Inverting family GH156 sialidases define an unusual catalytic motif for glycosidase action

Sialic acids are a family of related sugars that play essential roles in many biological events intimately linked to cellular recognition in both health and disease. Sialidases are therefore orchestrators of cellular biology and important therapeutic targets for viral infection. Here, we sought to define if uncharacterized sialidases would provide distinct paradigms in sialic acid biochemistry. We show that a recently discovered sialidase family, whose first member EnvSia156 was isolated from hot spring metagenomes, defines an unusual structural fold and active centre constellation, not previously described in sialidases. Consistent with an inverting mechanism, EnvSia156 reveals a His/Asp active center in which the His acts as a Bronsted acid and Asp as a Bronsted base in a single-displacement mechanism. A pre-dominantly hydrophobic aglycone site facilitates accommodation of a variety of 2-linked sialosides; a versatility that offers the potential for glycan hydrolysis across a range of biological and technological platforms

Insights into SusCD-mediated glycan import by a prominent gut symbiont

In Bacteroidetes, one of the dominant phyla of the mammalian gut, active uptake of large nutrients across the outer membrane is mediated by SusCD protein complexes via a “pedal bin” transport mechanism. However, many features of SusCD function in glycan uptake remain unclear, including ligand binding, the role of the SusD lid and the size limit for substrate transport. Here we characterise the β2,6 fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) importing SusCD from Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (Bt1762-Bt1763) to shed light on SusCD function. Co-crystal structures reveal residues involved in glycan recognition and suggest that the large binding cavity can accommodate several substrate molecules, each up to ~2.5 kDa in size, a finding supported by native mass spectrometry and isothermal titration calorimetry. Mutational studies in vivo provide functional insights into the key structural features of the SusCD apparatus and cryo-EM of the intact dimeric SusCD complex reveals several distinct states of the transporter, directly visualising the dynamics of the pedal bin transport mechanism

Environmental impacts of crude oil spillages on water in Ibeno local government area of Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria

Crude oil spillage has been identified to be a regular occurrence in Upenekang village in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. This study has been carried out to find out the effect of crude oil spill on stream water and the environmental impact it has on the area. Using water samples obtained at varying distances from the spill site, the effects of the crude oil spill on the surface and underground stream water at the spill site were investigated by testing for the presence as well as the concentrations of toxic heavy metal pollutants. Analyses were also carried out for water conductivity, pH, temperature, hardness, total solids, total dissolved solids, turbidity, suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, carbon dioxide, COD, BOD, THC, sodium, magnesium, calcium, sulphate, nitrate, iron, copper, lead, chromium and cadmium concentrations using standard methods. The pH of all the samples of both the surface and underground stream water obtained at the spill site were observed to be acidic with very low dissolved oxygen, low COD, low BOD, high hydrocarbon content, high total dissolved solids, high water hardness and high toxic heavy metal concentrations (iron, copper, lead, chromium and cadmium) investigated for, all above admissible concentrations by World Health Organization’s standards. A one-way ANOVA showed that there is no significant influence of distance away from spill on the level of heavy metals in the water samples collected in the study area.Keywords: Crude oil spill, Upenekang, Water, WHO, ANOVA

Adaptive mechanisms that provide competitive advantages to marine bacteroidetes during microalgal blooms

Polysaccharide degradation by heterotrophic microbes is a key process within Earth's carbon cycle. Here, we use environmental proteomics and metagenomics in combination with cultivation experiments and biochemical characterizations to investigate the molecular details of in situ polysaccharide degradation mechanisms during microalgal blooms. For this, we use laminarin as a model polysaccharide. Laminarin is a ubiquitous marine storage polymer of marine microalgae and is particularly abundant during phytoplankton blooms. In this study, we show that highly specialized bacterial strains of the Bacteroidetes phylum repeatedly reached high abundances during North Sea algal blooms and dominated laminarin turnover. These genomically streamlined bacteria of the genus Formosa have an expanded set of laminarin hydrolases and transporters that belonged to the most abundant proteins in the environmental samples. In vitro experiments with cultured isolates allowed us to determine the functions of in situ expressed key enzymes and to confirm their role in laminarin utilization. It is shown that laminarin consumption of Formosa spp. is paralleled by enhanced uptake of diatom-derived peptides. This study reveals that genome reduction, enzyme fusions, transporters, and enzyme expansion as well as a tight coupling of carbon and nitrogen metabolism provide the tools, which make Formosa spp. so competitive during microalgal blooms

Elucidation of a sialic acid metabolism pathway in mucus-foraging Ruminococcus gnavus unravels mechanisms of bacterial adaptation to the gut

N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac), the most abundant sialic acid form in humans, is commonly found in a terminal location on colonic mucins glycans where it is a much-coveted source of nutrients for gut bacteria. The mucin-foraging strategy of the human gut symbiont Ruminococcus gnavus is associated with the expression of an intramolecular trans-sialidase (IT-sialidase) that targets and cleaves off terminal α2–3 -linked Neu5Ac from glycoproteins, releasing 2,7-anhydro-Neu5Ac instead of Neu5Ac. Using a combination of in silico, molecular, biochemical and structural approaches, we have unravelled a unique metabolic pathway leading to the transport and metabolism of 2,7-anhydro-Neu5Ac which is underpinned by the exquisite specificity of the sialic acid transporter. The substrate binding protein, which forms part of a sialic acid transporter (SAT2) in R. gnavus ATCC29149, is specific to 2,7-anhydro-Neu5Ac, as shown by fluorescence spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and saturation transfer difference nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (STD NMR). Once inside the cell, 2,7-anhydro-Neu5Ac is converted into Neu5Ac via a novel enzymatic reaction catalysed by an oxidoreductase, RgNanOx. Following this conversion, Neu5Ac is then catabolised into N-acetylmannosamine (ManNAc) and pyruvate via the action of a Neu5Ac specific aldolase that is structurally and biochemically typical of NanA-like enzymes, as shownby X-ray crystallography of RgNanA wild-type and site-directed active site mutant K167A in complex with Neu5Ac. We confirmed the importance of this metabolic pathway in vivo by generating a R. gnavus nan cluster deletion mutant that lost the ability to grow on sialylated substrates. We showed that in gnotobiotic mice colonised with R. gnavus wild-type and mutant strains, the fitness of the nan mutant was significantly impaired as compared to the wild-type strain with a reduced ability to colonise the mucus layer. Overall, our study revealed a novel sialic acid pathway in bacteria, which has significant implications for the spatial adaptation of mucin-foraging gut symbionts in health and disease