Dataset Information

Structural Insights into Substrate Recognition and Catalysis in Outer Membrane Protein B (OmpB) by Protein-lysine Methyltransferases from Rickettsia.

ABSTRACT: Rickettsia belong to a family of Gram-negative obligate intracellular infectious bacteria that are the causative agents of typhus and spotted fever. Outer membrane protein B (OmpB) occurs in all rickettsial species, serves as a protective envelope, mediates host cell adhesion and invasion, and is a major immunodominant antigen. OmpBs from virulent strains contain multiple trimethylated lysine residues, whereas the avirulent strain contains mainly monomethyllysine. Two protein-lysine methyltransferases (PKMTs) that catalyze methylation of recombinant OmpB at multiple sites with varying sequences have been identified and overexpressed. PKMT1 catalyzes predominantly monomethylation, whereas PKMT2 catalyzes mainly trimethylation. Rickettsial PKMT1 and PKMT2 are unusual in that their primary substrate appears to be limited to OmpB, and both are capable of methylating multiple lysyl residues with broad sequence specificity. Here we report the crystal structures of PKMT1 from Rickettsia prowazekii and PKMT2 from Rickettsia typhi, both the apo form and in complex with its cofactor S-adenosylmethionine or S-adenosylhomocysteine. The structure of PKMT1 in complex with S-adenosylhomocysteine is solved to a resolution of 1.9 Å. Both enzymes are dimeric with each monomer containing an S-adenosylmethionine binding domain with a core Rossmann fold, a dimerization domain, a middle domain, a C-terminal domain, and a centrally located open cavity. Based on the crystal structures, residues involved in catalysis, cofactor binding, and substrate interactions were examined using site-directed mutagenesis followed by steady state kinetic analysis to ascertain their catalytic functions in solution. Together, our data reveal new structural and mechanistic insights into how rickettsial methyltransferases catalyze OmpB methylation.

SUBMITTER: Abeykoon AH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5025683 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Structural Insights into Substrate Recognition and Catalysis in Outer Membrane Protein B (OmpB) by Protein-lysine Methyltransferases from Rickettsia.

Abeykoon Amila H AH Noinaj Nicholas N Choi Bok-Eum BE Wise Lindsay L He Yi Y Chao Chien-Chung CC Wang Guanghui G Gucek Marjan M Ching Wei-Mei WM Chock P Boon PB Buchanan Susan K SK Yang David C H DC

The Journal of biological chemistry 20160729 38

Rickettsia belong to a family of Gram-negative obligate intracellular infectious bacteria that are the causative agents of typhus and spotted fever. Outer membrane protein B (OmpB) occurs in all rickettsial species, serves as a protective envelope, mediates host cell adhesion and invasion, and is a major immunodominant antigen. OmpBs from virulent strains contain multiple trimethylated lysine residues, whereas the avirulent strain contains mainly monomethyllysine. Two protein-lysine methyltransf ...[more]

PMID: 27474738

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Project description:Rickettsia prowazekii, the etiologic agent of epidemic typhus, is a potential biological threat agent. Its outer membrane protein B (OmpB) is an immunodominant antigen and plays roles as protective envelope and as adhesins. The observation of the correlation between methylation of lysine residues in rickettsial OmpB and bacterial virulence has suggested the importance of an enzymatic system for the methylation of OmpB. However, no rickettsial lysine methyltransferase has been characterized. Bioinformatic analysis of genomic DNA sequences of Rickettsia identified putative lysine methyltransferases. The genes of the potential methyltransferases were synthesized, cloned, and expressed in Escherichia coli, and expressed proteins were purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) affinity chromatography. The methyltransferase activities of the purified proteins were analyzed by methyl incorporation of radioactively labeled S-adenosylmethionine into recombinant fragments of OmpB. Two putative recombinant methyltransferases (rRP789 and rRP027-028) methylated recombinant OmpB fragments. The specific activity of rRP789 is 10- to 30-fold higher than that of rRP027-028. Western blot analysis using specific antibodies against trimethyl lysine showed that both rRP789 and rRP027-028 catalyzed trimethylation of recombinant OmpB fragments. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) analysis showed that rRP789 catalyzed mono-, di-, and trimethylation of lysine, while rRP027-028 catalyzed exclusively trimethylation. To our knowledge, rRP789 and rRP027-028 are the first biochemically characterized lysine methyltransferases of outer membrane proteins from Gram-negative bacteria. The production and characterization of rickettsial lysine methyltransferases provide new tools to investigate the mechanism of methylation of OmpB, effects of methylation on the structure and function of OmpB, and development of methylated OmpB-based diagnostic assays and vaccine candidates.

Project description:Rickettsia rickettsii, the causative agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, contains two immunodominant proteins, rOmpA and rOmpB, in the outer membrane. Both rOmpA and rOmpB are conserved throughout spotted fever group rickettsiae as members of a family of autotransporter proteins. Previously, it was demonstrated that rOmpB is proteolytically processed, with the cleavage site residing near the autotransporter domain at the carboxy-terminal end of the protein, cleaving the 168-kDa precursor into apparent 120-kDa and 32-kDa fragments. The 120- and 32-kDa fragments remain noncovalently associated on the surface of the bacterium, with implications that the 32-kDa fragment functions as the membrane anchor domain. Here we present evidence for a similar posttranslational processing of rOmpA. rOmpA is expressed as a predicted 224-kDa precursor yet is observed on SDS-PAGE as a 190-kDa protein. A small rOmpA fragment of ∼32 kDa was discovered during surface proteome analysis and identified as the carboxy-terminal end of the protein. A rabbit polyclonal antibody was generated to the autotransporter region of rOmpA and confirmed a 32-kDa fragment corresponding to the calculated mass of a proteolytically cleaved rOmpA autotransporter region. N-terminal amino acid sequencing revealed a cleavage site on the carboxy-terminal side of Ser-1958 in rOmpA. An avirulent strain of R. rickettsii Iowa deficient in rOmpB processing was also defective in the processing of rOmpA. The similarities of the cleavage sites and the failure of R. rickettsii Iowa to process either rOmpA or rOmpB suggest that a single enzyme may be responsible for both processing events.IMPORTANCE Members of the spotted fever group of rickettsiae, including R. rickettsii, the etiologic agent of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, express at least four autotransporter proteins that are protective antigens or putative virulence determinants. One member of this class of proteins, rOmpB, is proteolytically processed to a passenger domain and an autotransporter domain that remain associated on the rickettsial outer membrane. The protease responsible for this posttranslation processing remains unknown. Here we show that another autotransporter, rOmpA, is similarly processed by R. rickettsii Similarities in sequence at the cleavage site and predicted secondary protein structure suggest that all four R. rickettsii autotransporters may be processed by the same outer membrane protease.

Dataset Information

Structural Insights into Substrate Recognition and Catalysis in Outer Membrane Protein B (OmpB) by Protein-lysine Methyltransferases from Rickettsia.

Publications

Structural Insights into Substrate Recognition and Catalysis in Outer Membrane Protein B (OmpB) by Protein-lysine Methyltransferases from Rickettsia.

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