Characterization of the exopolygalacturonate lyase PelX of Erwinia chrysanthemi 3937.
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Erwinia chrysanthemi 3937 secretes several pectinolytic enzymes, among which eight isoenzymes of pectate lyases with an endo-cleaving mode (PelA, PelB, PelC, PelD, PelE, PelI, PelL, and PelZ) have been identified. Two exo-cleaving enzymes, the exopolygalacturonate lyase, PelX, and an exo-poly-alpha-D-galacturonosidase, PehX, have been previously identified in other E. chrysanthemi strains. Using a genomic bank of a 3937 mutant with the major pel genes deleted, we cloned a pectinase gene identified as pelX, encoding the exopolygalacturonate lyase. The deduced amino acid sequence of the 3937 PelX is very similar to the PelX of another E. chrysanthemi strain, EC16, except in the 43 C-terminal amino acids. PelX also has homology to the endo-pectate lyase PelL of E. chrysanthemi but has a N-terminal extension of 324 residues. The transcription of pelX, analyzed by gene fusions, is dependent on several environmental conditions. It is induced by pectic catabolic products and affected by growth phase, oxygen limitation, nitrogen starvation, and catabolite repression. Regulation of pelX expression is dependent on the KdgR repressor, which controls almost all the steps of pectin catabolism, and on the global activator of sugar catabolism, cyclic AMP receptor protein. In contrast, PecS and PecT, two repressors of the transcription of most pectate lyase genes, are not involved in pelX expression. The pelX mutant displayed reduced pathogenicity on chicory leaves, but its virulence on potato tubers or Saintpaulia ionantha plants did not appear to be affected. The purified PelX protein has no maceration activity on plant tissues. Tetragalacturonate is the best substrate of PelX, but PelX also has good activity on longer oligomers. Therefore, the estimated number of binding subsites for PelX is 4, extending from subsites -2 to +2. PelX and PehX were shown to be localized in the periplasm of E. chrysanthemi 3937. PelX catalyzed the formation of unsaturated digalacturonates by attack from the reducing end of the substrate, while PehX released digalacturonates by attack from the nonreducing end of the substrate. Thus, the two types of exo-degrading enzymes appeared complementary in the degradation of pectic polymers, since they act on both extremities of the polymeric chain. (+info)
Self-regulation of pir, a regulatory protein responsible for hyperinduction of pectate lyase in Erwinia chrysanthemi EC16.
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Previously, we have cloned and characterized the pir (plant inducible regulator) gene, which is responsible for hyperinduction of the synthesis of an isozyme of pectate lyase (PLe) in Erwinia chrysanthemi EC16 in the presence of potato extract and sodium polypectate (NaPP). The Pir protein purified from Escherichia coli overexpressing pir is able to bind to the promoter region of pir as a dimer. Self-regulation of pir by its own translational product (Pir) was suggested from the findings that Pir binds at the promoter region of pir and that the hyperinduction of the pirlux construct in response to plant extract was observed only in pir+ but not in pir mutant EC16. Thus, hyperinduction of PLe was thought to be mainly due to overproduction of Pir. On the other hand, KdgR and PecS, which have been reported to be the major regulatory proteins for the synthesis of pectic enzymes, did not bind to the promoter region of pir. Thus, the regulation of Pir synthesis seems to be independent of KdgR and PecS. Also, its expression was insensitive to catabolite repression as predicted from failure of cyclic AMP (cAMP)-CRP (cAMP recognizing protein) to bind at the pir promoter region. (+info)
Enhancement of expression and apparent secretion of Erwinia chrysanthemi endoglucanase (encoded by celZ) in Escherichia coli B.
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Escherichia coli B has been engineered as a biocatalyst for the conversion of lignocellulose into ethanol. Previous research has demonstrated that derivatives of E. coli B can produce high levels of Erwinia chrysanthemi endoglucanase (encoded by celZ) as a periplasmic product and that this enzyme can function with commercial fungal cellulase to increase ethanol production. In this study, we have demonstrated two methods that improve celZ expression in E. coli B. Initially, with a low-copy-number vector, two E. coli glycolytic gene promoters (gap and eno) were tested and found to be less effective than the original celZ promoter. By screening 18,000 random fragments of Zymomonas mobilis DNA, a surrogate promoter was identified which increased celZ expression up to sixfold. With this promoter, large polar inclusion bodies were clearly evident in the periplasmic space. Sequencing revealed that the most active surrogate promoter is derived from five Sau3A1 fragments, one of which was previously sequenced in Z. mobilis. Visual inspection indicated that this DNA fragment contains at least five putative promoter regions, two of which were confirmed by primer extension analysis. Addition of the out genes from E. chrysanthemi EC16 caused a further increase in the production of active enzyme and facilitated secretion or release of over half of the activity into the extracellular environment. With the most active construct, of a total of 13,000 IU of active enzyme per liter of culture, 7,800 IU was in the supernatant. The total active endoglucanase was estimated to represent 4 to 6% of cellular protein. (+info)
Modes of action of five different endopectate lyases from Erwinia chrysanthemi 3937.
