Regulation of Yersina pestis Virulence by AI-2 Mediated Quorum Sensing

The proposed research was motivated by an interest in understanding Y. pestis virulence mechanisms and bacteria cell-cell communication. It is expected that a greater understanding of virulence mechanisms will ultimately lead to biothreat countermeasures and novel therapeutics. Y. pestis is the etiological agent of plague, the most devastating disease in human history. Y. pestis infection has a high mortality rate and a short incubation before mortality. There is no widely available and effective vaccine for Y. pestis and multi-drug resistant strains are emerging. Y. pestis is a recognized biothreat agent based on the wide distribution of the bacteria in research laboratories around the world and on the knowledge that methods exist to produce and aerosolize large amounts of bacteria. We hypothesized that cell-cell communication via signaling molecules, or quorum sensing, by Y. pestis is important for the regulation of virulence factor gene expression during host invasion, though a causative link had never been established. Quorum sensing is a mode of intercellular communication which enables orchestration of gene expression for many bacteria as a function of population density and available evidence suggests there may be a link between quorum sensing and regulation of Y. pesits virulence. Several pathogenic bacteria have been shown to regulate expression of virulence factor genes, including genes encoding type III secretion, via quorum sensing. The Y. pestis genome encodes several cell-cell signaling pathways and the interaction of at least three of these are thought to be involved in one or more modes of host invasion. Furthermore, Y. pestis gene expression array studies carried out at LLNL have established a correlation between expression of known virulence factors and genes involved in processing of the AI-2 quorum sensing signal. This was a basic research project that was intended to provide new insights into bacterial intercellular communication and how it is used to regulate virulence in Y. pestis. It is known that many bacteria use intercellular signaling molecules to orchestrate gene expression and cellular function. A fair amount is known about production and uptake of signaling molecules, but very little is known about how intercellular signaling regulates other pathways. Although several studies demonstrate that intercellular signaling plays a role in regulating virulence in other pathogens, the link between signaling and regulation of virulence has not been established. Very little work had been done directly with Y. pestis intercellular signaling apart from the work carried out at LLNL. The research we proposed was intended to both establish a causative link between AI-2 intercellular signaling and regulation of virulence in Y. pestis and elucidate the fate of the AI-2 signaling molecule after it is taken up and processed by Y. pestis. Elucidating the fate of AI-2 was expected to lead directly to the understanding of how AI-2 signal processing regulates other pathways as well as provide new insights in this direction

Monitoring Dynamic Protein Expression in Single Living E. Coli. Bacterial Cells by Laser Tweezers Raman Spectroscopy

Laser tweezers Raman spectroscopy (LTRS) is a novel, nondestructive, and label-free method that can be used to quantitatively measure changes in cellular activity in single living cells. Here, we demonstrate its use to monitor changes in a population of E. coli cells that occur during overexpression of a protein, the extracellular domain of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG(1-120)) Raman spectra were acquired of individual E. coli cells suspended in solution and trapped by a single tightly focused laser beam. Overexpression of MOG(1-120) in transformed E. coli Rosetta-Gami (DE3)pLysS cells was induced by addition of isopropyl thiogalactoside (IPTG). Changes in the peak intensities of the Raman spectra from a population of cells were monitored and analyzed over a total duration of three hours. Data was also collected for concentrated purified MOG(1-120) protein in solution, and the spectra compared with that obtained for the MOG(1-120) expressing cells. Raman spectra of individual, living E. coli cells exhibit signatures due to DNA and protein molecular vibrations. Characteristic Raman markers associated with protein vibrations, such as 1257 cm{sup -1}, 1340 cm{sup -1}, 1453 cm{sup -1} and 1660 cm{sup -1}, are shown to increase as a function of time following the addition of IPTG. Comparison of these spectra and the spectra of purified MOG protein indicates that the changes are predominantly due to the induction of MOG protein expression. Protein expression was found to occur mostly within the second hour, with a 470% increase relative to the protein expressed in the first hour. A 230% relative increase between the second and third hour indicates that protein expression begins to level off within the third hour. It is demonstrated that LTRS has sufficient sensitivity for real-time, nondestructive, and quantitative monitoring of biological processes, such as protein expression, in single living cells. Such capabilities, which are not currently available in flow cytometry, open up new possibilities for analyzing cellular processes occurring in single microbial and eukaryotic cells

