Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Medical School, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH , UK1
Author for correspondence: Colin R. Harwood. Tel: +44 191 222 7708. Fax: +44 191 222 7736. e-mail: colin.harwood{at}ncl.ac.uk
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ABSTRACT |
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Keywords: teichoic and teichuronic acids, cell walls, gene expression, phosphate stress, anionic polymers
Abbreviations: APase, alkaline phosphatase; LPDM/HPDM, low/high phosphate defined medium
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INTRODUCTION |
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During the transition to phosphate starvation, B. subtilis co-ordinately induces approximately 40 genes (Eymann et al., 1996 ). Prominent amongst these are genes of the Pho regulon (Seki et al., 1987
; Hulett, 1993
; Hulett et al., 1994a
, b
), whose products include alkaline phosphatases (APases), alkaline phosphodiesterase (APDase), a high affinity phosphate transporter ( pst) and genes required for teichuronic acid synthesis (M üller et al., 1997
). The latter represent an important mechanism for conserving phosphate in B. subtilis since their induction brings about a major change in the anionic polymer composition of the cell wall, from one that contains almost exclusively phosphate-containing teichoic acids to one which contains significant amounts of non-phosphate-containing teichuronic acids (Ellwood & Tempest, 1969
; Lang et al., 1982
). Under phosphate-replete conditions, teichoic acids represent nearly 50% of the wall by weight and comprise as much as 15% of total cell phosphorus (Archibald et al., 1993
). Not only does switching from teichoic to teichuronic acids reduce the phosphorus requirement of the cell, but teichoic-acid- containing cell wall released into the growth medium as a result of wall turnover (Merad et al., 1989
) represents a significant potential source of phosphorus (Grant, 1979
) that can be recovered by the combined activities of APases and APDases.
We and others have shown that teichuronic acid biosynthesis in B. subtilis is under the control of the Pho regulon (M üller et al., 1997 ; Qi & Hulett, 1998
; Liu & Hulett, 1998
). The Pho regulon is regulated by a two-component signal transduction pathway consisting of proteins PhoP and PhoR (Seki et al., 1987
, 1988
), equivalent to PhoB and PhoR of Escherichia coli, respectively (Tommassen et al., 1982
; Makino et al., 1985
, 1986
). PhoR is a membrane-spanning sensor protein with histidine protein kinase (HPKase) activity that, at low phosphate concentrations, activates its cognate response regulator, PhoP. Two other signal transduction pathways interact with PhoP/PhoR: Spo0A~P, the activated product of the phosphorelay (Hoch, 1998
) that is responsible for the induction of sporulation, terminates the phosphate response (Jensen et al., 1993
), while ResD/ResE are required for the full induction of the Pho regulon (Hulett, 1995
) by modulating the expression of the phoPR operon. In this paper we identify a large operon (tua) required for the synthesis of teichuronic acid and confirm that the influence of PhoR on teichuronic acid biosynthesis is due to its effect on controlling the transcriptional activity of this operon.
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METHODS |
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Continuous cultures.
Batch cultures, grown in high phosphate chemostat medium (pH adjusted to 7·0) to exponential phase, were used as inocula. Addition of culture medium was controlled using a peristaltic pump (WatsonMarlow) and delivered at a rate of about 200 ml h-1, equivalent to a mean generation time of approximately 3·5 h. Continuous cultures were grown in a 1 l fermentation vessel (Braun Biotech) with an impeller speed of 500 r.p.m. and an air flow of 2 l min -1. Temperature and pH were maintained at 37 °C and 7·0, respectively. Foaming was controlled by the addition of polypropyleneglycol 2025 (BDH) anti-foaming agent. Samples for monitoring growth and for enzyme assays (20 ml) were collected directly from the fermentation vessel while samples for cell wall analyses (200 ml) were collected via the overflow line and cooled to 4 °C. Growth was monitored by determining the dry weight of the bacteria retained on pre-weighed cellulose acetate membrane filters (pore size 0·45 µm, Whatman).
DNA manipulations.
