Ro ribonucleoproteins are antigenic protein-RNA particles that are the major targets of the immune reaction in autoimmune disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus. The Ro protein has been implicated in cellular RNA quality control, due to its preference for binding misfolded non-coding RNAs such as pre5S ribosomal RNAs and U2 small-nuclear RNAs besides binding cytoplasmic RNAs called Y RNAs. Although well characterized in eukaryotes, an understanding of Ro in prokaryotes is lacking. To gain structural insight into Ro-RNA interactions we have determined a high resolution crystal structure of Rsr, a Ro ortholog from the bacterium D. radiodurans. The structure of Rsr reveals two domains- a flexible, RNA binding HEAT repeat domain and a cation binding vonWillebrand factor A domain. Structural differences between Rsr and Xenopus laevis Ro at the misfolded non-coding RNA binding site suggest a possible conformational switch in Ro that might enable RNA binding. Structural and biochemical characterization reveals that Ro binds cytoplasmic small RNAs called Y RNAs with low nanomolar affinity, to form ~700kDa multimers. Formation of these multimers suggests one possible mode by which Ro RNAs may be targeted towards downstream processing events. Metal responsive transcriptional regulators sense specific metals in the cells and regulate the expression of specific operons involved in export, import or sequestration of the metal. CsoR is a copper(I) specific transcriptional regulator of the cso operon which consists of a putative copper export pump, CtpV. In copper limiting conditions, CsoR binds the operator/promoter region of the cso operon. In increased concentrations of copper (I), CsoR binds copper (I) with high affinity and is released from the operator/promoter site, causing derepression of the cso operon. To gain structural insight into CsoR function, we have solved the crystal structure of copper(I) bound CsoR. The structure reveals a homodimer with a subunit bridging copper site. The trigonal planar geometry and the presence of cysteine and histidine ligands at the metal site are favorable for copper(I) binding. The structure reveals a novel DNA binding fold in CsoR, making it the founding member of a new structural class of metalloregulators.

Ro ribonucleoproteins are antigenic protein-RNA particles that are the major targets of the immune reaction in autoimmune disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus. The Ro protein has been implicated in cellular RNA quality control, due to its preference for binding misfolded non-coding RNAs such as pre5S ribosomal RNAs and U2 small-nuclear RNAs besides binding cytoplasmic RNAs called Y RNAs. Although well characterized in eukaryotes, an understanding of Ro in prokaryotes is lacking. To gain structural insight into Ro-RNA interactions we have determined a high resolution crystal structure of Rsr, a Ro ortholog from the bacterium D. radiodurans. The structure of Rsr reveals two domains- a flexible, RNA binding HEAT repeat domain and a cation binding vonWillebrand factor A domain. Structural differences between Rsr and Xenopus laevis Ro at the misfolded non-coding RNA binding site suggest a possible conformational switch in Ro that might enable RNA binding. Structural and biochemical characterization reveals that Ro binds cytoplasmic small RNAs called Y RNAs with low nanomolar affinity, to form ~700kDa multimers. Formation of these multimers suggests one possible mode by which Ro RNAs may be targeted towards downstream processing events. Metal responsive transcriptional regulators sense specific metals in the cells and regulate the expression of specific operons involved in export, import or sequestration of the metal. CsoR is a copper(I) specific transcriptional regulator of the cso operon which consists of a putative copper export pump, CtpV. In copper limiting conditions, CsoR binds the operator/promoter region of the cso operon. In increased concentrations of copper (I), CsoR binds copper (I) with high affinity and is released from the operator/promoter site, causing derepression of the cso operon. To gain structural insight into CsoR function, we have solved the crystal structure of copper(I) bound CsoR. The structure reveals a homodimer with a subunit bridging copper site. The trigonal planar geometry and the presence of cysteine and histidine ligands at the metal site are favorable for copper(I) binding. The structure reveals a novel DNA binding fold in CsoR, making it the founding member of a new structural class of metalloregulators.

