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11 Publications visible to you, out of a total of 11

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Increasing antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria necessitates the development of new medication strategies. Interfering with the metabolic network of the pathogen can provide novel drug targets but simultaneously requires a deeper and more detailed organism-specific understanding of the metabolism, which is often surprisingly sparse. In light of this, we reconstructed a genome-scale metabolic model of the pathogen Enterococcus faecalis V583. The manually curated metabolic network comprises 642 metabolites and 706 reactions. We experimentally determined metabolic profiles of E. faecalis grown in chemically defined medium in an anaerobic chemostat setup at different dilution rates and calculated the net uptake and product fluxes to constrain the model. We computed growth-associated energy and maintenance parameters and studied flux distributions through the metabolic network. Amino acid auxotrophies were identified experimentally for model validation and revealed seven essential amino acids. In addition, the important metabolic hub of glutamine/glutamate was altered by constructing a glutamine synthetase knockout mutant. The metabolic profile showed a slight shift in the fermentation pattern toward ethanol production and increased uptake rates of multiple amino acids, especially l-glutamine and l-glutamate. The model was used to understand the altered flux distributions in the mutant and provided an explanation for the experimentally observed redirection of the metabolic flux. We further highlighted the importance of gene-regulatory effects on the redirection of the metabolic fluxes upon perturbation. The genome-scale metabolic model presented here includes gene-protein-reaction associations, allowing a further use for biotechnological applications, for studying essential genes, proteins, or reactions, and the search for novel drug targets.

Authors: N. Veith, M. Solheim, K. W. van Grinsven, B. G. Olivier, J. Levering, R. Grosseholz, J. Hugenholtz, H. Holo, I. Nes, B. Teusink, U. Kummer

Date Published: 19th Dec 2014

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract

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Date Published: 25th Jul 2013

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus, GAS) is an important human pathogen causing mild superficial infections of skin and mucous membranes, but also life-threatening systemic diseases. S. pyogenes and other prokaryotic organisms use the arginine deiminase system (ADS) for survival in acidic environments. In this study, the arginine deiminase (AD), and carbamate kinase (CK) from S. pyogenes M49 strain 591 were heterologously expressed in E. coli DH5α, purified, and kinetically characterized. AD and CK from S. pyogenes M49 share high amino acid sequence similarity with the respective enzymes from Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis IL1403 (45.6% and 53.5% identical amino acids) and Enterococcus faecalis V583 (66.8% and 66.8% identical amino acids). We found that the arginine deiminase of S. pyogenes is not allosterically regulated by the intermediates and products of the arginine degradation (E. g, ATP, citrulline, carbamoyl phosphate). The Km and Vmax values for arginine were 1.13±0.12 mM (mean ± SD) and 1.51±0.07 μmol/min/mg protein. The carbamate kinase is inhibited by ATP but unaffected by arginine and citrulline. The Km and Vmax values for ADP were 0.72±0.08 mM and 1.10±0.10 μmol/min/mg protein and the Km for carbamoyl phosphate was 0.65±0.07 mM. The optimum pH and temperature for both enzymes were 6.5 and 37°C, respectively.

Editor:

Date Published: 1st Jul 2013

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract

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Authors: , , H. Messiha, , , , , , ,

Date Published: 17th May 2013

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Lactic acid-producing bacteria survive in distinct environments, but show common metabolic characteristics. Here we studied the dynamic interactions of the central metabolism in Lactococcus lactis, extensively used as starter in dairy industry, and Streptococcus pyogenes, a human pathogen. Glucose-pulse experiments and enzymatic measurements were performed to parameterize kinetic models of glycolysis. Significant improvements were made to existing kinetic models for L. lactis, which subsequently accelerated the development of the first kinetic model of S. pyogenes glycolysis. The models revealed an important role for extracellular phosphate in regulation of central metabolism and the efficient use of glucose. Thus, phosphate which is rarely taken into account as an independent species in models of central metabolism has to be considered more thoroughly in the analysis of metabolic systems in the future. Insufficient phosphate supply can lead to a strong inhibition of glycolysis at high glucose concentration in both species, but more severely in S. pyogenes. S. pyogenes is more efficient in converting glucose to ATP, showing a higher tendency towards heterofermentative energy metabolism than L. lactis. Our comparative systems biology approach revealed that the glycolysis of L. lactis and S. pyogenes have similar characteristics, but are adapted to their individual natural habitats with respect to phosphate regulation. The mathematical models described here have been submitted to the Online Cellular Systems Modelling Database and can be accessed at http://jjj.biochem.sun.ac.za/database/levering/index.html free of charge.

Editor:

Date Published: 14th Feb 2012

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

SABIO-RK (http://sabio.h-its.org/) is a web-accessible database storing comprehensive information about biochemical reactions and their kinetic properties. SABIO-RK offers standardized data manually extracted from the literature and data directly submitted from lab experiments. The database content includes kinetic parameters in relation to biochemical reactions and their biological sources with no restriction on any particular set of organisms. Additionally, kinetic rate laws and corresponding equations as well as experimental conditions are represented. All the data are manually curated and annotated by biological experts, supported by automated consistency checks. SABIO-RK can be accessed via web-based user interfaces or automatically via web services that allow direct data access by other tools. Both interfaces support the export of the data together with its annotations in SBML (Systems Biology Markup Language), e.g. for import in modelling tools.

