Metabolic priming by a secreted fungal effector

Maize smut caused by the fungus Ustilago maydis is a widespread disease characterized by the development of large plant tumours. U. maydis is a biotrophic pathogen that requires living plant tissue for its development and establishes an intimate interaction zone between fungal hyphae and the plant plasma membrane. U. maydis actively suppresses plant defence responses by secreted protein effectors. Its effector repertoire comprises at least 386 genes mostly encoding proteins of unknown function and expressed exclusively during the biotrophic stage. The U. maydis secretome also contains about 150 proteins with probable roles in fungal nutrition, fungal cell wall modification and host penetration as well as proteins unlikely to act in the fungal-host interface like a chorismate mutase. Chorismate mutases are key enzymes of the shikimate pathway and catalyse the conversion of chorismate to prephenate, the precursor for tyrosine and phenylalanine synthesis. Root-knot nematodes inject a secreted chorismate mutase into plant cells likely to affect development. Here we show that the chorismate mutase Cmu1 secreted by U. maydis is a virulence factor. The enzyme is taken up by plant cells, can spread to neighbouring cells and changes the metabolic status of these cells through metabolic priming. Secreted chorismate mutases are found in many plant-associated microbes and might serve as general tools for host manipulation.     

Maintenance of an unfolded polypeptide by a cognate chaperone in bacterial type III secretion.

Many bacterial pathogens use a type III protein secretion system to deliver virulence effector proteins directly into the host cell cytosol, where they modulate cellular processes. A requirement for the effective translocation of several such effector proteins is the binding of specific cytosolic chaperones, which typically interact with discrete domains in the virulence factors. We report here the crystal structure at 1.9 A resolution of the chaperone-binding domain of the Salmonella effector protein SptP with its cognate chaperone SicP. The structure reveals that this domain is maintained in an extended, unfolded conformation that is wound around three successive chaperone molecules. Short segments from two different SptP molecules are juxtaposed by the chaperones, where they dimerize across a hydrophobic interface. These results imply that the chaperones associated with the type III secretion system maintain their substrates in a secretion-competent state that is capable of engaging the secretion machinery to travel through the type III apparatus in an unfolded or partially folded manner.     

Signal sequence directs localized secretion of bacterial surface proteins

All living cells require specific mechanisms that target proteins to the cell surface. In eukaryotes, the first part of this process involves recognition in the endoplasmic reticulum of amino-terminal signal sequences and translocation through Sec translocons, whereas subsequent targeting to different surface locations is promoted by internal sorting signals. In bacteria, N-terminal signal sequences promote translocation across the cytoplasmic membrane, which surrounds the entire cell, but some proteins are nevertheless secreted in one part of the cell by poorly understood mechanisms. Here we analyse localized secretion in the Gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes, and show that the signal sequences of two surface proteins, M protein and protein F (PrtF), direct secretion to different subcellular regions. The signal sequence of M protein promotes secretion at the division septum, whereas that of PrtF preferentially promotes secretion at the old pole. Our work therefore shows that a signal sequence may contain information that directs the secretion of a protein to one subcellular region, in addition to its classical role in promoting secretion. This finding identifies a new level of complexity in protein translocation and emphasizes the potential of bacterial systems for the analysis of fundamental cell-biological problems.     

嗜水气单胞菌Ⅲ型分泌系统研究进展

主要对嗜水气单胞菌Ⅲ型分泌系统、效应蛋白及其致病机理等方面的研究进展进行了综述.细菌分泌系统的发现是近年来细菌致病机制研究的重要进展,许多革兰氏阴性细菌借助于细菌的分泌系统,分泌出毒性因子和效应蛋白,与寄主进行分子交流.     