Sexual Selection Halts the Relaxation of Protamine 2 among Rodents

Sexual selection has been proposed as the driving force promoting the rapid evolutionary changes observed in some reproductive genes including protamines. We test this hypothesis in a group of rodents which show marked differences in the intensity of sexual selection. Levels of sperm competition were not associated with the evolutionary rates of protamine 1 but, contrary to expectations, were negatively related to the evolutionary rate of cleaved- and mature-protamine 2. Since both domains were found to be under relaxation, our findings reveal an unforeseen role of sexual selection: to halt the degree of degeneration that proteins within families may experience due to functional redundancy. The degree of relaxation of protamine 2 in this group of rodents is such that in some species it has become dysfunctional and it is not expressed in mature spermatozoa. In contrast, protamine 1 is functionally conserved but shows directed positive selection on specific sites which are functionally relevant such as DNA-anchoring domains and phosphorylation sites. We conclude that in rodents protamine 2 is under relaxation and that sexual selection removes deleterious mutations among species with high levels of sperm competition to maintain the protein functional and the spermatozoa competitive

Isolation, Characterization, and Stability of Discretely-Sized Nanolipoprotein Particles Assembled with Apolipophorin-III

Background: Nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs) are discoidal, nanometer-sized particles comprised of self-assembled phospholipid membranes and apolipoproteins. NLPs assembled with human apolipoproteins have been used for myriad biotechnology applications, including membrane protein solubilization, drug delivery, and diagnostic imaging. To expand the repertoire of lipoproteins for these applications, insect apolipophorin-III (apoLp-III) was evaluated for the ability to form discretely-sized, homogeneous, and stable NLPs. Methodology: Four NLP populations distinct with regards to particle diameters (ranging in size from 10 nm to.25 nm) and lipid-to-apoLp-III ratios were readily isolated to high purity by size exclusion chromatography. Remodeling of the purified NLP species over time at 4uC was monitored by native gel electrophoresis, size exclusion chromatography, and atomic force microscopy. Purified 20 nm NLPs displayed no remodeling and remained stable for over 1 year. Purified NLPs with 10 nm and 15 nm diameters ultimately remodeled into 20 nm NLPs over a period of months. Intra-particle chemical cross-linking of apoLp-III stabilized NLPs of all sizes. Conclusions: ApoLp-III-based NLPs can be readily prepared, purified, characterized, and stabilized, suggesting their utilit

DNA condensation by protamine and arginine-rich peptides: analysis of toroid stability using single DNA molecules

Both somatic cells and sperm have been shown to take up exogenous DNA, but the frequency of its integration is usually low. Scanning probe microscopy studies of sperm chromatin and synthetic DNA-protamine complexes indicate that the coiling of DNA into toroidal subunits, a process initiated in the maturing spermatid to prepare its genome for delivery into the egg, can be mimicked by simply adding protamine to DNA in vitro. The increased resistance of DNA-protamine complexes to nuclease digestion and their structural similarity to native sperm chromatin suggest that the packaging of DNA by protamine might offer a new approach for improving the efficiency of DNA uptake by sperm. Decondensation experiments performed with individual DNA molecules have provided a direct measure of the stability of toroids produced using salmon protamine and smaller arginine-rich peptides. These experiments show that the arginine content of protamine-related sequences can have a dramatic effect on their rate of dissociation from DNA. This technique and the information it provides can be used to identify protamine analogs that can be bound to DNA to increase the efficiency of its uptake by sperm and other cells

Protamine-induced condensation and decondensation of the same DNA molecule

The DNA in sperm and certain viruses is condensed by arginine-rich proteins into toroidal subunits, a form of packaging that inactivates their entire genome. Individual DNA molecules were manipulated with an optical trap to examine the kinetics of torus formation induced by the binding of protamine and a subset of its DNA binding domain, Arg<sub>6</sub>. Condensation and decondensation experiments with λ-phage DNA show that toroid formation and stability are influenced by the number of arginine-rich anchoring domains in protamine. The results explain why protamines contain so much arginine and suggest that these proteins must be actively removed from sperm chromatin after fertilization