0000000000247014

AUTHOR

Patrick D. Scheu

Polar Localization of a Tripartite Complex of the Two-Component System DcuS/DcuR and the Transporter DctA in Escherichia coli Depends on the Sensor Kinase DcuS

The C4-dicarboxylate responsive sensor kinase DcuS of the DcuS/DcuR two-component system of E. coli is membrane-bound and reveals a polar localization. DcuS uses the C4-dicarboxylate transporter DctA as a co-regulator forming DctA/DcuS sensor units. Here it is shown by fluorescence microscopy with fusion proteins that DcuS has a dynamic and preferential polar localization, even at very low expression levels. Single assemblies of DcuS had high mobility in fast time lapse acquisitions, and fast recovery in FRAP experiments, excluding polar accumulation due to aggregation. DctA and DcuR fused to derivatives of the YFP protein are dispersed in the membrane or in the cytosol, respectively, when …

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Oligomeric Sensor Kinase DcuS in the Membrane of Escherichia coli and in Proteoliposomes: Chemical Cross-linking and FRET Spectroscopy

The DcuSR (dicarboxylate uptake sensor and regulator) system of Escherichia coli is a typical two-component system consisting of a membranous sensor kinase (DcuS) and a cytoplasmic response regulator (DcuR) (11, 26, 48). DcuS responds to C4-dicarboxylates like fumarate, malate, or succinate (19). In the presence of the C4-dicarboxlates, the expression of the genes of anaerobic fumarate respiration (dcuB, fumB, and frdABCD) and of aerobic C4-dicarboxylate uptake (dctA) is activated. DcuS is a histidine protein kinase composed of two transmembrane helices with an intermittent sensory PAS domain in the periplasm (PASP) that was also termed the PDC domain (for PhoQ/DcuS/DctB/CitA domain or fold…

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CitA/CitB Two-Component System Regulating Citrate Fermentation in Escherichia coli and Its Relation to the DcuS/DcuR System In Vivo

ABSTRACT Citrate fermentation by Escherichia coli requires the function of the citrate/succinate antiporter CitT ( citT gene) and of citrate lyase ( citCDEFXG genes). Earlier experiments suggested that the two-component system CitA/CitB, consisting of the membrane-bound sensor kinase CitA and the response regulator CitB, stimulates the expression of the genes in the presence of citrate, similarly to CitA/CitB of Klebsiella pneumoniae . In this study, the expression of a chromosomal citC-lacZ gene fusion was shown to depend on CitA/CitB and citrate. CitA/CitB is related to the DcuS/DcuR two-component system which induces the expression of genes for fumarate respiration in response to C 4 -di…

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The sensor kinase DcuS of Escherichia coli: two stimulus input sites and a merged signal pathway in the DctA/DcuS sensor unit

Abstract The membrane-integral sensor kinase DcuS of Escherichia coli consists of a periplasmically located sensory PASP domain, transmembrane helices TM1 and TM2, a cytoplasmic PASC domain and the kinase domain. Stimulus (C4-dicarboxylate) binding at PASP is required to stimulate phosphorylation of the kinase domain, resulting in phosphoryl transfer to the response regulator DcuR. PASC functions as a signaling device or a relay in signal transfer from TM2 to the kinase. Phosphorylated DcuR induces the expression of the target genes. Sensing by DcuS requires the presence of the C4-dicarboxylate transporter DctA during aerobic growth. DctA forms a sensor unit with DcuS, and a short C-termina…

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Sensing by the membrane-bound sensor kinase DcuS: exogenous versus endogenous sensing of C(4)-dicarboxylates in bacteria.

Bacteria are able to grow at the expense of both common (succinate, L-malate, fumarate and aspartate) and uncommon (L-tartrate and D-malate) C4-dicarboxylates, which are components of central metabolism. Two types of sensors/regulators responding to the C4-dicarboxylates function in Escherichia coli, Bacillus, Lactobacillus and related bacteria. The first type represents membrane-integral two-component systems, while the second includes cytoplasmic LysR-type transcriptional regulators. The difference in location and substrate specificity allows the exogenous induction of metabolic genes by common C4-dicarboxylates, and endogenous induction by uncommon C4-dicarboxylates. The two-component s…

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Polar accumulation of the metabolic sensory histidine kinases DcuS and CitA in Escherichia coli

Signal transduction in prokaryotes is frequently accomplished by two-component regulatory systems in which a histidine protein kinase is the sensory component. Many of these sensory kinases control metabolic processes that do not show an obvious requirement for inhomogeneous distribution within bacterial cells. Here, the sensory kinases DcuS and CitA, two histidine kinases of Escherichia coli, were investigated. Both are membrane-integral and involved in the regulation of carboxylate metabolism. The two-component sensors were fused with yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) and live images of immobilized cells were obtained by confocal laser fluorescence microscopy. The fluorescence of the fusio…

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