Design of novel peptide inhibitors against the conserved bacterial transcription terminator, Rho.

The transcription terminator Rho regulates many physiological processes in bacteria, such as antibiotic sensitivity, DNA repair, RNA remodeling, and so forth, and hence, is a potential antimicrobial target, which is unexplored. The bacteriophage P4 capsid protein, Psu, moonlights as a natural Rho antagonist. Here, we report the design of novel peptides based on the C-terminal region of Psu using phenotypic screening methods. The resultant 38-mer peptides, in addition to containing mutagenized Psu sequences, also contained plasmid sequences, fused to their C termini. Expression of these peptides inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli and specifically inhibited Rho-dependent termination in vivo. Peptides 16 and 33 exhibited the best Rho-inhibitory properties in vivo. Direct high-affinity binding of these two peptides to Rho also inhibited the latter's RNA-dependent ATPase and transcription termination functions in vitro. These two peptides remained functional even if eight to ten amino acids were deleted from their C termini. In silico modeling and genetic and biochemical evidence revealed that these two peptides bind to the primary RNA-binding site of the Rho hexamer near its subunit interfaces. In addition, the gene expression profiles of these peptides and Psu overlapped significantly. These peptides also inhibited the growth of Mycobacteria and inhibited the activities of Rho proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Xanthomonas, Vibrio cholerae, and Salmonella enterica. Our results showed that these novel anti-Rho peptides mimic the Rho-inhibition function of the ∼42-kDa dimeric bacteriophage P4 capsid protein, Psu. We conclude that these peptides and their C-terminal deletion derivatives could provide a basis on which to design novel antimicrobial peptides.

Rho Protein: Roles and Mechanisms.

At the end of the multistep transcription process, the elongating RNA polymerase (RNAP) is dislodged from the DNA template either at specific DNA sequences, called the terminators, or by a nascent RNA-dependent helicase, Rho. In Escherichia coli, about half of the transcription events are terminated by the Rho protein. Rho utilizes its RNA-dependent ATPase activities to translocate along the mRNA and eventually dislodges the RNAP via an unknown mechanism. The transcription elongation factor NusG facilitates this termination process by directly interacting with Rho. In this review, we discuss current models describing the mechanism of action of this hexameric transcription terminator, its regulation by different cis and trans factors, and the effects of the termination process on physiological processes in bacterial cells, particularly E. coli and Salmonella enterica Typhimurium.

A Bacteriophage Capsid Protein Is an Inhibitor of a Conserved Transcription Terminator of Various Bacterial Pathogens.

Rho is a hexameric molecular motor that functions as a conserved transcription terminator in the majority of bacterial species and is a potential drug target. Psu is a bacteriophage P4 capsid protein that inhibits Escherichia coli Rho by obstructing its ATPase and translocase activities. In this study, we explored the anti-Rho activity of Psu for Rho proteins from different pathogens. Sequence alignment and homology modeling of Rho proteins from pathogenic bacteria revealed the conserved nature of the Psu-interacting regions in all these proteins. We chose Rho proteins from various pathogens, including Mycobacterium smegmatis, Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Xanthomonas campestris, Xanthomonas oryzae, Corynebacterium glutamicum, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella enterica, and Pseudomonas syringae The purified recombinant Rho proteins of these organisms showed variable rates of ATP hydrolysis on poly(rC) as the substrate and were capable of releasing RNA from the E. coli transcription elongation complexes. Psu was capable of inhibiting these two functions of all these Rho proteins. In vivo pulldown assays revealed direct binding of Psu with many of these Rho proteins. In vivo expression of psu induced killing of M. smegmatis, M. bovis, X. campestris, and E. coli expressing S. enterica Rho indicating Psu-induced inhibition of Rho proteins of these strains under physiological conditions. We propose that the "universal" inhibitory function of the Psu protein against the Rho proteins from both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria could be useful for designing peptides with antimicrobial functions and that these peptides could contribute to synergistic antibiotic treatment of the pathogens by compromising the Rho functions.IMPORTANCE Bacteriophage-derived protein factors modulating different bacterial processes could be converted into unique antimicrobial agents. Bacteriophage P4 capsid protein Psu is an inhibitor of the E. coli transcription terminator Rho. Here we show that apart from antagonizing E. coli Rho, Psu is able to inhibit Rho proteins from various phylogenetically unrelated Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens. Upon binding to these Rho proteins, Psu inhibited them by affecting their ATPase and RNA release functions. The expression of Psu in vivo kills various pathogens, such as Mycobacterium and Xanthomonas species. Hence, Psu could be useful for identifying peptide sequences with anti-Rho activities and might constitute part of synergistic antibiotic treatment against pathogens.