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Evidence for a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein gene (mcp1) that encodes a putative sensory transducer in virulent Treponema pallidum.

ABSTRACT: The clinical and histopathological manifestations of syphilis and the invasive behavior of Treponema pallidum in tissue culture systems reflect the propensity for treponemes to migrate through skin, hematogenously disseminate, and invade targeted tissues. Treponemal motility is believed to be essential to this process and thereby an important facet of syphilis pathogenesis. By analogy with other bacterial pathogens, it is plausible that treponemal motility and tissue invasion are modulated by sensory transduction events associated with chemotactic responses. Recent studies have demonstrated the existence in T. pallidum of accessory molecules typically associated with sensory transduction events involving methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs). Intrinsic radiolabeling of T. pallidum in vitro with L-[methyl-3H] methionine revealed one methylated treponemal polypeptide with an apparent molecular mass of 64 kDa. A degenerate oligonucleotide probe corresponding to a highly conserved C-terminal domain within Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli MCPs was used in Southern blotting of T. pallidum DNA to identify and subsequently clone a putative T. pallidum MCP gene (mcp1). Computer analyses predicted a near-consensus promoter upstream of mcp1, and primer extension analysis employing T. pallidum RNA revealed a transcriptional initiation site. T. pallidum mcp1 encoded a 579-amino-acid (64.6-kDa) polypeptide which was highly homologous to at least 69 other known or putative sensory transducer proteins, with the highest degrees of homology existing between the C terminus of mcp1 and the C-terminal (signaling) domains of the other bacterial MCPs. Other salient features of Mcp1 included (i) six potential membrane-spanning domains at the N terminus, (ii) two predicted alpha-helical coiled coil regions containing at least three putative methylation sites, and (iii) homologies with two ligand-binding domains (LI-1 and LI-2) of the E. coli MCPs Trg and Tar. This study is the first to provide both metabolic and genetic evidence for an MCP sensory transducer in T. pallidum. The combined findings prompt key questions regarding the relationship(s) among sensory transduction, regulation of endoflagellar rotation, and chemotactic responses (in particular, the role of glucose) during virulence expression by T. pallidum.

SUBMITTER: Hagman KE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC175201 | biostudies-other | 1997 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Evidence for a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein gene (mcp1) that encodes a putative sensory transducer in virulent Treponema pallidum.

Hagman K E KE Porcella S F SF Popova T G TG Norgard M V MV

Infection and immunity 19970501 5

The clinical and histopathological manifestations of syphilis and the invasive behavior of Treponema pallidum in tissue culture systems reflect the propensity for treponemes to migrate through skin, hematogenously disseminate, and invade targeted tissues. Treponemal motility is believed to be essential to this process and thereby an important facet of syphilis pathogenesis. By analogy with other bacterial pathogens, it is plausible that treponemal motility and tissue invasion are modulated by se ...[more]

PMID: 9125550

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Project description:A methylated membrane protein of 97 kDa was suggested on the basis of mutant analysis to transduce signals from the phototaxis receptor sensory rhodopsin I to the flagellar motor in Halobacterium halobium. Here we report isolation of the proposed transducer protein, cloning of its gene based on partial protein sequences, the complete gene sequence, and analysis of the encoded primary structure. The 1611-base-pair gene termination codon overlaps the initiator ATG of the sopI gene, which encodes the sensory rhodopsin I apoprotein. The predicted size of 57 kDa for the methylated protein indicates an aberrant electrophoretic migration on SDS/polyacrylamide gels, as occurs with other acidic halophilic proteins. Putative promotor elements are located in an A+T-rich region upstream of the gene. Comparison of the translated nucleotide sequence with N-terminal sequence of the purified protein shows the protein is synthesized without a processed leader peptide and the N-terminal methionine is removed in the mature protein. The deduced protein sequence predicts two transmembrane helices near the N terminal that would anchor the protein to the membrane. Beyond this hydrophobic region of 46 residues, the remainder of the protein (536-amino acid residues total) is hydrophilic. The C-terminal 270 residues contain a region homologous to the signaling domains of eubacterial transducers (e.g., Escherichia coli Tsr protein), flanked by two regions homologous to the methylation domains of the transducer family. The protein differs from E. coli Tsr in that it does not have an extramembranous-receptor binding domain but instead has a more extended cytoplasmic region. Coexpression of the methyl-accepting protein gene (designated htrI) and sopI restores sensory rhodopsin I phototaxis to a mutant (Pho81) that contains a deletion in the htrI/sopI region. These results extend the eubacterial transducer family to the archaebacteria and substantiate the proposal that the methylated membrane protein functions as a signal-transducing relay between sensory rhodopsin I and cytoplasmic sensory-pathway components.

Project description:The periplasmic sensor domains GSU0582 and GSU0935 are part of methyl accepting chemotaxis proteins in the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. Both contain one c-type heme group and their crystal structures revealed that these domains form swapped dimers with a PAS fold formed from the two protein chains. The swapped dimerization of these sensors is related to the mechanism of signal transduction and the formation of the swapped dimer involves significant folding changes and conformational rearrangements within each monomeric component. However, the structural changes occurring during this process are poorly understood and lack a mechanistic framework. To address this issue, we have studied the folding and stability properties of two distinct heme-sensor PAS domains, using biophysical spectroscopies. We observed substantial differences in the thermodynamic stability (ΔG = 14.6 kJ.mol(-1) for GSU0935 and ΔG = 26.3 kJ.mol(-1) for GSU0582), and demonstrated that the heme moiety undergoes conformational changes that match those occurring at the global protein structure. This indicates that sensing by the heme cofactor induces conformational changes that rapidly propagate to the protein structure, an effect which is directly linked to the signal transduction mechanism. Interestingly, the two analyzed proteins have distinct levels of intrinsic disorder (25% for GSU0935 and 13% for GSU0582), which correlate with conformational stability differences. This provides evidence that the sensing threshold and intensity of the propagated allosteric effect is linked to the stability of the PAS-fold, as this property modulates domain swapping and dimerization. Analysis of the PAS-domain shows that disorder segments are found either at the hinge region that controls helix motions or in connecting segments of the β-sheet interface. The latter is known to be widely involved in both intra- and intermolecular interactions, supporting the view that it's folding and stability are at the basis of the specificity and regulation of many types of PAS-containing signaling proteins.

Dataset Information

Evidence for a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein gene (mcp1) that encodes a putative sensory transducer in virulent Treponema pallidum.

Publications

Evidence for a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein gene (mcp1) that encodes a putative sensory transducer in virulent Treponema pallidum.

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