Protein-protein interactions regulate and drive biological processes and understanding the assembly of these interactions is important. The LysR-Type Transcriptional Regulators (LTTRs) are a large family of transcriptional regulators found in prokaryotes. I have used the LTTRs as a model for protein specificity. In order to understand a residue’s contribution to oligomerization, alanine-scanning mutagenesis was used to probe the contribution of residues identified from in silico analysis of two proteins: OxyR and CynR. The contribution of the residues to oligomerization was characterized using lcI repressor fusions. In OxyR, seven residues were identified as hot spots. Moreover, these hot spots are not especially conserved. The interaction surface of OxyR was mapped onto a multiple sequence alignment of the LTTR family. This mapping identified putative contacts in the CynR regulatory domain dimer interface. Combined with the in vivo testing, three residues were identified as hot spots. The residues identified in OxyR and CynR do not overlap. To investigate the assembly of the LTTRs I used a negative-dominance assay with lcI repressor fusions. Taken together, I show that the LTTRs in E. coli K-12 are mostly specific in their interactions.

Pseudomonas chlororaphis PA23 inhibits several root pathogens in both the greenhouse and field. A LysR-type transcriptional regulator (LTTR) called PtrA (Pseudomonas transcriptional regulator A) that is essential for Sclerotinia sclerotiorum antifungal activity was discovered through transposon mutagenesis. P. chlororaphis PA23 produces the antibiotics phenazine 1-carboxylic acid, 2-hydroxyphenazine and pyrrolnitrin, and several additional products that contribute to biocontrol. Phenotypic assays and proteomic analysis have revealed that production of these secondary metabolites are markedly reduced in a ptrA mutant. Most LTTRs regulate genes that are upstream of and divergently transcribed from the LTTR locus. A short chain dehydrogenase (scd) gene lies immediately upstream of ptrA in the opposite orientation. Characterization of an scd mutant, however, has revealed no significant changes in antifungal activity compared to wild-type PA23. Gene expression analysis of the ptrA mutant indicates that ptrA may exert its regulatory effects through the Gac-Rsm network, and may be controlling expression of the scd gene. Collectively these findings indicate that PtrA is an essential regulator of PA23 biocontrol and is connected to other regulators involved in fungal antagonism.

Rhizobiales encompass a diverse group of microbes, ranging from free-living, soil-dwelling bacteria to disease-causing, intracellular pathogens. Although the lifestyle of these organisms vary, many genetic systems are well conserved. One system, named the AbcR/VtlR system, is found throughout rhizobiales, and even extends to bacteria in other orders within the Alphaproteobacteria. The AbcR sRNAs are an example of sibling sRNAs, where two copies of the abcR gene are typically present in the genome. The AbcRs are involved in the negative regulation of ABC-type transport systems, which are important components for nutrient acquisition. Although the AbcRs share several features amongst organisms, major differences can be found in their functional and regulatory redundancy, the targets they regulate and how they regulate them. Specifically, one major difference in the AbcRs lies in the nucleotide sequences utilized by the sRNAs to bind mRNA targets. In the present studies, the regulatory mechanisms of the AbcR sRNAs were further characterized in the mammalian pathogen Brucella abortus, and the full regulatory profiles of the AbcRs were defined in the plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens. As mentioned above, the AbcR sRNAs are important for the proper regulation of nutrient-acquiring transport systems in the Rhizobiales. Since these sRNAs are critical to the lifestyle of a bacterium, proper regulation of this system is key to survival. A LysR-type transcriptional regulator, named VtlR, was found to be the bonefide transcriptional activator of abcR1 in B. abortus. Furthermore, VtlR has been shown to be a key component in host interactions in several rhizobiales. The preset work has shed light on the evolutionary divergence of this regulator in bacteria, and further defined the regulatory capacity of VtlR in Agrobacterium. Overall, the studies described here have made significant advances in our knowledge of the AbcR/VtlR-regulatory systems in the Rhizobiales, and have further defined this system as being a vital part of host-microbe interactions. / PHD / Understanding the genetic systems utilized by microbes to cause infection is key for developing therapeutics that can be administered to fight against them. Moreover, identifying and characterizing these essential microbial systems can be exploited for the development of drugs to target and shut down these systems, thus causing cell death. The present work took a basic molecular biology approach and characterized a highly conserved genetic system, named the AbcR/VtlR system, in two pathogenic bacteria: the plant pathogen Agrobacterium and the mammalian pathogen Brucella. Overall, the work described here shows this system to be an important component in acquiring nutrients for the microbe, and, most importantly, found the AbcR/VtlR system to be essential for host-microbial interactions.

