Periplasmic superoxide dismutase from Desulfovibrio desulfuricans 1388 is an iron protein

Insights into the Periplasmic Proteins of Acinetobacter baumannii AB5075 and the Impact of Imipenem Exposure: A Proteomic Approach

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii strains cause life-threatening infections due to the lack of therapeutic options. Although the main mechanisms underlying antibiotic-resistance have been extensively studied, the general response to maintain bacterial viability under antibiotic exposure deserves to be fully investigated. Since the periplasmic space contains several proteins with crucial cellular functions, besides carbapenemases, we decided to study the periplasmic proteome of the multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii AB5075 strain, grown in the absence and presence of imipenem (IMP). Through the proteomic approach, 65 unique periplasmic proteins common in both growth conditions were identified: eight proteins involved in protein fate, response to oxidative stress, energy metabolism, antibiotic-resistance, were differentially expressed. Among them, ABUW_1746 and ABUW_2363 gene products presented the tetratricopeptide repeat motif, mediating protein-protein interactions. The expression switch of these proteins might determine specific protein interactions to better adapt to changing environmental conditions. ABUW_2868, encoding a heat shock protein likely involved in protection against oxidative stress, was upregulated in IMP-exposed bacteria. Accordingly, the addition of periplasmic proteins from A. baumannii cultured with IMP increased bacterial viability in an antioxidant activity assay. Overall, this study provides the first insights about the composition of the periplasmic proteins of a MDR A. baumannii strain, its biological response to IMP and suggests possible new targets to develop alternative antibiotic drugs.

The superoxide dismutase SodA is targeted to the periplasm in a SecA-dependent manner by a novel mechanism

The manganese/iron-type superoxide dismutase (SodA) of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae 3841 is exported to the periplasm of R. l. bv. viciae and Escherichia coli. However, it does not possess a hydrophobic cleaved N-terminal signal peptide typically present in soluble proteins exported by the Sec-dependent (Sec) pathway or the twin-arginine translocation (TAT) pathway. A tatC mutant of R. l. bv. viciae exported SodA to the periplasm, ruling out export of SodA as a complex with a TAT substrate as a chaperone. The export of SodA was unaffected in a secB mutant of E. coli, but its export from R. l. bv. viciae was inhibited by azide, an inhibitor of SecA ATPase activity. A temperature-sensitive secA mutant of E. coli was strongly reduced for SodA export. The 10 N-terminal amino acid residues of SodA were sufficient to target the reporter protein alkaline phosphatase to the periplasm. Our results demonstrate the export of a protein lacking a classical signal peptide to the periplasm by a SecA-dependent, but SecB-independent targeting mechanism. Export of the R. l. bv. viciae SodA to the periplasm was not limited to the genus Rhizobium, but was also observed in other proteobacteria.

Response of Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough to hydrogen peroxide: enzymatic and transcriptional analyses

We studied the effect of hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) stress on the anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacterium Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough. In a lactate/sulfate medium, growth was affected from 0.1 mM H(2)O(2) and totally inhibited at 0.7 mM. Surprisingly, transcript analyses revealed that the PerR regulon exhibited opposite regulation in the presence of 0.1 and 0.3 mM H(2)O(2). The variations in peroxidase- and superoxide dismutase-specific activities in the cell-free extracts of H(2)O(2)-stressed cultures were related to changes in the corresponding transcript abundance. Our data suggest that sod, sor, ngr and tpx genes, in addition to the PerR regulon, belong to the H(2)O(2) stimulon.

SODa: an Mn/Fe superoxide dismutase prediction and design server

Background

Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are ubiquitous metalloenzymes that play an important role in the defense of aerobic organisms against oxidative stress, by converting reactive oxygen species into nontoxic molecules. We focus here on the SOD family that uses Fe or Mn as cofactor.

Results

The SODa webtool predicts if a target sequence corresponds to an Fe/Mn SOD. If so, it predicts the metal ion specificity (Fe, Mn or cambialistic) and the oligomerization mode (dimer or tetramer) of the target. In addition, SODa proposes a list of residue substitutions likely to improve the predicted preferences for the metal cofactor and oligomerization mode. The method is based on residue fingerprints, consisting of residues conserved in SOD sequences or typical of SOD subgroups, and of interaction fingerprints, containing residue pairs that are in contact in SOD structures.

Conclusion

SODa is shown to outperform and to be more discriminative than traditional techniques based on pairwise sequence alignments. Moreover, the fact that it proposes selected mutations makes it a valuable tool for rational protein design.