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Overexpression and purification of ferric enterobactin esterase from Escherichia coli. Demonstration of enzymatic hydrolysis of enterobactin and its iron complex.

The Escherichia coli ferric enterobactin esterase gene (fes) was cloned into the vector pGEM3Z under the control of the T7 gene 10 promoter and overexpressed to approximately 15% of the total cellular protein. The ferric enterobactin esterase (Fes) enzyme was purified as a 43-kDa monomer by gel filtration chromatography. Purified Fes preparations were examined for esterase activity on enterobactin and its metal complexes and for iron reduction from ferric complexes of enterobactin and 1,3,5-tris(N,N',N"-2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl)aminomethylbenzene (MECAM), a structural analog lacking ester linkages. Fes effectively catalyzed the hydrolysis of both enterobactin and its ferric complex, exhibiting a 4-fold greater activity on the free ligand. It also cleaved the aluminum (III) complex at a rate similar to the ferric complex, suggesting that ester hydrolysis of the ligand backbone is independent of any reductive process associated with the bound metal. Ferrous iron was released from the enterobactin complex at a rate similar to ligand cleavage indicating that hydrolysis and iron reduction are tightly associated. However, no detectable release of ferrous iron from the MECAM complex implies that, with these in vitro preparations, metal reduction depends upon, and is subsequent to, the esterase activity of Fes. These observations are discussed in relation to studies which show that such enterobactin analogs can supply growth-promoting iron concentrations to E. coli.

Carboxylic Ester Hydrolases

Enterobactin-mediated iron transport in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

A pyoverdine-deficient strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was unable to grow in an iron-deficient minimal medium in the presence of the nonmetabolizable iron chelator ethylene diamine-di(omega-hydroxyphenol acetic acid) (EDDHA), although addition of enterobactin to EDDHA-containing minimal media did restore growth of the pyoverdine-deficient P. aeruginosa. Consistent with the apparent ability of enterobactin to provide iron to P. aeruginosa, enterobactin-dependent 55Fe3+ uptake was observed in cells of P. aeruginosa previously grown in an iron-deficient medium containing enterobactin (or enterobactin-containing Escherichia coli culture supernatant). This uptake was energy dependent, was observable at low concentrations (60 nM) of FeCl3, and was absent in cells cultured without enterobactin. A novel protein with a molecular weight of approximately 80,000 was identified in the outer membranes of cells grown in iron-deficient minimal medium containing enterobactin, concomitant with the induction of enterobactin-dependent iron uptake. A Tn501 insertion mutant lacking this protein was isolated and shown to be deficient in enterobactin-mediated iron transport at 60 nM FeCl3, although it still exhibited enterobactin-dependent growth in iron-deficient medium containing EDDHA. It was subsequently observed that the mutant was, however, capable of enterobactin-mediated iron transport at much higher concentrations (600 nM) of FeCl3. Indeed, enterobactin-dependent iron uptake at this concentration of iron was observed in both the mutant and parent strains irrespective of whether they had been cultured in the presence of enterobactin. Apparently, at least two uptake systems for ferrienterobactin exist in P. aeruginosa: one of higher affinity which is specifically inducible by enterobactin under iron-limiting conditions and the second, of lower affinity, which is also inducible under iron-limiting conditions but is independent of enterobactin for induction.

Biological Transport

Recognition and transport of ferric enterobactin in Escherichia coli.

The specificity of the outer membrane protein receptor for ferric enterobactin transport in Escherichia coli and the mechanism of enterobactin-mediated transport of ferric ions across the outer membrane have been studied. Transport kinetic and inhibition studies with ferric enterobactin and synthetic structural analogs have mapped the parts of the molecule important for receptor binding. The ferric complex of the synthetic structural analog of enterobactin, 1,3,5-N,N',N''-tris-(2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl)triaminomethylbenzene (MECAM), was transported with the same maximum velocity as was ferric enterobactin. A double-label transport assay with [59Fe, 3H]MECAM showed that the ligand and the metal are transported across the outer membrane at an identical rate. Under the growth conditions used, large fractions of the transported complexes were available for exchange across the outer membrane when a large excess of extracellular complex was added to the cell suspension; at least 60% of the internalized [59Fe]enterobactin exchanged with extracellular [55Fe]enterobactin. Internalized [59Fe, 3H]MECAM was released from the cell as the intact complex when either unlabeled Fe-MECAM or Fe-enterobactin was added extracellularly. The results suggest a mechanism of active transport of unmodified coordination complex across the outer membrane with possible accumulation in the periplasm.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins

Ferric enterobactin transport system in Escherichia coli K-12. Extraction, assay, and specificity of the outer membrane receptor.

