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The assembly motif of a bacterial small multidrug resistance protein.

ABSTRACT: Multidrug transporters such as the small multidrug resistance (SMR) family of bacterial integral membrane proteins are capable of conferring clinically significant resistance to a variety of common therapeutics. As antiporter proteins of approximately 100 amino acids, SMRs must self-assemble into homo-oligomeric structures for efflux of drug molecules. Oligomerization centered at transmembrane helix four (TM4) has been implicated in SMR assembly, but the full complement of residues required to mediate its self-interaction remains to be characterized. Here, we use Hsmr, the 110-residue SMR family member of the archaebacterium Halobacterium salinarum, to determine the TM4 residue motif required to mediate drug resistance and SMR self-association. Twelve single point mutants that scan the central portion of the TM4 helix (residues 85-104) were constructed and were tested for their ability to confer resistance to the cytotoxic compound ethidium bromide. Six residues were found to be individually essential for drug resistance activity (Gly(90), Leu(91), Leu(93), Ile(94), Gly(97), and Val(98)), defining a minimum activity motif of (90)GLXLIXXGV(98) within TM4. When the propensity of these mutants to dimerize on SDS-PAGE was examined, replacements of all but Ile resulted in approximately 2-fold reduction of dimerization versus the wild-type antiporter. Our work defines a minimum activity motif of (90)GLXLIXXGV(98) within TM4 and suggests that this sequence mediates TM4-based SMR dimerization along a single helix surface, stabilized by a small residue heptad repeat sequence. These TM4-TM4 interactions likely constitute the highest affinity locus for disruption of SMR function by directly targeting its self-assembly mechanism.

SUBMITTER: Poulsen BE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2665109 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The assembly motif of a bacterial small multidrug resistance protein.

Poulsen Bradley E BE Rath Arianna A Deber Charles M CM

The Journal of biological chemistry 20090218 15

Multidrug transporters such as the small multidrug resistance (SMR) family of bacterial integral membrane proteins are capable of conferring clinically significant resistance to a variety of common therapeutics. As antiporter proteins of approximately 100 amino acids, SMRs must self-assemble into homo-oligomeric structures for efflux of drug molecules. Oligomerization centered at transmembrane helix four (TM4) has been implicated in SMR assembly, but the full complement of residues required to m ...[more]

PMID: 19224913

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Project description:BackgroundMembers of the small multidrug resistance (SMR) protein family are integral membrane proteins characterized by four alpha-helical transmembrane strands that confer resistance to a broad range of antiseptics and lipophilic quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) in bacteria. Due to their short length and broad substrate profile, SMR proteins are suggested to be the progenitors for larger alpha-helical transporters such as the major facilitator superfamily (MFS) and drug/metabolite transporter (DMT) superfamily. To explore their evolutionary association with larger multidrug transporters, an extensive bioinformatics analysis of SMR sequences (> 300 Bacteria taxa) was performed to expand upon previous evolutionary studies of the SMR protein family and its origins.ResultsA thorough annotation of unidentified/putative SMR sequences was performed placing sequences into each of the three SMR protein subclass designations, namely small multidrug proteins (SMP), suppressor of groEL mutations (SUG), and paired small multidrug resistance (PSMR) using protein alignments and phylogenetic analysis. Examination of SMR subclass distribution within Bacteria and Archaea taxa identified specific Bacterial classes that uniquely encode for particular SMR subclass members. The extent of selective pressure acting upon each SMR subclass was determined by calculating the rate of synonymous to non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions using Syn-SCAN analysis. SUG and SMP subclasses are maintained under moderate selection pressure in comparison to integron and plasmid encoded SMR homologues. Conversely, PSMR sequences are maintained under lower levels of selection pressure, where one of the two PSMR pairs diverges in sequence more rapidly than the other. SMR genomic loci surveys identified potential SMR efflux substrates based on its gene association to putative operons that encode for genes regulating amino acid biogenesis and QAC-like metabolites. SMR subclass protein transmembrane domain alignments to Bacterial/Archaeal transporters (BAT), DMT, and MFS sequences supports SMR participation in multidrug transport evolution by identifying common TM domains.ConclusionBased on this study, PSMR sequences originated recently within both SUG and SMP clades through gene duplication events and it appears that SMR members may be evolving towards specific metabolite transport.

