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Journal of Bacteriology, April 2004, p. 2074-2084, Vol. 186, No. 7
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.7.2074-2084.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Pleiotropic Effects of Inactivating a Carboxyl-Terminal Protease, CtpA, in Borrelia burgdorferi

Yngve Östberg,1 James A. Carroll,2 Marija Pinne,1 Jonathan G. Krum,3 Patricia Rosa,3 and Sven Bergström1*

Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden,1 Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261,2 Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 598403

Received 24 September 2003/ Accepted 1 December 2003

A gene encoding a putative carboxyl-terminal protease (CtpA), an unusual type of protease, is present in the Borrelia burgdorferi B31 genome. The B. burgdorferi CtpA amino acid sequence exhibits similarities to the sequences of the CtpA enzymes of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803 and higher plants and also exhibits similarities to the sequences of putative CtpA proteins in other bacterial species. Here, we studied the effect of ctpA gene inactivation on the B. burgdorferi protein expression profile. Total B. burgdorferi proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, and the results revealed that six proteins of the wild type were not detected in the ctpA mutant and that nine proteins observed in the ctpA mutant were undetectable in the wild type. Immunoblot analysis showed that the integral outer membrane protein P13 was larger and had a more acidic pI in the ctpA mutant, which is consistent with the theoretical change in pI for P13 not processed at the carboxyl terminus. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization—time of flight data indicated that in addition to P13, the BB0323 protein may serve as a substrate for carboxyl-terminal processing by CtpA. Complementation analysis of the ctpA mutant provided strong evidence that the observed effect on proteins depended on inactivation of the ctpA gene alone. We show that CtpA in B. burgdorferi is involved in the processing of proteins such as P13 and BB0323 and that inactivation of ctpA has a pleiotropic effect on borrelial protein synthesis. To our knowledge, this is the first analysis of both a CtpA protease and different substrate proteins in a pathogenic bacterium.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, SE-901 87, Umeå, Sweden. Phone: (46-90)-785 6726. Fax: (46-90)-772630. E-mail: sven.bergstrom{at}molbiol.umu.se.

Journal of Bacteriology, April 2004, p. 2074-2084, Vol. 186, No. 7
0021-9193/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JB.186.7.2074-2084.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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