An outer membrane preparation from cells of Escherichia coli K-12 grown in low iron medium was found to retain ferric enterobactin binding activity following solubilization in a Tris-HCl, Na2EDTA buffer containing Triton X-100. Activity was measured by means of a DEAE-cellulose column which separated free and receptor bound ferric enterobactin. The binding activity was greatly reduced in preparations obtained from cells grown in iron rich media or from cells of a colicin B resistant mutant grown in either high or low iron media. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis enabled correlation of this lack of activity to a single band missing in the outer membrane profile of the colicin B mutant. Evidence was obtained for in vitro competition between ferric enterobactin and colicin B for the extracted receptor. The binding specificity of the extracted receptor was examined by competition between ferric enterobactin and several iron chelates including a carbocyclic analogue of enterobactin, cis-1,5,9-tris(2,3-dihydroxybenzamido)cyclododecane. The ferric form of the latter compound supported growth of siderophore auxotrophs, apparently without hydrolysis to dihydroxybenzoic acid and resynthesis into enterobactin. These data may require revision of the accepted mechanism of enterobactin mediated iron utilization.

Cell Membrane

Role of the entC gene in enterobactin and menaquinone biosynthesis in Escherichia coli.

Tn10 mutants of Escherichia coli MC4100 were screened for their inability to grow under iron deficiency and for their inability to grow under anaerobiosis in the presence of fumarate as an electron acceptor. A strain so obtained (E. coli PBB1) lacked the ability to convert chorismic acid to isochorismic acid. This shows that the gene (entC) encoding isochorismate synthase was mutated. E. coli PBB1 did not produce any detectable amounts of menaquinones (vitamin K2) or enterobactin. When supplemented with isochorismic acid this strain produced menaquinones, indicating that isochorismic acid is involved not only in enterobactin but also in menaquinone biosynthesis. The entC gene was isolated and was shown to be part of the enterobactin gene cluster: It was located on a DNA fragment (9 kb in length) which also carried the entA gene. The DNA fragment was identified by restriction site mapping and was compared to a previously published map of the enterobactin gene cluster. The entC gene on this fragment responds not only to conditions (iron deficiency) that stimulate enterobactin biosynthesis but also to anaerobiosis which results in increased isochorismic acid formation and increased menaquinone biosynthesis. We conclude that isochorismic acid, isochorismic synthase, and the gene (entC) encoding this enzyme are involved in catalytic events at a metabolic branch point from which both enterobactin and menaquinones originate.

DNA Transposable Elements

Genetics and regulation of enterobactin genes in Shigella flexneri.

Although Shigella flexneri possesses the genes for two siderophore systems, enterobactin and aerobactin, the enterobactin system is only rarely utilized. To investigate the regulation of enterobactin expression in S. flexneri, all of the genes specifically required for synthesis and transport of enterobactin were cloned from both an expressing (Ent+) and a nonexpressing (Ent-) strain. Notable differences between the cloned genes included endonuclease restriction site changes and the presence of an IS1 element in the Ent- DNA. Southern hybridization revealed that this IS1 element, present at the 3' end of the entF gene, is conserved at this location in different strains and serotypes of Ent- S. flexneri. The Ent- cloned genes were tested for their ability to complement the defect in 11 different Escherichia coli enterobactin mutants. The Ent- genes fully complemented nine mutants but failed to complement the entF mutant AN117 and only partially complemented the entE mutant AN93. Whole-cell RNA isolated from E. coli and the Shigella strains was hybridized to 32P-labeled DNA containing the entB gene or a fragment carrying a portion of the entF gene. E. coli and the Ent+ Shigella strains exhibited derepression of transcription of these genes in low-iron media. Transcription in the Ent- strain remained repressed regardless of iron concentration. Expression of the entB and entF genes was also examined in an Ent- Shigella fur mutant. Expression of entF was only partially derepressed and entB remained fully repressed at all iron concentrations, suggesting that factors other than Fur are responsible for the repression of these enterobactin genes in the Ent- Shigella strains.

