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Mini-Review |
Laboratory of Sialobiology, Department of Pathobiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
Correspondence
Eric R. Vimr
ervimr{at}illinois.edu
| ABSTRACT |
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| Introduction |
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The focus of this mini-review is on the early molecular-recognition events involving heterotypic protein–protein interactions that direct group 2 and probably group 3 capsular polysaccharides to the evolutionarily conserved export apparatus composed of an ABC transporter, periplasmic connector and OM pore, shown on the right in Fig. 1
. Whitfield (2006)
has summarized the distinctions between groups 1–4 capsules and the reader is directed to that review for further information about capsule classification. The translocation apparatus for groups 2 and 3 capsular polysaccharides is formally analogous to the translocators for certain drugs and polypeptides that use the type I protein secretion system shown on the left in Fig. 1
(Thanabalu et al., 1998
); these include substrate-specific IM ABC transporters, periplasmic connectors, and an OM exit pore provided by interactions with TolC (Silver et al., 2001
). However, unlike type I secretion systems, group 2 capsule exporters invariably require additional, or accessory proteins for polysaccharide translocation (Fig. 1
). For example, a simple BLASTP analysis of the groups 2 and 3 accessory polypeptide, KpsC, yielded 87/100 non-E. coli hits with alignment values <1x10–88 in 44 different bacterial species of diverse phylogenetic origins. This result indicates that capsule biosynthesis is likely to be a property of many more bacterial species than currently studied, supporting the overall importance of capsules for mediating interactions with host or environmental surfaces. Understanding the mechanism of group 2 capsule export is thus central to how we think about microbes in diseases resulting from animal and plant infections as well as bacterial social interactions such as biofilm organization. In addition to accessory proteins, it is believed that group 2 polysaccharide synthesis requires a membrane-bound initiator upon which the polysaccharide chain is elongated, and/or a terminator (Fig. 1
), which has been variably described, sometimes by the same research group, as phospholipid, phospholipid-linked 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonate (KDO) (Bronner et al., 1993
; Finke et al., 1991
), endogenous acceptor protein, and undecaprenyl phosphate (Troy et al., 1975
; Weisgerber & Troy, 1990
). The exact nature of the endogenous acceptor and termination event remain outstanding questions for future research.
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| Building blocks – monosaccharide synthesis, activation and polymerization or transfer to acceptors |
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Given the two export models – post-synthetic or directed coupling – a central question in capsule biology is how to distinguish between the two models. One clue came from electron microscopic examination of export-deficient mutants. For example, the phenotype of kpsT and kpsS mutants shown in Fig. 4(C) and (D)
, respectively, reveals lacunae more or less randomly distributed along the cytoplasmic–IM boundary. No lacunae are observed in the wild-type (Fig. 4A
). By contrast, other export-defective mutants, such as those with kpsF, kpsC or kpsE defects (Fig. 4B, E, and F
, respectively), accumulate relatively large pools of unexported polysaccharides located centrally or at the poles. Although not all export-defective mutants have been investigated, all of them analysed so far by electron microscopy fall into one or the other phenotypic class of lacunae distribution and size. The simplest interpretation of the dramatic morphological differences is that some export gene products function directly in translocation (as in mutants with peripherally distributed lacunae) while others direct the coupling between synthesis and export (as in mutants with large intracellular pools). On the basis of this interpretation, we hypothesized that KpsC interacts directly with the polymerase (NeuS in the K1 system) and guides it to the periplasmic connector, KpsE, defining a series of molecular-recognition events that might effectively couple synthesis to export by positioning the polymerase near the export channel. By contrast, other components of the system, such as KpsT and KpsS, would function passively in the export process. For example, the ATPase component of the ABC transporter, KpsT, might function mainly to open the KpsE channel to the OM. In other words, while the polymer presumably passes through the IM component, KpsM, of the exporter, it might not necessarily have to pass through the KpsT ATPase component. Despite evidence that KpsS can be chemically cross-linked to most other components of the E. coli K5 biosynthetic system (McNulty et al., 2006
), the function of this accessory protein appears to be as a bystander rather than a coupler on the basis of the kpsS mutant phenotype (Fig. 4
).
