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Structural alterations in a component of cytochrome c oxidase and molecular evolution of pathogenic Neisseria in humans.

ABSTRACT: Three closely related bacterial species within the genus Neisseria are of importance to human disease and health. Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of meningitis, while Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the agent of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea and Neisseria lactamica is a common, harmless commensal of children. Comparative genomics have yet to yield clear insights into which factors dictate the unique host-parasite relationships exhibited by each since, as a group, they display remarkable conservation at the levels of nucleotide sequence, gene content and synteny. Here, we discovered two rare alterations in the gene encoding the CcoP protein component of cytochrome cbb(3) oxidase that are phylogenetically informative. One is a single nucleotide polymorphism resulting in CcoP truncation that acts as a molecular signature for the species N. meningitidis. We go on to show that the ancestral ccoP gene arose by a unique gene duplication and fusion event and is specifically and completely distributed within species of the genus Neisseria. Surprisingly, we found that strains engineered to express either of the two CcoP forms conditionally differed in their capacity to support nitrite-dependent, microaerobic growth mediated by NirK, a nitrite reductase. Thus, we propose that changes in CcoP domain architecture and ensuing alterations in function are key traits in successive, adaptive radiations within these metapopulations. These findings provide a dramatic example of how rare changes in core metabolic proteins can be connected to significant macroevolutionary shifts. They also show how evolutionary change at the molecular level can be linked to metabolic innovation and its reversal as well as demonstrating how genotype can be used to infer alterations of the fitness landscape within a single host.

SUBMITTER: Aspholm M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2924362 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Structural alterations in a component of cytochrome c oxidase and molecular evolution of pathogenic Neisseria in humans.

Aspholm Marina M Aas Finn Erik FE Harrison Odile B OB Quinn Diana D Vik Ashild A Viburiene Raimonda R Tønjum Tone T Moir James J Maiden Martin C J MC Koomey Michael M

PLoS pathogens 20100819 8

Three closely related bacterial species within the genus Neisseria are of importance to human disease and health. Neisseria meningitidis is a major cause of meningitis, while Neisseria gonorrhoeae is the agent of the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea and Neisseria lactamica is a common, harmless commensal of children. Comparative genomics have yet to yield clear insights into which factors dictate the unique host-parasite relationships exhibited by each since, as a group, they display remar ...[more]

PMID: 20808844

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Project description:BackgroundSirtuins are NAD+ dependent deacetylases, which regulate mitochondrial energy metabolism as well as cellular response to stress. The NAD/NADH-system plays a crucial role in oxidative phosphorylation linking sirtuins and the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Furthermore, sirtuins are able to directly deacetylate and activate different complexes of the respiratory chain. This prompted us to analyse sirtuin levels in skin fibroblasts from patients with cytochrome c-oxidase (COX) deficiency and to test the impact of different pharmaceutical activators of sirtuins (SRT1720, paeonol) to modulate sirtuins and possibly respiratory chain enzymes in patient cells in vitro.MethodsWe assayed intracellular levels of sirtuin 1 and the mitochondrial sirtuins SIRT3 and SIRT4 in human fibroblasts from patients with COX- deficiency. Furthermore, sirtuins were measured after inhibiting complex IV in healthy control fibroblasts by cyanide and after incubation with activators SRT1720 and paeonol. To determine the effect of sirtuin inhibition at the cellular level we measured total cellular acetylation (control and patient cells, with and without treatment) by Western blot.ResultsWe observed a significant decrease in cellular levels of all three sirtuins at the activity, protein and transcriptional level (by 15% to 50%) in COX-deficient cells. Additionally, the intracellular concentration of NAD+ was reduced in patient cells. We mimicked the biochemical phenotype of COX- deficiency by incubating healthy fibroblasts with cyanide and observed reduced sirtuin levels. A pharmacological activation of sirtuins resulted in normalized sirtuin levels in patient cells. Hyper acetylation was also reversible after treatment with sirtuin activators. Pharmacological modulation of sirtuins resulted in altered respiratory chain complex activities.ConclusionsWe found inhibition of situins 1, 3 and 4 at activity, protein and transcriptional levels in fibroblasts from patient with COX-deficiency. Pharmacological activators were able to restore reduced sirtuin levels and thereby modulate respiratory chain activities.

Dataset Information

Structural alterations in a component of cytochrome c oxidase and molecular evolution of pathogenic Neisseria in humans.

Publications

Structural alterations in a component of cytochrome c oxidase and molecular evolution of pathogenic Neisseria in humans.

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