Cloning, Molecular

Iron transport in Salmonella typhimurium: mutants blocked in the biosynthesis of enterobactin.

A number of mutants of Salmonella typhimurium were isolated which are blocked in the biosynthesis of enterobactin, an iron chelator that is secreted by the wild-type bacteria when they are grown on low iron media. One class of these enb mutants accumulates the enterobactin precursor 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid, and another class does not accumulate any detectable catechol precursor. The enb mutants grow very well on a glucose-mineral salts medium. Addition of citrate, itself an iron chelator, to the medium drastically inhibits growth unless the medium is supplemented with enterobactin or iron salts. Citrate inhibits iron uptake from the medium by enb mutants; enterobactin counteracts this inhibition and also, by itself, increases iron uptake. Thus, the apparent function of enterobactin is to promote the absorption of iron from the medium by the bacteria. Transduction experiments showed that the genes for enterobactin biosynthesis are closely linked on the S. typhimurium chromosome. It is suggested that they form an operon which is repressed by the presence of iron. S. typhimurium can utilize the iron chelate ferrichrome. (Deferriferrichrome is a cyclic hexapeptide that is produced by some fungi but not by S. typhimurium.) The enb mutants use ferrichrome as an effective growth factor.

Benzoates

Genetic analysis of the enterobactin gene cluster in Shigella flexneri.

The genes for transport and synthesis of the phenolate siderophore enterobactin are present on the chromosomes of both Ent+ and Ent- clinical isolates of Shigella flexneri. To determine why Ent- S. flexneri isolates fail to express a functional enterobactin system, the structure and expression of enterobactin genes were examined. Several alterations may be responsible for the inability of S. flexneri to express enterobactin. (i) The mRNA levels produced from the entC and fepB genes were not derepressed in low-iron media. (ii) DNA sequence analysis of the entC-fepB intergenic region revealed an 83-bp noncontiguous deletion in the putative fepB leader sequence. The deleted sequences are in a region which would be capable of forming extensive stem-and-loop structures. (iii) An amber codon in the 5' portion of the entC gene was also detected. (iv) An IS1 element, previously mapped to the Ent- S. flexneri enterobactin gene cluster, was found to lie within a potential transcriptional termination sequence in the entF-fepE intergenic region. (v) A mutation responsible for the inactivation of the entF gene was mapped to the entF coding region by using entF hybrid gene fusions. (vi) A comparison of outer membrane profiles from an E. coli strain harboring the cloned fepA gene from either an Ent+ or Ent- Shigella isolate revealed that the Ent- FepA protein is present in the outer membrane but at greatly reduced levels than that of the Ent+ FepA protein. This observation, along with additional studies, suggests that the Ent- FepA may be defective in translation and/or translocation.

Base Sequence

Influence of growth rate and iron limitation on the expression of outer membrane proteins and enterobactin by Klebsiella pneumoniae grown in continuous culture.

The influence of the growth rate on outer membrane protein composition and enterobactin production was studied with Klebsiella pneumoniae grown under conditions of iron limitation in chemostats. More enterobactin was produced at fast (D = 0.4 h-1) and slow (D = 0.1 h-1) growth rates in continuous cultures than in either logarithmic- or stationary-phase batch cultures. When the growth rate was controlled under conditions of carbon limitation and the iron level was reduced to 0.5 microM, the iron-regulated outer membrane proteins and enterobactin were induced at the fast growth rate. At the slow growth rate, although the iron-regulated outer membrane proteins were barely visible, a significant level of enterobactin was still produced. These results suggest that under conditions of either carbon or iron limitation, the growth rate can influence the induction of the high-affinity iron uptake system of K. pneumoniae. Other outer membrane proteins, including a 39-kilodalton peptidoglycan-associated protein, were found to vary with the growth rate and nutrient limitation.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins

Genetic organization of multiple fep genes encoding ferric enterobactin transport functions in Escherichia coli.

