Distinct cytoskeletal proteins define zones of enhanced cell wall synthesis in Helicobacter pylori

Autor: Erkin Kuru, Joe Gray, Jacob Biboy, Benjamin P. Bratton, Sophie R. Sichel, Kris M. Blair, Nina R. Salama, Jennifer A. Taylor, Catherine L. Grimes, Holly M. Jacobs, Michael S. VanNieuwenhze, Kristen E. DeMeester, Joshua W. Shaevitz, Waldemar Vollmer
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
0301 basic medicine
Gaussian
peptidoglycan
MreB
chemistry.chemical_compound
Cell Wall
Biology (General)
Cytoskeleton
0303 health sciences
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Alanine
biology
medicine.diagnostic_test
General Neuroscience
General Medicine
3. Good health
Muramic Acids
symbols
Medicine
bactofilin
Research Article
Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
QH301-705.5
Science
030106 microbiology
Immunofluorescence
Curvature
General Biochemistry
Genetics and Molecular Biology

cell shape
Cell wall
03 medical and health sciences
symbols.namesake
Bacterial Proteins
Gaussian curvature
medicine
030304 developmental biology
General Immunology and Microbiology
Helicobacter pylori
030306 microbiology
biology.organism_classification
Cytoskeletal Proteins
030104 developmental biology
chemistry
Biophysics
Peptidoglycan
Other
Zdroj: eLife, Vol 9 (2020)
eLife
Popis: Helical cell shape is necessary for efficient stomach colonization by Helicobacter pylori, but the molecular mechanisms for generating helical shape remain unclear. The helical centerline pitch and radius of wild-type H. pylori cells dictate surface curvatures of considerably higher positive and negative Gaussian curvatures than those present in straight- or curved-rod H. pylori. Quantitative 3D microscopy analysis of short pulses with either N-acetylmuramic acid or D-alanine metabolic probes showed that cell wall growth is enhanced at both sidewall curvature extremes. Immunofluorescence revealed MreB is most abundant at negative Gaussian curvature, while the bactofilin CcmA is most abundant at positive Gaussian curvature. Strains expressing CcmA variants with altered polymerization properties lose helical shape and associated positive Gaussian curvatures. We thus propose a model where CcmA and MreB promote PG synthesis at positive and negative Gaussian curvatures, respectively, and that this patterning is one mechanism necessary for maintaining helical shape.
eLife digest Round spheres, straight rods, and twisting corkscrews, bacteria come in many different shapes. The shape of bacteria is dictated by their cell wall, the strong outer barrier of the cell. As bacteria grow and multiply, they must add to their cell wall while keeping the same basic shape. The cells walls are made from long chain-like molecules via processes that are guided by protein scaffolds within the cell. Many common antibiotics, including penicillin, stop bacterial infections by interrupting the growth of cell walls. Helicobacter pylori is a common bacterium that lives in the gut and, after many years, can cause stomach ulcers and stomach cancer. H. pylori are shaped in a twisting helix, much like a corkscrew. This shape helps H. pylori to take hold and colonize the stomach. It remains unclear how H. pylori creates and maintains its helical shape. The helix is much more curved than other bacteria, and H. pylori does not have the same helpful proteins that other curved bacteria do. If H. pylori grows asymmetrically, adding more material to the cell wall on its long outer side to create a twisting helix, what controls the process? To find out, Taylor et al. grew H. pylori cells and watched how the cell walls took shape. First, a fluorescent dye was attached to the building blocks of the cell wall or to underlying proteins that were thought to help direct its growth. The cells were then imaged in 3D, and images from hundreds of cells were reconstructed to analyze the growth patterns of the bacteria’s cell wall. A protein called CcmA was found most often on the long side of the twisting H. pylori. When the CcmA protein was isolated in a dish, it spontaneously formed sheets and helical bundles, confirming its role as a structural scaffold for the cell wall. When CcmA was absent from the cell of H. pylori, Taylor et al. observed that the pattern of cell growth changed substantially. This work identifies a key component directing the growth of the cell wall of H. pylori and therefore, a new target for antibiotics. Its helical shape is essential for H. pylori to infect the gut, so blocking the action of the CcmA protein may interrupt cell wall growth and prevent stomach infections.
Databáze: OpenAIRE