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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, April 2003, p. 1884-1889, Vol. 69, No. 4
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.4.1884-1889.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Centre d'Étude et de Valorisation de la Diversité Microbienne, Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada J1K 2R1,1 Centre Protéomique de l'Est du Québec, Centre Hospitalier de l'Université Laval, Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada G1V 4G22
Received 30 July 2002/ Accepted 11 November 2002
| ABSTRACT |
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| INTRODUCTION |
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We propose Streptomyces coelicolor and Lemna minor as an experimental model to study the modulation of bacterial gene expression during the interaction between a saprophytic streptomycete and a plant. Recent research in our laboratory has shown that L. minor, a small aquatic plant extensively used in bioremediation (38) and environmental studies (30), is colonized by various Streptomyces species (unpublished data). On the other hand, S. coelicolor is a common inhabitant of plant rhizospheres (11) that can be readily cocultivated in the presence of L. minor under sterile conditions. The fact that the S. coelicolor chromosome (6) has been fully sequenced is an important asset in proteomic studies.
Proteomics has become an integral part of gene expression analysis. The functional complement of genetic information can be analyzed by a combination of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis for the separation of complex mixtures of proteins and mass spectrometry for identification of proteins by tryptic peptide mass fingerprinting. Some bacterial proteins involved in different plant-bacterium interaction systems have been identified by using protein expression profiling (22, 34). In this study, we sought to identify modulated factors in the proteome of plasmid-free S. coelicolor M145 grown in the presence and in the absence of aseptic L. minor in a minimal culture medium. Cytoplasmic and secreted proteins of S. coelicolor were separated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. A comparison of the protein profiles obtained under the two culture conditions allowed identification of proteins that were induced or repressed by the presence of plant material. The results obtained might provide insight for elucidating the bacterial traits associated with rhizosphere competence.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Protein isolation.
The S. coelicolor proteome from cultures with and without plants was obtained from two distinct fractions: (i) the soluble cytoplasmic proteins in the cell pellets and (ii) the secreted proteins present in the supernatants. For cytoplasmic protein extraction, bacteria were harvested by centrifugation, and the pellets were washed in sonication buffer (10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7) and resuspended in 4 ml of sonication buffer. The suspensions were sonicated (Vibra-Cell; Sonics & Materials, Newtown, Conn.) four times during 1 min at 4°C and centrifuged to remove the cell debris. The protein concentrations in cytoplasmic and secreted fractions were measured by the method described by Bradford (7) by using the Bio-Rad protein assay reagent (Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, Calif.). Proteins recovered from the cell pellets, as well as proteins from the supernatants, were precipitated with 5 volumes of acetone and resolubilized in rehydration buffer, which contained 8 M urea, 2% (wt/vol) 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)-dimethylammonio]-1-propanesulfonate (CHAPS), 100 µl of IPG buffer (Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, Uppsala, Sweden) (pH 3 to 10), 0.3% (wt/vol) dithiothreitol, and 0.01% (wt/vol) bromophenol blue.
Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.
Extracellular and soluble intracellular proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. The first-dimension isoelectric focusing was performed in immobilized pH gradient (IPG) gel strips (pH 4 to 7 linear; 18 cm; Pharmacia, Peapack, N.J.). Reswelling of IPG gel strips was performed in a reswelling cassette (Pharmacia) overnight with rehydration buffer containing 500 µg of protein extract. An electrophoresis unit (LKB MultiPhor II; Pharmacia) equipped with a gradient power supply (EPS 3501XL; Pharmacia) was used to perform isoelectric focusing. Reswelled gels were loaded in a cooling bath and allowed to focus under a low-viscosity mineral oil (Dry Strip cover fluid; Pharmacia) at 20°C by using a four-stage ramped voltage program (2 min in a gradient from 0 to 200 V, 6 h at 200 V, 6 h in a gradient from 200 to 3,500 V, 36 h at 3,500 V). For the second-dimension sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), IPG gels were equilibrated as described by Görg et al. (18). SDS-PAGE was performed as described by Laemmli (27) with a 12% polyacrylamide resolving gel and a 4% polyacrylamide stacking gel by using a Protean II unit (Bio-Rad Laboratories). The gels were electrophoresed at 45 mA/gel for 4 h. The molecular weights of the separated proteins were estimated by comparison with standards migrating alongside S. coelicolor proteins (SDS-PAGE standards, medium range; Bio-Rad Laboratories). Isoelectric points were estimated based on the linearity of the IPG strips.
Proteome analysis.
Two-dimensionally separated proteins were revealed with Coomassie brilliant blue R-250 (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.) with a Hoeffer Processor Plus unit (Pharmacia) by using the method described by Wirth and Romano (48). Differential analysis of protein patterns was performed by using PhotoShop, version 5.0 (Adobe Systems, San Jose, Calif.), and Phoretix 2D Advanced, version 5.0 (NonLinear Dynamics, Durham, N.C.). Protein spots that were not detectable under one of the two conditions were excised from the gels.
In-gel digestion and tryptic peptide mass fingerprinting.
