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Riechmann C, Zhang P. Recent structural advances in bacterial chemotaxis signalling. Curr Opin Struct Biol 2023; 79:102565. [PMID: 36868078 PMCID: PMC10460253 DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2023.102565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2022] [Revised: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 01/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/05/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial chemosensory arrays have served as a model system for in-situ structure determination, clearly cataloguing the improvement of cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) over the past decade. In recent years, this has culminated in an accurately fitted atomistic model for the full-length core signalling unit (CSU) and numerous insights into the function of the transmembrane receptors responsible for signal transduction. Here, we review the achievements of the latest structural advances in bacterial chemosensory arrays and the developments which have made such advances possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlos Riechmann
- Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK
| | - Peijun Zhang
- Division of Structural Biology, Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK; Diamond Light Source, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, OX11 0DE, UK; Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Oxford Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7BN, UK.
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Characterization of opposing responses to phenol by Bacillus subtilis chemoreceptors. J Bacteriol 2022; 204:e0044121. [PMID: 35007157 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00441-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacillus subtilis employs ten chemoreceptors to move in response to chemicals in its environment. While the sensing mechanisms have been determined for many attractants, little is known about the sensing mechanisms for repellents. In this work, we investigated phenol chemotaxis in B. subtilis. Phenol is an attractant at low, micromolar concentrations, and a repellent at high, millimolar concentrations. McpA was found to be the principal chemoreceptor governing the repellent response to phenol and other related aromatic compounds. In addition, the chemoreceptors McpC and HemAT were found to govern the attractant response to phenol and related compounds. Using chemoreceptor chimeras, McpA was found to sense phenol using its signaling domain rather than its sensing domain. These observations were substantiated in vitro, where direct binding of phenol to the signaling domain of McpA was observed using saturation-transfer difference nuclear magnetic resonance. These results further advance our understanding of B. subtilis chemotaxis and further demonstrate that the signaling domain of B. subtilis chemoreceptors can directly sense chemoeffectors. IMPORTANCE Bacterial chemotaxis is commonly thought to employ a sensing mechanism involving the extracellular sensing domain of chemoreceptors. Some ligands, however, appear to be sensed by the signaling domain. Phenolic compounds, commonly found in soil and root exudates, provide environmental cues for soil microbes like Bacillus subtilis. We show that phenol is sensed both as an attractant and a repellent. While the mechanism for sensing phenol as an attractant is still unknown, we found that phenol is sensed as a repellent by the signaling domain of the chemoreceptor McpA. This study furthers our understanding of the unconventional sensing mechanisms employed by the B. subtilis chemotaxis pathway.
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Ryzhykau YL, Vlasov AV, Orekhov PS, Rulev MI, Rogachev AV, Vlasova AD, Kazantsev AS, Verteletskiy DP, Skoi VV, Brennich ME, Pernot P, Murugova TN, Gordeliy VI, Kuklin AI. Ambiguities in and completeness of SAS data analysis of membrane proteins: the case of the sensory rhodopsin II-transducer complex. ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D-STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY 2021; 77:1386-1400. [PMID: 34726167 DOI: 10.1107/s2059798321009542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/14/2023]
Abstract
Membrane proteins (MPs) play vital roles in the function of cells and are also major drug targets. Structural information on proteins is vital for understanding their mechanism of function and is critical for the development of drugs. However, obtaining high-resolution structures of membrane proteins, in particular, under native conditions is still a great challenge. In such cases, the low-resolution methods small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS and SANS) might provide valuable structural information. However, in some cases small-angle scattering (SAS) provides ambiguous ab initio structural information if complementary measurements are not performed and/or a priori information on the protein is not taken into account. Understanding the nature of the limitations may help to overcome these problems. One of the main problems of SAS data analysis of solubilized membrane proteins is the contribution of the detergent belt surrounding the MP. Here, a comprehensive analysis of how the detergent belt contributes to the SAS data of a membrane-protein complex of sensory rhodopsin II with its cognate transducer from Natronomonas pharaonis (NpSRII-NpHtrII) was performed. The influence of the polydispersity of NpSRII-NpHtrII oligomerization is the second problem that is addressed here. It is shown that inhomogeneity in the scattering length density of the detergent belt surrounding a membrane part of the complex and oligomerization polydispersity significantly impacts on SAXS and SANS profiles, and therefore on 3D ab initio structures. It is described how both problems can be taken into account to improve the quality of SAS data treatment. Since SAS data for MPs are usually obtained from solubilized proteins, and their detergent belt and, to a certain extent, oligomerization polydispersity are sufficiently common phenomena, the approaches proposed in this work might be used in SAS studies of different MPs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yury L Ryzhykau