Three genes were shown to provide functions specific for ferric enterobactin transport in Escherichia coli: fepA encoded the outer membrane receptor, fepB produced a periplasmic protein, and the fepC product was presumably a component of a cytoplasmic membrane permease system for this siderophore. A 10.6-kilobase-pair E. coli chromosomal EcoRI restriction fragment containing the fepB and fepC genes was isolated from a genomic library constructed in the vector pBR328. Both cistrons were localized on this clone (pITS24) by subcloning and deletion and insertion mutagenesis to positions that were separated by approximately 2.5 kilobases. Within this region, insertion mutations defining an additional ferric enterobactin transport gene (fepD) were isolated, and polarity effects from insertions into fepB suggested that fepD is encoded downstream on the same transcript. A 31,500-dalton FepC protein and a family of FepB polypeptides ranging from 34,000 to 37,000 daltons were identified in E. coli minicells, but the product of fepD was not detectable by this system. Another insertion mutation between entF and fepC was also shown to disrupt iron transport via enterobactin and thus defined the fepE locus; fepE weakly expressed a 43,000-dalton protein in minicells. It is proposed that these newly identified genes, fepD and fepE, provide functions which act in conjunction with the fepC product to form the ferric enterobactin-specific cytoplasmic membrane permease. An additional 44,000-dalton protein was identified and shown to be expressed from a gene that is situated between fepB and entE and that is transcribed in the direction opposite that of fepB. Although the function of this protein is uncharacterized, its membrane location suggests that it too may function in iron transport.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins

Surface topology of the Escherichia coli K-12 ferric enterobactin receptor.

Monoclonal antibodies (MAb) were raised to the Escherichia coli K-12 ferric enterobactin receptor, FepA, and used to identify regions of the polypeptide that are involved in interaction with its ligands ferric enterobactin and colicins B and D. A total of 11 distinct FepA epitopes were identified. The locations of these epitopes within the primary sequence of FepA were mapped by screening MAb against a library of FepA::PhoA fusion proteins, a FepA deletion mutant, and proteolytically modified FepA. These experiments localized the 11 epitopes to seven different regions within the FepA polypeptide, including residues 2 to 24, 27 to 37, 100 to 178, 204 to 227, 258 to 290, 290 to 339, and 382 to 400 of the mature protein. Cell surface-exposed epitopes of FepA were identified and discriminated by cytofluorimetry and by the ability of MAb that recognize them to block the interaction of FepA with its ligands. Seven surface epitopes were defined, including one each in regions 27 to 37, 204 to 227, and 258 to 290 and two each in regions 290 to 339 and 382 to 400. One of these, within region 290 to 339, was recognized by MAb in bacteria containing intact (rfa+) lipopolysaccharide (LPS); all other surface epitopes were susceptible to MAb binding only in a strain containing a truncated (rfaD) LPS core, suggesting that they are physically shielded by E. coli K-12 LPS core sugars. Antibody binding to FepA surface epitopes within region 290 to 339 or 382 to 400 inhibited killing by colicin B or D and the uptake of ferric enterobactin. In addition to the FepA-specific MAb, antibodies that recognized other outer membrane components, including Cir, OmpA, TonA, and LPS, were identified. Immunochemical and biochemical characterization of the surface structures of FepA and analysis of its hydrophobicity and amphilicity were used to generate a model of the ferric enterobactin receptor's transmembrane strands, surface peptides, and ligand-binding domains.

Amino Acid Sequence

[Excretion of 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid by an enterobactin-negative multiresistant wild strain of Salmonella typhimurium].

In investigations of iron siderophores produced by different Salmonella typhimurium strains we found a strain deficient in enterobactin production. Using microbiological and chemical methods, we detected the production and excretion of 2,3-dihydrobenzoic acid, a metabolite of the enterobactin biosynthesis pathway. The strain was able to produce aerobactin. We suggest that the iron uptake of pathogenic strains can be mediated by aerobactin alone. For a correct enterobactin bioassay it is necessary to use a mutant unable to grow on 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid.

Chromatography, Paper

Utilization of enterobactin and other exogenous iron sources by Haemophilus influenzae, H. parainfluenzae and H. paraphrophilus.

The ability of Haemophilus influenzae, H. parainfluenzae and H. paraphrophilus to utilize iron complexes, iron-proteins and exogenous microbial siderophores was evaluated. In a plate bioassay, all three species used not only ferric nitrate but also the iron chelates ferric citrate, ferric nitrilotriacetate and ferric 2,3-dihydroxybenzoate. Each Haemophilus species examined also used haemin, haemoglobin and haem-albumin as iron sources although only H. influenzae could acquire iron from transferrin or from haemoglobin complexed with haptoglobin. None of the haemophili obtained iron from ferritin or lactoferrin or from the microbial siderophores aerobactin or desferrioxamine B. However, the phenolate siderophore enterobactin supplied iron to both H. parainfluenzae and H. paraphrophilus, and DNA isolated from both organisms hybridized with a DNA probe prepared from the Escherichia coli ferric enterobactin receptor gene fepA. In addition, a monospecific polyclonal antiserum raised against the E. coli 81 kDa ferric enterobactin receptor (FepA) recognized an iron-repressible outer membrane protein (OMP) in H. parainfluenzae of between 80 and 82 kDa (depending on the strain). This anti-FepA serum did not cross-react with any of the OMPs of H. paraphrophilus or H. influenzae. The OMPs of each Haemophilus species were also probed with antisera raised against the 74 kDa Cir or 74 kDa IutA (aerobactin receptor) proteins of E. coli. Apart from one H. parainfluenzae strain (NCTC 10665), in which an OMP of about 80 kDa cross-reacted with the anti-IutA sera, no cross-reactivity was observed between Cir, IutA and the OMPs of H. influenzae, H. parainfluenzae or H. paraphrophilus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins

Escherichia coli iron enterobactin uptake monitored by Mössbauer spectroscopy.

Iron uptake by Escherichia coli under aerobic conditions of iron deficiency is mediated by a highly stable ferric enterobactin [Fe(ent)3-] siderophore complex. Mössbauer spectroscopy has been used to monitor the fate of the iron as 57Fe(ent) was taken up by the cells. Osmotic shock experiments were used to distinguish between the iron present in the periplasmic space and that in the cytoplasm of the cell. Iron delivery by a synthetic analog of enterobactin, 1,3,5-N,N',N''- tris-(2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl)triaminomethylbenzene (MECAM), was also studied. Although Fe-MECAM was transported at the same rate as was Fe(ent) across the outer membrane and was apparently accumulated in the periplasmic space, the subsequent behaviors of Fe(ent) and Fe-MECAM were very different. After more than 30 min, a major fraction of the iron originally absorbed as ferric enterobactin appeared as Fe(II), apparently in the cytoplasm of the cell. However, little iron was delivered to the cytoplasm by the MECAM complex. The differences in specificity of these two stages of iron uptake by E. coli are discussed.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins

Evolution of the ferric enterobactin receptor in gram-negative bacteria.