Excised protein spots were subjected to in-gel trypsin digestion. Briefly, excised spots were washed, reduced, S alkylated, and digested with trypsin (Promega, Madison, Wis.) as described by Williams et al. (47). Prior to analysis by mass spectrometry, the tryptic peptides were dissolved in 10 µl of 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid, desalted, and concentrated by using Zip Tip C18 (Millipore, Bedford, Mass.) as described by the manufacturer. A 1-µl aliquot of the desalted peptide extract was mixed with 1 µl of a saturated solution of
-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid matrix (10 mg/ml) prepared in 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid-50% acetonitrile. The mixture was spotted onto the sample probe, and mass spectra of the tryptic peptide fragments were obtained by using a Voyager DE PRO matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometer (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.). Molecular masses obtained for the tryptic peptide profiles were used to search by peptide mass fingerprinting the National Center for Biotechnology Information (National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Md.) databases by using the ProFound software (version 4.10.5; ProteoMetrics, Winnipeg, Canada). The defined search parameters were as follows: monoisotopic mass tolerance, 0.10 Da; singly protonated peptides (MH+); one missed cut allowed; cysteine as an S-carbamidomethyl derivative; and oxidation of methionine allowed.
| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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Fifteen of the 16 high-confidence sequence matches were annotated in the S. coelicolor genome database, and the mass of the remaining sequence matched the predicted peptide mass derived from the actinomycete Streptomyces hygroscopicus. Table 1 shows a summary of the peptide mass fingerprinting results for the proteins identified. Bacterial proteins that were differentially expressed in the presence of plant material were associated with energy metabolism, carbon acquisition, and stress adaptations. The plant material that affected the proteome content was mainly composed of exudates since only a small part of the bacterial population was effectively attached to plant surfaces. Plant fronds were added to mid-log-phase bacterial cultures, but the amount of fronds used in this study was not sufficient to modify the bacterial growth curve.
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Three bacterial proteins induced by the presence of plant material are involved in the acquisition of carbon, suggesting that L. minor produces exudates that serve as nutriments for S. coelicolor. These proteins were a probable transcription regulator of a ceb operon or of a cellulolytic regulon (NI-21), a putative epoxide hydrolase (NI-19), and an acyl coenzyme A (acyl-CoA) dehydrogenase (NI-20). These proteins are involved in the degradation of cellulose, alkenes, and amino acids, respectively.
The transcription regulator identified exhibited 50% identity with both CebR of Streptomyces reticuli and CelR of Thermobifida fusca. CebR and CelR are related members of the LacI-GalR family (41, 46). These proteins control expression of transcripts from a ceb operon (41) and a cellulolytic regulon (44), respectively, which are required for cellobiose and cellotriose uptake. These carbohydrates are derived from degradation of cellulose present in plant residues. Ahmad and Baker (1) reported that extracellular cellulase activity contributed to the rhizosphere competence of the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma harzianum. Cellulase activity may also be an important determinant in rhizosphere colonization by streptomycetes which are known to secrete a wide range of hydrolytic enzymes (31).
The second identified protein of this group, the epoxide hydrolase, has been described as a protein that is essential for utilization of alkenes as carbon sources in prokaryotes (14). Alkenes are common compounds that exist in a variety of chemical forms and may be found in the root exudates of plants (35). Alkenes are also products released during the degradation of suberin, a nonhydrolyzable and insoluble compound found in the endoderm of plant roots (35). Several streptomycetes have been reported to be able to degrade complex lipidic polymers, such as cutin and suberin (5, 16, 33). It has also been suggested that a suberin-degrading esterase from Streptomyces scabiei is involved both in plant colonization (32) and in pathogenesis (5). Esterase and epoxide hydrolase may thus be linked in a catabolic pathway involved in the acquisition of carbon and energy from suberin-derived compounds. Epoxide hydrolase activity has not yet been reported to be a rhizosphere colonization determinant; however, several Streptomyces species are distinguished from other rhizosphere inhabitants by their capacity to degrade complex polymers (31). The ability to derive nutrients from recalcitrant organic compounds, such as suberin, may provide an additional competitive edge to rhizospheric streptomycetes.
The third protein of this group is an acyl-CoA dehydrogenase known to be involved in degradation of ramified aliphatic amino acids, such as leucine, isoleucine, and valine (50). Amino acids are present in plant root exudates (43) and provide carbon and nitrogen to rhizosphere bacteria. Recent studies have shown that the rhizosphere environment induces the expression of Pseudomonas genes involved in amino acid transport and catabolism (13, 39). The ability to derive nutrients from amino acids may be an important property for rhizosphere competence in the genus Streptomyces.