Atomic model of the type III secretion system needle

Pathogenic bacteria using a type III secretion system (T3SS) to manipulate host cells cause many different infections including Shigella dysentery, typhoid fever, enterohaemorrhagic colitis and bubonic plague. An essential part of the T3SS is a hollow needle-like protein filament through which effector proteins are injected into eukaryotic host cells. Currently, the three-dimensional structure of the needle is unknown because it is not amenable to X-ray crystallography and solution NMR, as a result of its inherent non-crystallinity and insolubility. Cryo-electron microscopy combined with crystal or solution NMR subunit structures has recently provided a powerful hybrid approach for studying supramolecular assemblies, resulting in low-resolution and medium-resolution models. However, such approaches cannot deliver atomic details, especially of the crucial subunit-subunit interfaces, because of the limited cryo-electron microscopic resolution obtained in these studies. Here we report an alternative approach combining recombinant wild-type needle production, solid-state NMR, electron microscopy and Rosetta modelling to reveal the supramolecular interfaces and ultimately the complete atomic structure of the Salmonella typhimurium T3SS needle. We show that the 80-residue subunits form a right-handed helical assembly with roughly 11 subunits per two turns, similar to that of the flagellar filament of S. typhimurium. In contrast to established models of the needle in which the amino terminus of the protein subunit was assumed to be α-helical and positioned inside the needle, our model reveals an extended amino-terminal domain that is positioned on the surface of the needle, while the highly conserved carboxy terminus points towards the lumen.     

基于全基因组测序的粘绿木霉Gv29-8中分泌蛋白预测

粘绿木霉Gv29-8作为木霉属中重要的生防菌之一,对该菌分泌蛋白进行预测及其特征进行明确具有重要的理论意义。利用SignalP、ProtComp等预测程序对该菌中12427条蛋白质序列进行分泌蛋白找寻,并对上述分泌蛋白的氨基酸分布、信号肽长度大小及切割位点等性质进行分析。粘绿木霉含有分泌蛋白为377个,其氨基酸长度、信号肽长度与植物病原菌不同;信号肽切割位点属于A-X-A类型,与其他已经报道的植物病原真菌、卵菌中分泌蛋白信号肽切割位点一致。     

Chaperone release and unfolding of substrates in type III secretion

Type III protein secretion systems are essential virulence factors of many bacteria pathogenic to humans, animals and plants. These systems mediate the transfer of bacterial virulence proteins directly into the host cell cytoplasm. Proteins are thought to travel this pathway in a largely unfolded manner, and a family of customized cytoplasmic chaperones, which specifically bind cognate secreted proteins, are essential for secretion. Here we show that InvC, an ATPase associated with a Salmonella enterica type III secretion system, has a critical function in substrate recognition. Furthermore, InvC induces chaperone release from and unfolding of the cognate secreted protein in an ATP-dependent manner. Our results show a similarity between the mechanisms of substrate recognition by type III protein secretion systems and AAA + ATPase disassembly machines.     

PCR amplification of the Irish potato famine pathogen from historic specimens

Late blight, caused by the oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora infestans, is a devastating disease of potato and was responsible for epidemics that led to the Irish potato famine in 1845 (refs 1,2,3,4,5). Before the 1980s, worldwide populations of P. infestans were dominated by a single clonal lineage, the US-1 genotype or Ib mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype, and sexual reproduction was not documented outside Mexico, the centre of diversity of the pathogen. Here we describe the amplification and sequencing of 100-base-pair fragments of DNA from the internal transcribed spacer region 2 from 28 historic herbarium samples including Irish and British samples collected between 1845 and 1847, confirming the identity of the pathogen. We amplified a variable region of mtDNA that is present in modern Ib haplotypes of P. infestans, but absent in the other known modern haplotypes (Ia, IIa and IIb). Lesions in samples tested were not caused by the Ib haplotype of P. infestans, and so theories that assume that the Ib haplotype is the ancestral strain need to be re-evaluated. Our data emphasize the importance of using historic specimens when making inferences about historic populations.     

Energy source of flagellar type III secretion

Bacterial flagella contain a specialized secretion apparatus that functions to deliver the protein subunits that form the filament and other structures to outside the membrane. This apparatus is related to the injectisome used by many gram-negative pathogens and symbionts to transfer effector proteins into host cells; in both systems this export mechanism is termed 'type III' secretion. The flagellar secretion apparatus comprises a membrane-embedded complex of about five proteins, and soluble factors, which include export-dedicated chaperones and an ATPase, FliI, that was thought to provide the energy for export. Here we show that flagellar secretion in Salmonella enterica requires the proton motive force (PMF) and does not require ATP hydrolysis by FliI. The export of several flagellar export substrates was prevented by treatment with the protonophore CCCP, with no accompanying decrease in cellular ATP levels. Weak swarming motility and rare flagella were observed in a mutant deleted for FliI and for the non-flagellar type-III secretion ATPases InvJ and SsaN. These findings show that the flagellar secretion apparatus functions as a proton-driven protein exporter and that ATP hydrolysis is not essential for type III secretion.     

