Dataset Information

Role of PelF in pel polysaccharide biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

ABSTRACT: Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces three exopolysaccharides, Psl, Pel, and alginate, that play vital roles in biofilm formation. Pel is a glucose-rich, cellulose-like exopolysaccharide. The essential Pel biosynthesis proteins are encoded by seven genes, pelA to pelG. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that PelF is a cytosolic glycosyltransferase. Here, experimental evidence was provided to support this PelF function. A UDP-glucose dehydrogenase-based assay was developed to quantify UDP-glucose. UDP-glucose was proposed as the substrate for PelF. The isogenic pelF deletion mutant accumulated 1.8 times more UDP-glucose in its cytosol than the wild type. This suggested that PelF, which was found localized in the cystosol, uses UDP-glucose as substrate. Additionally, in vitro experiments confirmed that PelF uses UDP-glucose as substrate. To analyze the functional roles of conserved residues in PelF, site-directed mutagenesis was performed. The presence of the EX7E motif is characteristic for various glycosyltransferase families, and in PelF, E405/E413 are the conserved residues in this motif. Replacement of E405 with A resulted in a reduction of PelF activity to 30.35% ± 3.15% (mean ± standard deviation) of the wild-type level, whereas replacement of the second E, E413, with A did not produce a significant change in the activity of PelF. Moreover, replacement of both E residues did not result in a loss of PelF function, but replacement of the conserved R325 or K330 with A resulted in a complete loss of PelF activity. Overall, our data show that PelF is a soluble glycosyltransferase that uses UDP-glucose as the substrate for Pel synthesis and that conserved residues R325 and K330 are important for the activity of PelF.

SUBMITTER: Ghafoor A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3623137 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Role of PelF in pel polysaccharide biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Ghafoor Aamir A Jordens Zoe Z Rehm Bernd H A BH

Applied and environmental microbiology 20130222 9

Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces three exopolysaccharides, Psl, Pel, and alginate, that play vital roles in biofilm formation. Pel is a glucose-rich, cellulose-like exopolysaccharide. The essential Pel biosynthesis proteins are encoded by seven genes, pelA to pelG. Bioinformatics analysis suggests that PelF is a cytosolic glycosyltransferase. Here, experimental evidence was provided to support this PelF function. A UDP-glucose dehydrogenase-based assay was developed to quantify UDP-glucose. UDP-g ...[more]

PMID: 23435893

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Project description:With the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, quorum sensing based on homoserine lactones was found to influence biofilm formation. Here we discern a mechanism by which quorum sensing controls biofilm formation by screening 5850 transposon mutants of P. aeruginosa PA14 for altered biofilm formation. This screen identified the PA3885 mutant, which had 147-fold more biofilm than the wild-type strain. Loss of PA3885 decreased swimming, abolished swarming, and increased attachment, although this did not affect production of rhamnolipids. The PA3885 mutant also had a wrinkly colony phenotype, formed pronounced pellicles, had substantially more aggregation, and had 28-fold more exopolysaccharide production. Expression of PA3885 in trans reduced biofilm formation and abolished aggregation. Whole transcriptome analysis showed that loss of PA3885 activated expression of the pel locus, an operon that encodes for the synthesis of extracellular matrix polysaccharide. Genetic screening identified that loss of PelABDEG and the PA1120 protein (which contains a GGDEF-motif) suppressed the phenotypes of the PA3885 mutant, suggesting that the function of the PA3885 protein is to regulate 3,5-cyclic diguanylic acid (c-di-GMP) concentrations as a phosphatase since c-di-GMP enhances biofilm formation by activating PelD, and c-di-GMP inhibits swarming. Loss of PA3885 protein increased cellular c-di-GMP concentrations; hence, PA3885 protein is a negative regulator of c-di-GMP production. Purified PA3885 protein has phosphatase activity against phosphotyrosine peptides and is translocated to the periplasm. Las-mediated quorum sensing positively regulates expression of the PA3885 gene. These results show that the PA3885 protein responds to AHL signals and likely dephosphorylates PA1120, which leads to reduced c-di-GMP production. This inhibits matrix exopolysaccharide formation, which leads to reduced biofilm formation; hence, we provide a mechanism for quorum sensing control of biofilm formation through the pel locus and suggest PA3885 should be named TpbA for tyrosine phosphatase related to biofilm formation and PA1120 should be TpbB.

Project description:UnlabelledCommon polysaccharide antigen (CPA) is a conserved cell surface polysaccharide produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. It contains a rhamnan homopolymer and is one of the two forms of O polysaccharide attached to P. aeruginosa lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Our laboratory has previously characterized an eight-gene cluster (pa5447-pa5454 in P. aeruginosa PAO1) required for biosynthesis of CPA. Here we demonstrate that an adjacent five-gene cluster pa5455-pa5459 is also involved. Using reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR), we showed that the original eight-gene cluster and the new five-gene cluster are both organized as operons. We have analyzed the LPS phenotypes of in-frame deletion mutants made in each of the five genes, and the results verified that these five genes are indeed required for CPA biosynthesis, extending the CPA biosynthesis locus to contain 13 contiguous genes. By performing overexpression experiments of different sets of these biosynthesis genes, we were able to obtain information about their possible functions in CPA biosynthesis.ImportanceLipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an important cell surface structure of Gram-negative bacteria. The human opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa simultaneously produces an O-antigen-specific (OSA) form and a common polysaccharide antigen (CPA) form of LPS. CPA, the focus of this study, is composed of α-1-2, α1-3-linked d-rhamnose sugars and has been shown to be important for attachment of the bacteria to human airway epithelial cells. Genome sequencing of this species revealed a new five-gene cluster that we predicted to be involved in CPA biosynthesis and modification. In this study, we have generated chromosomal knockouts by performing in-frame deletions and allelic replacements. Characterizing the function of each of the five genes is important for us to better understand CPA biosynthesis and the mechanisms of chain length termination and regulation of this unique D-rhamnan polysaccharide.

Dataset Information

Role of PelF in pel polysaccharide biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

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Role of PelF in pel polysaccharide biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

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