The Two-Peptide (Class-IIb) Bacteriocins: Genetics, Biosynthesis, Structure, and Mode of Action

Abstract

The two-peptide (class-IIb) bacteriocins consist of two different peptides, both of which are required to obtain high antimicrobial activity. These bacteriocins kill target-cells by inducing membrane-leakage and they seem to display some specificity with respect to the molecules they transfer across membranes. The genes encoding the two peptides of two-peptide bacteriocins are next to each other on the same operon. In the same or a nearby operon are genes encoding (i) the immunity protein that protects the bacteriocin-producer from its own bacteriocin, (ii) a dedicated ABC-transporter that exports the bacteriocin from cells and cleaves off the N-terminal bacteriocin leader sequence, and (iii) an accessory protein whose exact function has not been fully clarified. Some two-peptide bacteriocins appear to be produced constitutively, whereas the production of other two-peptide bacteriocins is regulated through a three-component regulatory system that consists of a peptide pheromone, a membrane-associated histidine protein kinase, and response regulators. It has recently been proposed that the two peptides of (some) two-peptide bacteriocins may form a membrane-penetrating helix-helix structure involving helix-helix interacting GxxxG-motifs present in all currently characterized two-peptide bacteriocins. It has also been suggested that the helix-helix structure interacts with an integrated membrane (transport) protein, thus inducing a conformational change in the protein, which in turn causes membrane-leakage. This proposed mode-of-action is similar to that of the pediocin-like (class-IIa) bacteriocins and lactococcin A, which bind to a part of the mannose phosphotransferase permease that is embedded in the cell membrane, thereby altering the conformation of the ­permease in a manner that causes membrane-leakage and cell death.