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Alexey V Vlasov
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Philipp S Orekhov
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Maksim I Rulev
- Structural Biology Group, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Andrey V Rogachev
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Anastasia D Vlasova
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Alexander S Kazantsev
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Dmitry P Verteletskiy
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Vadim V Skoi
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Martha E Brennich
- Synchrotron Crystallography Team, EMBL Grenoble Outstation, 38042 Grenoble, France
| | - Petra Pernot
- Structural Biology Group, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 38000 Grenoble, France
| | - Tatiana N Murugova
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Valentin I Gordeliy
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
| | - Alexander I Kuklin
- Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny 141700, Russian Federation
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Abstract
Two-component systems (TCS) are widespread signaling systems present in all domains of life. TCS typically consist of a signal receptor/transducer and a response regulator. The receptors (histidine kinases, chemoreceptors and photoreceptors) are often embedded in the membrane and have a similar modular structure. Chemoreceptors were shown to function in highly ordered arrays, with trimers of dimers being the smallest functional unit. However, much less is known about photoreceptors. Here, we use small-angle scattering (SAS) to show that detergent-solubilized sensory rhodopsin II in complex with its cognate transducer forms dimers at low salt concentration, which associate into trimers of dimers at higher buffer molarities. We then fit an atomistic model of the whole complex into the SAS data. The obtained results suggest that the trimer of dimers is "tripod"-shaped and that the contacts between the dimers occur only through their cytoplasmic regions, whereas the transmembrane regions remain unconnected.
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Burt A, Cassidy CK, Ames P, Bacia-Verloop M, Baulard M, Huard K, Luthey-Schulten Z, Desfosses A, Stansfeld PJ, Margolin W, Parkinson JS, Gutsche I. Complete structure of the chemosensory array core signalling unit in an E. coli minicell strain. Nat Commun 2020; 11:743. [PMID: 32029744 PMCID: PMC7005262 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-14350-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Motile bacteria sense chemical gradients with transmembrane receptors organised in supramolecular signalling arrays. Understanding stimulus detection and transmission at the molecular level requires precise structural characterisation of the array building block known as a core signalling unit. Here we introduce an Escherichia coli strain that forms small minicells possessing extended and highly ordered chemosensory arrays. We use cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging to provide a three-dimensional map of a complete core signalling unit, with visible densities corresponding to the HAMP and periplasmic domains. This map, combined with previously determined high resolution structures and molecular dynamics simulations, yields a molecular model of the transmembrane core signalling unit and enables spatial localisation of its individual domains. Our work thus offers a solid structural basis for the interpretation of a wide range of existing data and the design of further experiments to elucidate signalling mechanisms within the core signalling unit and larger array.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alister Burt
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, 71 Avenue des martyrs, F-38044, Grenoble, France
| | - C Keith Cassidy
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK
| | - Peter Ames
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Maria Bacia-Verloop
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, 71 Avenue des martyrs, F-38044, Grenoble, France
| | - Megghane Baulard
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, 71 Avenue des martyrs, F-38044, Grenoble, France
| | - Karine Huard
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, 71 Avenue des martyrs, F-38044, Grenoble, France
| | - Zaida Luthey-Schulten
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA
| | - Ambroise Desfosses
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, 71 Avenue des martyrs, F-38044, Grenoble, France
| | - Phillip J Stansfeld
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QU, UK
| | - William Margolin
- Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - John S Parkinson
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA
| | - Irina Gutsche
- Institut de Biologie Structurale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, CNRS, IBS, 71 Avenue des martyrs, F-38044, Grenoble, France.
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