Abstract
Bacterial cell division is strictly regulated in the formation of equal daughter cells. This process is governed by a series of spatial and temporal regulators, and several new factors of interest to the field have recently been identified. Here, we report the requirement of gluconate 5-dehydrogenase (Ga5DH) in cell division of the zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis. Ga5DH catalyzes the reversible reduction of 5-ketogluconate to D-gluconate and was localized to the site of cell division. The deletion of Ga5DH in S. suis resulted in a plump morphology with aberrant septa joining the progeny. A significant increase was also observed in cell length. These defects were determined to be the consequence of Ga5DH deprivation in S. suis causing FtsZ delocalization. In addition, the interaction of FtsZ with Ga5DH in vitro was confirmed by protein interaction assays. These results indicate that Ga5DH may function to prevent the formation of ectopic Z rings during S. suis cell division.
Highlights
Streptococcus suis (S. suis) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen that causes life-threatening diseases, including septicemia, meningitis, and endocarditis (Kay et al, 1995; Mazokopakis et al, 2005), with more than 750 reported human cases of infection worldwide (Feng et al, 2010)
The same cell morphology was observed in pneumococcus cells with PBP2b28 proteins, which display a rod-like shape (Albarracin Orio et al, 2011)
transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the rod-shaped cells exhibit multiple septa, and it was proposed that the direct interaction of PBP2b28 with FtsZ leads to the mislocalization of FtsZ and to an aberrant cellular morphology
Summary
Streptococcus suis (S. suis) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen that causes life-threatening diseases, including septicemia, meningitis, and endocarditis (Kay et al, 1995; Mazokopakis et al, 2005), with more than 750 reported human cases of infection worldwide (Feng et al, 2010). Potent inhibitors and therapeutic agents to effectively control S. suis infection are required to address the re-emergence of SS2 as a zoonotic pathogen in humans and the rapid increase of antibiotic-resistant strains among clinical isolates. Cell cycle proteins have traditionally been an attractive target for antibacterial agents, but with our increasing understanding in this area, Ga5DH seems like an effective target for the development of novel potent antibacterial agents. S. suis Ga5DH was characterized both structurally and enzymatically (Zhang et al, 2009)
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