Decoding the chemical language of Suillus fungi: genome mining and untargeted metabolomics uncover terpene chemical diversity.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi establish mutually beneficial relationships with trees, trading nutrients for carbon. Suillus are ectomycorrhizal fungi that are critical to the health of boreal and temperate forest ecosystems. Comparative genomics has identified a high number of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase and terpene biosynthetic gene clusters (BGC) potentially involved in fungal competition and communication. However, the functionality of these BGCs is not known. This study employed co-culture techniques to activate BGC expression and then used metabolomics to investigate the diversity of metabolic products produced by three Suillus species (Suillus hirtellus EM16, Suillus decipiens EM49, and Suillus cothurnatus VC1858), core members of the pine microbiome. After 28 days of growth on solid media, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry identified a diverse range of extracellular metabolites (exometabolites) along the interaction zone between Suillus co-cultures. Prenol lipids were among the most abundant chemical classes. Out of the 62 unique terpene BGCs predicted by genome mining, 41 putative prenol lipids (includes 37 putative terpenes) were identified across the three Suillus species using metabolomics. Notably, some terpenes were significantly more abundant in co-culture conditions. For example, we identified a metabolite matching to isomers isopimaric acid, sandaracopimaric acid, and abietic acid, which can be found in pine resin and play important roles in host defense mechanisms and Suillus spore germination. This research highlights the importance of combining genomics and metabolomics to advance our understanding of the chemical diversity underpinning fungal signaling and communication.IMPORTANCEUsing a combination of genomics and metabolomics, this study's findings offer new insights into the chemical diversity of Suillus fungi, which serve a critical role in forest ecosystems.

Formation of a constructed microbial community in a nutrient-rich environment indicates bacterial interspecific competition.

Understanding the organizational principles of microbial communities is essential for interpreting ecosystem stability. Previous studies have investigated the formation of bacterial communities under nutrient-poor conditions or obligate relationships to observe cooperative interactions among different species. How microorganisms form stabilized communities in nutrient-rich environments, without obligate metabolic interdependency for growth, is still not fully disclosed. In this study, three bacterial strains isolated from the Populus deltoides rhizosphere were co-cultured in complex medium, and their growth behavior was tracked. These strains co-exist in mixed culture over serial transfer for multiple growth-dilution cycles. Competition is proposed as an emergent interaction relationship among the three bacteria based on their significantly decreased growth levels. The effects of different initial inoculum ratios, up to three orders of magnitude, on community structure were investigated, and the final compositions of the mixed communities with various starting composition indicate that community structure is not dependent on the initial inoculum ratio. Furthermore, the competitive relationships within the community were not altered by different initial inoculum ratios. The community structure was simulated by generalized Lotka-Volterra and dynamic flux balance analysis to provide mechanistic predictions into emergence of community structure under a nutrient-rich environment. Metaproteomic analyses provide support for the metabolite exchanges predicted by computational modeling and for highly altered physiologies when microbes are grown in co-culture. These findings broaden our understanding of bacterial community dynamics and metabolic diversity in higher-order interactions and could be significant in the management of rhizospheric bacterial communities. IMPORTANCE: Bacteria naturally co-exist in multispecies consortia, and the ability to engineer such systems can be useful in biotechnology. Despite this, few studies have been performed to understand how bacteria form a stable community and interact with each other under nutrient-rich conditions. In this study, we investigated the effects of initial inoculum ratios on bacterial community structure using a complex medium and found that the initial inoculum ratio has no significant impact on resultant community structure or on interaction patterns between community members. The microbial population profiles were simulated using computational tools in order to understand intermicrobial relationships and to identify potential metabolic exchanges that occur during stabilization of the bacterial community. Studying microbial community assembly processes is essential for understanding fundamental ecological principles in microbial ecosystems and can be critical in predicting microbial community structure and function.

Bacterial hemophilin homologs and their specific type eleven secretor proteins have conserved roles in heme capture and are diversifying as a family.

