RESUMO
Non-surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy using a 514.5 nm wavelength laser has been used to measure the molecular difference of conditional mutants of Mycobacterium smegmatis expressing three different alleles: wild-type wag31(Mtb), phosphoablative wag31T73A(Mtb), and phosphomimetic wag31T73E(Mtb). This study demonstrates that the phosphorylation of Wag31, a key cell-division protein, causes significant differences in the quantity of amino acids associated with peptidoglycan precursor proteins and lipid II which are observable in the Raman spectra of these cells. Raman spectra were also acquired from the isolated P60 cell envelope fraction of the cells expressing wag31T73A(Mtb) and wag31T73E(Mtb). A significant number of the molecular vibrational differences observed in the cells were also observed in the cell envelope fraction, indicating that these differences are indeed localized in the cell envelope. Principal component analyses and discriminant function analyses were conducted on these data to demonstrate the ease of spectral classification and the reproducibility of the data.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Ciclo Celular/metabolismo , Mycobacterium smegmatis/metabolismo , Uridina Difosfato Ácido N-Acetilmurâmico/análogos & derivados , Aminoácidos , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular/química , Proteínas de Ciclo Celular/genética , Membrana Celular/química , Membrana Celular/metabolismo , Mutação , Mycobacterium smegmatis/genética , Fosforilação , Análise Espectral Raman , Uridina Difosfato Ácido N-Acetilmurâmico/química , Uridina Difosfato Ácido N-Acetilmurâmico/metabolismoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Sensing and responding to environmental changes is a central aspect of cell division regulation. Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains eleven Ser/Thr kinases, two of which, PknA and PknB, are key signaling molecules that regulate cell division/morphology. One substrate of these kinases is Wag31, and we previously showed that partial depletion of Wag31 caused morphological changes indicative of cell wall defects, and that the phosphorylation state of Wag31 affected cell growth in mycobacteria. In the present study, we further characterized the role of the Wag31 phosphorylation in polar peptidoglycan biosynthesis. RESULTS: We demonstrate that the differential growth among cells expressing different wag31 alleles (wild-type, phosphoablative, or phosphomimetic) is caused by, at least in part, dissimilar nascent peptidoglycan biosynthesis. The phosphorylation state of Wag31 is found to be important for protein-protein interactions between the Wag31 molecules, and thus, for its polar localization. Consistent with these results, cells expressing a phosphomimetic wag31 allele have a higher enzymatic activity in the peptidoglycan biosynthetic pathway. CONCLUSIONS: The Wag31Mtb phosphorylation is a novel molecular mechanism by which Wag31Mtb regulates peptidoglycan synthesis and thus, optimal growth in mycobacteria.