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Signal transduction via phosphorylated CheY towards the flagellum and the archaellum involves a conserved mechanism of CheY phosphorylation and subsequent conformational changes within CheY. This mechanism is conserved among bacteria and archaea, despite substantial differences in the composition and architecture of archaellum and flagellum, respectively. Phosphorylated CheY has higher affinity towards the bacterial C-ring and its binding leads to conformational changes in the flagellar motor and subsequent rotational switching of the flagellum. In archaea, the adaptor protein CheF resides at the cytoplasmic face of the archaeal C-ring formed by the proteins ArlCDE and interacts with phosphorylated CheY. While the mechanism of CheY binding to the C-ring is well-studied in bacteria, the role of CheF in archaea remains enigmatic and mechanistic insights are absent. Here, we have determined the atomic structures of CheF alone and in complex with activated CheY by X-ray crystallography. CheF forms an elongated dimer with a twisted architecture. We show that CheY binds to the C-terminal tail domain of CheF leading to slight conformational changes within CheF. Our structural, biochemical and genetic analyses reveal the mechanistic basis for CheY binding to CheF and allow us to propose a model for rotational switching of the archaellum.
The yeast fatty acid synthase (FAS) is a barrel-shaped 2.6 MDa complex. Upon barrel-formation, two multidomain subunits, each more than 200 kDa large, intertwine to form a heterododecameric complex that buries 170,000 Å2 of protein surface. In spite of the rich knowledge about yeast FAS in structure and function, its assembly remained elusive until recently, when co-translational interaction of the β-subunit with the nascent α-subunit was found to initiate assembly. Here, we characterize the co-translational assembly of yeast FAS at a molecular level. We show that the co-translationally formed interface is sensitive to subtle perturbations, so that the exchange of two amino acids located in the emerging interface can prevent assembly. On the other hand, assembly can also be initiated via the co-translational interaction of the subunits at other sites, which implies that this process is not strictly site or sequence specific. We further highlight additional steps in the biogenesis of yeast FAS, as the formation of a dimeric subunit that orchestrates complex formation and acts as platform for post-translational phosphopantetheinylation. The presented data supports the understanding of the recently discovered prevalence of eukaryotic complexes for co-translational assembly, and is valuable for further harnessing FAS in the biotechnological production of aliphatic compounds.
Background: Phototrophy of the extremely halophilic archaeon Halobacterium salinarum was explored for decades. The research was mainly focused on the expression of bacteriorhodopsin and its functional properties. In contrast, less is known about genome wide transcriptional changes and their impact on the physiological adaptation to phototrophy. The tool of choice to record transcriptional profiles is the DNA microarray technique. However, the technique is still rarely used for transcriptome analysis in archaea. Methodology/Principal Findings: We developed a whole-genome DNA microarray based on our sequence data of the Hbt. salinarum strain R1 genome. The potential of our tool is exemplified by the comparison of cells growing under aerobic and phototrophic conditions, respectively. We processed the raw fluorescence data by several stringent filtering steps and a subsequent MAANOVA analysis. The study revealed a lot of transcriptional differences between the two cell states. We found that the transcriptional changes were relatively weak, though significant. Finally, the DNA microarray data were independently verified by a real-time PCR analysis. Conclusion/Significance: This is the first DNA microarray analysis of Hbt. salinarum cells that were actually grown under phototrophic conditions. By comparing the transcriptomics data with current knowledge we could show that our DNA microarray tool is well applicable for transcriptome analysis in the extremely halophilic archaeon Hbt. salinarum. The reliability of our tool is based on both the high-quality array of DNA probes and the stringent data handling including MAANOVA analysis. Among the regulated genes more than 50% had unknown functions. This underlines the fact that haloarchaeal phototrophy is still far away from being completely understood. Hence, the data recorded in this study will be subject to future systems biology analysis.
