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SAMase of Bacteriophage T3 Inactivates Escherichia coli's Methionine S-Adenosyltransferase by Forming Heteropolymers.

ABSTRACT: S-Adenosylmethionine lyase (SAMase) of bacteriophage T3 degrades the intracellular SAM pools of the host Escherichia coli cells, thereby inactivating a crucial metabolite involved in a plethora of cellular functions, including DNA methylation. SAMase is the first viral protein expressed upon infection, and its activity prevents methylation of the T3 genome. Maintenance of the phage genome in a fully unmethylated state has a profound effect on the infection strategy. It allows T3 to shift from a lytic infection under normal growth conditions to a transient lysogenic infection under glucose starvation. Using single-particle cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) and biochemical assays, we demonstrate that SAMase performs its function by not only degrading SAM but also by interacting with and efficiently inhibiting the host's methionine S-adenosyltransferase (MAT), the enzyme that produces SAM. Specifically, SAMase triggers open-ended head-to-tail assembly of E. coli MAT into an unusual linear filamentous structure in which adjacent MAT tetramers are joined by two SAMase dimers. Molecular dynamics simulations together with normal mode analyses suggest that the entrapment of MAT tetramers within filaments leads to an allosteric inhibition of MAT activity due to a shift to low-frequency, high-amplitude active-site-deforming modes. The amplification of uncorrelated motions between active-site residues weakens MAT's substrate binding affinity, providing a possible explanation for the observed loss of function. We propose that the dual function of SAMase as an enzyme that degrades SAM and as an inhibitor of MAT activity has emerged to achieve an efficient depletion of the intracellular SAM pools. IMPORTANCE Self-assembly of enzymes into filamentous structures in response to specific metabolic cues has recently emerged as a widespread strategy of metabolic regulation. In many instances, filamentation of metabolic enzymes occurs in response to starvation and leads to functional inactivation. Here, we report that bacteriophage T3 modulates the metabolism of the host E. coli cells by recruiting a similar strategy: silencing a central metabolic enzyme by subjecting it to phage-mediated polymerization. This observation points to an intriguing possibility that virus-induced polymerization of the host metabolic enzymes is a common mechanism implemented by viruses to metabolically reprogram and subdue infected cells.

SUBMITTER: Simon-Baram H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8406200 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:In nature, Escherichia coli are exposed to harsh and non-ideal growth environments-nutrients may be limiting, and cells are often challenged by oxidative stress. For E. coli cells confronting these realities, there appears to be a link between oxidative stress, methionine availability, and the enzyme that catalyzes the final step of methionine biosynthesis, cobalamin-independent methionine synthase (MetE). We found that E. coli cells subjected to transient oxidative stress during growth in minimal medium develop a methionine auxotrophy, which can be traced to an effect on MetE. Further experiments demonstrated that the purified enzyme is inactivated by oxidized glutathione (GSSG) at a rate that correlates with protein oxidation. The unique site of oxidation was identified by selectively cleaving N-terminally to each reduced cysteine and analyzing the results by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Stoichiometric glutathionylation of MetE by GSSG occurs at cysteine 645, which is strategically located at the entrance to the active site. Direct evidence of MetE oxidation in vivo was obtained from thiol-trapping experiments in two different E. coli strains that contain highly oxidizing cytoplasmic environments. Moreover, MetE is completely oxidized in wild-type E. coli treated with the thiol-oxidizing agent diamide; reduced enzyme reappears just prior to the cells resuming normal growth. We argue that for E. coli experiencing oxidizing conditions in minimal medium, MetE is readily inactivated, resulting in cellular methionine limitation. Glutathionylation of the protein provides a strategy to modulate in vivo activity of the enzyme while protecting the active site from further damage, in an easily reversible manner. While glutathionylation of proteins is a fairly common mode of redox regulation in eukaryotes, very few proteins in E. coli are known to be modified in this manner. Our results are complementary to the independent findings of Leichert and Jakob presented in the accompanying paper (Leichert and Jakob 2004), which provide evidence that MetE is one of the proteins in E. coli most susceptible to oxidation. In eukaryotes, glutathionylation of key proteins involved in protein synthesis leads to inhibition of translation. Our studies suggest a simpler mechanism is employed by E. coli to achieve the same effect.