Restriction endonuclease digestion and ligation of DNA were performed essentially as described by Sambrook et al. (1989) . Inverse and long-range PCR were carried out using the GeneAmp XL PCR kit (Perkin Elmer), according to the manufacturers instructions. Rth DNA polymerase XL was used for long-range PCR to ensure high efficiency DNA synthesis and the correction of mis-incorporated nucleotides. The reaction conditions were as follows: an initial denaturation step at 94 °C for 1 min, followed by 16 cycles of 30 s at 94 °C and 10 min at 66 °C, and 12 cycles of 30 s at 94 °C and 10 min at 66 °C; the latter being extended for 15 s for each cycle. Finally, the samples were incubated at 72 °C for 10 min to complete the reaction. General purpose PCR reactions used Taq DNA polymerase (Promega). The reaction conditions were 35 cycles of denaturation step at 92 °C for 1 min, followed by primer annealing for 1 min and primer extension at 72 °C for 1 min. The reaction was incubated for 72 °C for 10 min to ensure the completion of any prematurely terminated DNA strand. DNA amplifications for primer extension reactions used the proof-reading Pfu DNA polymerase (Stratagene) according to the manufacturers instructions. Restriction endonucleases and other enzymes were obtained from Boehringer Mannheim.
Plasmids were purified using plasmid DNA isolation kits (Qiagen). DNA extracted from agarose gels was purified using the QIAquick gel extraction kit (Qiagen). DNA sequencing was carried out using either the T7 Sequenase DNA sequencing kit (version 2.0; Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) or an automated DNA sequencer (ABI Prism 477) with dye terminator reactions (ABI).
Enzyme assays.
The presence of APase activity in colonies growing on the surface of agar plates was determined qualitatively by overlaying the colonies with sterile filter paper moistened with p- nitrophenylphosphate (pNPP; 1 mg ml-1 in 1 M Tris/HCl, pH 8·0; Yamane & Maruo, 1978 ). The development of a bright yellow colour, resulting from the hydrolysis of pNPP, was indicative of a positive reaction. APase activity of liquid cultures was determined as described by Nicholson & Setlow (1990)
. One unit of enzyme activity was defined as the amount of enzyme hydrolysing 1 µmol pNPP in 1 min at 30 °C. Specific activity was determined in relation to culture optical density (600 nm) in batch cultures and to protein in continuous cultures. ß-Galactosidase activity was assayed using the method of Miller (1972)
. One unit of enzyme activity was defined as the amount of enzyme hydrolysing 10·9 µmol ONPG in 1 min at 28 °C. The specific activity was based on the concentration of protein in the extracts. Protein concentration was determined using a Coomassie- brilliant-blue-based protein assay kit (Bio-Rad).
Cell wall analysis.
Cell walls were isolated and purified as described previously (Merad et al., 1989 ). Following digestion of dry cell walls with ethanolic magnesium nitrate (Ames, 1966
), teichoic acid content was estimated as total organic phosphorus by the method of Chen et al. (1956)
. Teichuronic acid was estimated as total uronic acid in aqueous suspension of cell walls by the method of Blumenkrantz & Asboe-Hansen (1973)
, using glucuronolactone as standard.
Transformation.
B. subtilis was transformed with plasmid and chromosomal DNA using the Groningen method as described by Bron (1990) . E. coli was transformed by electrotransformation. Electrocompetent cells were transformed in electroporation cuvettes (0·2 cm electrode gap) using a Gene Pulser, according to the manufacturers instructions (Bio-Rad). A pulse of 25 F capacitance, 2·5 kV and 200
resistance was applied to the mixture, giving a time constant of 4·55·0 ms. Aliquots (200 µl) were plated onto LB agar plates containing the required selective antibiotics and incubated at 37 °C overnight.
Labelling and hybridization of nucleic acid probes.
A non-radioactive digoxigenin (DIG) system was used to label DNA and RNA for hybridization and subsequent luminescent detection. DNA was labelled with a DIG DNA labelling kit (Boehringer Mannheim), as recommended by the manufacturer. Labelled antisense mRNA probes were prepared in vitro. The EcoRIPstI fragment of the B. subtilis chromosome downstream of the lytC gene, encoding most of the tuaA gene and the 5' end of tuaB, was cloned into phagemid pBluescript SK+ adjacent to the T3 promoter (pML12). The vector, linearized with Eco RI, was used to generate labelled RNA using T3 RNA polymerase and a DIG RNA labelling kit (Boehringer Mannheim), as recommended by the manufacturer.
Northern blot analysis.
Total RNA was isolated from cultures of B. subtilis using the RNeasy mini kit (Qiagen), according to manufacturers instructions. Strains were grown in LPDM or HPDM and samples were taken approximately 300 min after transition to stationary phase. Total RNA (approx. 40 µg) was separated in 1% agarose gels containing 2·2 M formaldehyde and blotted by capillary transfer to positively charged nylon membrane (Boehringer Mannheim) using 20xSSC buffer, as described by Sambrook et al. (1989) . RNA was crossed-linked to the membrane by exposure to UV light. Prehybridization was carried out for 12 h in hybridization solution [5xSSC, 50% (v/v) deionized formamide, 0·1% sodium lauroylsarcosine, 0·02% SDS, 2% blocking reagent] at 68 °C. The DIG-labelled probe was antisense RNA synthesized in vitro from pML12. The denatured probe (100 °C, 10 min) was added to hybridization solution and hybridized overnight at 68 °C. Membranes were washed twice for 15 min with 2xSSC, 0·1% SDS at room temperature, twice for 15 min with 0·5xSSC at room temperature and once with 0·1xSSC, 0·1% SDS at 68 °C. The membranes were exposed to Kodak BioMax MS Film. The sizes of transcripts were determined by comparison with an RNA size marker (0·286·58 kb; Promega).