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Five endopectate lyases from the phytopathogenic bacterium Erwinia chrysanthemi, PelA, PelB, PelD, PelI, and PelL, were analyzed with respect to their modes of action on polymeric and oligomeric substrates (degree of polymerization, 2 to 8). On polygalacturonate, PelB showed higher reaction rates than PelD, PelI, and PelA, whereas the reaction rates for PelL were extremely low. The product progression during polygalacturonate cleavage showed a typical depolymerization profile for each enzyme and demonstrated their endolytic character. PelA, PelI, and PelL released oligogalacturonates of different sizes, whereas PelD and PelB released mostly unsaturated dimer and unsaturated trimer, respectively. Upon prolonged incubation, all enzymes degraded the primary products further, to unsaturated dimer and trimer, except for PelL, which degraded the primary products to unsaturated tetramer and pentamer in addition to unsaturated dimer and trimer. The bond cleavage frequencies on oligogalacturonates revealed differences in the modes of action of these enzymes that were commensurate with the product progression profiles. The preferential products formed from the oligogalacturonates were unsaturated dimer for PelD, unsaturated trimer for PelB, and unsaturated tetramer for PelI and PelL. For PelA, preferential products were dependent on the sizes of the oligogalacturonates. Whereas PelB and PelD displayed their highest activities on hexagalacturonate and tetragalacturonate, respectively, PelA, PelI, and PelL were most active on the octamer, the largest substrate used. The bond cleavage frequencies and reaction rates were used to estimate the number of subsites of each enzyme. (+info)
Structure of a plant cell wall fragment complexed to pectate lyase C.
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The three-dimensional structure of a complex between the pectate lyase C (PelC) R218K mutant and a plant cell wall fragment has been determined by x-ray diffraction techniques to a resolution of 2.2 A and refined to a crystallographic R factor of 18.6%. The oligosaccharide substrate, alpha-D-GalpA-([1-->4]-alpha-D-GalpA)3-(1-->4)-D-GalpA , is composed of five galacturonopyranose units (D-GalpA) linked by alpha-(1-->4) glycosidic bonds. PelC is secreted by the plant pathogen Erwinia chrysanthemi and degrades the pectate component of plant cell walls in soft rot diseases. The substrate has been trapped in crystals by using the inactive R218K mutant. Four of the five saccharide units of the substrate are well ordered and represent an atomic view of the pectate component in plant cell walls. The conformation of the pectate fragment is a mix of 21 and 31 right-handed helices. The substrate binds in a cleft, interacting primarily with positively charged groups: either lysine or arginine amino acids on PelC or the four Ca2+ ions found in the complex. The observed protein-oligosaccharide interactions provide a functional explanation for many of the invariant and conserved amino acids in the pectate lyase family of proteins. Because the R218K PelC-galacturonopentaose complex represents an intermediate in the reaction pathway, the structure also reveals important details regarding the enzymatic mechanism. Notably, the results suggest that an arginine, which is invariant in the pectate lyase superfamily, is the amino acid that initiates proton abstraction during the beta elimination cleavage of polygalacturonic acid. (+info)
The exopolygalacturonate lyase PelW and the oligogalacturonate lyase Ogl, two cytoplasmic enzymes of pectin catabolism in Erwinia chrysanthemi 3937.