Project description:BackgroundTuberculosis remains a serious world-wide health threat which requires the characterisation of novel drug targets for the development of future antimycobacterials. One of the key obstacles in the definition of new targets is the large variety of metabolic alterations that occur between cells in the active growth and chronic/dormant phases of tuberculosis. The ideal biochemical target should be active in both growth phases. Methionine adenosyltransferase, which catalyses the formation of S-adenosylmethionine from methionine and ATP, is involved in polyamine biosynthesis during active growth and is also required for the methylation and cyclopropylation of mycolipids necessary for survival in the chronic phase.ResultsThe gene encoding methionine adenosyltransferase has been cloned from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the model organism M. smegmatis. Both enzymes retained all amino acids known to be involved in catalysing the reaction. While the M. smegmatis enzyme could be functionally expressed, the M. tuberculosis homologue was insoluble and inactive under a large variety of expression conditions. For the M. smegmatis enzyme, the Vmax for S-adenosylmethionine formation was 1.30 micromol/min/mg protein and the Km for methionine and ATP was 288 microM and 76 microM respectively. In addition, the enzyme was competitively inhibited by 8-azaguanine and azathioprine with a Ki of 4.7 mM and 3.7 mM respectively. Azathioprine inhibited the in vitro growth of M. smegmatis with a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 500 microM, while the MIC for 8-azaguanine was >1.0 mM.ConclusionThe methionine adenosyltransferase from both organisms had a primary structure very similar those previously characterised in other prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. The kinetic properties of the M. smegmatis enzyme were also similar to known prokaryotic methionine adenosyltransferases. Inhibition of the enzyme by 8-azaguanine and azathioprine provides a starting point for the synthesis of higher affinity purine-based inhibitors.

Project description:The objective of this study was to determine the genomic changes that underlie coevolution between Escherichia coli B and bacteriophage T3 when grown together in a laboratory microcosm. We also sought to evaluate the repeatability of their evolution by studying replicate coevolution experiments inoculated with the same ancestral strains. We performed the coevolution experiments by growing Escherichia coli B and the lytic bacteriophage T3 in seven parallel continuous culture devices (chemostats) for 30 days. In each of the chemostats, we observed three rounds of coevolution. First, bacteria evolved resistance to infection by the ancestral phage. Then, a new phage type evolved that was capable of infecting the resistant bacteria as well as the sensitive bacterial ancestor. Finally, we observed second-order resistant bacteria evolve that were resistant to infection by both phage types. To identify the genetic changes underlying coevolution, we isolated first- and second-order resistant bacteria as well as a host-range mutant phage from each chemostat and sequenced their genomes. We found that first-order resistant bacteria consistently evolved resistance to phage via mutations in the gene, waaG, which codes for a glucosyltransferase required for assembly of the bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Phage also showed repeatable evolution, with each chemostat producing host-range mutant phage with mutations in the phage tail fiber gene T3p48 which binds to the bacterial LPS during adsorption. Two second-order resistant bacteria evolved via mutations in different genes involved in the phage interaction. Although a wide range of mutations occurred in the bacterial waaG gene, mutations in the phage tail fiber were restricted to a single codon, and several phage showed convergent evolution at the nucleotide level. These results are consistent with previous studies in other systems that have documented repeatable evolution in bacteria at the level of pathways or genes and repeatable evolution in viruses at the nucleotide level. Our data are also consistent with the expectation that adaptation via loss-of-function mutations is less constrained than adaptation via gain-of-function mutations.

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SAMase of Bacteriophage T3 Inactivates Escherichia coli's Methionine S-Adenosyltransferase by Forming Heteropolymers.

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