The additional carbon sources provided by plant exudates could explain the increases in bacterial metabolic activities observed when L. minor was added to the culture medium. Indeed, five bacterial proteins induced in the presence of plant material reflected an increase in the metabolic state. One of these proteins, the guanine-nucleotide exchange factor EF-Ts (NI-13), associates with the EF-Tu-GDP complex and induces the change of GDP to GTP (20). Studies have shown that expression of EF-Ts is induced when the transcription of rRNA and ribosomal protein genes is elevated (8, 23). Identification of the following four other proteins also suggests that there are increases in metabolic activities: a fructose bisphosphate aldolase (NI-14) involved in glycolysis, a probable transketolase (NI-22) that could catalyze reactions in the pentose phosphate pathway, an isocitrate dehydrogenase (NI-3) involved in the oxidoreduction reactions of the citrate cycle, and an alpha protomer (NI-5) from the soluble F1 component of the membrane-bound ATP synthase which couples proton entry with ATP formation in the oxidative phosphorylation process. Induction of these proteins in the S. coelicolor proteome suggests that plant exudates provide a supply of nutriments in the form of additional carbon sources.
The functions of other bacterial proteins identified in this study were linked to adaptations to different stress signals. The nature of two (NR-8 and XR-25) of the six stress proteins identified reflected a diminution of nutritional stress in the culture medium supplemented with L. minor fronds. Indeed, both NR-8 and XR-25 were repressed in the presence of plant material. NR-8 was identified as a putative cell division trigger factor in S. coelicolor and exhibited 35.9% identity in a 412-amino-acid overlap with Tig, a cell division trigger factor from Bacillus subtilis, while XR-25 was associated with an ATP-GTP binding protein from S. coelicolor. The Tig factor is a peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerase which is involved in the proline-limited folding of proteins. Gothel et al. (19) generated disruptions in the encoding gene and found that growth of the mutants in poor medium was strongly decelerated, indicating that the protein is essential for growth under starvation conditions. In our experimental model, addition of plants to the S. coelicolor culture medium appeared to render expression of this Tig factor not essential. The probable ATP-GTP binding protein, which was identified in the secreted fraction of S. coelicolor, exhibited 44.5% identity in a 137-amino-acid overlap with osmotically inducible protein C (OsmC) from Escherichia coli. In E. coli, transcription of osmC is induced at the onset of deceleration, and this occurs earlier in cultures in which the osmotic pressure is elevated (17). Addition of plant material to S. coelicolor medium delayed the entrance of S. coelicolor into the deceleration phase, and since OsmC and Tig are known to be nutritional stress factors, the repression of these proteins in the presence of plant material suggests that L. minor introduced nutrients available for uptake by S. coelicolor.
Three other stress proteins reflect adaptation to physiological stress. These three proteins were induced in the presence of L. minor in the culture medium and included a conserved hypothetical protein (XI-28) and two chaperone proteins, GroEL2 (NI-7) and GroES (NI-31). The groEL2 and groES transcripts in S. coelicolor were previously described as transcripts that are induced in response to undefined physiological stress signals (12) and may reflect bacterial adaptation to changes in the medium conditions or growth phase. The conserved hypothetical protein XI-28 exhibited 65.8% identity in a 190-amino-acid overlap with TerD from Serratia marcescens. TerD is a protein that is associated with resistance to tellurium salts, but the mechanism of resistance has not been determined (42). In E. coli, the response to tellurite is controlled by the soxRS system that is also involved in the regulated expression of the oxidative stress regulon (37). A probable SoxR-like transcription regulator (protein accession number T36798) is found in the annotated gene database of S. coelicolor. With this putative homologue, similar regulation of the oxidative stress regulon and the tellurite resistance genes in S. coelicolor may be proposed.
The remaining identified stress protein is an Fe-containing superoxide dismutase (FeSOD) (protein spots XI-26 and XI-27) encoded by sodF2 in S. coelicolor. Its expression was induced by the presence of plant material in the culture medium. FeSOD is a first-line antioxidant defense protein, and it eliminates the superoxide anions (O2-) generated as a by-product of aerobic respiration (9). The increased bacterial expression of FeSOD in the presence of L. minor suggests that oxidative stress is induced in the presence of plant compounds. Plant roots possess surface enzymes capable of producing the activated oxygen species O2- (2, 21). The essential nature of the bacterial response to oxidative stress during plant-microbe interactions is supported by the fact that Pseudomonas putida FeSOD mutants are impaired in rhizosphere colonization (26). Several FeSODs are found in the cytosol or extracellular space of prokaryotes (9, 24). In this case, FeSOD was present in the supernatant fraction. This localization has been described in the actinomycete Mycobacterium tuberculosis as an adaptation against extracellular host defense when macrophage-ingested bacteria must persist in a reactive oxygen environment (40). Hammad et al. (22) also described identification in the proteome of the actinomycete Frankia of an extracellular FeSOD induced by exudates from the symbiotic plant host. Given that superoxide radicals cannot cross membranes under physiological conditions, the extracellular localization of FeSOD in S. coelicolor cultures grown in presence of plant material is coherent with bacterial adaptation to extracellular oxidative stress.
The presence of plant material in the culture medium of S. coelicolor caused differential gene expression, as determined by analysis of the S. coelicolor proteome. The types of proteins identified in this study suggest that carbon and energy are acquired through degradation of compounds found in plant exudates and that bacteria adapt to physiological and oxidative stress. These traits might be essential for rhizosphere competence. Research is under way to further investigate the roles of the bacterial proteins identified in this work during plant-streptomycete interactions.
| ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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| FOOTNOTES |
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| REFERENCES |
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