Dataset Information

Lipopeptide biosynthesis in Pseudomonas fluorescens is regulated by the protease complex ClpAP.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Lipopeptides (LP) are structurally diverse compounds with potent surfactant and broad-spectrum antibiotic activities. In Pseudomonas and other bacterial genera, LP biosynthesis is governed by large multimodular nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPS). To date, relatively little is known about the regulatory genetic network of LP biosynthesis.

Results

This study provides evidence that the chaperone ClpA, together with the serine protease ClpP, regulates the biosynthesis of the LP massetolide in Pseudomonas fluorescens SS101. Whole-genome transcriptome analyses of clpA and clpP mutants showed their involvement in the transcription of the NRPS genes massABC and the transcriptional regulator massAR. In addition, transcription of genes associated with cell wall and membrane biogenesis, energy production and conversion, amino acid transport and metabolism, and pilus assembly were altered by mutations in clpA and clpP. Proteome analysis allowed the identification of additional cellular changes associated to clpA and clpP mutations. The expression of proteins of the citrate cycle and the heat shock proteins DnaK and DnaJ were particularly affected. Combined with previous findings, these results suggest that the ClpAP complex regulates massetolide biosynthesis via the pathway-specific, LuxR-type regulator MassAR, the heat shock proteins DnaK and DnaJ, and proteins of the TCA cycle.

Conclusions

Combining transcriptome and proteome analyses provided new insights into the regulation of LP biosynthesis in P. fluorescens and led to the identification of specific missing links in the regulatory pathways.

SUBMITTER: Song C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4332742 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:The Pseudomonas fluorescens complex includes Pseudomonas strains that have been taxonomically assigned to more than fifty different species, many of which have been described as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) with potential applications in biocontrol and biofertilization. So far the phylogeny of this complex has been analyzed according to phenotypic traits, 16S rDNA, MLSA and inferred by whole-genome analysis. However, since most of the type strains have not been fully sequenced and new species are frequently described, correlation between taxonomy and phylogenomic analysis is missing. In recent years, the genomes of a large number of strains have been sequenced, showing important genomic heterogeneity and providing information suitable for genomic studies that are important to understand the genomic and genetic diversity shown by strains of this complex. Based on MLSA and several whole-genome sequence-based analyses of 93 sequenced strains, we have divided the P. fluorescens complex into eight phylogenomic groups that agree with previous works based on type strains. Digital DDH (dDDH) identified 69 species and 75 subspecies within the 93 genomes. The eight groups corresponded to clustering with a threshold of 31.8% dDDH, in full agreement with our MLSA. The Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) approach showed inconsistencies regarding the assignment to species and to the eight groups. The small core genome of 1,334 CDSs and the large pan-genome of 30,848 CDSs, show the large diversity and genetic heterogeneity of the P. fluorescens complex. However, a low number of strains were enough to explain most of the CDSs diversity at core and strain-specific genomic fractions. Finally, the identification and analysis of group-specific genome and the screening for distinctive characters revealed a phylogenomic distribution of traits among the groups that provided insights into biocontrol and bioremediation applications as well as their role as PGPR.

Project description:Pseudomonas fluorescens CY091 cultures produce an extracellular protease with an estimated molecular mass of 50 kDa. Production of this enzyme (designated AprX) was observed in media containing CaCl2 or SrCl2 but not in media containing ZnCl2, MgCl2, or MnCl2. The requirement of Ca2+ (or Sr2+) for enzyme production was concentration dependent, and the optimal concentration for production was determined to be 0.35 mM. Following ammonium sulfate precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography, the AprX in the culture supernatant was purified to near electrophoretic homogeneity. Over 20% of the enzyme activity was retained in the AprX sample which had been heated in boiling water for 10 min, indicating that the enzyme is highly resistant to heat inactivation. The enzyme activity was almost completely inhibited in the presence of 1 mM 1,10-phenanthroline, but only 30% of the activity was inhibited in the presence of 1 mM EGTA. The gene encoding AprX was cloned from the genome of P. fluorescens CY091 by isolating cosmid clones capable of restoring the protease production in a nonproteolytic mutant of strain CY091. The genomic region of strain CY091 containing the aprX gene was located within a 7.3-kb DNA fragment. Analysis of the complete nucleotide sequence of this 7.3-kb fragment revealed the presence of a cluster of genes required for the production of extracellular AprX in P. fluorescens and Escherichia coli. The AprX protein showed 50 to 60% identity in amino acid sequence to the related proteases produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Erwinia chrysanthemi. Two conserved sequence domains possibly associated with Ca2+ and Zn2+ binding were identified. Immediately adjacent to the aprX structural gene, a gene (inh) encoding a putative protease inhibitor and three genes (aprD, aprE, and aprF), possibly required for the transport of AprX, were also identified. The organization of the gene cluster involved in the synthesis and secretion of AprX in P. fluorescens CY091 appears to be somewhat different from that previously demonstrated in P. aeruginosa and E. chrysanthemi.