Cellular life relies on enzymes that require metals, which must be acquired from extracellular sources. Bacteria utilize surface and secreted proteins to acquire such valuable nutrients from their environment. These include the cargo proteins of the type eleven secretion system (T11SS), which have been connected to host specificity, metal homeostasis, and nutritional immunity evasion. This Sec-dependent, Gram-negative secretion system is encoded by organisms throughout the phylum Proteobacteria, including human pathogens Neisseria meningitidis, Proteus mirabilis, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Haemophilus influenzae. Experimentally verified T11SS-dependent cargo include transferrin-binding protein B (TbpB), the hemophilin homologs heme receptor protein C (HrpC), hemophilin A (HphA), the immune evasion protein factor-H binding protein (fHbp), and the host symbiosis factor nematode intestinal localization protein C (NilC). Here, we examined the specificity of T11SS systems for their cognate cargo proteins using taxonomically distributed homolog pairs of T11SS and hemophilin cargo and explored the ligand binding ability of those hemophilin cargo homologs. In vivo expression in Escherichia coli of hemophilin homologs revealed that each is secreted in a specific manner by its cognate T11SS protein. Sequence analysis and structural modeling suggest that all hemophilin homologs share an N-terminal ligand-binding domain with the same topology as the ligand-binding domains of the Haemophilus haemolyticus heme binding protein (Hpl) and HphA. We term this signature feature of this group of proteins the hemophilin ligand-binding domain. Network analysis of hemophilin homologs revealed five subclusters and representatives from four of these showed variable heme-binding activities, which, combined with sequence-structure variation, suggests that hemophilins are diversifying in function.IMPORTANCEThe secreted protein hemophilin and its homologs contribute to the survival of several bacterial symbionts within their respective host environments. Here, we compared taxonomically diverse hemophilin homologs and their paired Type 11 secretion systems (T11SS) to determine if heme binding and T11SS secretion are conserved characteristics of this family. We establish the existence of divergent hemophilin sub-families and describe structural features that contribute to distinct ligand-binding behaviors. Furthermore, we demonstrate that T11SS are specific for their cognate hemophilin family cargo proteins. Our work establishes that hemophilin homolog-T11SS pairs are diverging from each other, potentially evolving into novel ligand acquisition systems that provide competitive benefits in host niches.

Multi-Omics integration can be used to rescue metabolic information for some of the dark region of the Pseudomonas putida proteome.

In every omics experiment, genes or their products are identified for which even state of the art tools are unable to assign a function. In the biotechnology chassis organism Pseudomonas putida, these proteins of unknown function make up 14% of the proteome. This missing information can bias analyses since these proteins can carry out functions which impact the engineering of organisms. As a consequence of predicting protein function across all organisms, function prediction tools generally fail to use all of the types of data available for any specific organism, including protein and transcript expression information. Additionally, the release of Alphafold predictions for all Uniprot proteins provides a novel opportunity for leveraging structural information. We constructed a bespoke machine learning model to predict the function of recalcitrant proteins of unknown function in Pseudomonas putida based on these sources of data, which annotated 1079 terms to 213 proteins. Among the predicted functions supplied by the model, we found evidence for a significant overrepresentation of nitrogen metabolism and macromolecule processing proteins. These findings were corroborated by manual analyses of selected proteins which identified, among others, a functionally unannotated operon that likely encodes a branch of the shikimate pathway.

Characterization of the In Vivo Deuteration of Native Phospholipids by Mass Spectrometry Yields Guidelines for Their Regiospecific Customization.

Customization of deuterated biomolecules is vital for many advanced biological experiments including neutron scattering. However, because it is challenging to control the proportion and regiospecificity of deuterium incorporation in live systems, often only two or three synthetic lipids are mixed together to form simplistic model membranes. This limits the applicability and biological accuracy of the results generated with these synthetic membranes. Despite some limited prior examination of deuterating Escherichia coli lipids in vivo, this approach has not been widely implemented. Here, an extensive mass spectrometry-based profiling of E. coli phospholipid deuteration states with several different growth media was performed, and a computational method to describe deuterium distributions with a one-number summary is introduced. The deuteration states of 36 lipid species were quantitatively profiled in 15 different growth conditions, and tandem mass spectrometry was used to reveal deuterium localization. Regressions were employed to enable the prediction of lipid deuteration for untested conditions. Small-angle neutron scattering was performed on select deuterated lipid samples, which validated the deuteration states calculated from the mass spectral data. Based on these experiments, guidelines for the design of specifically deuterated phospholipids are described. This unlocks even greater capabilities from neutron-based techniques, enabling experiments that were formerly impossible.

