The Esterase PfeE,the Achilles’ Heel in the Battle for Iron between Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli

Bacteria access iron, a key nutrient, by producing siderophores or using siderophores produced by other microorganisms. The pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces two siderophores but is also able to pirate enterobactin (ENT), the siderophore produced by Escherichia coli. ENT-Fe complexes are imported across the outer membrane of P. aeruginosa by the two outer membrane transporters PfeA and PirA. Iron is released from ENT in the P. aeruginosa periplasm by hydrolysis of ENT by the esterase PfeE. We show here that pfeE gene deletion renders P. aeruginosa unable to grow in the presence of ENT because it is unable to access iron via this siderophore. Two-species co-cultures under iron-restricted conditions show that P. aeruginosa strongly represses the growth of E. coli as long it is able to produce its own siderophores. Both strains are present in similar proportions in the culture as long as the siderophore-deficient P. aeruginosa strain is able to use ENT produced by E. coli to access iron. If pfeE is deleted, E. coli has the upper hand in the culture and P. aeruginosa growth is repressed. Overall, these data show that PfeE is the Achilles’ heel of P. aeruginosa in communities with bacteria producing ENT.     

荧光假单胞菌RB5产嗜铁素的发酵条件

荧光假单胞菌RB5是从土壤中分离得到的一株对禾谷丝核菌有拮抗作用的细菌.通过CAS法检测分析,发现RB5菌株能产生嗜铁素.为明确荧光假单胞菌RB5产嗜铁素的发酵条件,采用摇瓶培养发酵,利用特异光谱吸收法,研究了不同培养条件对RB5菌株嗜铁素产量的影响.最终得出RB5产嗜铁素的最佳发酵条件:起始pH 7.0,接种量2％,瓶装量90 mL/250 mL,发酵时间48 h,Fe3+质量浓度为0.8 mg/L.抑菌试验表明,优化发酵条件后的RB5发酵液(OD400值2.35)有很显著的抑菌效果,抑制率达65.28％.     

Response of Staphylococcus aureus isolates from bovine mastitis to exogenous iron sources

Staphylococcus aureus can survive in conditions of extremely low iron concentration. The ability of S. aureus to use two exogenous hydroxamate types of siderophores (desferrioxamine and ferrichrome) and four iron-containing proteins found in cattle (hemin, hemoglobin, ferritin, and lactoferrin) were tested on 16 reference and clinical isolates. For all strains tested, ferrichrome and desferrioxamine showed strong growth-promoting activities in a disk diffusion assay and in liquid medium. The heme proteins hemin and hemoglobin were also found to support growth in culture media lacking other iron sources, while lactoferrin failed to do so. On media containing the iron chelator dipyridyl, ferritin induced a growth inhibition effect that was further enhanced in the presence of lactoferrin in seven of the 13 tested strains. Staphylococcus aureus was able to bind hemin and the level of binding activity was not increased after growth in iron-rich or -poor media. Dot-blot competition tests showed that biotin-labeled lactoferrin binds to S. aureus, and this binding can be inhibited by unlabeled lactoferrin. Expression of lactoferrin-binding activity was independent of the level of iron in the medium and the iron saturation status of lactoferrin. For each strain tested, ligand blots showed lactoferrin-binding proteins of molecular weights ranging from 32 to 92 kDa. Possible functions of these lactoferrin-binding proteins could not be related to iron acquisition mechanism in S. aureus.     

