0000000000496927
AUTHOR
Holger Kneuper
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…
Plasticity of the PAS domain and a potential role for signal transduction in the histidine kinase DcuS
The mechanistic understanding of how membrane-embedded sensor kinases recognize signals and regulate kinase activity is currently limited. Here we report structure-function relationships of the multidomain membrane sensor kinase DcuS using solid-state NMR, structural modeling and mutagenesis. Experimental data of an individual cytoplasmic Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain were compared to structural models generated in silico. These studies, together with previous NMR work on the periplasmic PAS domain, enabled structural investigations of a membrane-embedded 40-kDa construct by solid-state NMR, comprising both PAS segments and the membrane domain. Structural alterations are largely limited to prot…
The Nature of the Stimulus and of the Fumarate Binding Site of the Fumarate Sensor DcuS of Escherichia coli
DcuS is a membrane-associated sensory histidine kinase of Escherichia coli specific for C(4) -dicarboxylates. The nature of the stimulus and its structural prerequisites were determined by measuring the induction of DcuS-dependent dcuB'-'lacZ gene expression. C(4)-dicarboxylates without or with substitutions at C2/C3 by hydrophilic (hydroxy, amino, or thiolate) groups stimulated gene expression in a similar way. When one carboxylate was replaced by sulfonate, methoxy, or nitro groups, only the latter (3-nitropropionate) was active. Thus, the ligand of DcuS has to carry two carboxylate or carboxylate/nitro groups 3.1-3.8 A apart from each other. The effector concentrations for half-maximal i…