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Chlamydia trachomatis dapF Encodes a Bifunctional Enzyme Capable of Both d-Glutamate Racemase and Diaminopimelate Epimerase Activities.

ABSTRACT: Peptidoglycan is a sugar/amino acid polymer unique to bacteria and essential for division and cell shape maintenance. The d-amino acids that make up its cross-linked stem peptides are not abundant in nature and must be synthesized by bacteria de novo d-Glutamate is present at the second position of the pentapeptide stem and is strictly conserved in all bacterial species. In Gram-negative bacteria, d-glutamate is generated via the racemization of l-glutamate by glutamate racemase (MurI). Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of infectious blindness and sexually transmitted bacterial infections worldwide. While its genome encodes a majority of the enzymes involved in peptidoglycan synthesis, no murI homologue has ever been annotated. Recent studies have revealed the presence of peptidoglycan in C. trachomatis and confirmed that its pentapeptide includes d-glutamate. In this study, we show that C. trachomatis synthesizes d-glutamate by utilizing a novel, bifunctional homologue of diaminopimelate epimerase (DapF). DapF catalyzes the final step in the synthesis of meso-diaminopimelate, another amino acid unique to peptidoglycan. Genetic complementation of an Escherichia coli murI mutant demonstrated that Chlamydia DapF can generate d-glutamate. Biochemical analysis showed robust activity, but unlike canonical glutamate racemases, activity was dependent on the cofactor pyridoxal phosphate. Genetic complementation, enzymatic characterization, and bioinformatic analyses indicate that chlamydial DapF shares characteristics with other promiscuous/primordial enzymes, presenting a potential mechanism for d-glutamate synthesis not only in Chlamydia but also numerous other genera within the Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobiae-Chlamydiae superphylum that lack recognized glutamate racemases.IMPORTANCE Here we describe one of the last remaining "missing" steps in peptidoglycan synthesis in pathogenic Chlamydia species, the synthesis of d-glutamate. We have determined that the diaminopimelate epimerase (DapF) encoded by Chlamydia trachomatis is capable of carrying out both the epimerization of DAP and the pyridoxal phosphate-dependent racemization of glutamate. Enzyme promiscuity is thought to be the hallmark of early microbial life on this planet, and there is currently an active debate as to whether "moonlighting enzymes" represent primordial evolutionary relics or are a product of more recent reductionist evolutionary pressures. Given the large number of Chlamydia species (as well as members of the Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobiae-Chlamydiae superphylum) that possess DapF but lack homologues of MurI, it is likely that DapF is a primordial isomerase that functions as both racemase and epimerase in these organisms, suggesting that specialized d-glutamate racemase enzymes never evolved in these microbes.

SUBMITTER: Liechti G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5885031 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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<i>Chlamydia trachomatis dapF</i> Encodes a Bifunctional Enzyme Capable of Both d-Glutamate Racemase and Diaminopimelate Epimerase Activities.

Liechti George G Singh Raghuveer R Rossi Patricia L PL Gray Miranda D MD Adams Nancy E NE Maurelli Anthony T AT

mBio 20180403 2

Peptidoglycan is a sugar/amino acid polymer unique to bacteria and essential for division and cell shape maintenance. The d-amino acids that make up its cross-linked stem peptides are not abundant in nature and must be synthesized by bacteria <i>de novo</i> d-Glutamate is present at the second position of the pentapeptide stem and is strictly conserved in all bacterial species. In Gram-negative bacteria, d-glutamate is generated via the racemization of l-glutamate by glutamate racemase (MurI). < ...[more]

PMID: 29615498

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Project description:Introduction Chlamydia trachomatis (C. trachomatis) is a Gram-negative bacterium and a common human pathogen. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 130 million people are infected with C. trachomatis globally each year and with increasing incidence. C. trachomatis causes long-lasting and recurrent infections that over time induce severe tissue damage in the female genital tract that can lead to ectopic pregnancy and infertility. Thus, the human immune system fails to control and eradicate C. trachomatis during primary infection and fails to develop protective immunity against secondary infections. In vivo infection models, using complement knock out mice, suggest that the complement system is critically involved in both anti-chlamydial immunity and infection-induced pathology. To increase our understanding of complement-mediated immunity against C. trachomatis we analyzed global complement deposition on serum-incubated C. trachomatis by mass spectrometry. Methods Purified C. trachomatis was incubated in seronegative normal human serum (NHS) or heat-inactivated normal human serum (HI-NHS) for 30 min, thoroughly washed, and processed for mass spectrometry. All samples were lysed, reduced and alkylated and digested with trypsin. Some samples were chemically modified to acetylate free amino groups (N-terminal and lysine amino groups) before trypsin digestion. Peptides were analyzed on a UltimateTM 3500 RSLCnano coupled to a Q Exactive HF-X mass spectrometer. Raw data files were searched against the Uniprot human reference proteome using MaxQuant. Results We demonstrate that C. trachomatis elicits potent complement activation demonstrated by deposition of both early and late complement factors together with several complement regulators. We further demonstrate proteolytically processing of complement C3b to “inactive” C3 cleavage fragments. Conclusion We demonstrate the deposition of several novel complement-associated proteins and -cleavage fragments on the surface of C. trachomatis.

Project description:The genome sequences of Chlamydia trachomatis mouse pneumonitis (MoPn) strain Nigg (1 069 412 nt) and Chlamydia pneumoniae strain AR39 (1 229 853 nt) were determined using a random shotgun strategy. The MoPn genome exhibited a general conservation of gene order and content with the previously sequenced C.trachomatis serovar D. Differences between C.trachomatis strains were focused on an approximately 50 kb 'plasticity zone' near the termination origins. In this region MoPn contained three copies of a novel gene encoding a >3000 amino acid toxin homologous to a predicted toxin from Escherichia coli O157:H7 but had apparently lost the tryptophan biosyntheis genes found in serovar D in this region. The C. pneumoniae AR39 chromosome was >99.9% identical to the previously sequenced C.pneumoniae CWL029 genome, however, comparative analysis identified an invertible DNA segment upstream of the uridine kinase gene which was in different orientations in the two genomes. AR39 also contained a novel 4524 nt circular single-stranded (ss)DNA bacteriophage, the first time a virus has been reported infecting C. pneumoniae. Although the chlamydial genomes were highly conserved, there were intriguing differences in key nucleotide salvage pathways: C.pneumoniae has a uridine kinase gene for dUTP production, MoPn has a uracil phosphororibosyl transferase, while C.trachomatis serovar D contains neither gene. Chromosomal comparison revealed that there had been multiple large inversion events since the species divergence of C.trachomatis and C.pneumoniae, apparently oriented around the axis of the origin of replication and the termination region. The striking synteny of the Chlamydia genomes and prevalence of tandemly duplicated genes are evidence of minimal chromosome rearrangement and foreign gene uptake, presumably owing to the ecological isolation of the obligate intracellular parasites. In the absence of genetic analysis, comparative genomics will continue to provide insight into the virulence mechanisms of these important human pathogens.

Dataset Information

Chlamydia trachomatis dapF Encodes a Bifunctional Enzyme Capable of Both d-Glutamate Racemase and Diaminopimelate Epimerase Activities.

Publications

<i>Chlamydia trachomatis dapF</i> Encodes a Bifunctional Enzyme Capable of Both d-Glutamate Racemase and Diaminopimelate Epimerase Activities.

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