Decoding the chemical language of Suillus fungi: genome mining and untargeted metabolomics uncover terpene chemical diversity.

Ectomycorrhizal fungi establish mutually beneficial relationships with trees, trading nutrients for carbon. Suillus are ectomycorrhizal fungi that are critical to the health of boreal and temperate forest ecosystems. Comparative genomics has identified a high number of non-ribosomal peptide synthetase and terpene biosynthetic gene clusters (BGC) potentially involved in fungal competition and communication. However, the functionality of these BGCs is not known. This study employed co-culture techniques to activate BGC expression and then used metabolomics to investigate the diversity of metabolic products produced by three Suillus species ( S. hirtellus EM16, S. decipiens EM49, and S. cothurnatus VC1858), core members of the Pine microbiome. After 28 days of growth on solid media, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry identified a diverse range of extracellular metabolites (exometabolites) along the interaction zone between Suillus co-cultures. Prenol lipids were among the most abundant chemical classes. Out of the 62 unique terpene BGCs predicted by genome mining, 116 putative terpenes were identified across the three Suillus species using metabolomics. Notably, some terpenes were significantly more abundant in co-culture conditions. For example, we identified a metabolite matching to isomers isopimaric acid, sandaracopimaric acid, and abietic acid, which can be found in pine resin and play important roles in host defense mechanisms and Suillus spore germination. This research highlights the importance of combining genomics and metabolomics to advance our understanding of the chemical diversity underpinning fungal signaling and communication. Importance: Using a combination of genomics and metabolomics, this study's findings offer new insights into the signaling and communication of Suillus fungi, which serve a critical role in forest ecosystems.

Functional analysis of Salix purpurea genes support roles for ARR17 and GATA15 as master regulators of sex determination.

The Salicaceae family is of growing interest in the study of dioecy in plants because the sex determination region (SDR) has been shown to be highly dynamic, with differing locations and heterogametic systems between species. Without the ability to transform and regenerate Salix in tissue culture, previous studies investigating the mechanisms regulating sex in the genus Salix have been limited to genome resequencing and differential gene expression, which are mostly descriptive in nature, and functional validation of candidate sex determination genes has not yet been conducted. Here, we used Arabidopsis to functionally characterize a suite of previously identified candidate genes involved in sex determination and sex dimorphism in the bioenergy shrub willow Salix purpurea. Six candidate master regulator genes for sex determination were heterologously expressed in Arabidopsis, followed by floral proteome analysis. In addition, 11 transcription factors with predicted roles in mediating sex dimorphism downstream of the SDR were tested using DAP-Seq in both male and female S. purpurea DNA. The results of this study provide further evidence to support models for the roles of ARR17 and GATA15 as master regulator genes of sex determination in S. purpurea, contributing to a regulatory system that is notably different from that of its sister genus Populus. Evidence was also obtained for the roles of two transcription factors, an AP2/ERF family gene and a homeodomain-like transcription factor, in downstream regulation of sex dimorphism.

Characterization and Amelioration of Filtration Difficulties Encountered in Metabolomic Studies of Clostridium thermocellum at Elevated Sugar Concentrations.

Clostridium thermocellum, a promising candidate for consolidated bioprocessing, has been subjected to numerous engineering strategies for enhanced bioethanol production. Measurements of intracellular metabolites at substrate concentrations high enough (>50 g/L) to allow the production of industrially relevant titers of ethanol would inform efforts toward this end but have been difficult due to the production of a viscous substance that interferes with the filtration and quenching steps during metabolite extraction. To determine whether this problem is unique to C. thermocellum, we performed filtration experiments with other organisms that have been engineered for high-titer ethanol production, including Escherichia coli and Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum. We addressed the problem through a series of improvements, including active pH control (to reduce problems with viscosity), investigation of different filter materials and pore sizes (to increase the filtration capacity), and correction for extracellular metabolite concentrations, and we developed a technique for more accurate intracellular metabolite measurements at elevated substrate concentrations. IMPORTANCE The accurate measurement of intracellular metabolites (metabolomics) is an integral part of metabolic engineering for the enhanced production of industrially important compounds and a useful technique to understand microbial physiology. Previous work tended to focus on model organisms under laboratory conditions. As we try to perform metabolomic studies with a wider range of organisms under conditions that more closely represent those found in nature or industry, we have found limitations in existing techniques. For example, fast filtration is an important step in quenching metabolism in preparation for metabolite extraction; however, it does not work for cultures of C. thermocellum at high substrate concentrations. In this work, we characterize the extent of the problem and develop techniques to overcome it.