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Two-hybrid analysis of homo- and heterotypic interactions in group 2 capsule biosynthesis
Most two-hybrid systems for detecting protein or peptide interactions rely on activation of various transcriptional regulators to provide the reporter activity. By contrast, reconstituting the N- and C-terminal domains of the Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase (Cya) through interacting homo- or heterotypic fusions results in cyclic AMP synthesis and activation of E. coli catabolite-activator-protein-dependent genes such as those for maltose and β-galactosidase utilization (Karimova et al., 1998
). Thus, as long as the reporter strain lacks its own cya, activation is solely dependent on reconstituting the B. pertussis fragments through proximity mediated by the interacting fusion partners. The salient feature of this system for analysing bacterial multi-protein membrane assemblies is that the signalling cascade is spatially separated from the transcriptional reporter. For example, Landant and colleagues have provided evidence that the E. coli cell division apparatus involves multiple low-affinity interactions analogous to formation of the eukaryotic synapse (Karimova et al., 2005
). Using this two-hybrid system, we analysed a variety of protein–protein interactions using plasmids expressing combinations of kps–kps, kps–neu and neu–neu fusions (Steenbergen & Vimr, 2008
). The conclusions shown in Fig. 3(B)
indicate that the polymerase functions as a monomer, consistent with radiation target analysis (Vionnet et al., 2006
), but has affinity for both the IM–OM KpsE connector and the KpsC adaptor, which also interacts with itself. Note that the adaptor function of KpsC is used in the sense that it alters (adapts) the polymerase in some as yet unknown way so that polymerization is coupled to the exporter. In the absence of the adaptor, any group 2 polymer synthesized cannot be exported. If these interactions are interpreted correctly, they imply that positioning of group 2 polysaccharide synthetic functions relative to the export channel occurs through heterotypic interactions, possibly explaining the promiscuous nature of group 2-like polysaccharide export systems (Silver et al., 2001
). This hypothesis implies that the polymerases in different group 2 systems include conserved regions mediating the various interactions. It may be possible to identify these regions with the current two-hybrid system through mutation or by making peptide fusions, but ultimately crystal structures may be necessary if the interacting domains are strictly dependent on tertiary folding.
Model of group 2 capsular polysialic acid biosynthesis in E. coli K1 and summary of outstanding questions concerning the dynamics of capsule export
Although the details of building block assembly in the K1 system have been worked out for some time (Vimr et al., 2004
), since 2004 a series of previously unidentified acetyl transferases and O-acetyl esterases have been discovered that modify the polysialic acid chain or its precursors before or during export (Steenbergen et al., 2006
). However, acetylation modifies structure without affecting export. These modifications of the polysaccharide or its precursors suggest that the synthetic components of group 2 capsule biosynthesis may themselves be associated with the IM, and indeed the bifunctional NeuD protein has been shown to interact physically with NeuB and to exist in an IM-bound configuration (Annunziato et al., 1995
; Daines & Silver, 2000
). Thus, all of the synthetic and export functions required for capsule biosynthesis might be interacting in a super-complex that we have designated the sialisome (Steenbergen & Vimr, 2008
). It remains to be determined if the spatial organization of any synthetic proteins operating prior to the polymerase, NeuS, has a direct impact on export. Fig. 3(C)
shows the synthetic steps involved in building-block synthesis, assembly and modification of the K1 capsule, and the homo- and heterotypic interactions between NeuS, KpsC and KpsE described above connecting synthesis to the export channel.
Are there any other gene products besides those shown in Fig. 3(C)
that affect group 2 capsular polysaccharide export? McNulty et al. (2006)
and Silver et al. (2001)
provided evidence that RhsA and TolC, respectively, affected capsule synthesis or export. In particular, RhsA was suggested to be a carbohydrate-binding protein that could be chemically cross-linked to other components of the export channel and might connect capsule synthesis to export. However, it is difficult to rule out pleiotropic effects on membrane architecture as the explanation for RhsA or TolC phenotypes, especially since polypeptides such as GlgB and SucA involved in entirely separate pathways were also found cross-linked to the E. coli K5 export apparatus (McNulty et al., 2006
). Despite these outstanding questions and experimental ambiguities it would be useful to probe the export channel by cross-linking nascent capsular polysaccharide to protein components of the channel. It might be possible to approach this question by using a synchronized biosynthetic system making radiolabelled polysaccharide followed by cross-linking the carboxyl groups of nascent polysialic acid to adjacent amino groups in the channel. Such a synchronized system has been developed (Vimr, 1992
) and already used to determine the extracellular structure of polysialic acid by NMR (Azurmendi et al., 2007
). Unfortunately, even if three-dimensional structures of group 2 export components were to become available, as in the group 1 system (Whitfield & Naismith, 2008
), it is unlikely that static images of the components would tell us much new about the outstanding questions raised above regarding the dynamics of polysaccharide biosynthesis. We think that the two-hybrid system described above, and continued genetic manipulation of capsule genes coupled with simple biochemical and cell physiological approaches, will allow researchers to accurately infer the dynamics of group 2 capsule export.
While a complete in vitro reconstitution of the export process appears impossible at this time, our current understanding of the minimum set of components required for translocation suggests that progress might be made in the near future. In conclusion, there have been three fundamental questions in group 2 capsule biosynthesis. First, how is polysaccharide synthesis initiated/terminated? Second, is the coupling of synthesis to export directed or does it involve a potential cytoplasmic intermediate? Third, how is polysaccharide recognized by the export apparatus? While an answer to the first question remains mysterious, the second clearly involves directed coupling mediated by heterotypic protein–protein interactions (Steenbergen & Vimr, 2008
). Finally, given the immense structural polysaccharide diversity, export seems to require a signal that would presumably reside in the linkage to the terminal phospholipid moiety or that is the only common feature in different systems. However, our results provide an alternative explanation: the juxtapositioning of the polymerase through heterotypic protein–protein interactions might be sufficient to couple synthesis to export without the need for a specific export signal.
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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