Dataset Information

Quorum quenching by an N-acyl-homoserine lactone acylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

ABSTRACT: The virulence of the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 is controlled by an N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-dependent quorum-sensing system. During functional analysis of putative acylase genes in the P. aeruginosa PAO1 genome, the PA2385 gene was found to encode an acylase that removes the fatty acid side chain from the homoserine lactone (HSL) nucleus of AHL-dependent quorum-sensing signal molecules. Analysis showed that the posttranslational processing of the acylase and the hydrolysis reaction type are similar to those of the beta-lactam acylases, strongly suggesting that the PA2385 protein is a member of the N-terminal nucleophile hydrolase superfamily. In a bioassay, the purified acylase was shown to degrade AHLs with side chains ranging in length from 11 to 14 carbons at physiologically relevant low concentrations. The substituent at the 3' position of the side chain did not affect activity, indicating broad-range AHL quorum-quenching activity. Of the two main AHL signal molecules of P. aeruginosa PAO1, N-butanoyl-l-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL) and N-(3-oxododecanoyl)-l-homoserine lactone (3-oxo-C12-HSL), only 3-oxo-C12-HSL is degraded by the enzyme. Addition of the purified protein to P. aeruginosa PAO1 cultures completely inhibited accumulation of 3-oxo-C12-HSL and production of the signal molecule 2-heptyl-3-hydroxy-4(1H)-quinolone and reduced production of the virulence factors elastase and pyocyanin. Similar results were obtained when the PA2385 gene was overexpressed in P. aeruginosa. These results demonstrate that the protein has in situ quorum-quenching activity. The quorum-quenching AHL acylase may enable P. aeruginosa PAO1 to modulate its own quorum-sensing-dependent pathogenic potential and, moreover, offers possibilities for novel antipseudomonal therapies.

SUBMITTER: Sio CF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1418629 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Quorum quenching by an N-acyl-homoserine lactone acylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

Sio Charles F CF Otten Linda G LG Cool Robbert H RH Diggle Stephen P SP Braun Peter G PG Bos Rein R Daykin Mavis M Cámara Miguel M Williams Paul P Quax Wim J WJ

Infection and immunity 20060301 3

The virulence of the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 is controlled by an N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-dependent quorum-sensing system. During functional analysis of putative acylase genes in the P. aeruginosa PAO1 genome, the PA2385 gene was found to encode an acylase that removes the fatty acid side chain from the homoserine lactone (HSL) nucleus of AHL-dependent quorum-sensing signal molecules. Analysis showed that the posttranslational processing of the acylase and ...[more]

PMID: 16495538

Similar Datasets

Project description:Acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) are employed by several Proteobacteria as quorum-sensing signals. Past studies have established that these compounds are subject to biochemical decay and can be used as growth nutrients. Here we describe the isolation of a soil bacterium, Pseudomonas strain PAI-A, that degrades 3-oxododecanoyl-homoserine lactone (3OC12HSL) and other long-acyl, but not short-acyl, AHLs as sole energy sources for growth. The small-subunit rRNA gene from strain PAI-A was 98.4% identical to that of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but the soil isolate did not produce obvious pigments or AHLs or grow under denitrifying conditions or at 42 degrees C. The quorum-sensing bacterium P. aeruginosa, which produces both 3OC12HSL and C4HSL, was examined for the ability to utilize AHLs for growth. It did so with a specificity similar to that of strain PAI-A, i.e., degrading long-acyl but not short-acyl AHLs. In contrast to the growth observed with strain PAI-A, P. aeruginosa strain PAO1 growth on AHLs commenced only after extremely long lag phases. Liquid-chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry analyses indicate that strain PAO1 degrades long-acyl AHLs via an AHL acylase and a homoserine-generating HSL lactonase. A P. aeruginosa gene, pvdQ (PA2385), has previously been identified as being a homologue of the AHL acylase described as occurring in a Ralstonia species. Escherichia coli expressing pvdQ catalyzed the rapid inactivation of long-acyl AHLs and the release of HSL. P. aeruginosa engineered to constitutively express pvdQ did not accumulate its 3OC12HSL quorum signal when grown in rich media. However, pvdQ knockout mutants of P. aeruginosa were still able to grow by utilizing 3OC12HSL. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the degradation of AHLs by pseudomonads or other gamma-Proteobacteria, of AHL acylase activity in a quorum-sensing bacterium, of HSL lactonase activity in any bacterium, and of AHL degradation with specificity only towards AHLs with long side chains.

