Biomedical subjects

Tyrrell Conway

Publications and source records attributed to Tyrrell Conway.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

In search of the minimal Escherichia coli genome.

Recent plans announced for the systematic cataloging of the minimal Escherichia coli gene set, the phenotypes of all mutations, the expression levels of every transcript and gene product, and the interactions of all genetic loci or their gene products point the way towards a new frontier in the biology of model organisms. Powerful tools for this endeavor are emerging, and efforts to organize the E. coli community are under way. The anticipated benefit is a functional model of the bacterial cell.

Cloning, Molecular↗

PubMed2003

Microarray expression profiling: capturing a genome-wide portrait of the transcriptome.

The bacterial transcriptome is a dynamic entity that reflects the organism's immediate, ongoing and genome-wide response to its environment. Microarray expression profiling provides a comprehensive portrait of the transcriptional world enabling us to view the organism as a 'system' that is more than the sum of its parts. The vigilance of microorganisms to environmental change, the alacrity of the transcriptional response, the short half-life of bacterial mRNA and the genome-scale nature of the investigation collectively explain the power of this method. These same features pose the most significant experimental design and execution issues which, unless surmounted, predictably generate a distorted image of the transcriptome. Conversely, the expression profile of a properly conceived and conducted microarray experiment can be used for hypothesis testing: disclosure of the metabolic and biosynthetic pathways that underlie adaptation of the organism to chang-ing conditions of growth; the identification of co-ordinately regulated genes; the regulatory circuits and signal transduction systems that mediate the adaptive response; and temporal features of developmental programmes. The study of bacterial pathogenesis by microarray expression profiling poses special challenges and opportunities. Although the technical hurdles are many, obtaining expression profiles of an organism growing in tissue will probably reveal strategies for growth and survival in the host's microenvironment. Identifying these colonization strategies and their cognate expression patterns involves a 'deconstruction' process that combines bioinformatics analysis and in vitro DNA array experimentation.

Bacteria↗

PubMed2003

Evidence that acetyl phosphate functions as a global signal during biofilm development.

We used DNA macroarray analysis to identify genes that respond to the status of the intracellular acetyl phosphate (acP) pool. Genes whose expression correlated negatively with the ability to synthesize acP (i.e. negatively regulated genes) function primarily in flagella biosynthesis, a result consistent with observations that we published previously (Prüss and Wolfe, 1994, Mol Microbiol 12: 973-984). In contrast, genes whose expression correlated positively with the ability to synthesize acP (i.e. positively regulated genes) include those for type 1 pilus assembly, colanic acid (capsule) biosynthesis and certain stress effectors. To our knowledge, this constitutes the first report that these genes may respond to the status of the intracellular acP pool. Previously, other researchers have implicated flagella, type 1 pili, capsule and diverse stress effectors in the formation of biofilms. We therefore tested whether cells altered in their ability to metabolize acP could construct normal biofilms, and found that they could not. Cells defective for the production of acP and cells defective for the degradation of acP could both form biofilms, but these biofilms exhibited characteristics substantially different from each other and from biofilms formed by their wild-type parent. We confirmed the role of individual cell surface structures, the expression of which appears to correlate with acP levels, in fim or fli mutants that cannot assemble type 1 pili or flagella respectively. Thus, the information gained by expression profiling of cells with altered acP metabolism indicates that acP may help to co-ordinate the expression of surface structures and cellular processes involved in the initial stages of wild-type biofilm development.

Bacterial Adhesion↗

PubMed2003

GadE (YhiE) activates glutamate decarboxylase-dependent acid resistance in Escherichia coli K-12.

Commensal and pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli possess three inducible acid resistance systems that collaboratively protect cells against acid stress to pH 2 or below. The most effective system requires glutamate in the acid challenge media and relies on two glutamate decarboxylases (GadA and B) combined with a putative glutamate:gamma-aminobutyric acid antiporter (GadC). A complex network of regulators mediates induction of this system in response to various media, pH and growth phase signals. We report that the LuxR-like regulator GadE (formerly YhiE) is required for expression of gadA and gadBC regardless of media or growth conditions. This protein binds directly to the 20 bp GAD box sequence found in the control regions of both loci. Two previously identified AraC-like regulators, GadX and GadW, are only needed for gadA/BC expression under some circumstances. Overexpression of GadX or GadW will not overcome a need for GadE. However, overexpression of GadE can supplant a requirement for GadX and W. Data provided also indicate that GadX and GadE can simultaneously bind the area around the GAD box region and probably form a complex. The gadA, gadBC and gadE genes are all induced by low pH in exponential phase cells grown in minimal glucose media. The acid induction of gadA/BC results primarily from the acid induction of gadE. Constitutive expression of GadE removes most pH control over the glutamate decarboxylase and antiporter genes. The small amount of remaining pH control is governed by GadX and W. The finding that gadE mutations also diminish the effectiveness of the other two acid resistance systems suggests that GadE influences the expression of additional acid resistance components. The number of regulatory proteins (five), sigma factors (two) and regulatory feedback loops focused on gadA/BC expression make this one of the most intensively regulated systems in E. coli.

