The Vibrio cholerae trh gene is coordinately regulated in vitro with type III secretion system genes by VttR(A)/VttR(B) but does not contribute to Caco2-BBE cell cytotoxicity.

Numerous virulence factors have been associated with pathogenic non-O1/non-O139 serogroup strains of Vibrio cholerae. Among them are the thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH) and the TDH-related hemolysin (TRH), which share amino acid similarities to the TDH and TRH proteins of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, where they have been shown to contribute to pathogenesis. Although TDH and TRH homologs can be encoded on extrachromosomal elements in V. cholerae, type III secretion system (T3SS)-positive strains, such as AM-19226, carry a copy of trh within the T3SS genomic island. Transcriptional fusion analysis showed that in strain AM-19226, trh expression is regulated in a bile-dependent manner by a family of transmembrane transcriptional regulators that includes VttR(A), VttR(B), and ToxR. Genes encoding T3SS structural components are expressed under similar conditions, suggesting that within the T3SS genomic island, genes encoding proteins unrelated to the T3SS and loci involved in T3SS synthesis are coregulated. Despite similar in vitro expression patterns, however, TRH is not required for AM-19226 to colonize the infant mouse intestine, nor does it contribute to bile-mediated cytotoxicity when strain AM-19226 is cocultured with the mammalian cell line Caco2-BBE. Instead, we found that a functional T3SS is essential for AM-19226 to induce bile-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro. Collectively, the results are consistent with a more minor role for the V. cholerae TRH in T3SS-positive strains compared to the functions attributed to the V. parahaemolyticus TDH and TRH proteins.

A calcium-dependent interaction between calmodulin and the calponin homology domain of human IQGAP1.

IQGAPs are cytoskeletal scaffolding proteins which collect information from a variety of signalling pathways and pass it on to the microfilaments and microtubules. There is a well-characterised interaction between IQGAP and calmodulin through a series of IQ-motifs towards the middle of the primary sequence. However, it has been shown previously that the calponin homology domain (CHD), located at the N-terminus of the protein, can also interact weakly with calmodulin. Using a recombinant fragment of human IQGAP1 which encompasses the CHD, we have demonstrated that the CHD undergoes a calcium ion-dependent interaction with calmodulin. The CHD can also displace the hydrophobic fluorescent probe 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulphonate from calcium-calmodulin, suggesting that the interaction involves non-polar residues on the surface of calmodulin. Molecular modelling identified a possible site on the CHD for calmodulin interaction. The physiological significance of this interaction remains to be discovered.

The interaction of IQGAPs with calmodulin-like proteins.

Since their identification over 15 years ago, the IQGAP (IQ-motif-containing GTPase-activating protein) family of proteins have been implicated in a wide range of cellular processes, including cytoskeletal reorganization, cell-cell adhesion, cytokinesis and apoptosis. These processes rely on protein-protein interactions, and understanding these (and how they influence one another) is critical in determining how the IQGAPs function. A key group of interactions is with calmodulin and the structurally related proteins myosin essential light chain and S100B. These interactions occur primarily through a series of IQ motifs, which are α-helical segments of the protein located towards the middle of the primary sequence. The three human IQGAP isoforms (IQGAP1, IQGAP2 and IQGAP3) all have four IQ motifs. However, these have different affinities for calmodulin, myosin light chain and S100B. Whereas all four IQ motifs of IQGAP1 interact with calmodulin in the presence of calcium, only the last two do so in the absence of calcium. IQ1 (the first IQ motif) interacts with the myosin essential light chain Mlc1sa and the first two undergo a calcium-dependent interaction with S100B. The significance of the interaction between Mlc1sa and IQGAP1 in mammals is unknown. However, a similar interaction involving the Saccharomyces cerevisiae IQGAP-like protein Iqg1p is involved in cytokinesis, leading to speculation that there may be a similar role in mammals.

vttRA and vttRB Encode ToxR family proteins that mediate bile-induced expression of type three secretion system genes in a non-O1/non-O139 Vibrio cholerae strain.

Strain AM-19226 is a pathogenic non-O1/non-O139 serogroup Vibrio cholerae strain that does not encode the toxin-coregulated pilus or cholera toxin but instead causes disease using a type three secretion system (T3SS). Two genes within the T3SS pathogenicity island, herein named vttR(A) (locus tag A33_1664) and vttR(B) (locus tag A33_1675), are predicted to encode proteins that show similarity to the transcriptional regulator ToxR, which is found in all strains of V. cholerae. Strains with a deletion of vttR(A) or vttR(B) showed attenuated colonization in vivo, indicating that the T3SS-encoded regulatory proteins play a role in virulence. lacZ transcriptional reporter fusions to intergenic regions upstream of genes encoding the T3SS structural components identified growth in the presence of bile as a condition that modulates gene expression. Under this condition, VttR(A) and VttR(B) were necessary for maximal gene expression. In contrast, growth in bile did not substantially alter the expression of a reporter fusion to the vopF gene, which encodes an effector protein. Increased vttR(B) reporter fusion activity was observed in a DeltavttR(B) strain background, suggesting that VttR(B) may regulate its own expression. The collective results are consistent with the hypothesis that T3SS-encoded regulatory proteins are essential for pathogenesis and control the expression of selected T3SS genes.

