Disrupting antibiotic resistance propagation by inhibiting the conjugative DNA relaxase.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lujan SA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC1916486 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Bacteria expand their genetic diversity, spread antibiotic resistance genes, and obtain virulence factors through the highly coordinated process of conjugative plasmid transfer (CPT). A plasmid-encoded relaxase enzyme initiates and terminates CPT by nicking and religating the transferred plasmid in a sequence-specific manner. We solved the 2.3 A crystal structure of the relaxase responsible for the spread of the resistance plasmid pCU1 and determined its DNA binding and nicking capabilities. The overall fold of the pCU1 relaxase is similar to that of the F plasmid and plasmid R388 relaxases. However, in the pCU1 structure, the conserved tyrosine residues (Y18,19,26,27) that are required for DNA nicking and religation were displaced up to 14 A out of the relaxase active site, revealing a high degree of mobility in this region of the enzyme. In spite of this flexibility, the tyrosines still cleaved the nic site of the plasmid's origin of transfer, and did so in a sequence-specific, metal-dependent manner. Unexpectedly, the pCU1 relaxase lacked the sequence-specific DNA binding previously reported for the homologous F and R388 relaxase enzymes, despite its high sequence and structural similarity with both proteins. In summary, our work outlines novel structural and functional aspects of the relaxase-mediated conjugative transfer of plasmid pCU1.
| S-EPMC2943615 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Bacterial conjugation is a mechanism of horizontal DNA transfer. The relaxase TrwC of the conjugative plasmid R388 cleaves one strand of the transferred DNA at the oriT gene, covalently attaches to it, and leads the single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) into the recipient cell. In addition, TrwC catalyzes site-specific integration of the transferred DNA into its target sequence present in the genome of the recipient bacterium. Here, we report the analysis of the efficiency and specificity of the integrase activity of TrwC in human cells, using the type IV secretion system of the human pathogen Bartonella henselae to introduce relaxase-DNA complexes. Compared to Mob relaxase from plasmid pBGR1, we found that TrwC mediated a 10-fold increase in the rate of plasmid DNA transfer to human cells and a 100-fold increase in the rate of chromosomal integration of the transferred DNA. We used linear amplification-mediated PCR and plasmid rescue to characterize the integration pattern in the human genome. DNA sequence analysis revealed mostly reconstituted oriT sequences, indicating that TrwC is active and recircularizes transferred DNA in human cells. One TrwC-mediated site-specific integration event was detected, proving that TrwC is capable of mediating site-specific integration in the human genome, albeit with very low efficiency compared to the rate of random integration. Our results suggest that TrwC may stabilize the plasmid DNA molecules in the nucleus of the human cell, probably by recircularization of the transferred DNA strand. This stabilization would increase the opportunities for integration of the DNA by the host machinery.IMPORTANCE Different biotechnological applications, including gene therapy strategies, require permanent modification of target cells. Long-term expression is achieved either by extrachromosomal persistence or by integration of the introduced DNA. Here, we studied the utility of conjugative relaxase TrwC, a bacterial protein with site-specific integrase activity in bacteria, as an integrase in human cells. Although it is not efficient as a site-specific integrase, we found that TrwC is active in human cells and promotes random integration of the transferred DNA in the human genome, probably acting as a DNA chaperone until it is integrated by host mechanisms. TrwC-DNA complexes can be delivered to human cells through a type IV secretion system involved in pathogenesis. Thus, TrwC could be used in vivo to transfer the DNA of interest into the appropriate cell and promote its integration. If used in combination with a site-specific nuclease, it could lead to site-specific integration of the incoming DNA by homologous recombination.
| S-EPMC5452801 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Conjugative transposition drives the emergence of multidrug resistance in diverse bacterial pathogens, yet the mechanisms are poorly characterized. The Tn1549 conjugative transposon propagates resistance to the antibiotic vancomycin used for severe drug-resistant infections. Here, we present four high-resolution structures of the conserved Y-transposase of Tn1549 complexed with circular transposon DNA intermediates. The structures reveal individual transposition steps and explain how specific DNA distortion and cleavage mechanisms enable DNA strand exchange with an absolute minimum homology requirement. This appears to uniquely allow Tn916-like conjugative transposons to bypass DNA homology and insert into diverse genomic sites, expanding gene transfer. We further uncover a structural regulatory mechanism that prevents premature cleavage of the transposon DNA before a suitable target DNA is found and generate a peptide antagonist that interferes with the transposase-DNA structure to block transposition. Our results reveal mechanistic principles of conjugative transposition that could help control the spread of antibiotic resistance genes.
