AspC-mediated aspartate metabolism coordinates the Escherichia coli cell cycle.

BACKGROUND: The fast-growing bacterial cell cycle consists of at least two independent cycles of chromosome replication and cell division. To ensure proper cell cycles and viability, chromosome replication and cell division must be coordinated. It has been suggested that metabolism could affect the Escherichia coli cell cycle, but the idea is still lacking solid evidences. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: We found that absence of AspC, an aminotransferase that catalyzes synthesis of aspartate, led to generation of small cells with less origins and slow growth. In contrast, excess AspC was found to exert the opposite effect. Further analysis showed that AspC-mediated aspartate metabolism had a specific effect in the cell cycle, as only extra aspartate of the 20 amino acids triggered production of bigger cells with more origins per cell and faster growth. The amount of DnaA protein per cell was found to be changed in response to the availability of AspC. Depletion of (p)ppGpp by ΔrelAΔspoT led to a slight delay in initiation of replication, but did not change the replication pattern found in the ΔaspC mutant. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCES: The results suggest that AspC-mediated metabolism of aspartate coordinates the E. coli cell cycle through altering the amount of the initiator protein DnaA per cell and the division signal UDP-glucose. Furthermore, AspC sequence conservation suggests similar functions in other organisms.

Identification of small molecule NPR-B antagonists by high throughput screening--potential use in heart failure.

We found previously that stimulation of natriuretic peptide receptor (NPR)-B by C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) in failing rat ventricle potentiates ß1-adrenoceptor (ß1-AR)-mediated inotropic response to noradrenaline through cGMP-mediated inhibition of phosphodiesterase (PDE) 3, thereby enhancing cAMP-mediated signalling. Increased cAMP-mediated signalling is deleterious in chronic heart failure (HF; basis for the use of ß-blockers in HF) and we propose to consider NPR-B antagonists as new HF treatment in addition to conventional therapy. Since there is no NPR-B-selective antagonist available for clinical studies, we aimed at identifying a novel small molecule (non-peptide) NPR-B antagonist. An assay was developed and high throughput screening performed on a chemical library of about 20,000 small molecule compounds (<500 Da) to identify NPR-B antagonists based on inhibition of CNP-stimulated cGMP production in NPR-B-expressing HEK293 cells. The screen revealed several potential NPR-B antagonists, of which six were selected for further studies. Three showed selective NPR-B vs NPR-A inhibition and three were partially selective. The compounds mediated reversible, noncompetitive inhibition and most likely act as allosteric modulators binding outside the agonist binding site of NPR-B. In rat ventricular muscle strips, the potentiating effect of CNP upon ß1-AR-evoked inotropic effects could be attenuated by at least one of these compounds. We identified several small molecule NPR-B antagonists by high throughput screening and show in a functional heart preparation that blocking NPR-B stimulation with a small molecule compound can reduce the potentiating effect of CNP on the ß1-AR-mediated inotropic response to noradrenaline.

The initiator protein DnaA contributes to keeping new origins inactivated by promoting the presence of hemimethylated DNA.

The Escherichia coli replication origin oriC and other regions with high numbers of GATC sites remain hemimethylated after replication much longer than regions with average numbers of GATC sites. The prolonged period of hemimethylation has been attributed to the presence of bound SeqA protein. Here, it was found that a GATC cluster inserted at the datA site, which binds large amounts of DnaA in vivo, did not become remethylated at all, unless the availability of the DnaA protein was severely reduced. Sequestration of oriC was also found to be affected by the availability of DnaA. The period of origin hemimethylation was reduced by approximately 30% upon a reduction in the availability of DnaA. The result shows that not only SeqA binding but also DnaA binding to newly replicated origins contributes to keeping them hemimethylated. It was also found that the number of SeqA foci increased in cells with a combination of DnaA-mediated protection and sequestration at the GATC::datA cluster.

An oriC-like distribution of GATC sites mediates full sequestration of non-origin sequences in Escherichia coli.

Sequestration of newly replicated origins is one of the mechanisms required to limit initiation of Escherichia coli chromosome replication to once per generation. Origin sequestration lasts for a considerably longer period of time than the sequestration of other newly replicated regions of the chromosome. The reason for this may be the high number of GATC sites present in the origin. Alternatively, other sequence elements in the origin region may be important for its prolonged sequestration. To distinguish between these possibilities we constructed a DNA fragment containing ten GATC sites distributed with the same spacing as the ten GATC sites in the left half of oriC, but with random sequence between the GATC sites, and inserted it at a non-sequestered chromosome location. Sequestration of this GATC-cluster lasted as long as that of oriC, or even longer. The result shows that the presence of ten GATC sites, distributed as in oriC, is sufficient to cause full sequestration, and that other sequence elements most likely do not contribute to sequestration.

