Thesis advisor: Mary F. Roberts / Thesis advisor: Jianmin Gao / The research reported in this thesis focused on three proteinaceous virulence factors of the intracellular bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes: listeriolysin O (LLO), broad-range phospholipase C (PC-PLC), and phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC). Based on sequence homology of LLO with other cholesterol-dependent cytolysins (CDC), the protein has four domains of which domain 4 is thought to anchor the protein to cholesterol-containing surfaces while domain 3 mediates protein-protein binding on the membrane and contributes α-helices that convert to two β-strands that form the large β-barrel pore. It was previously assumed that the sequential and cooperative behaviors of domain 3 in each LLO monomer required D4 to bind to cholesterol-enriched membranes. By cloning and expressing a separate protein containing domains 1, 2, and 3 (D123) and the isolated domain 4 (D4) of LLO, I could uncouple some of the events in its membrane binding and pore-formation. Flow cytometry, used to investigate protein binding to vesicles and to red blood cells, showed that D123 had no membrane affinity on its own, but became membrane-bound when sub-lytic amounts of LLO were added. D123, not membrane-lytic by itself, became hemolytic when trace amounts of LLO were present to provide a membrane anchor for D123 proteins. FRET and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy were used to show that D123 and LLO formed oligomers at nanomolar concentration and could also associate with one another in the solution. These results suggest that D4 provides an initial membrane attachment but need not be present on all monomers to trigger the cooperative conformational change that leads to membrane insertion and pore formation. The gene for L. monocytogenes PC-PLC was obtained, expressed in E. coli and the product protein purified and characterized. The zinc content of this metalloenzyme was analyzed with ICP-MS. The dissociation constants of the three zinc ions proposed as necessary for PC-PLC activity ranged from 0.05 to 60 μM. Enzymatic activities of PC-PLC were analyzed for various substrates, include long-chain phospholipid in vesicles (LUVs, SUVs) and micelles (Triton X-100), and short-chain lipids (diC4PC, diC6PC, diC7PC) mono-dispersed in solutions. Key results include the following: (1) the L. monocytogenes PC-PLC has an acidic pH optimum (in contrast to other bacterial PC-PLC enzymes) consistent with its role in vacuole lysis upon acidification; (2) the preference of PC-PLC for longer chain monomeric substrates is not because of a higher kcat but a reduced Km suggesting some amount of hydrophobicity is important for substrate binding in the active site; (3) the apparent Kd of PC-PLC for Zn2+ derived from kinetics at pH 6.0 (1.94 ± 0.22 μM) is lower that that from ICP-MC; and (4) PC-PLC enzymatic activity is not enhanced by added LLO that generates pores in vesicles (likewise, PC-PLC does not affect the membrane lytic activity of LLO) indicating no synergism between the two virulence factors. These results should aid in understanding the function of PC-PLC in L. monocytogenes pathogenicity. The L. monocytogenes PI-PLC and a variant with reduced catalytic activity were expressed and are currently used in a collaborative project with the Portnoy laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Chemistry.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_103619 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Huang, Qiongying |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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