Lubricating Bacteria Model for Branching growth of Bacterial Colonies

Various bacterial strains (e.g. strains belonging to the genera Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Serratia and Salmonella) exhibit colonial branching patterns during growth on poor semi-solid substrates. These patterns reflect the bacterial cooperative self-organization. Central part of the cooperation is the collective formation of lubricant on top of the agar which enables the bacteria to swim. Hence it provides the colony means to advance towards the food. One method of modeling the colonial development is via coupled reaction-diffusion equations which describe the time evolution of the bacterial density and the concentrations of the relevant chemical fields. This idea has been pursued by a number of groups. Here we present an additional model which specifically includes an evolution equation for the lubricant excreted by the bacteria. We show that when the diffusion of the fluid is governed by nonlinear diffusion coefficient branching patterns evolves. We study the effect of the rates of emission and decomposition of the lubricant fluid on the observed patterns. The results are compared with experimental observations. We also include fields of chemotactic agents and food chemotaxis and conclude that these features are needed in order to explain the observations.Comment: 1 latex file, 16 jpeg files, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide natural products: Overview and recommendations for a universal nomenclature

Covering: 1988 to 2012 This review presents recommended nomenclature for the biosynthesis of ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides (RiPPs), a rapidly growing class of natural products. The current knowledge regarding the biosynthesis of the >20 distinct compound classes is also reviewed, and commonalities are discussed

Universal nucleic acid-binding domain revealed by crystal structure of the B. subtilis major cold-shock protein

The cold-shock response in both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis is induced by an abrupt downshift in growth temperature. It leads to the increased production of the major cold-shock proteins, CS7.4 and CspB, respectively. CS7.4 is a transcriptional activator of two genes. CS7.4 and CspB share 43 per cent sequence identity with the nucleic acid-binding domain of the eukaryotic gene-regulatory Y-box factors. This cold-shock domain is conserved from bacteria to man and contains the RNA-binding RNP1 sequence motif. As a prototype of the cold-shock domain, the structure of CspB has been determined here from two crystal forms. In both, CspB is present as an antiparallel five-stranded beta-barrel. Three consecutive beta-strands, the central one containing the RNP1 motif, create a surface rich in aromatic and basic residues that are presumably involved in nucleic acid binding. Preferential binding of CspB to single-stranded DNA is observed in gel retardation experiments

Characterization of PPTNs, a cyanobacterial phosphopantetheinyl transferase from Nodularia spumigena NSOR10

The phosphopantetheinyl transferases (PPTs) are a superfamily of essential enzymes required for the synthesis of a wide range of compounds, including fatty acids, polyketides, and nonribosomal peptide metabolites. These enzymes activate carrier proteins in specific biosynthetic pathways by transfer of a phosphopantetheinyl moiety. The diverse PPT superfamily can be divided into two families based on specificity and conserved sequence motifs. The first family is typified by the Escherichia coli acyl carrier protein synthase (AcpS), which is involved in fatty acid synthesis. The prototype of the second family is the broad-substrate-range PPT Sfp, which is required for surfactin biosynthesis in Bacillus subtilis. Most cyanobacteria do not encode an AcpS-like PPT, and furthermore, some of their Sfp-like PPTs belong to a unique phylogenetic subgroup defined by the PPTs involved in heterocyst differentiation. Here, we describe the first functional characterization of a cyanobacterial PPT based on a structural analysis and subsequent functional analysis of the Nodularia spumigena NSOR10 PPT. Southern hybridizations suggested that this enzyme may be the only PPT encoded in the N. spumigena NSOR10 genome. Expression and enzyme characterization showed that this PPT was capable of modifying carrier proteins resulting from both heterocyst glycoplipid synthesis and nodularin toxin synthesis. Cyanobacteria are a unique and vast source of bioactive metabolites; therefore, an understanding of cyanobacterial PPTs is important in order to harness the biotechnological potential of cyanobacterial natural products

Crystal structure of DltA. Implications for the reaction mechanism of non ribosomal peptide synthetase adenylation domains

DltA, the d alanine d alanyl carrier protein ligase responsible for the initial step of lipoteichoic acid d alanylation in Gram positive bacteria, belongs to the adenylation domain superfamily, which also includes acetyl CoA synthetase and the adenylation domains of non ribosomal synthetases. The two step reaction catalyzed by these enzymes substrate adenylation followed by transfer to the reactive thiol group of CoA or the phosphopantheinyl prosthetic group of peptidyl carrier proteins has been suggested to proceed via large scale rearrangements of structural domains within the enzyme. The structures of DltA reported here reveal the determinants for d Ala substrate specificity and confirm that the peptidyl carrier protein activating domains are able to adopt multiple conformational states, in this case corresponding to the thiolation reaction. Comparisons of available structures allow us to propose a mechanism whereby small perturbations of finely balanced metastable structural states would be able to direct an ordered formation of non ribosomal synthetase product

Xanthomonins I III A New Class of Lasso Peptides with a Seven Residue Macrolactam Ring

Lasso peptides belong to the class of ribosomally synthesized and post translationally modified peptides. Their common distinguishing feature is an N terminal macrolactam ring that is threaded by the C terminal tail. This lasso fold is maintained through steric interactions. The isolation and characterization of xanthomonins amp; 8197;I III, the first lasso peptides featuring macrolactam rings consisting of only seven amino acids, is now presented. The crystal structure of xanthomonin amp; 8197;I and the NMR structure of xanthomonin amp; 8197;II were also determined. A total of 25 variants of xanthomonin amp; 8197;II were generated to probe different aspects of the biosynthesis, stability, and fold maintenance. These mutational studies reveal the limits such a small ring imposes on the threading and show that every plug amino acid larger than serine is able to maintain a heat stable lasso fold in the xanthomonin amp; 8197;II scaffol

Specific fragmentation of mechanically interlocked peptides

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