Authors: Ulrike Wittig, , Martin Golebiewski, , Lei Shi, Lenneke Jong, Enkhjargal Algaa, Andreas Weidemann, Heidrun Sauer-Danzwith, Saqib Mir, , Meik Bittkowski, Elina Wetsch, ,

Date Published: 22nd Nov 2011

Publication Type: Journal

Abstract (Expand)

Enterococcus faecalis V583 was grown in a glucose-limited chemostat at three different (0.05 h(-1), 0.15 h(-1) and 0.4 h(-1)) growth rates. The fermentation pattern changed with growth rate, from a mostly homolactic profile at high growth rate to a fermentation dominated by formate, acetate and ethanol production at low growth rate. A number of amino acids were consumed at the lower growth rates but not by fast growing cells. The change in metabolic profile was mainly caused by decreased flux through lactate dehydrogenase. Transcription of ldh-1, encoding the principal lactate dehydrogenase, showed very strong growth rate dependence and differed by three orders of magnitude between the highest and the lowest growth rates. Despite the increase in ldh-1 transcript, the content of the Ldh-1 protein was the same under all conditions. Using microarrays and qPCR the levels of 227 gene transcript were found to be affected by the growth rate, and 56 differentially expressed proteins were found by proteomic analyses. Few genes or proteins showed a growth rate-dependent increase or decrease in expression over the whole range of conditions, and many showed at maximum or minimum at the middle growth rate (D=0.15h(-1)). For many gene products a discrepancy between transcriptomic and proteomic data were seen, indicating post-transcriptional regulation of expression.

Authors: , Ellen M Faergestad, , Lars Snipen, ,

Date Published: 1st Nov 2011

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

A constructed lactate dehydrogenase-negative mutant of Enterococcus faecalis V583 grows at the same rate as the wild type, but ferments glucose to ethanol, formate, and acetoin. Microrray analysis showed that LDH deficiency had profound transcriptional effects, 43 genes in the mutant were found to be upregulated and 45 to be downregulated. Most of the upregulated genes encode enzymes of energy metabolism or transport. By 2D gel analysis 45 differentially expressed proteins were identified. A comparison of transcriptomic and proteomic data suggests that for several proteins the level of expression is regulated beyond the level of transcription. Pyruvate catabolic genes, including the truncated ldh, showed highly increased transcription in the mutant. These genes, along with a number of other differentially expressed genes, are preceded by sequences with homology to binding sites for the global redox-sensing repressor, Rex, of Staphylococcus aureus. The data indicate that the genes are transcriptionally regulated by the NADH/NAD ratio and that this ratio plays an important role in the regulatory network controlling energy metabolism in E. faecalis.

Authors: , , Ellen M Fergestad, Geir Mathiesen, ,

Date Published: 8th Feb 2011

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Streptococcus pyogenes (group A Streptococcus [GAS]) is a major human pathogen, causing diseases ranging from mild superficial infections of the skin and pharyngeal mucosal membrane, up to severe systemic and invasive diseases and autoimmune sequelae. The capability of GAS to cause this wide variety of infections is due to the expression of a large set of virulence factors, their concerted transcriptional regulation, and bacterial adaptation mechanisms to various host niches, which we are now beginning to understand on a molecular level. The addition of -omics technologies for GAS pathogenesis investigation, on top of traditional molecular methods, led to fast progress in understanding GAS pathogenesis mechanisms. This article focuses on differential transcriptional analysis performed on the bacterial side as well as on the host cell side. The microarray studies discussed provide new insight into the following five topics: gene-expression patterns under infection-relevant conditions, gene-expression patterns in mutant strains compared with wild-type strains, emergence of exceptionally fit GAS clones, gene-expression patterns of eukaryotic target and immune cells in response to GAS infection, and mechanisms underlying shifts from a pharyngeal to invasive GAS lifestyle.

Authors: , Venelina Sugareva, Nadja Patenge,

Date Published: 8th Dec 2010

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

Several lactic acid bacteria use homolactic fermentation for generation of ATP. Here we studied the role of the lactate dehydrogenase enzyme on the general physiology of the three homolactic acid bacteria Lactococcus lactis, Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus pyogenes. Of note, deletion of the ldh genes hardly affected the growth rate in chemically defined medium in microaerophilic conditions. However, growth rate was affected in rich medium. Furthermore, deletion of ldh affected the ability for utilization of various substrates as a carbon source. A switch to mixed acid fermentation was observed in glucose-limited continuous growth and was dependent on the growth rate for S. pyogenes and dependent on the pH for E. faecalis. In S. pyogenes and L. lactis a change in pH resulted in a clear change in Yatp. The pH that showed the highest Yatp corresponded to the pH of the natural habitat of the organisms.

Authors: , , , , Anja Pritzschke, Nikolai Siemens, , ,

Date Published: 25th Nov 2010

Publication Type: Not specified

Abstract (Expand)

The roles of the two ldh genes of Enterococcus faecalis were studied using knockout mutants. Deletion of ldh-1 causes a metabolic shift from homolactic fermentation to ethanol, formate, and acetoin production, with a high level of formate production even under aerobic conditions. Ldh-2 plays only a minor role in lactate production.

Authors: , Zhian Saleihan, ,

Date Published: 22nd May 2009

Publication Type: Not specified

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