Lectin Receptor-like Kinase Signaling during Engineered Ectomycorrhiza Colonization.

Mutualistic association can improve a plant's health and productivity. G-type lectin receptor-like kinase (PtLecRLK1) is a susceptibility factor in Populus trichocarpa that permits root colonization by a beneficial fungus, Laccaria bicolor. Engineering PtLecRLK1 also permits L. bicolor root colonization in non-host plants similar to Populus trichocarpa. The intracellular signaling reprogramed by PtLecRLK1 upon recognition of L. bicolor to allow for the development and maintenance of symbiosis is yet to be determined. In this study, phosphoproteomics was utilized to identify phosphorylation-based relevant signaling pathways associated with PtLecRLK1 recognition of L. bicolor in transgenic switchgrass roots. Our finding shows that PtLecRLK1 in transgenic plants modifies the chitin-triggered plant defense and MAPK signaling along with a significant adjustment in phytohormone signaling, ROS balance, endocytosis, cytoskeleton movement, and proteasomal degradation in order to facilitate the establishment and maintenance of L. bicolor colonization. Moreover, protein-protein interaction data implicate a cGMP-dependent protein kinase as a potential substrate of PtLecRLK1.

Mechanistic Insights into Cell-Free Gene Expression through an Integrated -Omics Analysis of Extract Processing Methods.

Cell-free systems derived from crude cell extracts have developed into tools for gene expression, with applications in prototyping, biosensing, and protein production. Key to the development of these systems is optimization of cell extract preparation methods. However, the applied nature of these optimizations often limits investigation into the complex nature of the extracts themselves, which contain thousands of proteins and reaction networks with hundreds of metabolites. Here, we sought to uncover the black box of proteins and metabolites in Escherichia coli cell-free reactions based on different extract preparation methods. We assess changes in transcription and translation activity from σ70 promoters in extracts prepared with acetate or glutamate buffer and the common post-lysis processing steps of a runoff incubation and dialysis. We then utilize proteomic and metabolomic analyses to uncover potential mechanisms behind these changes in gene expression, highlighting the impact of cold shock-like proteins and the role of buffer composition.

Antibiotic resistance and host immune system-induced metal bactericidal control are key factors for microbial persistence in the developing human preterm infant gut microbiome.

The human gut microbiome, which develops and stabilizes during the early stages of infant life, plays an essential role in host health through the production of metabolic resources and the stimulation and training of the immune system. To study colonization and community functional dynamics of the microbiota based on responses to host immune processes during the normal and dysbiotic establishment of the gut, metaproteomics was conducted on 91 fecal samples collected over the first 90 days of life from 17 hospitalized premature infants. Microbial responses to antibiotic administration and host-imposed metal bactericidal control correlated with community assembly and resiliency of microbes in the developing preterm gut. Specifically, proteins related to antibiotic resistance and metal homeostasis mechanisms were predominant in persisting members in the infant gut environment over the first several weeks of life. Overall, this metaproteomics study provides a unique approach to examine the temporal expansion and resilience of microbial colonization, as it allows simultaneous examination of both host and microbial metabolic activities. Understanding the interplay between host and microbes may elucidate the microbiome's potential immunomodulatory roles relevant to necrotizing enterocolitis and other dysbiotic conditions in preterm infants.

The Promises, Challenges, and Opportunities of Omics for Studying the Plant Holobiont.

Microorganisms are critical drivers of biological processes that contribute significantly to plant sustainability and productivity. In recent years, emerging research on plant holobiont theory and microbial invasion ecology has radically transformed how we study plant-microbe interactions. Over the last few years, we have witnessed an accelerating pace of advancements and breadth of questions answered using omic technologies. Herein, we discuss how current state-of-the-art genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics techniques reliably transcend the task of studying plant-microbe interactions while acknowledging existing limitations impeding our understanding of plant holobionts.

