Project description:The antibiotic fosfomycin is widely recognized for treatment of lower urinary tract infections caused by Escherichia coli and lately gained importance as a therapeutic option to combat multidrug resistant bacteria. Still, resistance to fosfomycin frequently develops through mutations reducing its uptake. Whereas the inner membrane transport of fosfomycin has been extensively studied in E. coli, its outer membrane (OM) transport remains insufficiently understood. While evaluating minimal inhibitory concentrations in OM porin-deficient mutants, we observed that the E. coli ΔompCΔompF strain is five times more resistant to fosfomycin than the wild type and the respective single mutants. Continuous monitoring of cell lysis of porin-deficient strains in response to fosfomycin additionally indicated the relevance of LamB. Furthermore, the physiological relevance of OmpF, OmpC and LamB for fosfomycin uptake was confirmed by electrophysiological and transcriptional analysis. This study expands the knowledge of how fosfomycin crosses the OM of E. coli.
Project description:The rise of antimicrobial resistant pathogens calls for new antibacterial treatments, but potent new compounds are scarce. Development of new antibiotics is difficult, especially against Gram-negative bacteria, as here uptake is strongly hindered by the additional outer membrane. Most antimicrobial agents against Gram-negatives use the porin mediated pathway to cross the outer membrane, which limits the choice of an antibiotic, as it has to fit by size, charge and hydrophilicity. In E. coli, the major porins OmpF and OmpC are associated with antibiotic translocation and therefore also with unspecific antibiotic cross-resistance. In this regard, alternative uptake routes are of interest. We were interested in the uptake opportunities of the small, natural product antibiotic negamycin and thereby found new uptake pathways across the outer membrane of E. coli. Besides OmpF and OmpC, we investigated the role of the minor porins OmpN and ChiP in negamycin translocation. We detected an effect of OmpN and ChiP on negamycin susceptibility and confirmed passage by electrophysiological assays. The structure of OmpN was resolved in order to analyze the negamycin translocation mechanism by computational simulations. As abundancy of these minor porins was low in E. coli, their transcript levels were analyzed by RNA-Seq. Increased transcripts levels of ompN and chiP were observed upon negamycin treatment, hinting at a role in antibiotic uptake. These new, additional uptake pathways across the outer membrane of E. coli highlight the antibiotic potential of negamycin, especially as resistance development is low due to availability of multiple uptake routes at both the outer and inner membranes
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is a highly adaptable human pathogen; therefore a constant search for new effective antibiotic compounds is being preformed. Gene expression profiling can be used to determine potential targets and mechanisms of action (MOA) of known or potential drugs. The goal of our study was a development of a focused transcriptome platform to be used for confirming the MOA of new chemical entities which are designed as inhibitors of Mur ligases. A model transcriptional profile was set up for well described inhibitor of MurA ligase, fosfomycin. Moreover, we wanted to identify the pathways and processes primarily affected by this compound. S. aureus ATCC 29213 cells were treated with low concentrations of fosfomycin (1 and 4 µg/ml, respectively) and harvested at 10, 20 and 40 minutes after treatment, respectively. RNA was isolated, transcribed, labeled and hybridized to S. aureus GeneChips, representing approximately 3000 S. aureus genes. Using meta-analysis of our results and the results in the S. aureus microarray database, we have confirmed that fosfomycin induces âcell wall stimulonâ genes and were able to identify genes and pathways specifically modulated by fosfomycin. Time course, different fosfomycin concentration
Project description:Previous high-throughput studies in Gram-negative bacteria identified a large number of 3’UTR fragments that potentially function as sRNAs. Here we extensively characterise the MalH sRNA. We show that MalH is a stable degradation intermediate derived from the 3’ end of malG, which is part of the maltose uptake operon transcript malEFG. Unlike the majority of bacterial sRNAs, MalH is transiently expressed during the transition from the exponential to the stationary growth phase, suggesting that it contributes to adaptation to changes in nutrient availability. Over-expression of MalH reduces expression of general outer membrane porins and MicA, a repressor of the high-affinity maltose/maltodextrin transporter LamB. Disrupting MalH production and function significantly reduces lamB accumulation when maltose is the only available carbon source, presumably due to the accumulation of the MicA repressor. We propose that MalH is part of a regulatory network that, during the transition phase, directly or indirectly promotes accumulation of high-affinity maltose transporters in the outer membrane by dampening competing pathways.
