Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Carver College of Medicine, The University of Iowagrid.214572.7, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Techgrid.438526.e, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
J Bacteriol. 2022 Sep 20;204(9):e0025222. doi: 10.1128/jb.00252-22. Epub 2022 Aug 25.
Bacterial SPOR domains target proteins to the divisome by binding septal peptidoglycan (PG) at sites where cell wall amidases have removed stem peptides. These PG structures are referred to as denuded glycans. Although all characterized SPOR domains bind denuded glycans, whether there are differences in affinity is not known. Here, we use isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) to determine the relative PG glycan binding affinity (<i>K</i><sub>d</sub>) of four Escherichia coli SPOR domains and one Cytophaga hutchinsonii SPOR domain. We found that the <i>K</i><sub>d</sub> values ranged from approximately 1 μM for E. coli DamX<sup>SPOR</sup> and <i>C. hutchinsonii</i> CHU2221<sup>SPOR</sup> to about 10 μM for E. coli FtsN<sup>SPOR</sup>. To investigate whether these differences in PG binding affinity are important for SPOR domain protein function, we constructed and characterized a set of DamX and FtsN "swap" proteins. As expected, all SPOR domain swap proteins localized to the division site, and, in the case of FtsN, all of the heterologous SPOR domains supported cell division. However, for DamX, only the high-affinity SPOR domain from CHU2221 supported normal function in cell division. In summary, different SPOR domains bind denuded PG glycans with different affinities, which appears to be important for the functions of some SPOR domain proteins (e.g., DamX) but not for the functions of others (e.g., FtsN). <b>IMPORTANCE</b> SPOR domain proteins are prominent components of the cell division apparatus in a wide variety of bacteria. The primary function of SPOR domains is targeting proteins to the division site, which they accomplish by binding to septal peptidoglycan. However, whether SPOR domains have any functions beyond septal targeting is unknown. Here, we show that SPOR domains vary in their PG binding affinities and that, at least in the case of the E. coli cell division protein DamX, having a high-affinity SPOR domain contributes to proper function.
细菌 SPOR 结构域通过与隔膜肽聚糖(PG)结合,将蛋白质靶向到分裂体,其结合位点是细胞壁酰胺酶去除茎肽的位点。这些 PG 结构被称为裸露聚糖。尽管所有已鉴定的 SPOR 结构域都与裸露聚糖结合,但它们之间的亲和力是否存在差异尚不清楚。在这里,我们使用等温滴定量热法(ITC)来确定四个大肠杆菌 SPOR 结构域和一个纤维弧菌 SPOR 结构域对 PG 聚糖的相对结合亲和力(<i>K</i><sub>d</sub>)。我们发现,<i>K</i><sub>d</sub>值的范围约为 1μM,对于大肠杆菌 DamX<sup>SPOR</sup>和 <i>C. hutchinsonii</i>CHU2221<sup>SPOR</sup>,对于大肠杆菌 FtsN<sup>SPOR</sup>约为 10μM。为了研究 PG 结合亲和力的这些差异是否对 SPOR 结构域蛋白的功能很重要,我们构建并表征了一组 DamX 和 FtsN“交换”蛋白。正如预期的那样,所有 SPOR 结构域交换蛋白都定位于分裂部位,并且对于 FtsN,所有异源 SPOR 结构域都支持细胞分裂。然而,对于 DamX,只有来自 CHU2221 的高亲和力 SPOR 结构域才能支持细胞分裂的正常功能。总之,不同的 SPOR 结构域以不同的亲和力结合裸露的 PG 聚糖,这似乎对某些 SPOR 结构域蛋白(例如 DamX)的功能很重要,但对其他蛋白(例如 FtsN)的功能不重要。<b>重要性</b>SPOR 结构域蛋白是各种细菌中细胞分裂装置的主要组成部分。SPOR 结构域的主要功能是通过与隔膜肽聚糖结合将蛋白质靶向到分裂部位。然而,SPOR 结构域是否具有除隔膜靶向以外的任何功能尚不清楚。在这里,我们表明 SPOR 结构域在 PG 结合亲和力上存在差异,并且至少在大肠杆菌细胞分裂蛋白 DamX 的情况下,具有高亲和力的 SPOR 结构域有助于其正常功能。