Increasing the Thermodynamic Driving Force of the Phosphofructokinase Reaction in Clostridium thermocellum.

Glycolysis is an ancient, widespread, and highly conserved metabolic pathway that converts glucose into pyruvate. In the canonical pathway, the phosphofructokinase (PFK) reaction plays an important role in controlling flux through the pathway. Clostridium thermocellum has an atypical glycolysis and uses pyrophosphate (PPi) instead of ATP as the phosphate donor for the PFK reaction. The reduced thermodynamic driving force of the PPi-PFK reaction shifts the entire pathway closer to thermodynamic equilibrium, which has been predicted to limit product titers. Here, we replace the PPi-PFK reaction with an ATP-PFK reaction. We demonstrate that the local changes are consistent with thermodynamic predictions: the ratio of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate to fructose-6-phosphate increases, and the reverse flux through the reaction (determined by 13C labeling) decreases. The final titer and distribution of fermentation products, however, do not change, demonstrating that the thermodynamic constraints of the PPi-PFK reaction are not the sole factor limiting product titer. IMPORTANCE The ability to control the distribution of thermodynamic driving force throughout a metabolic pathway is likely to be an important tool for metabolic engineering. The phosphofructokinase reaction is a key enzyme in Embden-Mayerhof-Parnas glycolysis and therefore improving the thermodynamic driving force of this reaction in C. thermocellum is believed to enable higher product titers. Here, we demonstrate switching from pyrophosphate to ATP does in fact increases the thermodynamic driving force of the phosphofructokinase reaction in vivo. This study also identifies and overcomes a physiological hurdle toward expressing an ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase in an organism that utilizes an atypical glycolytic pathway. As such, the method described here to enable expression of ATP-dependent phosphofructokinase in an organism with an atypical glycolytic pathway will be informative toward engineering the glycolytic pathways of other industrial organism candidates with atypical glycolytic pathways.

Multi-omic characterization of bifunctional peroxidase 4-coumarate 3-hydroxylase knockdown in Brachypodium distachyon provides insights into lignin modification-associated pleiotropic effects.

A bifunctional peroxidase enzyme, 4-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H/APX), provides a parallel route to the shikimate shunt pathway for the conversion of 4-coumarate to caffeate in the early steps of lignin biosynthesis. Knockdown of C3H/APX (C3H/APX-KD) expression has been shown to reduce the lignin content in Brachypodium distachyon. However, like many other lignin-modified plants, C3H/APX-KDs show unpredictable pleiotropic phenotypes, including stunted growth, delayed senescence, and reduced seed yield. A system-wide level understanding of altered biological processes in lignin-modified plants can help pinpoint the lignin-modification associated growth defects to benefit future studies aiming to negate the yield penalty. Here, a multi-omic approach was used to characterize molecular changes resulting from C3H/APX-KD associated lignin modification and negative growth phenotype in Brachypodium distachyon. Our findings demonstrate that C3H/APX knockdown in Brachypodium stems substantially alters the abundance of enzymes implicated in the phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway and disrupt cellular redox homeostasis. Moreover, it elicits plant defense responses associated with intracellular kinases and phytohormone-based signaling to facilitate growth-defense trade-offs. A deeper understanding along with potential targets to mitigate the pleiotropic phenotypes identified in this study could aid to increase the economic feasibility of lignocellulosic biofuel production.

Experimental validation that human microbiome phages use alternative genetic coding.

Previous bioinformatic analyses of metagenomic data have indicated that bacteriophages can use genetic codes different from those of their host bacteria. In particular, reassignment of stop codon TAG to glutamine (a variation known as 'genetic code 15') has been predicted. Here, we use LC-MS/MS-based metaproteomics of human fecal samples to provide experimental evidence of the use of genetic code 15 in two crAss-like phages. Furthermore, the proteomic data from several phage structural proteins supports the reassignment of the TAG stop codon to glutamine late in the phage infection cycle. Thus, our work experimentally validates the expression of genetic code 15 in human microbiome phages.