Bacterial virulence proteins as tools to rewire kinase pathways in yeast and immune cells

Bacterial pathogens have evolved specific effector proteins that, by interfacing with host kinase signalling pathways, provide a mechanism to evade immune responses during infection. Although these effectors contribute to pathogen virulence, we realized that they might also serve as valuable synthetic biology reagents for engineering cellular behaviour. Here we exploit two effector proteins, the Shigella flexneri OspF protein and Yersinia pestis YopH protein, to rewire kinase-mediated responses systematically both in yeast and mammalian immune cells. Bacterial effector proteins can be directed to inhibit specific mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways selectively in yeast by artificially targeting them to pathway-specific complexes. Moreover, we show that unique properties of the effectors generate new pathway behaviours: OspF, which irreversibly inactivates mitogen-activated protein kinases, was used to construct a synthetic feedback circuit that shows novel frequency-dependent input filtering. Finally, we show that effectors can be used in T cells, either as feedback modulators to tune the T-cell response amplitude precisely, or as an inducible pause switch that can temporarily disable T-cell activation. These studies demonstrate how pathogens could provide a rich toolkit of parts to engineer cells for therapeutic or biotechnological applications.     

A Xanthomonas uridine 5'-monophosphate transferase inhibits plant immune kinases

Plant innate immunity is activated on the detection of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) at the cell surface, or of pathogen effector proteins inside the plant cell. Together, PAMP-triggered immunity and effector-triggered immunity constitute powerful defences against various phytopathogens. Pathogenic bacteria inject a variety of effector proteins into the host cell to assist infection or propagation. A number of effector proteins have been shown to inhibit plant immunity, but the biochemical basis remains unknown for the vast majority of these effectors. Here we show that the Xanthomonas campestris pathovar campestris type III effector AvrAC enhances virulence and inhibits plant immunity by specifically targeting Arabidopsis BIK1 and RIPK, two receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases known to mediate immune signalling. AvrAC is a uridylyl transferase that adds uridine 5'-monophosphate to and conceals conserved phosphorylation sites in the activation loop of BIK1 and RIPK, reducing their kinase activity and consequently inhibiting downstream signalling.     

A bacterial E3 ubiquitin ligase targets a host protein kinase to disrupt plant immunity

Many bacterial pathogens of plants and animals use a type III secretion system to deliver diverse virulence-associated 'effector' proteins into the host cell. The mechanisms by which these effectors act are mostly unknown; however, they often promote disease by suppressing host immunity. One type III effector, AvrPtoB, expressed by the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato, has a carboxy-terminal domain that is an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Deletion of this domain allows an amino-terminal region of AvrPtoB (AvrPtoB(1-387)) to be detected by certain tomato varieties leading to immunity-associated programmed cell death. Here we show that a host kinase, Fen, physically interacts with AvrPtoB(1-387 )and is responsible for activating the plant immune response. The AvrPtoB E3 ligase specifically ubiquitinates Fen and promotes its degradation in a proteasome-dependent manner. This degradation leads to disease susceptibility in Fen-expressing tomato lines. Various wild species of tomato were found to exhibit immunity in response to AvrPtoB(1-387 )and not to full-length AvrPtoB. Thus, by acquiring an E3 ligase domain, AvrPtoB has thwarted a highly conserved host resistance mechanism.     

Type VI secretion requires a dynamic contractile phage tail-like structure

Type VI secretion systems are bacterial virulence-associated nanomachines composed of proteins that are evolutionarily related to components of bacteriophage tails. Here we show that protein secretion by the type VI secretion system of Vibrio cholerae requires the action of a dynamic intracellular tubular structure that is structurally and functionally homologous to contractile phage tail sheath. Time-lapse fluorescence light microscopy reveals that sheaths of the type VI secretion system cycle between assembly, quick contraction, disassembly and re-assembly. Whole-cell electron cryotomography further shows that the sheaths appear as long tubular structures in either extended or contracted conformations that are connected to the inner membrane by a distinct basal structure. These data support a model in which the contraction of the type VI secretion system sheath provides the energy needed to translocate proteins out of effector cells and into adjacent target cells.     