Antiporters↗

PubMed2003

An Escherichia coli MG1655 lipopolysaccharide deep-rough core mutant grows and survives in mouse cecal mucus but fails to colonize the mouse large intestine.

The ability of E. coli strains to colonize the mouse large intestine has been correlated with their ability to grow in cecal and colonic mucus. In the present study, an E. coli MG1655 strain was mutagenized with a mini-Tn5 Km (kanamycin) transposon, and mutants were tested for the ability to grow on agar plates with mouse cecal mucus as the sole source of carbon and nitrogen. One mutant, designated MD42 (for mucus defective), grew poorly on cecal-mucus agar plates but grew well on Luria agar plates and on glucose minimal-agar plates. Sequencing revealed that the insertion in MD42 was in the waaQ gene, which is involved in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) core biosynthesis. Like "deep-rough" E. coli mutants, MD42 was hypersensitive to sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), bile salts, and the hydrophobic antibiotic novobiocin. Furthermore, its LPS core oligosaccharide was truncated, like that of a deep-rough mutant. MD42 initially grew in the large intestines of streptomycin-treated mice but then failed to colonize (<10(2) CFU per g of feces), whereas its parent colonized at levels between 10(7) and 10(8) CFU per g of feces. When mouse cecal mucosal sections were hybridized with an E. coli-specific rRNA probe, MD42 was observed in cecal mucus as clumps 24 h postfeeding, whereas its parent was present almost exclusively as single cells, suggesting that clumping may play a role in preventing MD42 colonization. Surprisingly, MD42 grew nearly as well as its parent during growth in undiluted, highly viscous cecal mucus isolated directly from the mouse cecum and, like its parent, survived well after reaching stationary phase, suggesting that there are no antimicrobials in mucus that prevent MD42 colonization. After mini-mariner transposon mutagenesis, an SDS-resistant suppressor mutant of MD42 was isolated. The mini-mariner insertion was shown to be in the bipA gene, a known regulator of E. coli surface components. When grown in Luria broth, the LPS core of the suppressor mutant remained truncated; however, the LPS core was not truncated when the suppressor mutant was grown in the presence of SDS. Moreover, when the suppressor mutant was grown in the presence of SDS and fed to mice, it colonized the mouse large intestine. Collectively, the data presented here suggest that BipA may play a role in E. coli MG1655 LPS core biosynthesis and that because MD42 forms clumps in intestinal mucus, it is unable to colonize the mouse large intestine.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

The Entner-Doudoroff pathway has little effect on Helicobacter pylori colonization of mice.

Helicobacter pylori mutants deficient in 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase (6PGD) were constructed. Colonization densities were lower and minimum infectious doses were higher for mutant strains than for wild-type strains. In spite of better colonization, however, wild-type strains did not displace the mutant in cocolonization experiments. Loss of 6PGD diminishes the fitness of H. pylori in vivo, but the pathway is nonessential for colonization.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Genes of the GadX-GadW regulon in Escherichia coli.

Acid in the stomach is thought to be a barrier to bacterial colonization of the intestine. Escherichia coli, however, has three systems for acid resistance, which overcome this barrier. The most effective of these systems is dependent on transport and decarboxylation of glutamate. GadX regulates two genes that encode isoforms of glutamate decarboxylase critical to this system, but additional genes associated with the glutamate-dependent acid resistance system remained to be identified. The gadX gene and a second downstream araC-like transcription factor gene, gadW, were mutated separately and in combination, and the gene expression profiles of the mutants were compared to those of the wild-type strain grown in neutral and acidified media under conditions favoring induction of glutamate-dependent acid resistance. Cluster and principal-component analyses identified 15 GadX-regulated, acid-inducible genes. Reverse transcriptase mapping demonstrated that these genes are organized in 10 operons. Analysis of the strain lacking GadX but possessing GadW confirmed that GadX is a transcriptional activator under acidic growth conditions. Analysis of the strain lacking GadW but possessing GadX indicated that GadW exerts negative control over three GadX target genes. The strain lacking both GadX and GadW was defective in acid induction of most but not all GadX target genes, consistent with the roles of GadW as an inhibitor of GadX-dependent activation of some genes and an activator of other genes. Resistance to acid was decreased under certain conditions in a gadX mutant and even more so by combined mutation of gadX and gadW. However, there was no defect in colonization of the streptomycin-treated mouse model by the gadX mutant in competition with the wild type, and the gadX gadW mutant was a better colonizer than the wild type. Thus, E. coli colonization of the mouse does not appear to require glutamate-dependent acid resistance.

Acids↗

PubMed2002

Gene expression profiling of Escherichia coli growth transitions: an expanded stringent response model.