Cloning, pharmacological characterisation and tissue distribution of a novel 5-HT4 receptor splice variant, 5-HT4(i).

5-HT4 receptor pre-mRNA is alternatively spliced in human (h) tissue to produce several splice variants, called 5-HT4(a) to 5-HT4(h) and 5-HT4(n). Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primers designed to amplify both 5-HT4(a) and 5-HT4(b) amplified three additional bands in different tissues, two representing different mRNA species both encoding 5-HT4(g) and one representing mRNA for a novel splice variant named 5-HT4(i), cloned from testis and pancreas respectively. Primary and nested PCR detected both 5-HT4(g) and 5-HT4(i) in multiple tissues. Whereas 5-HT4(i), was found in all cardiovascular tissues analysed, 5-HT4(g) was mainly present in atria. However, quantitative RT-PCR indicated 5-HT4(g) expression also in cardiac ventricle. The pharmacological profiles and ability to activate adenylyl cyclase (AC) were compared between four recombinant h5-HT4 splice variants (a, b, g and i) expressed transiently and stably in HEK293 cells. Displacement of [(3)H]GR113808 with ten ligands revealed identical pharmacological profiles (affinity rank order: GR125487, SB207710, GR113808>SB203186>serotonin, cisapride, tropisetron>renzapride, 5-MeOT>5-CT). In transiently transfected HEK293 cells cisapride was a partial agonist compared to serotonin at 5-HT4(b), 5-HT4(g) and 5-HT4(i) receptors. In membranes from HEK293 cells stably expressing 5-HT4(g) (3,000 fmol/mg protein) or 5-HT4(i) (500 fmol/mg protein), serotonin and 5-MeOT were full agonists while cisapride was full agonist at 5-HT4(g) and partial agonist at 5-HT4(i), probably due to different receptor expression levels. At both 5-HT4(g) and 5-HT4(i), the behaviour of 5-HT4 receptor antagonists was dependent on receptor level. At high receptor levels, tropisetron and SB207710 and to a variable extent SB203186 and GR113808 displayed some partial agonist activity, whereas GR125487 and SB207266 reduced the AC activity below basal, indicating both receptors to be constitutively active. We conclude that the novel 5-HT4(i) receptor splice variant is pharmacologically indistinguishable from other 5-HT4 splice variants and that the 5-HT4(i) C-terminal tail does not influence coupling to AC.

Re-replication from non-sequesterable origins generates three-nucleoid cells which divide asymmetrically.

In rapidly growing Escherichia coli cells replication cycles overlap and initiation occurs at multiple replication origins (oriCs). All origins within a cell are initiated essentially in synchrony and only once per cell cycle. Immediate re-initiation of new origins is avoided by sequestration, a mechanism dependent on the SeqA protein and Dam methylation of GATC sites in oriC. Here, GATC sites in oriC were changed to GTTC. This reduced the sequestration to essentially the level found in SeqA-less cells. The mutant origins underwent re-initiation, showing that the GATC sites in oriC are required for sequestration. Each re-initiation eventually gave rise to a cell containing an extra nucleoid. The three-nucleoid cells displayed one asymmetrically placed FtsZ-ring and divided into a two-nucleoid cell and a one-nucleoid cell. The three nucleoid-cells thus divided into three daughters by two consecutive divisions. The results show that extra rounds of replication cause extra daughter cells to be formed prematurely. The fairly normal mutant growth rate and size distribution show, however, that premature rounds of replication, chromosome segregation, and cell division are flexibly accommodated by the existing cell cycle controls.

Excess SeqA prolongs sequestration of oriC and delays nucleoid segregation and cell division.

Following initiation of chromosomal replication in Escherichia coli, newly initiated origins (oriCs) are prevented from further initiations by a mechanism termed sequestration. During the sequestration period (which lasts about one-third of a cell cycle), the origins remain hemimethylated. The SeqA protein binds hemimethylated oriC in vitro. In vivo, the absence of SeqA causes overinitiation and strongly reduces the duration of hemimethylation. The pattern of immunostained SeqA complexes in vivo suggests that SeqA has a role in organizing hemimethylated DNA at the replication forks. We have examined the effects of overexpressing SeqA under different cellular conditions. Our data demonstrate that excess SeqA significantly increases the time oriC is hemimethylated following initiation of replication. In some cells, sequestration continued for more than one generation and resulted in inhibition of primary initiation. SeqA overproduction also interfered with the segregation of sister nucleoids and caused a delay in cell division. These results suggest that SeqA's function in regulation of replication initiation is linked to chromosome segregation and possibly cell division.