两个稻瘟病菌假想蛋白的纯化和特性分析

稻瘟病菌(Magnaporthe Grisea)引起的水稻稻瘟病是世界水稻生产最具毁灭性的病害之一,也是研究植物与病原物相互作用分子机理的模式系统之一.真菌分泌蛋白由于其本身所具有的分泌特性极有可能成为被宿主植物识别的作用病菌分泌蛋白,该研究到目前为止还比较有限. 文章证明了稻瘟病菌分泌蛋白的存在并且检验了其中几个蛋白在其宿主植物水稻中的诱导因子作用. 通过同源基因的时空表达技术,表明分泌蛋白在稻瘟病菌中大量表达.其中两个在稻瘟病菌中的未知蛋白被测试出具有诱导因子作用.     

衣原体致病机制的研究进展

衣原体通过GAG和GAG受体粘附在宿主细胞表面。衣原体具有Ⅲ型分泌系统,通过该系统病原菌穿过宿主细胞壁可将胞浆蛋白分泌入宿主周质内,从而为病原菌进入宿主细胞提供条件。     

Wnt proteins are lipid-modified and can act as stem cell growth factors

Wnt signalling is involved in numerous events in animal development, including the proliferation of stem cells and the specification of the neural crest. Wnt proteins are potentially important reagents in expanding specific cell types, but in contrast to other developmental signalling molecules such as hedgehog proteins and the bone morphogenetic proteins, Wnt proteins have never been isolated in an active form. Although Wnt proteins are secreted from cells, secretion is usually inefficient and previous attempts to characterize Wnt proteins have been hampered by their high degree of insolubility. Here we have isolated active Wnt molecules, including the product of the mouse Wnt3a gene. By mass spectrometry, we found the proteins to be palmitoylated on a conserved cysteine. Enzymatic removal of the palmitate or site-directed and natural mutations of the modified cysteine result in loss of activity, and indicate that the lipid is important for signalling. The purified Wnt3a protein induces self-renewal of haematopoietic stem cells, signifying its potential use in tissue engineering.     

Genome sequence of the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum

Ralstonia solanacearum is a devastating, soil-borne plant pathogen with a global distribution and an unusually wide host range. It is a model system for the dissection of molecular determinants governing pathogenicity. We present here the complete genome sequence and its analysis of strain GMI1000. The 5.8-megabase (Mb) genome is organized into two replicons: a 3.7-Mb chromosome and a 2.1-Mb megaplasmid. Both replicons have a mosaic structure providing evidence for the acquisition of genes through horizontal gene transfer. Regions containing genetically mobile elements associated with the percentage of G+C bias may have an important function in genome evolution. The genome encodes many proteins potentially associated with a role in pathogenicity. In particular, many putative attachment factors were identified. The complete repertoire of type III secreted effector proteins can be studied. Over 40 candidates were identified. Comparison with other genomes suggests that bacterial plant pathogens and animal pathogens harbour distinct arrays of specialized type III-dependent effectors.     

Pathogenic bacteria attach to human fibronectin through a tandem beta-zipper

Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes, two important human pathogens, target host fibronectin (Fn) in their adhesion to and invasion of host cells. Fibronectin-binding proteins (FnBPs), anchored in the bacterial cell wall, have multiple Fn-binding repeats in an unfolded region of the protein. The bacterium-binding site in the amino-terminal domain (1-5F1) of Fn contains five sequential Fn type 1 (F1) modules. Here we show the structure of a streptococcal (S. dysgalactiae) FnBP peptide (B3) in complex with the module pair 1F12F1. This identifies 1F1- and 2F1-binding motifs in B3 that form additional antiparallel beta-strands on sequential F1 modules-the first example of a tandem beta-zipper. Sequence analyses of larger regions of FnBPs from S. pyogenes and S. aureus reveal a repeating pattern of F1-binding motifs that match the pattern of F1 modules in 1-5F1 of Fn. In the process of Fn-mediated invasion of host cells, therefore, the bacterial proteins seem to exploit the modular structure of Fn by forming extended tandem beta-zippers. This work is a vital step forward in explaining the full mechanism of the integrin-dependent FnBP-mediated invasion of host cells.