Project description:BackgroundThe infection and virulence functions of diverse plant and animal pathogens that possess quorum sensing systems are regulated by N-acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs) acting as signal molecules. AHL-acylase is a quorum quenching enzyme and degrades AHLs by removing the fatty acid side chain from the homoserine lactone ring of AHLs. This blocks AHL accumulation and pathogenic phenotypes in quorum sensing bacteria.ResultsAn aac gene of undemonstrated function from Ralstonia solanacearum GMI1000 was cloned, expressed in Escherichia coli; it inactivated four AHLs that were tested. The sequence of the 795 amino acid polypeptide was considerably similar to the AHL-acylase from Ralstonia sp. XJ12B with 83% identity match and shared 39% identity with an aculeacin A acylase precursor from the gram-positive actinomycete Actinoplanes utahensis. Aculeacin A is a neutral lipopeptide antibiotic and an antifungal drug. An electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) analysis verified that Aac hydrolysed the amide bond of AHL, releasing homoserine lactone and the corresponding fatty acids. However, ESI-MS analysis demonstrated that the Aac could not catalyze the hydrolysis of the palmitoyl moiety of the aculeacin A. Moreover, the results of MIC test of aculeacin A suggest that Aac could not deacylate aculeacin A. The specificity of Aac for AHLs showed a greater preference for long acyl chains than for short acyl chains. Heterologous expression of the aac gene in Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 effectively inhibited violacein and chitinase activity, both of which were regulated by the quorum-sensing mechanism. These results indicated that Aac could control AHL-dependent pathogenicity.ConclusionThis is the first study to find an AHL-acylase in a phytopathogen. Our data provide direct evidence that the functioning of the aac gene (NP520668) of R. solanacearum GMI1000 is via AHL-acylase and not via aculeacin A acylase. Since Aac is a therapeutic potential quorum-quenching agent, its further biotechnological applications in agriculture, clinical and bio-industrial fields should be evaluated in the near future.

Project description:The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a leading cause of airway infection in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. P. aeruginosa employs several hierarchically arranged and interconnected quorum sensing (QS) regulatory circuits to produce a battery of virulence factors such as elastase, phenazines, and rhamnolipids. The QS transcription factor LasR sits atop this hierarchy and activates the transcription of dozens of genes, including that encoding the QS regulator RhlR. Paradoxically, inactivating lasR mutations are frequently observed in isolates from CF patients with chronic P. aeruginosa infections. In contrast, mutations in rhlR are rare. We have recently shown that in CF isolates, the QS circuitry is often rewired such that RhlR acts in a LasR-independent manner. To begin understanding how QS activity differs in this rewired background, we characterized QS activation and RhlR-regulated gene expression in P. aeruginosa E90, a LasR-null, RhlR-active chronic infection isolate. In this isolate, RhlR activates the expression of 53 genes in response to increasing cell density. The genes regulated by RhlR include several that encode virulence factors. Some, but not all, of these genes are present in the QS regulon described in the well-studied laboratory strain PAO1. We also demonstrate that E90 produces virulence factors at similar concentrations as PAO1, and in E90, RhlR plays a significant role in mediating cytotoxicity in a three-dimensional lung epithelium cell model. These data illuminate a rewired LasR-independent RhlR regulon in chronic infection isolates and suggest further investigation of RhlR as a possible target for therapeutic development in chronic infections.IMPORTANCE Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a prominent cystic fibrosis (CF) pathogen that uses quorum sensing (QS) to regulate virulence. In laboratory strains, the key QS regulator is LasR. Many isolates from patients with chronic CF infections appear to use an alternate QS circuitry in which another transcriptional regulator, RhlR, mediates QS. We show that a LasR-null CF clinical isolate engages in QS through RhlR and remains capable of inducing cell death in an in vivo-like lung epithelium cell model. Our findings support the notion that LasR-null clinical isolates can engage in RhlR QS and highlight the centrality of RhlR in chronic P. aeruginosa infections.

Dataset Information

Quorum quenching by an N-acyl-homoserine lactone acylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

Publications

Quorum quenching by an N-acyl-homoserine lactone acylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets