| 1. |
- Tran, Thao Thanh, et al.
(författare)
-
Inhibition of the master regulator of Listeria monocytogenes virulence enables bacterial clearance from spacious replication vacuoles in infected macrophages
- 2022
-
Ingår i: PLoS Pathogens. - : Public Library Science. - 1553-7366 .- 1553-7374. ; 18:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A hallmark of Listeria (L.) monocytogenes pathogenesis is bacterial escape from maturing entry vacuoles, which is required for rapid bacterial replication in the host cell cytoplasm and cell-to-cell spread. The bacterial transcriptional activator PrfA controls expression of key virulence factors that enable exploitation of this intracellular niche. The transcriptional activity of PrfA within infected host cells is controlled by allosteric coactivation. Inhibitory occupation of the coactivator site has been shown to impair PrfA functions, but consequences of PrfA inhibition for L. monocytogenes infection and pathogenesis are unknown. Here we report the crystal structure of PrfA with a small molecule inhibitor occupying the coactivator site at 2.0 Å resolution. Using molecular imaging and infection studies in macrophages, we demonstrate that PrfA inhibition prevents the vacuolar escape of L. monocytogenes and enables extensive bacterial replication inside spacious vacuoles. In contrast to previously described spacious Listeria-containing vacuoles, which have been implicated in supporting chronic infection, PrfA inhibition facilitated progressive clearance of intracellular L. monocytogenes from spacious vacuoles through lysosomal degradation. Thus, inhibitory occupation of the PrfA coactivator site facilitates formation of a transient intravacuolar L. monocytogenes replication niche that licenses macrophages to effectively eliminate intracellular bacteria. Our findings encourage further exploration of PrfA as a potential target for antimicrobials and highlight that intra-vacuolar residence of L. monocytogenes in macrophages is not inevitably tied to bacterial persistence.
|
|
| 2. |
- Verma, Apoorv, et al.
(författare)
-
Insights into the evolution of enzymatic specificity and catalysis : from Asgard archaea to human adenylate kinases
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Science Advances. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). - 2375-2548. ; 8:44
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Enzymatic catalysis is critically dependent on selectivity, active site architecture, and dynamics. To contribute insights into the interplay of these properties, we established an approach with NMR, crystallography, and MD simulations focused on the ubiquitous phosphotransferase adenylate kinase (AK) isolated from Odinarchaeota (OdinAK). Odinarchaeota belongs to the Asgard archaeal phylum that is believed to be the closest known ancestor to eukaryotes. We show that OdinAK is a hyperthermophilic trimer that, contrary to other AK family members, can use all NTPs for its phosphorylation reaction. Crystallographic structures of OdinAK-NTP complexes revealed a universal NTP-binding motif, while 19F NMR experiments uncovered a conserved and rate-limiting dynamic signature. As a consequence of trimerization, the active site of OdinAK was found to be lacking a critical catalytic residue and is therefore considered to be "atypical." On the basis of discovered relationships with human monomeric homologs, our findings are discussed in terms of evolution of enzymatic substrate specificity and cold adaptation.
|
|
| 3. |
- Hainzl, Tobias, et al.
(författare)
-
Structural insights into CodY activation and DNA recognition
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Nucleic Acids Research. - : Oxford University Press. - 0305-1048 .- 1362-4962. ; 51:14, s. 7631-7648
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Virulence factors enable pathogenic bacteria to infect host cells, establish infection, and contribute to disease progressions. In Gram-positive pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus (Sa) and Enterococcus faecalis (Ef), the pleiotropic transcription factor CodY plays a key role in integrating metabolism and virulence factor expression. However, to date, the structural mechanisms of CodY activation and DNA recognition are not understood. Here, we report the crystal structures of CodY from Sa and Ef in their ligand-free form and their ligand-bound form complexed with DNA. Binding of the ligands - branched chain amino acids and GTP - induces conformational changes in the form of helical shifts that propagate to the homodimer interface and reorient the linker helices and DNA binding domains. DNA binding is mediated by a non-canonical recognition mechanism dictated by DNA shape readout. Furthermore, two CodY dimers bind to two overlapping binding sites in a highly cooperative manner facilitated by cross-dimer interactions and minor groove deformation. Our structural and biochemical data explain how CodY can bind a wide range of substrates, a hallmark of many pleiotropic transcription factors. These data contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying virulence activation in important human pathogens.
|
|
| 4. |
- Hansen, Sabine, et al.
(författare)
-
A Novel Growth-Based Selection Strategy Identifies New Constitutively Active Variants of the Major Virulence Regulator PrfA in Listeria monocytogenes
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Journal of Bacteriology. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 0021-9193 .- 1098-5530. ; 202:11
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive pathogen able to cause severe human infections. Its major virulence regulator is the transcriptional activator PrfA, a member of the Crp/Fnr family of transcriptional regulators. To establish a successful L. monocytogenes infection, the PrfA protein needs to be in an active conformation, either by binding the cognate inducer glutathione (GSH) or by possessing amino acid substitutions rendering the protein constitutively active (PrfA*). By a yet unknown mechanism, phosphotransferase system (PTS) sugars repress the activity of PrfA. We therefore took a transposon-based approach to identify the mechanism by which PTS sugars repress PrfA activity. For this, we screened a transposon mutant bank to identify clones able to grow in the presence of glucose-6-phosphate as the sole carbon source. Surprisingly, most of the isolated transposon mutants also carried amino acid substitutions in PrfA. In transposon-free strains, the PrfA amino acid substitution mutants displayed growth, virulence factor expression, infectivity, and DNA binding, agreeing with previously identified PrIA* mutants. Hence, the initial growth phenotype observed in the isolated clone was due to the amino acid substitution in PrfA and unrelated to the loci inactivated by the transposon mutant. Finally, we provide structural evidence for the existence of an intermediately activated PrfA state, which gives new insights into PrfA protein activation. IMPORTANCE The Gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes is a human pathogen affecting mainly the elderly, immunocompromised people, and pregnant women. It can lead to meningoencephalitis, septicemia, and abortion. The major virulence regulator in L. monocytogenes is the PrfA protein, a transcriptional activator. Using a growth-based selection strategy, we identified mutations in the PrfA protein leading to constitutively active virulence factor expression. We provide structural evidence for the existence of an intermediately activated PrfA state, which gives new insights into PrfA protein activation.
|
|
| 5. |
- Iakovleva, Irina, et al.
(författare)
-
Structural basis for transthyretin amyloid formation in vitreous body of the eye
- 2021
-
Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 12:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Amyloid transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is characterized by the abnormal accumulation of ATTR fibrils in multiple organs. However, the structure of ATTR fibrils from the eye is poorly understood. Here, we used cryo-EM to structurally characterize vitreous body ATTR fibrils. These structures were distinct from previously characterized heart fibrils, even though both have the same mutation and type A pathology. Differences were observed at several structural levels: in both the number and arrangement of protofilaments, and the conformation of the protein fibril in each layer of protofilaments. Thus, our results show that ATTR protein structure and its assembly into protofilaments in the type A fibrils can vary between patients carrying the same mutation. By analyzing and matching the interfaces between the amino acids in the ATTR fibril with those in the natively folded TTR, we are able to propose a mechanism for the structural conversion of TTR into a fibrillar form.
|
|
| 6. |
- Lassinantti, Lena, 1993-
(författare)
-
Exploring the mechanistic details of Gram-positive Type 4 Secretion Systems
- 2022
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Hospital acquired (i.e. nosocomial) infections and antibiotic resistance are large issues in the world today, with about 1.3 million people estimated to have died from antibiotic resistant infections in 2019 alone, and these problems are on the rise. Type 4 Secretion Systems (T4SSs) are complex nanomachineries commonly found on conjugative plasmids. T4SSs are a major route for the translocation of genes encoding for antibiotic resistance and other virulence factors. These systems have primarily been studied in Gram-negative (G-) bacteria even though Gram-positive (G+) bacteria stand for about half of the nosocomial infections. To develop ways to limit the spread of both antibiotic resistance and virulence factors, we need to gain fundamental knowledge of T4SSs in G+ bacteria.Our work has focused on the conjugative plasmid pCF10 from the G+ bacteria Enterococcus faecalis where all the genes needed for the T4SS are under the regulation of one promoter named PQ. Most G+ T4SSs consist of three groups of proteins, namely the DNA transfer and replication (Dtr) proteins, the channel proteins and the adhesin proteins. In my work, I have focused my attention specifically on i) the regulatory protein PrgU, ii) the Dtr protein PcfF, and iii) the adhesin protein PrgB. These three proteins provide insights into three different parts of the T4SS. PrgU is part of the regulatory process of T4SS expression and has been shown to inhibit cell-toxicity mitigated by PrgB. The Dtr protein PcfF is needed for the formation of the relaxosome complex critical for conjugative transfer of the plasmid, and PrgB is involved in cellular aggregation events and is also a known virulence factor. Interestingly, increased levels of PrgB have been shown to be toxic to the cells. To inhibit PrgB induced cell toxicity, its production needs to be tightly regulated.The aims of my PhD thesis were to examine conjugation complexes belonging to Type 4 Secretion Systems in Gram-positive bacteria and to determine their function, molecular structures, and regulation. By using a combination of in vivo and in vitro methods we have; i) showed that PrgU binds to the IGR located downstream of the PQ promoter, and that the deletion of prgU in pCF10 containing cells produces increased mRNA levels of the full prgQ transcript, ii) solved the crystal structure of PcfF and identified residues that are important for the interaction with the relaxase and the origin of transfer (oriT) DNA in vitro, and confirmed this by biochemical assays and, iii) solved the entire structure of PrgB using a combination of X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM and performed in vivo assays to confirm its functions.
|
|
| 7. |
- Oelker, Melanie, 1988-
(författare)
-
Disarming bacteria : a structure-based approach to design an anti-virulence drug against Listeria monocytogenes
- 2021
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Antibiotic resistances are one of the biggest threats to global health and if we don’t change our behavior and way of using antibiotics we will end up in a ‘post-antibiotic era’, in which common infections and minor injuries can once kill again and up to 10 million deaths per year may occur by 2050. Therefore, there is a high need for new anti-bacterial drugs, especially of alternatives to existing antibiotics with already described resistances. Classical antibiotics target the essential processes of survival and growth in bacteria and therefore put a high selective pressure on them to develop resistances. In contrast, the ability to infect or damage a host, the virulence, is less essential for bacteria. Thus, targeting the virulence is supposed to cause a lower selective pressure and this alternative mode-of-action could help to decelerate the development of antibiotic resistances.The aims in this work were to proceed with the structure-based design of an anti-virulence drug against the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, but also to deepen our understanding of the complex regulation system for the virulence of this bacterium. PrfA, the master regulator of virulence in Listeria monocytogenes, is a member of a large family of bacterial transcription factors, which are regulated by a conformational change and allosteric modulation by different regulator molecules. Furthermore, its critical role in virulence regulations makes is a suitable target for an anti-virulence drug. In this work new lead compounds based on the previously identified ring-fused 2-pyridone scaffold were designed, synthesized and analyzed by different biological, biophysical, computational and structural biology methods. Three new binding sites and binding modes of these compounds in PrfA were evaluated for their potential use in future designs and a compound with improved activity was identified. In a second study another structurally different lead compound was discovered to inhibit PrfA. Furthermore, the studies on proposed natural regulators of PrfA uncovered the underlying mechanism for the virulence regulation by the peptide signature of the environment and in a follow-up study the structural basis of the binding of inhibitory peptides to PrfA was further investigated. Finally, a structural review on all available structure of PrfA provided more insights into the allosteric regulation mechanism of PrfA activity.This work will hopefully support in the successful development of an anti-virulence drug against Listeria monocytogenes and thus contribute to the reduction of the problem of antibiotic resistances.
|
|
| 8. |
- Rogne, Per, et al.
(författare)
-
Structural Basis for GTP versus ATP Selectivity in the NMP Kinase AK3
- 2020
-
Ingår i: Biochemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0006-2960 .- 1520-4995. ; 59:38, s. 3570-3581
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ATP and GTP are exceptionally important molecules in biology with multiple, and often discrete, functions. Therefore, enzymes that bind to either of them must develop robust mechanisms to selectively utilize one or the other. Here, this specific problem is addressed by molecular studies of the human NMP kinase AK3, which uses GTP to phosphorylate AMP. AK3 plays an important role in the citric acid cycle, where it is responsible for GTP/GDP recycling. By combining a structural biology approach with functional experiments, we present a comprehensive structural and mechanistic understanding of the enzyme. We discovered that AK3 functions by recruitment of GTP to the active site, while ATP is rejected and nonproductively bound to the AMP binding site. Consequently, ATP acts as an inhibitor with respect to GTP and AMP. The overall features with specific recognition of the correct substrate and nonproductive binding by the incorrect substrate bear a strong similarity to previous findings for the ATP specific NMP kinase adenylate kinase. Taken together, we are now able to provide the fundamental principles for GTP and ATP selectivity in the large NMP kinase family. As a side-result originating from nonlinearity of chemical shifts in GTP and ATP titrations, we find that protein surfaces offer a general and weak binding affinity for both GTP and ATP. These nonspecific interactions likely act to lower the available intracellular GTP and ATP concentrations and may have driven evolution of the Michaelis constants of NMP kinases accordingly.
|
|
| 9. |
- Tischlik, Sonja, et al.
