CBS-B. CysB protein inhibited transcription initiation at the cysB promoter in an in vitro runoff assay, indicating that cysB is negatively autoregulated by the binding of CysB protein to the cysB promoter, where it acts as a repressor. N-Acetyl-L-serine, an inducer of the cysteine regulon, inhibited the binding of CysB protein to the cysB promoter and partially reversed the ability of CysB protein to inhibit transcription initiation. These effects are in contrast to those observed in studies of positively regulated cys promoters, in which N-acetyl-L-serine stimulates binding and causes CysB protein to activate transcription initiation.