Project description:Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are known for their broad-spectrum antibacterial properties, especially against antibiotic-resistant bacteria. However, the bactericidal mechanism of AgNPs remains unclear. In this study, we found that the bactericidal ability of AgNPs is induced by light. In contrast to previous postulates, visible light is unable to trigger silver ion release from AgNPs or to promote AgNPs to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in Escherichia coli In fact, we revealed that light excited AgNPs to induce protein aggregation in a concentration-dependent manner in E. coli, indicating that the bactericidal ability of AgNPs relies on the light-catalyzed oxidation of cellular proteins via direct binding to proteins, which was verified by fluorescence spectra. AgNPs likely absorb the light energy and transfer it to the proteins, leading to the oxidation of proteins and thus promoting the death of the bacteria. Isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ)-based proteomics revealed that the bacteria failed to develop effective resistance to the light-excited AgNPs. This direct physical mechanism is unlikely to be counteracted by any known drug resistance mechanisms of bacteria and therefore may serve as a last resort against drug resistance. This mechanism also provides a practical hint regarding the antimicrobial application of AgNPs-light exposure improves the efficacy of AgNPs.IMPORTANCE Although silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are well known for their antibacterial properties, the mechanism by which they kill bacterial cells remains a topic of debate. In this study, we uncovered the bactericidal mechanism of AgNPs, which is induced by light. We tested the efficacy of AgNPs against a panel of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens as well as Escherichia coli under conditions of light and darkness and revealed that light excited the AgNPs to promote protein aggregation within the bacterial cells. Our report makes a significant contribution to the literature because this mechanism bypasses microbial drug resistance mechanisms, thus presenting a viable option for the treatment of multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Project description:Several antibacterial compounds have recently been discovered that potentially inhibit the activity of BamA, an essential subunit of a heterooligomer (the barrel assembly machinery or BAM) that assembles outer membrane proteins (OMPs) in Gram-negative bacteria, but their mode of action is unclear. To address this issue, we examined the effect of three inhibitors on the biogenesis of a model E. coli OMP (EspP) in vivo. We found that darobactin potently inhibited the interaction of a conserved C-terminal sequence motif (the "β signal") with BamA, but had no effect on assembly if added at a postbinding stage. In contrast, Polyphor peptide 7 and MRL-494 inhibited both binding and at least one later step of assembly. Taken together with previous studies that analyzed the binding of darobactin and Polyphor peptide 7 to BamA in vitro, our results strongly suggest that the two compounds inhibit BAM function by distinct competitive and allosteric mechanisms. In addition to providing insights into the properties of the antibacterial compounds, our results also provide direct experimental evidence that supports a model in which the binding of the β signal to BamA initiates the membrane insertion of OMPs. IMPORTANCE There is a clear need to develop novel broad-spectrum antibiotics to address the global problem of antimicrobial resistance. Multiple compounds that have strong antibacterial activity have recently been described that appear to inhibit the activity of the barrel assembly machinery (BAM), an essential complex that catalyzes the assembly (i.e., folding and membrane insertion) of outer membrane proteins (OMPs) in all Gram-negative bacteria. We analyzed the effects of three of these compounds on OMP biogenesis in vivo and found that they inhibited different stages of the assembly process. Because these compounds have distinct modes of action, they can be used in combination to reduce the emergence of resistant strains. As a corollary, we obtained evidence that these compounds will be valuable tools in future studies on BAM function.

Dataset Information

The assembly motif of a bacterial small multidrug resistance protein.

Publications

The assembly motif of a bacterial small multidrug resistance protein.

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