The Tcp plasmids of Clostridium perfringens require the resP gene to ensure stable inheritance.

Many of the disease-causing toxins of the pathogenic bacterium Clostridium perfringens are harboured on large, highly stable, conjugative plasmids. Previous work has established the requirement of a ParMRC-like partitioning system for plasmid maintenance, but little is known about other mechanisms used to ensure stable plasmid inheritance. The archetypal 47 kb Tcp plasmid, pCW3, encodes a gene, resP, whose putative product has sequence similarity to members of the serine recombinase family of site-specific recombinases. ResP is therefore likely to function to resolve plasmid multimers. Sequence analysis identified that resP genes are present on all C. perfringens plasmid families, suggesting a conserved function in these plasmids. To assess the requirement of resP for the stability of pCW3, deletion mutants were constructed. Deletion of resP from pCW3 resulted in a marked instability phenotype that was rescued upon complementation with the wild-type resP gene. Complementation with resP genes from two different C. perfringens plasmids demonstrated that only closely related resP genes can complement the mutation on pCW3. The function of ResP in vivo was examined using an Escherichia coli model system, which determined that two directly repeated res sites were required for the resolution of DNA and that ResP could resolve multimeric plasmid forms into monomeric units. Based on these findings we concluded that ResP could catalyse the resolution of plasmid multimers and was required for the maintenance of Tcp plasmids within C. perfringens. Overall, the results of this study have significant implications for our understanding of the maintenance of toxin-encoding plasmids within C. perfringens.

The Specificity of ParR Binding Determines the Incompatibility of Conjugative Plasmids in Clostridium perfringens.

Plasmids that encode the same replication machinery are generally unable to coexist in the same bacterial cell. However, Clostridium perfringens strains often carry multiple conjugative toxin or antibiotic resistance plasmids that are closely related and encode similar Rep proteins. In many bacteria, plasmid partitioning upon cell division involves a ParMRC system; in C. perfringens plasmids, there are approximately 10 different ParMRC families, with significant differences in amino acid sequences between each ParM family (15% to 54% identity). Since plasmids carrying genes belonging to the same ParMRC family are not observed in the same strain, these families appear to represent the basis for plasmid compatibility in C. perfringens. To understand this process, we examined the key recognition steps between ParR DNA-binding proteins and their parC binding sites. The ParR proteins bound to sequences within a parC site from the same ParMRC family but could not interact with a parC site from a different ParMRC family. These data provide evidence that compatibility of the conjugative toxin plasmids of C. perfringens is mediated by their parMRC-like partitioning systems. This process provides a selective advantage by enabling the host bacterium to maintain separate plasmids that encode toxins that are specific for different host targets. IMPORTANCE Toxins produced by the Gram-positive pathogen Clostridium perfringens are primarily encoded by genes found on different conjugative plasmids. These plasmids encode highly similar replication proteins and therefore should be incompatible, but they are often found to coexist within the same isolate. In this study, we showed that a series of phylogenetically related ParMRC plasmid partitioning systems, structures that are normally responsible for ensuring that plasmids segregate correctly at cell division, dictate which toxin plasmid combinations can coexist within the same bacterial cell. We dissected the recognition steps between the DNA-binding ParMRC component, ParR, and the plasmid-derived centromere, parC. Our data suggested a mechanism by which plasmids encoding ParMRC systems from the same family are incompatible, whereas plasmids encoding ParMRC systems from distinct families are compatible. This work provides insight into how these cells can maintain multiple highly similar toxin plasmids, which is a critical first step in understanding how to limit the disease-causing potential of C. perfringens.

Crystal structure of TcpK in complex with oriT DNA of the antibiotic resistance plasmid pCW3.

Conjugation is fundamental for the acquisition of new genetic traits and the development of antibiotic resistance in pathogenic organisms. Here, we show that a hypothetical Clostridium perfringens protein, TcpK, which is encoded by the tetracycline resistance plasmid pCW3, is essential for efficient conjugative DNA transfer. Our studies reveal that TcpK is a member of the winged helix-turn-helix (wHTH) transcription factor superfamily and that it forms a dimer in solution. Furthermore, TcpK specifically binds to a nine-nucleotide sequence that is present as tandem repeats within the pCW3 origin of transfer (oriT). The X-ray crystal structure of the TcpK-TcpK box complex reveals a binding mode centered on and around the ß-wing, which is different from what has been previously shown for other wHTH proteins. Structure-guided mutagenesis experiments validate the specific interaction between TcpK and the DNA molecule. Additional studies highlight that the TcpK dimer is important for specific DNA binding.