When conditions cause bacterial growth to stop, extensive reprogramming of physiology and gene expression allows for the cell's survival. We used whole-genome DNA arrays to determine the system response in Escherichia coli cells experiencing transient growth arrest caused by glucose-lactose diauxie and H2O2 treatment, and also entry into stationary phase. The results show that growth-arrested cells induce stringent control of several gene systems. The vast majority of genes encoding the transcription and translation apparatus immediately downregulate, followed by a global return to steady state when growth resumes. Approximately one-half of the amino acid biosynthesis genes downregulate during growth arrest, with the notable exception of the his operon, which transiently upregulates in the diauxie experiment. Nucleotide biosynthesis downregulates, a result that is again consistent with the stringent response. Likewise, aerobic metabolism downregulates during growth arrest, and the results led us to suggest a model for stringent control of the ArcA regulon. The stationary phase stress response fully induces during growth arrest, whether transient or permanent, in a manner consistent with known mechanisms related to stringent control. Cells similarly induce the addiction module anti-toxin and toxin genes during growth arrest; the latter are known to inhibit translation and DNA replication. The results indicate that in all aspects of the response cells do not distinguish between transient and potentially permanent growth arrest (stationary phase). We introduce an expanded model for the stringent response that integrates induction of stationary phase survival genes and inhibition of transcription, translation and DNA replication. Central to the model is the reprogramming of transcription by guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp), which provides for the cell's rapid response to growth arrest and, by virtue of its brief half-life, the ability to quickly resume growth as changing conditions allow.

Amino Acids↗

PubMed2002

Gene expression profiling of the pH response in Escherichia coli.

Escherichia coli MG1655 acid-inducible genes were identified by whole-genome expression profiling. Cultures were grown to the mid-logarithmic phase on acidified glucose minimal medium, conditions that induce glutamate-dependent acid resistance (AR), while the other AR systems are either repressed or not induced. A total of 28 genes were induced in at least two of three experiments in which the gene expression profiles of cells grown in acid (pH 5.5 or 4.5) were compared to those of cells grown at pH 7.4. As expected, the genes encoding glutamate decarboxylase, gadA and gadB, were significantly induced. Interestingly, two acid-inducible genes code for small basic proteins with pIs of >10.5, and six code for small acidic proteins with pIs ranging from 5.7 to 4.0; the roles of these small basic and acidic proteins in acid resistance are unknown. The acid-induced genes represented only five functional grouping categories, including eight genes involved in metabolism, nine associated with cell envelope structures or modifications, two encoding chaperones, six regulatory genes, and six unknown genes. It is unlikely that all of these genes are involved in the glutamate-dependent AR. However, nine acid-inducible genes are clustered in the gadA region, including hdeA, which encodes a putative periplasmic chaperone, and four putative regulatory genes. One of these putative regulators, yhiE, was shown to significantly increase acid resistance when overexpressed in cells that had not been preinduced by growth at pH 5.5, and mutation of yhiE decreased acid resistance; yhiE could therefore encode an activator of AR genes. Thus, the acid-inducible genes clustered in the gadA region appear to be involved in glutatmate-dependent acid resistance, although their specific roles remain to be elucidated.

Culture Media↗

PubMed2002

Collaborative regulation of Escherichia coli glutamate-dependent acid resistance by two AraC-like regulators, GadX and GadW (YhiW).

An important feature of Escherichia coli pathogenesis is an ability to withstand extremely acidic environments of pH 2 or lower. This acid resistance property contributes to the low infectious dose of pathogenic E. coli species. One very efficient E. coli acid resistance system encompasses two isoforms of glutamate decarboxylase (gadA and gadB) and a putative glutamate:gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) antiporter (gadC). The system is subject to complex controls that vary with growth media, growth phase, and growth pH. Previous work has revealed that the system is controlled by two sigma factors, two negative regulators (cyclic AMP receptor protein [CRP] and H-NS), and an AraC-like regulator called GadX. Earlier evidence suggested that the GadX protein acts both as a positive and negative regulator of the gadA and gadBC genes depending on environmental conditions. New data clarify this finding, revealing a collaborative regulation between GadX and another AraC-like regulator called GadW (previously YhiW). GadX and GadW are DNA binding proteins that form homodimers in vivo and are 42% homologous to each other. GadX activates expression of gadA and gadBC at any pH, while GadW inhibits GadX-dependent activation. Regulation of gadA and gadBC by either regulator requires an upstream, 20-bp GAD box sequence. Northern blot analysis further indicates that GadW represses expression of gadX. The results suggest a control circuit whereby GadW interacts with both the gadA and gadX promoters. GadW clearly represses gadX and, in situations where GadX is missing, activates gadA and gadBC. GadX, however, activates only gadA and gadBC expression. CRP also represses gadX expression. It does this primarily by repressing production of sigma S, the sigma factor responsible for gadX expression. In fact, the acid induction of gadA and gadBC observed when rich-medium cultures enter stationary phase corresponds to the acid induction of sigma S production. These complex control circuits impose tight rein over expression of the gadA and gadBC system yet provide flexibility for inducing acid resistance under many conditions that presage acid stress.

AraC Transcription Factor↗