Posttranslational modification (PTM) of proteins is essential to creating a diverse proteome with the complex functions necessary to regulate key cellular processes. Redox-based PTMs exhibit many desirable characteristics to finely modulate transcriptional regulators; they occur rapidly and can alter protein conformation, localisation and activity. The plant immune system offers an excellent model in which to study redox-based modifications due to the rapid accumulation of oxidising agents that occurs during immune invasion. This so-called “oxidative burst” causes spontaneous oxidation of cysteine residues that are present in many regulatory proteins. These modifications fine-tune the activities of proteins that harbour them, enabling them to act in a concerted effort to reprogram the transcriptome, prioritising the expression of immune-related genes over housekeeping genes. Disulphide bonds (S-S) and S-nitrosothiols (SNO, i.e. the addition of an NO group to a cysteine moiety) have been shown to play particularly important roles in plant immunity. However, what still remains unclear is how these redox-based PTMs are rendered reversible, enabling them to act as molecular signalling switches. The work presented in this thesis explores a class of enzymes that are responsible for controlling the cellular levels of protein oxidation: the Thioredoxins. In addition to their well-established role in reducing disulphide bonds, I demonstrate in Chapter 3 that Thioredoxins are able to reverse protein S-nitrosylation during plant immune signalling. Immune-inducible Thioredoxin-h5 (TRXh5) was shown to be unable to restore immunity in gsnor1 mutants that display excessive accumulation of the NO donor S-nitrosoglutathione, but rescued impaired immunity and defence gene expression in nox1-mutants that exhibit elevated levels of free NO. This data indicates that TRXh5 discriminates between protein-SNO substrates to provide previously unrecognized specificity and reversibility to protein-SNO signalling in plant immunity. Furthermore, data is presented to show that TRXh5 reversed the effects of S.nitrosylation on many immune-related transcriptional regulators in vitro, forming the initial stages of an investigation into which proteins and pathways might be controlled by reversible S-nitrosylation in plant immunity (Chapters 3 & 4). Although the majority of transcriptional regulators are likely modified at their site of action, the nucleus, very little is currently known about nuclear redox signalling in plants. Therefore, in Chapter 5 a subclass of theThioredoxin superfamily was studied, the Nucleoredoxins, which have previously been shown to display disulphide reduction activity and localise in part to the nucleus. Here it is revealed that the activity and nuclear accumulation of Nucleoredoxin 1 (NRX1) is induced by the plant leaf pathogen Pseudomonas syringae, suggesting a key role for this protein in immune signalling. Target-capture experiments and subsequent mass spectrometry analysis identified the first in vitro targets of NRX1 and revealed many proteins with roles in oxidative stress, including the hydrogen peroxide scavenger Catalase 2 (CAT2). Moreover, overexpression of NRX1 was shown to be able to rescue the enhanced cell death phenotype of cat2 knockout mutants in response to the oxidative stressor, methyl viologen. Accordingly, nrx1 knockout mutants also exhibited an enhanced cell death phenotype in response to methyl viologen treatment. Together, these data indicate that NRX1 plays a key role in the control of oxidative stress-mediated cell death, potentially through direct regulation of Catalase proteins. Taken together, the work in this thesis implicates members of the Thioredoxin family as key regulators of transcriptional reprogramming during plant immunity and uncovers a novel role for Thioredoxin superfamily member, NRX1, in the control of oxidative stress.

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