Scavenging Bacterial Siderophores with Engineered Lipocalin Proteins as an Alternative Antimicrobial Strategy

Iron acquisition mediated by siderophores, high-affinity chelators for which bacteria have evolved specific synthesis and uptake mechanisms, plays a crucial role in microbiology and in host–pathogen interactions. In the ongoing fight against bacterial infections, this area has attracted biomedical interest. Beyond several approaches to interfere with siderophore-mediated iron uptake from medicinal and immunochemistry, the development of high-affinity protein scavengers that tightly complex the siderophores produced by pathogenic bacteria has appeared as a novel strategy. Such binding proteins have been engineered based on siderocalin—also known as lipocalin 2—an endogenous human scavenger of enterobactin and bacillibactin that controls the systemic spreading of commensal bacteria such as Escherichia coli. By using combinatorial protein design, siderocalin was reshaped to bind several siderophores from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and, in particular, petrobactin from Bacillus anthracis, none of which is recognized by the natural protein. Such engineered versions of siderocalin effectively suppress the growth of corresponding pathogenic bacteria by depriving them of their iron supply and offer the potential to complement antibiotic therapy in situations of acute or persistent infection.     

铁载体在假交替单胞菌Cd2+去除中的作用

为探索铁载体在微生物重金属去除过程中的作用,利用一株高效除镉菌--假交替单胞菌Pseudoaltermonas species. SCSE709-6(P. sp. SCSE709-6),研究镉(Cd²⁺)的添加对铁载体产量的影响以及铁载体的添加对菌体去除Cd²⁺的影响。结果表明:菌体代谢能够产生羟基羧酸盐型铁载体,其产量与细菌生物量相关。在Cd²⁺浓度为0~0.4 mmol/L时铁载体量呈先增后减的变化趋势,当为0.2 mmol/L时铁载体量最大。当向含镉培养液中加入铁载体时,细菌的适应期缩短,说明铁载体能够与Cd²⁺络合,从而降低镉的生物毒性,提高细菌对镉的去除效率。研究结果为P. sp. SCSE709-6高效除镉提供了一种科学解释,在微生物修复重金属镉污染中具有潜在的实际应用价值。     

Structural Analysis of Cytochrome P450 105N1 Involved in the Biosynthesis of the Zincophore, Coelibactin

Coelibactin is a putative non-ribosomally synthesized peptide with predicted zincophore activity and which has been implicated in antibiotic regulation in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). The coelibactin biosynthetic pathway contains a stereo- and regio-specific monooxygenation step catalyzed by a cytochrome P450 enzyme (CYP105N1). We have determined the X-ray crystal structure of CYP105N1 at 2.9 Å and analyzed it in the context of the bacterial CYP105 family as a whole. The crystal structure reveals a channel between the α-helical domain and the β-sheet domain exposing the heme pocket and the long helix I to the solvent. This wide-open conformation of CYP105N1 may be related to the bulky substrate coelibactin. The ligand-free CYP105N1 structure has enough room in the substrate access channel to allow the coelibactin to enter into the active site. Analysis of typical siderophore ligands suggests that CYP105N1 may produce derivatives of coelibactin, which would then be able to chelate the zinc divalent cation.     

大菱鲆荧光假单胞菌的群体感应现象及不同碳源培养下的腐败特性研究

本文以大菱鲆分离的荧光假单胞菌作为研究对象,紫色杆菌CVO26平行划线法检测信号分子。不同碳源(葡萄糖、蔗糖、果糖、木糖、乳糖、麦芽糖)的AB培养基培养并检测其生物被膜、嗜铁素和胞外蛋白酶的产生量,同时添加外源的信号分子标准品,研究AHLs与腐败因子之间的相关性。研究表明:大菱鲆分离的荧光假单胞菌能够发生群体感应现象,经不同碳源培养,其腐败因子产生情况有明显差异,碳源的添加对生物被膜的产生有促进作用,对胞外蛋白酶的产生没有显著影响;以葡萄糖、麦芽糖为碳源,生物被膜的产生量较高;以蔗糖和乳糖为碳源,嗜铁素的产量较高。添加外源信号分子标准品,生物被膜、嗜铁素和胞外蛋白酶的产生量有显著提高。因此,生物被膜、嗜铁素和胞外蛋白酶的产生与AHLs有关,群体感应现象可调控腐败特性的表达,并在水产品腐败过程中发挥作用。