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RESULTS |
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Analysis of the DNA sequence immediately downstream of lytC revealed the presence of a stemloop structure (G value of -24·2 kcal; Tinoco et al., 1973
), showing a strong resemblance to an intrinsic (i.e.
- independent) transcription termination element, and two ORFs, one starting just before the newly sequenced EcoRIPst I fragment, the other within this fragment and extending beyond the PstI site. The first of these ORFs, tuaA, uses the relatively unusual GUG start codon (Kunst et al., 1997
) and is preceded by a putative ribosome-binding site (RBS) with a
G value of -13·8 kcal (Tinoco et al., 1973
). TuaA has a calculated molecular mass of 20·2 kDa and shows homology to glucosyl transferases, such as WcaJ of E. coli encoding a UDP-glucose lipid carrier transferase (Stevenson et al., 1996
), which are involved in the linkage of sugars to carrier lipids. TuaA is therefore likely to be involved in the linkage of N- acetylgalactosamine to undecaprenyl carrier lipid. The second ORF, tuaB, was located 150 nt downstream of the stop codon of tuaA. It was preceded by a putative RBS with a
G value of -8·6 kcal (Tinoco et al., 1973
) and uses AUG as the start codon. TuaB shows homology with membrane transport proteins involved in exopolysaccharide biosynthesis, such as E. coli WzxC, an integral membrane transport protein involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis (Itoh et al., 1996
). TuaB may therefore play a role in the transport of repeating teichuronic acid subunits, prior to assembly of the polymer on the trans side of the cytoplasmic membrane (Archibald et al., 1993
).
Construction of strain 168tuaA::pMutin2TUA
To confirm the involvement of the putative tua operon in the synthesis of teichuronic acid, a fragment from the 5' end of the first ORF (tuaA) was cloned into the integrational vector pMutin2 (Fig. 1), using E. coli as an intermediate host. The first 351 nt of the putative ORF, including a putative RBS and start codon, was amplified by PCR using primers Pr10 (5'-GCGCGCGCGGATCCGAGGTGTGTGTCAGTGAGTGC- 3') and Pr11 (5'-GCGCGCGCGGATCCCCGATCCTTGTCACCCGCG-3'), both of which had GC clamps and Bam HI recognition sites (indicated in bold) incorporated at their 5' ends. The fragment was cloned into BamHI-digested pMutin2 (Vagner et al., 1998
) to generate pMutinTUA, which was subsequently integrated into the chromosome of B. subtilis 168 via a single (Campbell-type) crossover recombination (Fig. 1
).
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Strain GCH931 has a lacZ reporter gene located downstream of a 3'-truncated version of tuaA (tuaA) that is transcriptionally fused to the putative tua promoter (P tua). A second, intact copy of tuaA, together with the remaining genes in the tua operon, is located downstream of an IPTG-inducible Pspac promoter. This construct therefore permits not only the monitoring of Ptua activity via ß-galactosidase synthesis, but also controlled expression of an intact tua operon (Fig. 1
).
To study the involvement of PhoP/PhoR in the regulation of Ptua , a deletion mutation was introduced into the phoR gene of strain GCH931. Chromosomal DNA from MH5124 (phoR BalI::Tcr), containing a phoR gene insertionally inactivated by the replacement of an internal Bal I fragment with a tetracycline resistance gene (Hulett et al., 1994a
), was transformed into strains GCH504 and GCH931. The resulting strains, GCH930 (phoR
BalI::Tcr ) and GCH932 (tuaA::pMutinTUA phoR
BalI::Tcr), had inactivated phoR genes, as confirmed by their inability to induce APase activity under phosphate starvation. The presence of phoR
BalI::Tcr was also confirmed by PCR, using primers that flank the phoR gene. Derivatives with phoR
BalI::Tcr produced a larger PCR product with respect to strain GCH504.
