Project description:The study was designed to test the global impact of negative supercoiling on gene expression in model archaeon T. kodakarensis. Exogenous wild type GyrA or GyrAY119F and wild type GyrB from Thermotoga maritima was expressed under the constitutive PhmtB promoter in T. kodakarensis cells.
Project description:In cyanobacteria DNA supercoiling varies over the diurnal light/dark cycle and is integrated with temporal programs of transcription and replication. We manipulated DNA supercoiling in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 by CRISPRi-based knockdown of gyrase subunits gyrA, gyrB and overexpression of topoisomerase I (TopoI) topA and analyzed the transcriptional response to gyrase knock-downs (endpoint in triplicate) and topoisomerase I overexpression (endpoint in triplicate, and 19 time points time series before and after induction) in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 via RNA-seq of coding RNA. In detail, Illumina Ribo-Zero Plus rRNA Depletion Kit was used to remove the ribosomal RNA molecules from the isolated total RNA. Removal of rRNA was evaluated with the RNA Pico 6000 kit on the Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer. RNA was free of detectable rRNA. Preparation of cDNA libraries was performed according to the manufacturer’s instructions for the TruSeq stranded mRNA kit (Illumina, San Diego, CA, United States). Subsequently, each cDNA library was sequenced on an Illumina NextSeq 500 system (2 x 75 nt PE high output v2.5).
Project description:Repeated exposure of Escherichia coli to high ciprofloxacin concentrations selects gyrB mutants that show fluoroquinolone-specific hyperpersistence
Project description:The most basic level of transcription regulation in Streptococcus pneumoniae is the organization of its chromosome in topological domains. In response to drugs that caused DNA-relaxation, a global transcriptional response was observed. Separate domains were identified depending of the transcription of their genes: up-regulated (U), down-regulated (D), non-regulated (N), and flanking (F). We show here that these distinct domains have different expression and conservation tendencies. Microarray fluorescence units under non-relaxation conditions, taken as a measure of gene transcription level, were significantly lower in F genes than in the other domains in the same range of AT content. Transcription level categorization of the domains was D>U>F. In addition, a comparison of 12 S. pneumoniae genome sequences evidenced conservation of gene composition in the U and D domains and extensive gene interchange in F domains. We tested domain organization by measuring the relaxation-mediated transcription of eight insertions of a heterologous Ptccat cassette, two in each type of domain, showing that transcription depended on their chromosomal location. Moreover, transcription from the four promoters directing the five genes involved in supercoiling homeostasis, located either in U (gyrB), D (topA), or N (gyrA and parEC) domains was analyzed both in their chromosomal locations and in a replicating plasmid. Although expression from the chromosomal PgyrB and PtopA showed the expected domain regulation, their expression was down-regulated in the plasmid, which behaved as a D domain. However, both PparE and PgyrA carried their own regulatory signals, their topology-dependent expression being equivalent in the plasmid or in the chromosome. In PgyrA a DNA bend acted as a DNA supercoiling sensor. These results revealed that DNA topology works as a general transcriptional regulator, superimposed to other kind of more specific regulatory mechanisms.
Project description:For Staphylococcus aureus it was shown previously that aminocoumarinecoumarin antibiotics such as novobiocin lead to immediate down-regulation of recA expression and thereby inhibition of the SOS response, the mutation frequency and the recombination capacity. Aminocoumarinecoumarin function by inhibition of the ATPase activity of the gyrase subunit B. Here we analysed the global impact of the DNA relaxing agent novobiocin on gene expression in S. aureus. By use of a novobiocin resistant mutant, it became evident that the change in recA expression is due to gyrase inhibition. Microarray analysis and Northern blot hybridization revealed that the expression of a distinct set of genes is increased (e.g. recF-gyrB-gyrA, rib operon and ure operon M-bM-^@M-&)), or decreased (e.g. arlRS, recA, lukA, hlgC, fnbA) by novobiocin. The two-component ArlRS system was previously found to decrease the supercoiling level in S. aureus. Thus, down-regulation of arlRS might in part compensate for the relaxing effect of novobiocin. Novobiocin resulted in down-regulation of several of arlRS repressed target genes in an arl mutant. Global analysis and gene mapping of supercoiling sensitive genes did not give indications that they are clustered in the genome. Promoter fusion assays confirmed that responsiveness of a given gene is intrinsic to the promoter region but independent of the chromosomal location. The results indicate that molecular property of the spacers of a given promoter dictatesa given promoter rather than chromosomal topology dictates the responsiveness towards changes in supercoiling rather than chromosomal topology. We analyzed S. aureus global gene expression changes to the treatment of novobiocin
Project description:The resistance to antibiotics is an emerging problem, and necessitates novel antibacterial therapies. Cervimycins A–D are bi-glycosylated polyketides produced by Streptomyces tendae HKI 0179 with promising activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Microscopically, cervimycin C (CmC) treatment caused a spaghetti-like phenotype in Bacillus subtilis 168, with elongated curved cells, which stayed joined after cell division, and exhibited a chromosome segregation defect. Electron microscopy of cervimycin treated S. aureus revealed swelling of some cells, misshaped septa, and cell wall thickening and a rough cell wall surface. Incorporation tests in B. subtilis indicated an effect on DNA metabolism at high cervimycin-concentrations. Indeed, the down-regulation of the DNA gyrase subunit B (gyrB) acted synergistically with cervimycin, and the antibiotic inhibited the in vitro DNA gyrase supercoiling activity. To get a more global view on the mode of action of CmC, transcriptomics and proteomics of cervimycin treated versus untreated S. aureus cells were performed. Interestingly, and in contrast to the previous results, cervimycin did not induce the SOS response in S. aureus, which would indicate disturbance of the DNA gyrase. Instead, cervimycin induced the expression of the CtsR/HrcA heat shock operon and the expression of autolysins. Taken together, we identified the DNA gyrase as one target of cervimycin, but omics data revealed massive alterations in cervimycin treated S. aureus, involving cell wall modifying enzymes and protein stress response, indicating a complex mode of action of cervimycin, that is distinct from other antibiotics.