| S-EPMC5871717 | biostudies-literature
Project description:TraI relaxase-helicase is the central catalytic component of the multiprotein relaxosome complex responsible for conjugative DNA transfer (CDT) between bacterial cells. CDT is a primary mechanism for the lateral propagation of microbial genetic material, including the spread of antibiotic resistance genes. The 2.4-A resolution crystal structure of the C-terminal domain of the multifunctional Escherichia coli F (fertility) plasmid TraI protein is presented, and specific structural regions essential for CDT are identified. The crystal structure reveals a novel fold composed of a 28-residue N-terminal alpha-domain connected by a proline-rich loop to a compact alpha/beta-domain. Both the globular nature of the alpha/beta-domain and the presence as well as rigidity of the proline-rich loop are required for DNA transfer and single-stranded DNA binding. Taken together, these data establish the specific structural features of this noncatalytic domain that are essential to DNA conjugation.
| S-EPMC2669809 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Conjugation is one mechanism for intra- and inter-species horizontal gene transfer among bacteria. Conjugative elements have been instrumental in many bacterial species to face the threat of antibiotics, by allowing them to evolve and adapt to these hostile conditions. Conjugative plasmids are transferred to plasmidless recipient cells as single-stranded DNA. We used lacZ and gfp fusions to address whether conjugation induces the SOS response and the integron integrase. The SOS response controls a series of genes responsible for DNA damage repair, which can lead to recombination and mutagenesis. In this manuscript, we show that conjugative transfer of ssDNA induces the bacterial SOS stress response, unless an anti-SOS factor is present to alleviate this response. We also show that integron integrases are up-regulated during this process, resulting in increased cassette rearrangements. Moreover, the data we obtained using broad and narrow host range plasmids strongly suggests that plasmid transfer, even abortive, can trigger chromosomal gene rearrangements and transcriptional switches in the recipient cell. Our results highlight the importance of environments concentrating disparate bacterial communities as reactors for extensive genetic adaptation of bacteria.
| S-EPMC2958807 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBacterial conjugation is a mechanism for horizontal DNA transfer between bacteria which requires cell to cell contact, usually mediated by self-transmissible plasmids. A protein known as relaxase is responsible for the processing of DNA during bacterial conjugation. TrwC, the relaxase of conjugative plasmid R388, is also able to catalyze site-specific integration of the transferred DNA into a copy of its target, the origin of transfer (oriT), present in a recipient plasmid. This reaction confers TrwC a high biotechnological potential as a tool for genomic engineering.Methodology/principal findingsWe have characterized this reaction by conjugal mobilization of a suicide plasmid to a recipient cell with an oriT-containing plasmid, selecting for the cointegrates. Proteins TrwA and IHF enhanced integration frequency. TrwC could also catalyze integration when it is expressed from the recipient cell. Both Y18 and Y26 catalytic tyrosil residues were essential to perform the reaction, while TrwC DNA helicase activity was dispensable. The target DNA could be reduced to 17 bp encompassing TrwC nicking and binding sites. Two human genomic sequences resembling the 17 bp segment were accepted as targets for TrwC-mediated site-specific integration. TrwC could also integrate the incoming DNA molecule into an oriT copy present in the recipient chromosome.Conclusions/significanceThe results support a model for TrwC-mediated site-specific integration. This reaction may allow R388 to integrate into the genome of non-permissive hosts upon conjugative transfer. Also, the ability to act on target sequences present in the human genome underscores the biotechnological potential of conjugative relaxase TrwC as a site-specific integrase for genomic modification of human cells.
| S-EPMC3264647 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Efforts to battle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are generally focused on developing novel antibiotics. However, history shows that resistance arises regardless of the nature or potency of new drugs. Here, we propose and provide evidence for an alternate strategy to resolve this problem: inhibiting evolution. We determined that the DNA translocase Mfd is an "evolvability factor" that promotes mutagenesis and is required for rapid resistance development to all antibiotics tested across highly divergent bacterial species. Importantly, hypermutator alleles that accelerate AMR development did not arise without Mfd, at least during evolution of trimethoprim resistance. We also show that Mfd's role in AMR development depends on its interactions with the RNA polymerase subunit RpoB and the nucleotide excision repair protein UvrA. Our findings suggest that AMR development can be inhibited through inactivation of evolvability factors (potentially with "anti-evolution" drugs)-in particular, Mfd-providing an unexplored route toward battling the AMR crisis.
