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Structural organization of FtsB, a transmembrane protein of the bacterial divisome.

ABSTRACT: We report the first structural analysis of an integral membrane protein of the bacterial divisome. FtsB is a single-pass membrane protein with a periplasmic coiled coil. Its heterologous association with its partner FtsL represents an essential event for the recruitment of the late components to the division site. Using a combination of mutagenesis, computational modeling, and X-ray crystallography, we determined that FtsB self-associates, and we investigated its structural organization. We found that the transmembrane domain of FtsB homo-oligomerizes through an evolutionarily conserved interaction interface where a polar residue (Gln 16) plays a critical role through the formation of an interhelical hydrogen bond. The crystal structure of the periplasmic domain, solved as a fusion with Gp7, shows that 30 juxta-membrane amino acids of FtsB form a canonical coiled coil. The presence of conserved Gly residue in the linker region suggests that flexibility between the transmembrane and coiled coil domains is functionally important. We hypothesize that the transmembrane helices of FtsB form a stable dimeric core for its association with FtsL into a higher-order oligomer and that FtsL is required to stabilize the periplasmic domain of FtsB, leading to the formation of a complex that is competent for binding to FtsQ, and to their consequent recruitment to the divisome. The study provides an experimentally validated structural model and identifies point mutations that disrupt association, thereby establishing important groundwork for the functional characterization of FtsB in vivo.

SUBMITTER: LaPointe LM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3702382 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Structural organization of FtsB, a transmembrane protein of the bacterial divisome.

LaPointe Loren M LM Taylor Keenan C KC Subramaniam Sabareesh S Khadria Ambalika A Rayment Ivan I Senes Alessandro A

Biochemistry 20130404 15

We report the first structural analysis of an integral membrane protein of the bacterial divisome. FtsB is a single-pass membrane protein with a periplasmic coiled coil. Its heterologous association with its partner FtsL represents an essential event for the recruitment of the late components to the division site. Using a combination of mutagenesis, computational modeling, and X-ray crystallography, we determined that FtsB self-associates, and we investigated its structural organization. We foun ...[more]

PMID: 23520975

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Project description:Most bacteria and archaea use the tubulin homologue FtsZ as its central organizer of cell division. In Gram-negative Escherichia coli bacteria, FtsZ recruits cytosolic, transmembrane, periplasmic, and outer membrane proteins, assembling the divisome that facilitates bacterial cell division. One such divisome component, FtsQ, a bitopic membrane protein with a globular domain in the periplasm, has been shown to interact with many other divisome proteins. Despite its otherwise unknown function, it has been shown to be a major divisome interaction hub. Here, we investigated the interactions of FtsQ with FtsB and FtsL, two small bitopic membrane proteins that act immediately downstream of FtsQ. We show in biochemical assays that the periplasmic domains of E. coli FtsB and FtsL interact with FtsQ, but not with each other. Our crystal structure of FtsB bound to the ? domain of FtsQ shows that only residues 64 to 87 of FtsB interact with FtsQ. A synthetic peptide comprising those 24 FtsB residues recapitulates the FtsQ-FtsB interactions. Protein deletions and structure-guided mutant analyses validate the structure. Furthermore, the same structure-guided mutants show cell division defects in vivo that are consistent with our structure of the FtsQ-FtsB complex that shows their interactions as they occur during cell division. Our work provides intricate details of the interactions within the divisome and also provides a tantalizing view of a highly conserved protein interaction in the periplasm of bacteria that is an excellent target for cell division inhibitor searches.IMPORTANCE In most bacteria and archaea, filaments of FtsZ protein organize cell division. FtsZ forms a ring structure at the division site and starts the recruitment of 10 to 20 downstream proteins that together form a multiprotein complex termed the divisome. The divisome is thought to facilitate many of the steps required to make two cells out of one. FtsQ and FtsB are part of the divisome, with FtsQ being a central hub, interacting with most of the other divisome components. Here we show for the first time in detail how FtsQ interacts with its downstream partner FtsB and show that mutations that disturb the interface between the two proteins effectively inhibit cell division.

Project description:As the bacterial multidrug resistance crisis continues, membrane-active antimicrobial peptides are being explored as an alternate treatment to conventional antibiotics. In contrast to antimicrobial peptides, which function by a nonspecific membrane disruption mechanism, here we describe a series of transmembrane (TM) peptides that are designed to act as drug efflux inhibitors by aligning with and out-competing a conserved TM4-TM4 homodimerization motif within bacterial small multidrug resistance proteins. The peptides contain two terminal tags: a C-terminal lysine tag to direct the peptides toward the negatively charged bacterial membrane, and an uncharged N-terminal sarcosine (N-methyl-glycine) tag to promote membrane insertion. While effective at inhibiting efflux activity, ostensibly through their designed mechanism of action, the impact of the peptides on the bacterial inner membrane remains undetermined. To evaluate the extant peptide-membrane interactions, we performed a series of biophysical measurements. Circular dichroism spectroscopy and Trp fluorescence showed that the peptides insert into the membrane generally in helical form. Interestingly, differential scanning calorimetry of the peptides added to bacterial-like membranes (POPE:POPG 3:1) revealed the peptides' ability to demix the POPE and POPG lipids, creating two pools, one of which is likely a peptide-POPG conglomerate, and the other a POPE-rich component where the native POPG content has been depleted. However, dye leakage assays confirmed that these events occur without causing significant membrane disruption both in vitro and in vivo, indicating that the peptides can target the small multidrug resistance TM4-TM4 motif without nonspecific membrane disruption. In related studies, DiOC2(3) fluorescence indicated moderate peptide-mediated reduction of the proton motive force for all peptides, including control peptides that did not display inhibitory activity. The overall findings suggest that peptides designed with suitable tags, sequence hydrophobicity, and charge distribution can be directed more generally to impact proteins whose function involves membrane-embedded protein-protein interactions.

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Dataset Information

Structural organization of FtsB, a transmembrane protein of the bacterial divisome.

Publications

Structural organization of FtsB, a transmembrane protein of the bacterial divisome.

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