Clostridium autoethanogenum isopropanol production via native plasmid pCA replicon.

Clostridium autoethanogenum is a model gas-fermenting acetogen for commercial ethanol production. It is also a platform organism being developed for the carbon-negative production of acetone and isopropanol by gas fermentation. We have assembled a 5.5 kb pCA plasmid for type strain DSM10061 (JA1-1) using three genome sequence datasets. pCA is predicted to encode seven open-reading frames and estimated to be a low-copy number plasmid present at approximately 12 copies per chromosome. RNA-seq analyses indicate that pCA genes are transcribed at low levels and two proteins, CAETHG_05090 (putative replication protein) and CAETHG_05115 (hypothetical, a possible Mob protein), were detected at low levels during batch gas fermentations. Thiolase (thlA), CoA-transferase (ctfAB), and acetoacetate decarboxylase (adc) genes were introduced into a vector for isopropanol production in C. autoethanogenum using the native plasmid origin of replication. The availability of the pCA sequence will facilitate studies into its physiological role and could form the basis for genetic tool optimization.

Metaproteomics reveals enzymatic strategies deployed by anaerobic microbiomes to maintain lignocellulose deconstruction at high solids.

Economically viable production of cellulosic biofuels requires operation at high solids loadings-on the order of 15 wt%. To this end we characterize Nature's ability to deconstruct and utilize mid-season switchgrass at increasing solid loadings using an anaerobic methanogenic microbiome. This community exhibits undiminished fractional carbohydrate solubilization at loadings ranging from 30 g/L to 150 g/L. Metaproteomic interrogation reveals marked increases in the abundance of specific carbohydrate-active enzyme classes. Significant enrichment of auxiliary activity family 6 enzymes at higher solids suggests a role for Fenton chemistry. Stress-response proteins accompanying these reactions are similarly upregulated at higher solids, as are ß-glucosidases, xylosidases, carbohydrate-debranching, and pectin-acting enzymes-all of which indicate that removal of deconstruction inhibitors is important for observed undiminished solubilization. Our work provides insights into the mechanisms by which natural microbiomes effectively deconstruct and utilize lignocellulose at high solids loadings, informing the future development of defined cultures for efficient bioconversion.

A Reduced F420-Dependent Nitrite Reductase in an Anaerobic Methanotrophic Archaeon.

Anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME), which oxidize methane in marine sediments through syntrophic associations with sulfate-reducing bacteria, carry homologs of coenzyme F420-dependent sulfite reductase (Fsr) of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii, a hyperthermophilic methanogen from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. M. jannaschii Fsr (MjFsr) and ANME-Fsr belong to two phylogenetically distinct groups, FsrI and FsrII, respectively. MjFsrI reduces sulfite to sulfide with reduced F420 (F420H2), protecting methyl coenzyme M reductase (Mcr), an essential enzyme for methanogens, from sulfite inhibition. However, the function of FsrIIs in ANME, which also rely on Mcr and live in sulfidic environments, is unknown. We have determined the catalytic properties of FsrII from a member of ANME-2c. Since ANME remain to be isolated, we expressed ANME2c-FsrII in a closely related methanogen, Methanosarcina acetivorans. Purified recombinant FsrII contained siroheme, indicating that the methanogen, which lacks a native sulfite reductase, produced this coenzyme. Unexpectedly, FsrII could not reduce sulfite or thiosulfate with F420H2. Instead, it acted as an F420H2-dependent nitrite reductase (FNiR) with physiologically relevant Km values (nitrite, 5 µM; F420H2, 14 µM). From kinetic, thermodynamic, and structural analyses, we hypothesize that in FNiR, F420H2-derived electrons are delivered at the oxyanion reduction site at a redox potential that is suitable for reducing nitrite (E0' [standard potential], +440 mV) but not sulfite (E0', -116 mV). These findings and the known nitrite sensitivity of Mcr suggest that FNiR may protect nondenitrifying ANME from nitrite toxicity. Remarkably, by reorganizing the reductant processing system, Fsr transforms two analogous oxyanions in two distinct archaeal lineages with different physiologies and ecologies. IMPORTANCE Coenzyme F420-dependent sulfite reductase (Fsr) protects methanogenic archaea inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents from the inactivation of methyl coenzyme M reductase (Mcr), one of their essential energy production enzymes. Anaerobic methanotrophic archaea (ANME) that oxidize methane and rely on Mcr, carry Fsr homologs that form a distinct clade. We show that a member of this clade from ANME-2c functions as F420-dependent nitrite reductase (FNiR) and lacks Fsr activity. This specialization arose from a distinct feature of the reductant processing system and not the substrate recognition element. We hypothesize FNiR may protect ANME Mcr from inactivation by nitrite. This is an example of functional specialization within a protein family that is induced by changes in electron transfer modules to fit an ecological need.