On the Interaction Between Human IQGAP1 and Actin.

IQGAPs are eukaryotic proteins which integrate signals from various sources and pass these on the cytoskeleton. Understanding how they do this requires information on the interfaces between the proteins. Here, it is shown that the calponin homology domain of human IQGAP1 (CHD1) can be crosslinked with α-actin. The stoichiometry of the interaction was 1:1. A molecular model was built of the complex and associated bioinformatics analyses predicted that the interaction is likely to involve an electrostatic interaction between Lys-240 of α-actin and Glu-30 of CHD1. These residues are predicted to be accessible and are not involved in many intra-protein interactions; they are thus available for interaction with binding partners. They are both located in regions of the proteins which are predicted to be flexible and disordered; interactions between signalling molecules often involve flexible, disordered regions. The predicted binding region in CHD1 is well conserved in many eukaryotic IQGAP-like proteins. In some cases (e.g Dictyostelium discoideum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) protein sequence conservation is weak, but molecular modelling reveals that a region of charged, polar residues in a flexible N-terminus is structurally well conserved. Therefore we conclude that the calponin homology domains of IQGAP1-like proteins interact initially through the electrostatic interaction identified here and that there may be subsequent conformational changes to form the final complex.

The long-term environmental behaviour of strontium and barium released from former mine workings in the granites of the Sunart region of Scotland, UK.

The concentrations of strontium and barium have been measured in water, sediment and the shells of mussels (Mytilus edulis) from a river system in the Sunart region of Scotland, UK. The aim was to establish the fate and mobility of these elements, which are slowly being released from old mine workings on the Strontian granites. Enhanced strontium (1500-2000 microg l(-1) and 250-290 microg l(-1)) and barium concentrations (316 microg l(-1) and 83 microg l(-1)) were found in the waters originating from the two mine drains studied. Both element were also found at significant levels in the river sediments taken from the vicinity of each drainage site (Sr: 225 microg g(-1) and 120-125 microg g(-1); Ba: 1380 microg g(-1) and 126-170 microg g(-1)). The data suggests that the sediments are acting as a reservoir for these group II cations from where they become distributed throughout the river system. Strontium is found to be incorporated into the shells (3.16-3.46 microg g(-1)) and pearls (3.57 microg g(-1)) of the blue mussel, located at the estuarine margin some 10 km downstream, at values close to the maximum expected (3.3% by weight of the calcium content). The study presents a view of the fate of barium and strontium in a river system over a prolonged period of time. As such it provides valuable information for studies that seek to model the impact of the accidental release of barium and strontium (including the important radionuclide 90Sr) into the environment.

IQ-motif selectivity in human IQGAP2 and IQGAP3: binding of calmodulin and myosin essential light chain.

The IQGAP [IQ-motif-containing GAP (GTPase-activating protein)] family members are eukaryotic proteins that act at the interface between cellular signalling and the cytoskeleton. As such they collect numerous inputs from a variety of signalling pathways. A key binding partner is the calcium-sensing protein CaM (calmodulin). This protein binds mainly through a series of IQ-motifs which are located towards the middle of the primary sequence of the IQGAPs. In some IQGAPs, these motifs also provide binding sites for CaM-like proteins such as myosin essential light chain and S100B. Using synthetic peptides and native gel electrophoresis, the binding properties of the IQ-motifs from human IQGAP2 and IQGAP3 have been mapped. The second and third IQ-motifs in IQGAP2 and all four of the IQ-motifs of IQGAP3 interacted with CaM in the presence of calcium ions. However, there were differences in the type of interaction: while some IQ-motifs were able to form complexes with CaM which were stable under the conditions of the experiment, others formed more transient interactions. The first IQ-motifs from IQGAP2 and IQGAP3 formed transient interactions with CaM in the absence of calcium and the first motif from IQGAP3 formed a transient interaction with the myosin essential light chain Mlc1sa. None of these IQ-motifs interacted with S100B. Molecular modelling suggested that all of the IQ-motifs, except the first one from IQGAP2 formed α-helices in solution. These results extend our knowledge of the selectivity of IQ-motifs for CaM and related proteins.