Background Differential expression of genes can be regulated on many different levels. Most global studies of gene regulation concentrate on transcript level regulation, and very few global analyses of differential translational efficiencies exist. The studies have revealed that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis thaliana, and human cell lines translational regulation plays a significant role. Additional species have not been investigated yet. Particularly, until now no global study of translational control with any prokaryotic species was available. Results A global analysis of translational control was performed with two haloarchaeal model species, Halobacterium salinarum and Haloferax volcanii. To identify differentially regulated genes, exponentially growing and stationary phase cells were compared. More than 20% of H. salinarum transcripts are translated with non-average efficiencies. By far the largest group is comprised of genes that are translated with above-average efficiency specifically in exponential phase, including genes for many ribosomal proteins, RNA polymerase subunits, enzymes, and chemotaxis proteins. Translation of 1% of all genes is specifically repressed in either of the two growth phases. For comparison, DNA microarrays were also used to identify differential transcriptional regulation in H. salinarum, and 17% of all genes were found to have non-average transcript levels in exponential versus stationary phase. In H. volcanii, 12% of all genes are translated with non-average efficiencies. The overlap with H. salinarum is negligible. In contrast to H. salinarum, 4.6% of genes have non-average translational efficiency in both growth phases, and thus they might be regulated by other stimuli than growth phase. Conclusions For the first time in any prokaryotic species it was shown that a significant fraction of genes is under differential translational control. Groups of genes with different regulatory patterns were discovered. However, neither the fractions nor the identity of regulated genes are conserved between H. salinarum and H. volcanii, indicating that prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes use differential translational control for the regulation of gene expression, but that the identity of regulated genes is not conserved For 70 H. salinarum genes potentiation of regulation was observed, but for the majority of regulated genes either transcriptional or translational regulation is employed.
Dodecins, a group of flavin-binding proteins with a dodecameric quaternary structure, are able to incorporate two flavins within each of their six identical binding pockets building an aromatic tetrade with two tryptophan residues. Dodecin from the archaeal Halobacterium salinarum is a riboflavin storage device. We demonstrate that unwanted side reactions induced by reactive riboflavin species and degradation of riboflavin are avoided by ultrafast depopulation of the reactive excited state of riboflavin. Intriguingly, in this process, the staggered riboflavin dimers do not interact in ground and photoexcited states. Rather, within the tetrade assembly, each riboflavin is kept under the control of the respective adjacent tryptophan, which suggests that the stacked arrangement is a matter of optimizing the flavin load. We further identify an electron transfer in combination with a proton transfer as a central element of the effective excited state depopulation mechanism. Structural and functional comparisons of the archaeal dodecin with bacterial homologs reveal diverging evolution. Bacterial dodecins bind the flavin FMN instead of riboflavin and exhibit a clearly different binding pocket design with inverse incorporations of flavin dimers. The different adoption of flavin changes photochemical properties, making bacterial dodecin a comparably less efficient quencher of flavins. This supports a functional role different for bacterial and archaeal dodecins.
Flavins are employed to transform physical input into biological output signals. In this function, flavins catalyze a variety of light-induced reactions and redox processes. However, nature also provides flavoproteins with the ability to uncouple the mediation of signals. Such proteins are the riboflavin-binding proteins (RfBPs) with their function to store riboflavin for fast delivery of FMN and FAD. Here we present in vitro and in vivo data showing that the recently discovered archaeal dodecin is an RfBP, and we reveal that riboflavin storage is not restricted to eukaryotes. However, the function of the prokaryotic RfBP dodecin seems to be adapted to the requirement of a monocellular organism. While in eukaryotes RfBPs are involved in trafficking riboflavin, and dodecin is responsible for the flavin homeostasis of the cell. Although only 68 amino acids in length, dodecin is of high functional versatility in neutralizing riboflavin to protect the cellular environment from uncontrolled flavin reactivity. Besides the predominant ultrafast quenching of excited states, dodecin prevents light-induced riboflavin reactivity by the selective degradation of riboflavin to lumichrome. Coordinated with the high affinity for lumichrome, the directed degradation reaction is neutral to the cellular environment and provides an alternative pathway for suppressing uncontrolled riboflavin reactivity. Intriguingly, the different structural and functional properties of a homologous bacterial dodecin suggest that dodecin has different roles in different kingdoms of life.
Archaea are motile by the rotation of the archaellum. The archaellum switches between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and movement along a chemical gradient is possible by modulation of the switching frequency. This modulation involves the response regulator CheY and the archaellum adaptor protein CheF. In this study, two new crystal forms and protein structures of CheY are reported. In both crystal forms, CheY is arranged in a domain-swapped conformation. CheF, the protein bridging the chemotaxis signal transduction system and the motility apparatus, was recombinantly expressed, purified and subjected to X-ray data collection.