| S-EPMC6320318 | biostudies-literature
Project description:TrwC, the relaxase of plasmid R388, catalyzes a series of concerted DNA cleavage and strand transfer reactions on a specific site (nic) of its origin of transfer (oriT). nic contains the cleavage site and an adjacent inverted repeat (IR(2)). Mutation analysis in the nic region indicated that recognition of the IR(2) proximal arm and the nucleotides located between IR(2) and the cleavage site were essential for supercoiled DNA processing, as judged either by in vitro nic cleavage or by mobilization of a plasmid containing oriT. Formation of the IR(2) cruciform and recognition of the distal IR(2) arm and loop were not necessary for these reactions to take place. On the other hand, IR(2) was not involved in TrwC single-stranded DNA processing in vitro. For single-stranded DNA nic cleavage, TrwC recognized a sequence embracing six nucleotides upstream of the cleavage site and two nucleotides downstream. This suggests that TrwC DNA binding and cleavage are two distinguishable steps in conjugative DNA processing and that different sequence elements are recognized by TrwC in each step. IR(2)-proximal arm recognition was crucial for the initial supercoiled DNA binding. Subsequent recognition of the adjacent single-stranded DNA binding site was required to position the cleavage site in the active center of the protein so that the nic cleavage reaction could take place.
| S-EPMC2838313 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Group II introns are mobile ribozymes that are rare in bacterial genomes, often cohabiting with various mobile elements, and seldom interrupting housekeeping genes. What accounts for this distribution has not been well understood. Here, we demonstrate that Ll.LtrB, the group II intron residing in a relaxase gene on a conjugative plasmid from Lactococcus lactis, inhibits its host gene expression and restrains the naturally cohabiting mobile element from conjugative horizontal transfer. We show that reduction in gene expression is mainly at the mRNA level, and results from the interaction between exon-binding sequences (EBSs) in the intron and intron-binding sequences (IBSs) in the mRNA. The spliced intron targets the relaxase mRNA and reopens ligated exons, causing major mRNA loss. Taken together, this study provides an explanation for the distribution and paucity of group II introns in bacteria, and suggests a potential force for those introns to evolve into spliceosomal introns.
| S-EPMC6003770 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Eukaryotic transcription activators stimulate the expression of specific sets of target genes through recruitment of co-activators such as the RNA polymerase II-interacting Mediator complex. Aberrant function of transcription activators has been implicated in several diseases. However, therapeutic targeting efforts have been hampered by a lack of detailed molecular knowledge of the mechanisms of gene activation by disease-associated transcription activators. We previously identified an activator-targeted three-helix bundle KIX domain in the human MED15 Mediator subunit that is structurally conserved in Gal11/Med15 Mediator subunits in fungi. The Gal11/Med15 KIX domain engages pleiotropic drug resistance transcription factor (Pdr1) orthologues, which are key regulators of the multidrug resistance pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and in the clinically important human pathogen Candida glabrata. The prevalence of C. glabrata is rising, partly owing to its low intrinsic susceptibility to azoles, the most widely used antifungal agent. Drug-resistant clinical isolates of C. glabrata most commonly contain point mutations in Pdr1 that render it constitutively active, suggesting that this transcriptional activation pathway represents a linchpin in C. glabrata multidrug resistance. Here we perform sequential biochemical and in vivo high-throughput screens to identify small-molecule inhibitors of the interaction of the C. glabrata Pdr1 activation domain with the C. glabrata Gal11A KIX domain. The lead compound (iKIX1) inhibits Pdr1-dependent gene activation and re-sensitizes drug-resistant C. glabrata to azole antifungals in vitro and in animal models for disseminated and urinary tract C. glabrata infection. Determining the NMR structure of the C. glabrata Gal11A KIX domain provides a detailed understanding of the molecular mechanism of Pdr1 gene activation and multidrug resistance inhibition by iKIX1. We have demonstrated the feasibility of small-molecule targeting of a transcription factor-binding site in Mediator as a novel therapeutic strategy in fungal infectious disease.
| S-EPMC4860947 | biostudies-literature