Using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of iron-deficient and replete cell envelopes, 59Fe-siderophore uptake studies, and Western immunoblots and cytofluorimetric analyses with monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), we surveyed a panel of gram-negative bacteria to identify outer membrane proteins that are structurally related to the Escherichia coli K-12 ferric enterobactin receptor, FepA. Antibodies within the panel identified FepA epitopes that are conserved among the majority of the bacteria tested, as well as epitopes present in only a few of the strains. In general, epitopes of FepA that are buried in the outer membrane bilayer were more conserved among gram-negative bacteria than epitopes that are exposed on the bacterial cell surface. The surface topology and tertiary structure of FepA are quite similar in E. coli and Shigella flexneri but differ in Salmonella typhimurium. Of the 18 different genera tested, 94% of the bacteria transported ferric enterobactin, including members of the previously unrecognized genera Citrobacter, Edwardsiella, Enterobacter, Haemophilus, Hafnia, Morganella, Neisseria, Proteus, Providencia, Serratia, and Yersinia. The ferric enterobactin receptor contains at least one buried epitope, recognized by MAb 2 (C. K. Murphy, V. I. Kalve, and P. E. Klebba, J. Bacteriol. 172:2736-2746, 1990), that is conserved within the structure of an iron-regulated cell envelope protein in all the bacteria that we have surveyed. With MAb 2, we identified and determined the Mr of cell envelope antigens that are immunologically related to E. coli FepA in all the gram-negative bacteria tested. Collectively, the library of anti-FepA MAbs showed unique patterns of reactivity with the different bacteria, allowing identification and discrimination of species within the following gram-negative genera: Aeromonas, Citrobacter, Edwardsiella, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Haemophilus, Hafnia, Klebsiella, Morganella, Neisseria, Proteus, Providencia, Pseudomonas, Salmonella, Serratia, Shigella, Vibrio, and Yersinia.

Amino Acid Sequence

Antigenic and molecular homology of the ferric enterobactin receptor protein of Escherichia coli.

The ferric enterobactin receptor protein (81 kDal) of Escherichia coli O111 was purified by preparative sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and used to raise polyclonal antiserum in rabbits. This antiserum was used in conjunction with the immunoblot technique to examine the degree of antigenic homology of the ferric enterobactin receptor protein among 17 pathogenic and laboratory strains of E. coli. Both the molecular weight and the antigenic properties of the enterobactin receptor were highly conserved. However, the laboratory strain C and a pathogenic enteroinvasive strain, E. coli O164, were unusual in not producing the 81 kDal protein. The antiserum also recognized an 81 kDal protein from iron-restricted Salmonella typhimurium and an 83 kDal protein from iron-restricted Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Antibodies, Bacterial

Molecular analysis of the Escherichia coli ferric enterobactin receptor FepA.

In Escherichia coli, the outer membrane protein FepA is a receptor for the siderophore complex ferric enterobactin and for colicins B and D. To identify protein domains important for FepA activity, the effects of deletion and linker insertion mutations on receptor structure and function were examined. In-frame internal deletion mutations removing sequences encoding up to 304 amino acid residues resulted in functionally defective FepA polypeptides, although most were translocated efficiently to the outer membrane. One exception, a derivative lacking 87 internal amino acid residues near the N terminus, showed an inability to transport ferric enterobactin but retained limited colicin receptor function. Analysis of cells carrying 3'-terminal fepA deletion mutations suggested that residues within the C terminus of FepA may be involved in secretion and proper translocation of the protein to the outer membrane. Introduction of the peptide Leu-Glu after FepA residues 55, 142, or 324 severely impaired receptor function for all three ligands, while the same insertion after residues 339 or 359 had virtually no detrimental effect on FepA function. Foreign peptides inserted after residues 204 or 635 restricted colicin B and D function only, leaving ferric enterobactin transport ability at near wild-type levels. The results presented in this study have identified key regions of FepA potentially involved in receptor function and demonstrate the presence of both shared and unique ligand-responsive domains.

Amino Acid Sequence

Identification of enterobactin and linear dihydroxybenzoylserine compounds by HPLC and ion spray mass spectrometry (LC/MS and MS/MS).

The production of catecholate siderophores was studied in some selected species of Enterobacter (Enterobacteriaceae). The extracted catecholates were separated as iron-free compounds by HPLC on a C18 reversed-phase column using methanol/0.1% phosphoric acid or methanol/0.1% formic acid as a solvent system and identified by ion spray mass spectrometry (LC/MS, MS/MS). Five catecholate compounds were identified which include 2,3-dihydroxybenzoylserine, its linear dimer and trimer, the cyclic enterobactin and an unidentified isomer of enterobactin. In addition, a new large-scale method for the isolation of catecholate siderphores is described which is based on adsorption on XAD-2 and subsequent purification on Sephadex LH20.

Biopolymers