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Erwinia chrysanthemi 3937 secretes into the external medium several pectinolytic enzymes, among which are eight isoenzymes of the endo-cleaving pectate lyases: PelA, PelB, PelC, PelD, and PelE (family 1); PelI (family 4); PelL (family 3); and PelZ (family 5). In addition, one exo-cleaving pectate lyase, PelX (family 3), has been found in the periplasm of E. chrysanthemi. The E. chrysanthemi 3937 gene kdgC has been shown to exhibit a high degree of similarity to the genes pelY of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and pelB of Erwinia carotovora, which encode family 2 pectate lyases. However, no pectinolytic activity has been assigned to the KdgC protein. After verification of the corresponding nucleotide sequence, we cloned a longer DNA fragment and showed that this gene encodes a 553-amino-acid protein exhibiting an exo-cleaving pectate lyase activity. Thus, the kdgC gene was renamed pelW. PelW catalyzes the formation of unsaturated digalacturonates from polygalacturonate or short oligogalacturonates. PelW is located in the bacterial cytoplasm. In this compartment, PelW action could complete the degradation of pectic oligomers that was initiated by the extracellular or periplasmic pectinases and precede the action of the cytoplasmic oligogalacturonate lyase, Ogl. Both cytoplasmic pectinases, PelW and Ogl, seem to act in sequence during oligogalacturonate depolymerization, since oligomers longer than dimers are very poor substrates for Ogl but are good substrates for PelW. The estimated number of binding subsites for PelW is three, extending from subsite -2 to +1, while it is probably two for Ogl, extending from subsite -1 to +1. The activities of the two cytoplasmic lyases, PelW and Ogl, are dependent on the presence of divalent cations, since both enzymes are inhibited by EDTA. In contrast to the extracellular pectate lyases, Ca2+ is unable to restore the activity of PelW or Ogl, while several other cations, including Co2+, Mn2+, and Ni2+, can activate both cytoplasmic lyases. (+info)
Functional analysis of the carbohydrate-binding domains of Erwinia chrysanthemi Cel5 (Endoglucanase Z) and an Escherichia coli putative chitinase.
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The Cel5 cellulase (formerly known as endoglucanase Z) from Erwinia chrysanthemi is a multidomain enzyme consisting of a catalytic domain, a linker region, and a cellulose binding domain (CBD). A three-dimensional structure of the CBD(Cel5) has previously been obtained by nuclear magnetic resonance. In order to define the role of individual residues in cellulose binding, site-directed mutagenesis was performed. The role of three aromatic residues (Trp18, Trp43, and Tyr44) in cellulose binding was demonstrated. The exposed potential hydrogen bond donors, residues Gln22 and Glu27, appeared not to play a role in cellulose binding, whereas residue Asp17 was found to be important for the stability of Cel5. A deletion mutant lacking the residues Asp17 to Pro23 bound only weakly to cellulose. The sequence of CBD(Cel5) exhibits homology to a series of five repeating domains of a putative large protein, referred to as Yheb, from Escherichia coli. One of the repeating domains (Yheb1), consisting of 67 amino acids, was cloned from the E. coli chromosome and purified by metal chelating chromatography. While CBD(Cel5) bound to both cellulose and chitin, Yheb1 bound well to chitin, but only very poorly to cellulose. The Yheb protein contains a region that exhibits sequence homology with the catalytic domain of a chitinase, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the Yheb protein is a chitinase. (+info)
Regulation of pelD and pelE, encoding major alkaline pectate lyases in Erwinia chrysanthemi: involvement of the main transcriptional factors.
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The main virulence factors of the phytopathogenic bacterium Erwinia chrysanthemi are pectinases which attack pectin, the major constituent of the plant cell wall. Of these enzymes, the alkaline isoenzyme named PelD in strain 3937 and PelE in strain EC16 has been described as being particularly important, based on virulence studies of plants. Expression of the pelD and pelE genes is tightly modulated by various regulators, including the KdgR repressor and the cyclic AMP-cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP) activator complex. The use of a lacZ reporter gene allowed us to quantify the repression of E. chrysanthemi 3937 pelD expression exerted by PecS, another repressor of pectinase synthesis. In vitro DNA-protein interaction experiments, centered on the pelD and pelE wild-type or pelE mutated promoter regions, allowed us to define precisely the sequences involved in the binding of these three regulators and of RNA polymerase (RNAP). These studies revealed an unusual binding of the KdgR repressor and suggested the presence of a UP (upstream) element in the pelD and pelE genes. Investigation of the simultaneous binding of CRP, KdgR, PecS, and the RNAP to the regulatory region of the pelD and pelE genes showed that (i) CRP and RNAP bind cooperatively, (ii) PecS partially inhibits binding of the CRP activator and of the CRP-RNAP complex, and (iii) KdgR stabilizes the binding of PecS and prevents transcriptional initiation by RNAP. Taken together, our data suggest that PecS attenuates pelD and pelE expression rather than acting as a true repressor like KdgR. Overall, control of the pelD and pelE genes of E. chrysanthemi appears to be both complex and novel. (+info)