<i>Aeromonas hydrophila</i> uses the type II secretion system to transport protein toxins across the outer membrane. The trans-envelope system is comprised of more than ten proteins, including ExeA and ExeB, which form a complex in the inner membrane and are required for assembly of the ExeD secretion channel multimer, called the secretin, into the outer membrane. A putative peptidoglycan binding domain (Pfam protein families database number PF01471) is present in the periplasmic region of ExeA (pExeA), leading to the hypothesis that ExeA generates gaps in peptidoglycan, a barrier for trans-envelope transport and apparatus assembly, to allow ExeD to assemble into the outer membrane.<p>
In this study, interactions between ExeA and peptidoglycan were examined both <i>in vivo</i> and <i>in vitro</i>. Wild type ExeA, but not the mutants containing substitution mutations of three highly conserved amino acid residues in the putative peptidoglycan binding domain, was cross-linked to peptidoglycan in vivo with DTSSP. Furthermore, the presence of wild type ExeA was also required for co-crosslinking of ExeB and ExeC to peptidoglycan. <i>In vitro</i> cosedimentation revealed that purified pExeA was able to bind to highly purified peptidoglycan. The protein assembled into large multimers in the presence of peptidoglycan fragments, as shown in cross-linking and co-gel filtration experiments. The requirement of peptidoglycan for multimerization was abrogated when the protein was incubated at temperatures above 25 °C. Two pExeA constructs, which disrupted the putative peptidoglycan binding domain, greatly reduced the cosedimentation, accompanied by decreased multimerization in the presence of peptidoglycan fragments. These results provide evidence that the putative peptidoglycan binding domain of ExeA is involved in physical contact with peptidoglycan. The interactions cause ExeA to multimerize, possibly forming a ring-like structure on the peptidoglycan, to generate a gap large enough to accommodate the secretion apparatus and/or to form an assembly scaffold.<p>
The putative peptidoglycan binding domain of ExeA was also analyzed by comparing its amino acid sequence with that of other homologues. The highly conserved amino acid residues were found to cluster at one pocket on the surface in the crystal structure of hydrolase metallo (Zn) DD-peptidase that also contains this domain. We propose that this pocket is the binding site for the peptidoglycan ligand.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-05252009-123139 |
| Date | 27 May 2009 |
| Creators | Li, Gang |
| Contributors | Luo, Yu, Howard, S. Peter, Goldie, Hughes, Delbaere, Louis T. J., Clarke, A. J., Xiao, Wei |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-05252009-123139/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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