Proteomic and metabolic disturbances in lignin-modified Brachypodium distachyon.

Lignin biosynthesis begins with the deamination of phenylalanine and tyrosine (Tyr) as a key branch point between primary and secondary metabolism in land plants. Here, we used a systems biology approach to investigate the global metabolic responses to lignin pathway perturbations in the model grass Brachypodium distachyon. We identified the lignin biosynthetic protein families and found that ammonia-lyases (ALs) are among the most abundant proteins in lignifying tissues in grasses. Integrated metabolomic and proteomic data support a link between lignin biosynthesis and primary metabolism mediated by the ammonia released from ALs that is recycled for the synthesis of amino acids via glutamine. RNA interference knockdown of lignin genes confirmed that the route of the canonical pathway using shikimate ester intermediates is not essential for lignin formation in Brachypodium, and there is an alternative pathway from Tyr via sinapic acid for the synthesis of syringyl lignin involving yet uncharacterized enzymatic steps. Our findings support a model in which plant ALs play a central role in coordinating the allocation of carbon for lignin synthesis and the nitrogen available for plant growth. Collectively, these data also emphasize the value of integrative multiomic analyses to advance our understanding of plant metabolism.

A Surface Exposed, Two-Domain Lipoprotein Cargo of a Type XI Secretion System Promotes Colonization of Host Intestinal Epithelia Expressing Glycans.

The only known required component of the newly described Type XI secretion system (TXISS) is an outer membrane protein (OMP) of the DUF560 family. TXISSOMPs are broadly distributed across proteobacteria, but properties of the cargo proteins they secrete are largely unexplored. We report biophysical, histochemical, and phenotypic evidence that Xenorhabdus nematophila NilC is surface exposed. Biophysical data and structure predictions indicate that NilC is a two-domain protein with a C-terminal, 8-stranded ß-barrel. This structure has been noted as a common feature of TXISS effectors and may be important for interactions with the TXISSOMP. The NilC N-terminal domain is more enigmatic, but our results indicate it is ordered and forms a ß-sheet structure, and bioinformatics suggest structural similarities to carbohydrate-binding proteins. X. nematophila NilC and its presumptive TXISSOMP partner NilB are required for colonizing the anterior intestine of Steinernema carpocapsae nematodes: the receptacle of free-living, infective juveniles and the anterior intestinal cecum (AIC) in juveniles and adults. We show that, in adult nematodes, the AIC expresses a Wheat Germ Agglutinin (WGA)-reactive material, indicating the presence of N-acetylglucosamine or N-acetylneuraminic acid sugars on the AIC surface. A role for this material in colonization is supported by the fact that exogenous addition of WGA can inhibit AIC colonization by X. nematophila. Conversely, the addition of exogenous purified NilC increases the frequency with which X. nematophila is observed at the AIC, demonstrating that abundant extracellular NilC can enhance colonization. NilC may facilitate X. nematophila adherence to the nematode intestinal surface by binding to host glycans, it might support X. nematophila nutrition by cleaving sugars from the host surface, or it might help protect X. nematophila from nematode host immunity. Proteomic and metabolomic analyses of wild type X. nematophila compared to those lacking nilB and nilC revealed differences in cell wall and secreted polysaccharide metabolic pathways. Additionally, purified NilC is capable of binding peptidoglycan, suggesting that periplasmic NilC may interact with the bacterial cell wall. Overall, these findings support a model that NilB-regulated surface exposure of NilC mediates interactions between X. nematophila and host surface glycans during colonization. This is a previously unknown function for a TXISS.