Expression of the tua operon
The transcriptional activity of the tua operon promoter was monitored using the lacZ transcriptional reporter located downstream of a 3'-truncated copy of tuaA (Fig. 1). Strains GCH504, GCH931 and GCH932 were grown in batch culture under phosphate starvation (LPDM) and phosphate-replete (HPDM) conditions. APase activity was used as a reporter for the induction of the Pho regulon.
In the case of the strains GCH504 and GCH931, APase was induced towards the end of exponential phase and during early stationary phase in LPDM but not in HPDM (Fig. 2a, b
). In the case of GCH932, APase was not induced during growth on either medium (Fig. 2c
). ß-Galactosidase activity was used to monitor the expression of the tua operon from Ptua in strains GCH931 and GCH932 (Fig. 2b
, c
). ß-Galactosidase activity was induced in GCH931 in response to phosphate starvation, with kinetics that were similar to that of APase. No induction was observed with GCH932, confirming that transcription of the tua operon is dependent on an active PhoR for induction (M üller et al., 1997
; Qi & Hulett, 1998
).
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Growth of the wild-type strain (GCH504) under phosphate-replete conditions (Table 3) resulted in a wall consisting almost exclusively (>95%) of teichoic acids. Under phosphate-limited growth the amount of anionic polymer in the wall fell by ca 35% and, in line with previously published data (Müller et al., 1997
), the wall contained a mixture of anionic polymers: about 60% teichoic acids and 40% teichuronic acids.
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Transcription analysis of the tua operon
RNA was isolated from stationary-phase cultures of strains GCH504 and GCH930 (phoRBalI::Tcr), grown in either HPDM or LPDM. The RNA was subjected to Northern blot analysis, using as probe DIG-labelled antisense RNA derived from the EcoRIPstI fragment of pML12. In the case of the GCH504 grown on LPDM, a number of well distinguished bands were observed on the autoradiograph, while no hybridizing bands were observed under phosphate-replete conditions or with strain GCH930 on either growth medium (Fig. 3
). The largest product, which was approximately 9 kb in size, is consistent with a full-length transcript for the putative tua operon, confirming that the tua genes are organized as a single operon and transcribed as a single, polygenic mRNA. The smaller products, of approximately 4·6, 3·5, 2·5, 2·0 and 1·8 kb, are presumably either prematurely terminated transcripts or processed products.
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We have used the integration vector pMutin2 to interrupt the first gene in the operon, namely tuaA, simultaneously generating a transcription fusion to a lacZ reporter gene and placing the entire tua operon under the control of the IPTG-inducible P spac promoter. When the resulting strain, GCH931, was grown under phosphate-replete conditions, either in batch or continuous culture, teichoic acids were the main cell wall polymer and negligible amounts of teichuronic acids were detected. However, when phosphate was growth-limiting, the amount of teichoic acids decreased and, in the absence of teichuronic acid synthesis, the total amount of wall- associated anionic polymer was reduced. The deficiency in teichuronic acid synthesis was to some extent compensated by the incomplete shutdown in teichoic acid synthesis that is observed in some strains of B. subtilis 168. The data were therefore consistent with those of Mauël et al. (1994) , obtained using lacZ transcriptional reporters to the divergent tag operons, which show a marked reduction in tag gene expression during phosphate starvation, followed by a low level of constitutive tag gene expression.
The observation that, in the wild-type, teichuronic acid synthesis was not able to compensate completely for the observed reduction in teichoic acid synthesis under phosphate limitation was in contrast to the data obtained by Lang and colleagues (Lang et al., 1982 ) who reported an almost complete replacement of one polymer type with the other. The incomplete shutdown of teichoic acid synthesis was particularly clear from the chemostat studies in which continued growth and associated cell wall turnover under phosphate- limited growth means that the relative rates of anionic polymer synthesis are fully reflected in cell wall composition (Table 3
). In the case of GCH931 (tuaA::pMutinTUA), the absence of compensatory teichuronic acid synthesis under phosphate limitation resulted in a marked decrease in wall anionic polymer content to about one-third of that present under phosphate-replete conditions. The cells exhibited a coccal cell morphology (data not shown), which accords with previous observations with conditional mutants in which teichoic acid biosynthesis is inhibited (Boylan et al., 1972
). The inclusion of IPTG into phosphate-limiting chemostat medium induced the tua operon, resulting in a greater than sixfold increase in teichuronic acid synthesis and increasing total wall anionic polymers. Under these conditions the cells exhibited a more normal rod- shaped morphology (data not shown).
Transcriptional analysis showed that the tua operon is transcribed on a single transcript of ~9 kb, although the presence of other smaller products hybridizing to the tuaA probe suggests either extensive premature termination or mRNA processing.
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Received 26 April 1999;
revised 25 August 1999;
accepted 2 September 1999.