Characterization of the χψ subcomplex of Pseudomonas aeruginosa DNA polymerase III

Effect of a Defective Clamp Loader Complex of DNA Polymerase III on Growth and SOS Response in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

DNA polymerase III (Pol III) is the replicative enzyme in bacteria. It consists of three subcomplexes, the catalytic core, the β clamp, and the clamp loader. While this complex has been thoroughly characterized in the model organism Escherichia coli, much less is known about its functioning and/or its specific properties in other bacteria. Biochemical studies highlighted specific features in the clamp loader subunit ψ of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as compared to its E. coli counterpart, and transposon mutagenesis projects identified the ψ-encoding gene holD among the strictly essential core genes of P. aeruginosa. By generating a P. aeruginosa holD conditional mutant, here we demonstrate that, as previously observed for E. coli holD mutants, HolD-depleted P. aeruginosa cells show strongly decreased growth, induction of the SOS response, and emergence of suppressor mutants at high frequency. However, differently from what was observed in E. coli, the growth of P. aeruginosa cells lacking HolD cannot be rescued by the deletion of genes for specialized DNA polymerases. We also observed that the residual growth of HolD-depleted cells is strictly dependent on homologous recombination functions, suggesting that recombination-mediated rescue of stalled replication forks is crucial to support replication by a ψ-deficient Pol III enzyme in P. aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells attached to a surface display a typical proteome early as 20 minutes of incubation

Biofilms are present in all environments and often result in negative effects due to properties of the biofilm lifestyle and especially antibiotics resistance. Biofilms are associated with chronic infections. Controlling bacterial attachment, the first step of biofilm formation, is crucial for fighting against biofilm and subsequently preventing the persistence of infection. Thus deciphering the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in attachment could allow discovering molecular targets from it would be possible to develop inhibitors against bacterial colonization and potentiate antibiotherapy. To identify the key components and pathways that aid the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa in attachment we performed for the first time a proteomic analysis as early as after 20 minutes of incubation using glass wool fibers as a surface. We compared the protein contents of the attached and unattached bacteria. Using mass spectrometry, 3043 proteins were identified. Our results showed that, as of 20 minutes of incubation, using stringent quantification criteria 616 proteins presented a modification of their abundance in the attached cells compared to their unattached counterparts. The attached cells presented an overall reduced gene expression and characteristics of slow-growing cells. The over-accumulation of outer membrane proteins, periplasmic folding proteins and O-antigen chain length regulators was also observed, indicating a profound modification of the cell envelope. Consistently the sigma factor AlgU required for cell envelope homeostasis was highly over-accumulated in attached cells. In addition our data suggested a role of alarmone (p)ppGpp and polyphosphate during the early attachment phase. Furthermore, almost 150 proteins of unknown function were differentially accumulated in the attached cells. Our proteomic analysis revealed the existence of distinctive biological features in attached cells as early as 20 minutes of incubation. Analysis of some mutants demonstrated the interest of this proteomic approach in identifying genes involved in the early phase of adhesion to a surface.

The E. coli DNA Replication Fork

DNA replication in Escherichia coli initiates at oriC, the origin of replication and proceeds bidirectionally, resulting in two replication forks that travel in opposite directions from the origin. Here, we focus on events at the replication fork. The replication machinery (or replisome), first assembled on both forks at oriC, contains the DnaB helicase for strand separation, and the DNA polymerase III holoenzyme (Pol III HE) for DNA synthesis. DnaB interacts transiently with the DnaG primase for RNA priming on both strands. The Pol III HE is made up of three subassemblies: (i) the αɛθ core polymerase complex that is present in two (or three) copies to simultaneously copy both DNA strands, (ii) the β2 sliding clamp that interacts with the core polymerase to ensure its processivity, and (iii) the seven-subunit clamp loader complex that loads β2 onto primer-template junctions and interacts with the α polymerase subunit of the core and the DnaB helicase to organize the two (or three) core polymerases. Here, we review the structures of the enzymatic components of replisomes, and the protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions that ensure they remain intact while undergoing substantial dynamic changes as they function to copy both the leading and lagging strands simultaneously during coordinated replication.

The helicase-binding domain of Escherichia coli DnaG primase interacts with the highly conserved C-terminal region of single-stranded DNA-binding protein

During bacterial DNA replication, DnaG primase and the χ subunit of DNA polymerase III compete for binding to single-stranded DNA-binding protein (SSB), thus facilitating the switch between priming and elongation. SSB proteins play an essential role in DNA metabolism by protecting single-stranded DNA and by mediating several important protein-protein interactions. Although an interaction of SSB with primase has been previously reported, it was unclear which domains of the two proteins are involved. This study identifies the C-terminal helicase-binding domain of DnaG primase (DnaG-C) and the highly conserved C-terminal region of SSB as interaction sites. By ConSurf analysis, it can be shown that an array of conserved amino acids on DnaG-C forms a hydrophobic pocket surrounded by basic residues, reminiscent of known SSB-binding sites on other proteins. Using protein-protein cross-linking, site-directed mutagenesis, analytical ultracentrifugation and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we demonstrate that these conserved amino acid residues are involved in the interaction with SSB. Even though the C-terminal domain of DnaG primase also participates in the interaction with DnaB helicase, the respective binding sites on the surface of DnaG-C do not overlap, as SSB binds to the N-terminal subdomain, whereas DnaB interacts with the ultimate C-terminus.