(författare)
-
Insights into Enzymatic Catalysis from Binding and Hydrolysis of Diadenosine Tetraphosphate by E. coli Adenylate Kinase
- 2023
-
Ingår i: Biochemistry. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0006-2960 .- 1520-4995. ; 62:15, s. 2238-2243
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adenylate kinases play a crucial role in cellular energy homeostasis through the interconversion of ATP, AMP, and ADP in all living organisms. Here, we explore how adenylate kinase (AdK) from Escherichia coli interacts with diadenosine tetraphosphate (AP4A), a putative alarmone associated with transcriptional regulation, stress, and DNA damage response. From a combination of EPR and NMR spectroscopy together with X-ray crystallography, we found that AdK interacts with AP4A with two distinct modes that occur on disparate time scales. First, AdK dynamically interconverts between open and closed states with equal weights in the presence of AP4A. On a much slower time scale, AdK hydrolyses AP4A, and we suggest that the dynamically accessed substrate-bound open AdK conformation enables this hydrolytic activity. The partitioning of the enzyme into open and closed states is discussed in relation to a recently proposed linkage between active site dynamics and collective conformational dynamics.
|
|
| 10. |
- Tükenmez, Hasan, 1987-, et al.
(författare)
-
A highly substituted ring-fused 2-pyridone compound targeting PrfA and the efflux regulator BrtA in listeria monocytogenes
- 2023
-
Ingår i: mBio. - : American Society for Microbiology. - 2161-2129 .- 2150-7511. ; 14:3
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative Gram-positive bacterium that causes listeriosis, a severe foodborne disease. We previously discovered that ring-fused 2-pyridone compounds can decrease virulence factor expression in Listeria by binding and inactivating the PrfA virulence activator. In this study, we tested PS900, a highly substituted 2-pyridone that was recently discovered to be bactericidal to other Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria, such as Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis. We show that PS900 can interact with PrfA and reduce the expression of virulence factors. Unlike previous ring-fused 2-pyridones shown to inactivate PrfA, PS900 had an additional antibacterial activity and was found to potentiate sensitivity toward cholic acid. Two PS900-tolerant mutants able to grow in the presence of PS900 carried mutations in the brtA gene, encoding the BrtA repressor. In wild-type (WT) bacteria, cholic acid binds and inactivates BrtA, thereby alleviating the expression of the multidrug transporter MdrT. Interestingly, we found that PS900 also binds to BrtA and that this interaction causes BrtA to dissociate from its binding site in front of the mdrT gene. In addition, we observed that PS900 potentiated the effect of different osmolytes. We suggest that the increased potency of cholic acid and osmolytes to kill bacteria in the presence of PS900 is due to the ability of the latter to inhibit general efflux, through a yet-unknown mechanism. Our data indicate that thiazolino 2-pyridones constitute an attractive scaffold when designing new types of antibacterial agents.IMPORTANCE: Bacteria resistant to one or several antibiotics are a very large problem, threatening not only treatment of infections but also surgery and cancer treatments. Thus, new types of antibacterial drugs are desperately needed. In this work, we show that a new generation of substituted ring-fused 2-pyridones not only inhibit Listeria monocytogenes virulence gene expression, presumably by inactivating the PrfA virulence regulator, but also potentiate the bactericidal effects of cholic acid and different osmolytes. We identified a multidrug repressor as a second target of 2-pyridones. The repressor–2-pyridone interaction displaces the repressor from DNA, thus increasing the expression of a multidrug transporter. In addition, our data suggest that the new class of ring-fused 2-pyridones are efficient efflux inhibitors, possibly explaining why the simultaneous addition of 2-pyridones together with cholic acid or osmolytes is detrimental for the bacterium. This work proves conclusively that 2-pyridones constitute a promising scaffold to build on for future antibacterial drug design.
|
|
