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Identification of Shigella flexneri IcsA residues affecting interaction with N-WASP, and evidence for IcsA-IcsA co-operative interaction.

ABSTRACT: The Shigella flexneri IcsA (VirG) protein is a polarly distributed outer membrane protein that is a fundamental virulence factor which interacts with neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP). The activated N-WASP then activates the Arp2/3 complex which initiates de novo actin nucleation and polymerisation to form F-actin comet tails and allows bacterial cell-to-cell spreading. In a previous study, IcsA was found to have three N-WASP interacting regions (IRs): IR I (aa 185-312), IR II (aa 330-382) and IR III (aa 508-730). The aim of this study was to more clearly define N-WASP interacting regions II and III by site-directed mutagenesis of specific amino acids. Mutant IcsA proteins were expressed in both smooth lipopolysaccharide (S-LPS) and rough LPS (R-LPS) S. flexneri strains and characterised for IcsA production level, N-WASP recruitment and F-actin comet tail formation. We have successfully identified new amino acids involved in N-WASP recruitment within different N-WASP interacting regions, and report for the first time using co-expression of mutant IcsA proteins, that N-WASP activation involves interactions with different regions on different IcsA molecules as shown by Arp3 recruitment. In addition, our findings suggest that autochaperone (AC) mutant protein production was not rescued by another AC region provided in trans, differing to that reported for two other autotransporters, PrtS and BrkA autotransporters.

SUBMITTER: Teh MY

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3566212 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Identification of Shigella flexneri IcsA residues affecting interaction with N-WASP, and evidence for IcsA-IcsA co-operative interaction.

Teh Min Yan MY Morona Renato R

PloS one 20130206 2

The Shigella flexneri IcsA (VirG) protein is a polarly distributed outer membrane protein that is a fundamental virulence factor which interacts with neural Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (N-WASP). The activated N-WASP then activates the Arp2/3 complex which initiates de novo actin nucleation and polymerisation to form F-actin comet tails and allows bacterial cell-to-cell spreading. In a previous study, IcsA was found to have three N-WASP interacting regions (IRs): IR I (aa 185-312), IR II (aa ...[more]

PMID: 23405119

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Project description:VirF is the master activator of virulence genes of Shigella and its expression is required for the invasion of the human intestinal mucosa by pathogenic bacteria. VirF was shown to directly activate the transcription of virB and icsA, which encode two essential proteins involved in the pathogenicity process, by binding their promoter regions. In this study, we demonstrate by band shift, enzymatic probing and cross-linking experiments that VirF, in addition to DNA, can also bind the icsA transcript and RnaG, an antisense non-coding small RNA that promotes the premature termination of icsA mRNA through a transcriptional attenuation mechanism. Furthermore, we show that VirF binds in vitro also other species of RNAs, although with lower specificity. The existence of VirF-RnaG and VirF-icsA mRNA complexes is confirmed in a pulldown assay carried out under experimental conditions that very close reproduce the in vivo conditions and that allows immobilized VirF to "fish" out RnaG and icsA mRNA from a total RNA extract. The VirF binding sites identified on both icsA mRNA and RnaG contain a 13 nucleotides stretch (5'-UUUUaGYcUuUau-3') that is the RNA-converted consensus sequence previously proposed for the VirF-DNA interaction. Band-shift assays with a synthetic RNA molecule whose sequence perfectly matches the consensus indicate that this signature plays a key role also in the VirF-RNA interaction, in particular when exposed in a stem-loop structure. To further explore the icsA-RnaG-VirF regulatory system, we developed an in vitro test (RNA-RNA Pairing Assay) in which pairing between icsA mRNA and synthetic RNAs that reproduce the individual stem-loop motifs of RnaG, was analyzed in the presence of VirF. This assay shows that this protein can prevent the formation of the kissing complex, defined as the initial nucleation points for RNA heteroduplex formation, between RnaG and icsA mRNA. Consistently, VirF alleviates the RnaG-mediated repression of icsA transcription in vitro. Therefore VirF, by hindering the icsA transcript-RnaG interaction, exhibits an activity opposed to that usually displayed by proteins, which generally assist the RNA-RNA interaction; this quite uncommon and new function and the regulatory implications of VirF as a potential RNA-binding protein are discussed.

Project description:BackgroundThirteen serotypes of Shigella flexneri (S. flexneri) have been recognised, all of which are capable of causing bacillary dysentery or shigellosis. With the emergence of the newer S. flexneri serotypes, the development of an effective vaccine has only become more challenging. One of the factors responsible for the generation of serotype diversity is an LPS O-antigen modifying, integral membrane protein known as O-acetyltransferase or Oac. Oac functions by adding an acetyl group to a specific O-antigen sugar, thus changing the antigenic signature of the parent S. flexneri strain. Oac is a membrane protein, consisting of hydrophobic and hydrophilic components. Oac bears homology to several known and predicted acetyltransferases with most homology existing in the N-terminal transmembrane (TM) regions.ResultsIn this study, the conserved motifs in the TM regions and in hydrophilic loops of S. flexneri Oac were targeted for mutagenesis with the aim of identifying the amino acid residues essential for the function of Oac. We previously identified three critical arginines-R73, R75 and R76 in the cytoplasmic loop 3 of Oac. Re-establishing that these arginines are critical, in this study we suggest a catalytic role for R73 and a structural role for R75 and R76 in O-acetylation. Serine-glycine motifs (SG 52-53, GS 138-139 and SYG 274-276), phenylalanine-proline motifs (FP 78-79 and FPV 282-84) and a tryptophan-threonine motif (WT141-142) found in TM segments and residues RK 110-111, GR 269-270 and D333 found in hydrophilic loops were also found to be critical to Oac function.ConclusionsBy studying the effect of the mutations on Oac's function and assembly, an insight into the possible roles played by the chosen amino acids in Oac was gained. The transmembrane serine-glycine motifs and hydrophilic residues (RK 110-111, GR 269-270 and D333) were shown to have an affect on Oac assembly which suggests a structural role for these motifs. The phenylalanine-proline and the tryptophan-threonine motifs affect Oac function which could suggest a catalytic role for these amino acids.

Dataset Information

Identification of Shigella flexneri IcsA residues affecting interaction with N-WASP, and evidence for IcsA-IcsA co-operative interaction.

Publications

Identification of Shigella flexneri IcsA residues affecting interaction with N-WASP, and evidence for IcsA-IcsA co-operative interaction.

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