Project description:Staphylococcus aureus is a highly adaptable human pathogen; therefore a constant search for new effective antibiotic compounds is being preformed. Gene expression profiling can be used to determine potential targets and mechanisms of action (MOA) of known or potential drugs. The goal of our study was a development of a focused transcriptome platform to be used for confirming the MOA of new chemical entities which are designed as inhibitors of Mur ligases. A model transcriptional profile was set up for well described inhibitor of MurA ligase, fosfomycin. Moreover, we wanted to identify the pathways and processes primarily affected by this compound. S. aureus ATCC 29213 cells were treated with low concentrations of fosfomycin (1 and 4 µg/ml, respectively) and harvested at 10, 20 and 40 minutes after treatment, respectively. RNA was isolated, transcribed, labeled and hybridized to S. aureus GeneChips, representing approximately 3000 S. aureus genes. Using meta-analysis of our results and the results in the S. aureus microarray database, we have confirmed that fosfomycin induces “cell wall stimulon” genes and were able to identify genes and pathways specifically modulated by fosfomycin.
Project description:In enteric bacteria, the transcription factor ?E maintains membrane homeostasis by inducing expression of proteins involved in membrane repair and of two small, regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) that downregulate synthesis of abundant membrane porins. Here, we describe the discovery of a third ?E-dependent sRNA, MicL, transcribed from a promoter located within the coding sequence of the cutC gene. MicL is synthesized as a 308 nt primary transcript that is processed to an 80 nt form. Both forms possess features typical of Hfq-binding sRNAs, but surprisingly only target a single mRNA, which encodes the outer membrane lipoprotein Lpp, the most abundant protein of the cell. We show that the copper sensitivity phenotype previously ascribed to inactivation of the cutC gene is actually derived from the loss of MicL and elevated Lpp levels. This observation raises the possibility that other phenotypes currently attributed to protein defects are due to deficiencies in unappreciated regulatory RNAs. We also report that ?E activity is sensitive to Lpp abundance and that MicL and Lpp comprise a new ?E regulatory loop that opposes membrane stress. Together MicA, RybB and MicL allow ?E to repress the expression of all abundant outer membrane proteins in response to stress. 12 samples mRNA-seq data, 2 samples ribosome profiling data. For mRNA-seq data, samples were gathered at the indicated time (in min) after induction of either vector (WT), long (MicL), and short (MicL-S) forms of MicL.
Project description:In this work we describe a robust fosfomycin collateral sensitivity phenotype of Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistant mutants selected by antibiotics from different structural families. The underlying mechanism was the reduced expression of the genes encoding the peptidoglycan-recycling pathway, which preserves the peptidoglycan synthesis in situations where the de novo synthesis is blocked, and of fosA, encoding a fosfomycin-inactivating enzyme.
Project description:Fosfomycin is a frequently prescribed drug in the treatment of acute urinary tract infections. It enters the bacterial cytoplasm and inhibits the biosynthesis of peptidoglycans by targeting the MurA enzyme. Despite extensive pharmacological studies and clinical use, the permeability of fosfomycin across the bacterial outer membrane is largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the fosfomycin permeability across the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria by electrophysiology experiments as well as by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations including free-energy and applied-field techniques. Notably, in an electrophysiological zero-current assay as well as in the molecular simulations, we found that fosfomycin can rapidly permeate the abundant Escherichia coli porin OmpF. Furthermore, two triple mutants in the constriction region of the porin have been investigated. The permeation rates through these mutants are slightly lower than that of the wild type but fosfomycin can still permeate. Altogether, this work unravels molecular details of fosfomycin permeation through the outer membrane porin OmpF of E. coli and moreover provides hints for understanding the translocation of phosphonic acid antibiotics through other outer membrane pores.
Project description:In enteric bacteria, the transcription factor σE maintains membrane homeostasis by inducing expression of proteins involved in membrane repair and of two small, regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) that downregulate synthesis of abundant membrane porins. Here, we describe the discovery of a third σE-dependent sRNA, MicL, transcribed from a promoter located within the coding sequence of the cutC gene. MicL is synthesized as a 308 nt primary transcript that is processed to an 80 nt form. Both forms possess features typical of Hfq-binding sRNAs, but surprisingly only target a single mRNA, which encodes the outer membrane lipoprotein Lpp, the most abundant protein of the cell. We show that the copper sensitivity phenotype previously ascribed to inactivation of the cutC gene is actually derived from the loss of MicL and elevated Lpp levels. This observation raises the possibility that other phenotypes currently attributed to protein defects are due to deficiencies in unappreciated regulatory RNAs. We also report that σE activity is sensitive to Lpp abundance and that MicL and Lpp comprise a new σE regulatory loop that opposes membrane stress. Together MicA, RybB and MicL allow σE to repress the expression of all abundant outer membrane proteins in response to stress.
Project description:The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanisms by which fosfomycin restrains biofilm formation and affects a 24h-old biofilm of S. aureus. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology was used to compare the transcriptomes of S. aureus biofilms formed or treated with sublethal concentrations of fosfomycin.