Diallo Amy, Foster Hannah R, Gromek Katarzyna A, Perry Thomas N, Dujeancourt Annick, Krasteva Petya V, Gubellini Francesca, Falbel Tanya G, Burton Briana M, Fronzes Rémi
Institut Pasteur, G5 Groupe Biologie Structurale de la Sécrétion Bactérienne, Paris, France.
CNRS, UMR3528, Institut Pasteur, 25-28 rue du Docteur Roux, Paris, F-75015, France.
Mol Microbiol. 2017 Sep;105(5):741-754. doi: 10.1111/mmi.13732. Epub 2017 Jul 28.
Pneumococcal natural transformation contributes to genomic plasticity, antibiotic resistance development and vaccine escape. Streptococcus pneumoniae, like many other naturally transformable species, has evolved sophisticated protein machinery for the binding and uptake of DNA. Two proteins encoded by the comF operon, ComFA and ComFC, are involved in transformation but their exact molecular roles remain unknown. In this study, we provide experimental evidence that ComFA binds to single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and has ssDNA-dependent ATPase activity. We show that both ComFA and ComFC are essential for the transformation process in pneumococci. Moreover, we show that these proteins interact with each other and with other proteins involved in homologous recombination, such as DprA, thus placing the ComFA-ComFC duo at the interface between DNA uptake and DNA recombination during transformation.
肺炎球菌自然转化有助于基因组可塑性、抗生素耐药性发展和疫苗逃逸。肺炎链球菌与许多其他自然可转化物种一样，已经进化出用于结合和摄取DNA的复杂蛋白质机制。comF操纵子编码的两种蛋白质ComFA和ComFC参与转化，但其确切的分子作用仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们提供了实验证据表明ComFA与单链DNA（ssDNA）结合并具有依赖于ssDNA的ATP酶活性。我们表明ComFA和ComFC对肺炎球菌的转化过程都是必不可少的。此外，我们表明这些蛋白质相互作用，并与参与同源重组的其他蛋白质（如DprA）相互作用，从而使ComFA-ComFC组合处于转化过程中DNA摄取和DNA重组之间的界面。
