Phosphorylated Response Regulator Research Articles

In vitro phosphorylation of AlgR, a regulator of mucoidy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, by a histidine protein kinase and effects of small phospho‐donor molecules

AlgR is a transcriptional regulator of mucoidy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a critical virulence factor expressed in cystic fibrosis. AlgR belongs to the superfamily of bacterial signal transduction systems, and has been shown to bind to the algD promoter, a critical point in the regulation of mucoidy. This protein, like other typical response regulators, contains highly conserved residues known to be critical for the phosphorylation and signal transduction processes. However, a typical second component interacting with AlgR has not been identified. Here we demonstrate that AlgR undergoes phosphorylation in vitro when interacting with the well-characterized histidine protein kinase CheA. These results indicate that AlgR is capable of undergoing phosphorylation typical of other two-component signal transduction systems. Moreover, the phosphotransfer reaction between CheA and AlgR was found to be affected by the presence of carbamoyl phosphate, acetyl phosphate, and salts of phosphoramidic acid, recently shown to act as small-molecular-weight phospho-donors in the process of phosphorylation of several response regulators. These findings suggest that AlgR may react with intermediary metabolites such as carbamoyl phosphate and acetyl phosphate, and that these processes may play a role in the control of mucoidy in P. aeruginosa.

Phosphorylation of bacterial response regulator proteins by low molecular weight phospho-donors.

Bacterial motility and gene expression are controlled by a family of phosphorylated response regulators whose activities are modulated by an associated family of protein-histidine kinases. In chemotaxis there are two response regulators, CheY and CheB, that receive phosphoryl groups from the histidine kinase, CheA. Here we show that the response regulators catalyze their own phosphorylation in that both CheY and CheB can be phosphorylated in the complete absence of any auxiliary protein. Both CheY and CheB use the N-phosphoryl group in phosphoramidate (NH2PO3(2-)) as a phospho-donor. This enzymatic activity probably reflects the general ability of response regulators to accept phosphoryl groups from phosphohistidines in their associated kinases. It provides a general method for the study of activated response regulators in the absence of kinase proteins. CheY can also use intermediary metabolites such as acetyl phosphate and carbamoyl phosphate as phospho-donors. These reactions may provide a mechanism to modulate cell behavior in response to altered metabolic states.

Mutational analysis of nitrate regulatory gene narL in Escherichia coli K-12

The narL gene product, NarL, is the nitrate-responsive regulator of anaerobic respiratory gene expression. We used genetic analysis of narL mutants to better understand the mechanism of NarL-mediated gene regulation. We selected and analyzed seven nitrate-independent narL mutants. Each of three independent, strongly constitutive mutants had changes of Val-88 to Ala. The other four mutants were weakly constitutive. The narL505(V88A) allele was largely dominant to narL+, while narX+ had a negative influence on its constitutive phenotype, suggesting that NarX may play a negative role in nitrate regulation. We also constructed two narL mutations that are analogous to previously characterized constitutive degU alleles. The first, narL503(H15L), was a recessive null allele. The second, narL504(D110K), functioned essentially as wild type but was dependent on narX+ for full activity. We changed Asp-59 of NarL, which corresponds to the site of phosphorylation of other response regulators, to Asn. This change, narL502(D59N), was a recessive null allele, which is consistent with the hypothesis that NarL requires phosphorylation for activation. Finally, we tested the requirement for molybdate on regulation in a narL505(V88A) strain. Although narL505(V88A) conferred some nitrate-independent expression of fdnGHI (encoding formate dehydrogenase-N) in limiting molybdate, it required excess molybdate for full induction both in the absence and in the presence of nitrate. This finding suggests that narL505(V88A) did not confer molybdate-independent expression of fdnGHI.

Roles of the highly conserved aspartate and lysine residues in the response regulator of bacterial chemotaxis

The chemotactic responses of bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium are mediated by phosphorylation of the CheY protein. Phospho-CheY interacts with the flagellar motor switch to cause tumbly behavior. CheY belongs to a large family of phosphorylated response regulators that function in bacteria to control motility and regulate gene expression. Residues corresponding to Asp57, Asp13, and Lys109 in CheY are highly conserved among all of these proteins. The site of phosphorylation in CheY is Asp57, and in the three-dimensional structure of CheY the Asp57 carboxylate side chain is in close proximity to the beta-carboxylate of Asp13 and the epsilon-amin of Lys109. To further examine the roles of these residues in response regulator function, each has been mutated to a conservative substitution. Asn for Asp and Arg for Lys. All mutations abolished CheY function in vivo. Whereas the Asp to Asn mutations dramatically reduced levels of CheY phosphorylation, the Lys to Arg mutation had the opposite effect. The high level of phosphorylation in the Lys109 mutant results from a decreased autophosphatase activity as well as a lack of phosphatase stimulation by the phosphatase activating protein, CheZ. Despite its high level of phosphorylation, the Lys109 mutant protein cannot produce tumbly behavior. Thus, Lys109 is required for an event subsequent to phosphorylation. We propose that an interaction between the epsilon-amino of Lys109 and the phosphoryl group at Asp57 is essential for the conformational switch that leads to activation of CheY.

Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of a bacterial transcriptional activator by a transmembrane receptor.

Signal transduction in the bacterial Omp, Che, and Ntr systems involves the phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of response regulators (OmpR, CheY and CheB, NRI) that share a homologous domain. We show that in the Omp system, the transmembrane sensor EnvZ, catalyzes both the phosphorylation of OmpR and the dephosphorylation of OmpR-P. The phosphorylation reaction proceeds by a mechanism shared with the Ntr and Che kinases, NRII, and CheA. EnvZ can phosphorylate NRI and can stimulate transcription from the glnAp2 promoter, and similarly, CheA can phosphorylate OmpR and can stimulate transcription from the ompF promoter. OmpR-P formed by either CheA or EnvZ is much more stable than CheY-P and NRI-P, but is rapidly hydrolyzed to OmpR and Pi by EnvZ in the presence of ATP, ADP, or nonhydrolyzable analogs of ATP. Because EnvZ is normally a transmembrane receptor with a periplasmic sensory domain, our results suggest that the role of EnvZ may be to control the intracellular concentration of OmpR-P in response to environmental signals.