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Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6753-6756, Vol. 180, No. 24
Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6,
Canada,1 and
Laboratoire de
Microbiologie et de Génétique, Unité de Recherche
Associée au Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique No.
1481, Université Louis-Pasteur, 67000 Strasbourg,
France2
Received 3 September 1998/Accepted 8 October 1998
Insertion of an 18-amino-acid-encoding sequence within the
fpvA gene identified permissive sites at residues Y350,
A402, R451, R521, and R558, consistent with these residues occurring in
extramembranous loop regions of the protein. Insertions at R451, R521,
and R558 did not adversely affect receptor function, although
insertions at Y350 and A402 compromised ferric pyoverdine binding and
uptake. The latter region likely contributes to or interacts with the ligand-binding site.
Iron is an essential nutrient whose
acquisition by some bacteria is promoted by low-molecular-mass,
high-affinity iron-chelating molecules termed siderophores
(27). In conjunction with cell surface receptors specific
for the Fe(III) complex of these siderophores (27, 28), they
serve to facilitate iron acquisition under iron-limited conditions that
predominate in animal and plant hosts (8, 19, 24). Indeed,
siderophore production by human pathogens correlates with enhanced in
vivo iron acquisition and growth and, thus, virulence (12, 14,
18).
Pseudomonas aeruginosa synthesizes two known
siderophores, pyoverdine (13) and pyochelin
(11), in response to iron limitation in vitro and in vivo
(20). Pyoverdine displays higher affinity than does
pyochelin for iron in buffered solutions (31) and is by far
the superior siderophore in removing iron from transferrin (40) and in supporting growth in human serum (2).
Moreover, the production of pyoverdine is correlated with enhanced in
vivo growth and virulence (25, 31). The receptor for ferric
pyoverdine is a ca. 80- to 90-kDa outer membrane protein
(32) encoded by the fpvA gene (33).
FpvA is a member of a family of receptors dependent on a cytoplasmic
membrane-associated protein, TonB, which apparently couples the
energized state of this membrane to the operation of these receptors
(7, 35). A TonB homologue has been identified in
P. aeruginosa (34).
Ferric siderophore receptors are described as gated channels, with a
surface-exposed loop contributing to gate formation and acting as
ligand-binding site (22, 23, 26, 36). In an effort to
identify a potential gate/ligand-binding region of FpvA, we
mutagenized putative external loop regions of the protein. We report
here the identification of a region of FpvA necessary for ferric
pyoverdine binding.
Strains and procedures.
P. aeruginosa PAO1 is a
wild-type strain and parent of the FpvA-deficient mutant K691, in which
fpvA was disrupted by insertion of the
tetracycline-resistant derivative of the
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Insertion Mutagenesis of the Ferric Pyoverdine Receptor FpvA of
Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Identification of Permissive
Sites and a Region Important for Ligand Binding
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ABSTRACT
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TEXT
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interposon (
Tc) of
plasmid pHP45
Tc (16). The interposon was recovered on a 2-kb SmaI fragment and inserted into the ScaI
site of fpvA on pPVR2 (a derivative of the cloning vector
pAK1900) (33). This necessitated partial digestion of pPVR2
with ScaI and isolation of a 9-kb fragment representing
full-length pPVR2. Transformants (Escherichia coli DH5
[3]) carrying pPVR2 with an
Tc insert were selected
on L agar containing ampicillin and tetracycline, and insertion of
Tc within the fpvA gene was assessed by restriction analysis. The
Tc-mutagenized fpvA gene was subsequently
recovered on a 6.5-kb PstI fragment and cloned into the
unique PstI site on plasmid pSUP202
Tc (15).
Following introduction into E. coli S17-1
(38), the vector was mobilized into P. aeruginosa PAO1 via conjugation (15). PAO1 derivatives
carrying a chromosomal fpvA::
Tc mutation were
selected on L agar containing tetracycline and screened for the absence
of plasmid-encoded carbenicillin resistance. The lack of FpvA in
putative mutants was confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulfate
(SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of isolated outer membranes.
The iron-deficient succinate minimal medium has been described
previously (32). Luria broth (Luria broth base; Difco) was
employed as the rich medium throughout. Ampicillin (100 µg/ml),
tetracycline (for P. aeruginosa, 200 µg/ml; for
E. coli, 10 µg/ml), and carbenicillin (100 µg/ml)
were included in growth media where appropriate. Due to the instability
of the
Tc insert in K691, K691 and plasmid-containing derivatives of this strain were always cultured in the presence of tetracycline. Bacteria were cultured at 37°C, with shaking (200 rpm) for broth cultures.
) carrying pPVR2
with an insert of the tet-factor Xa cartridge were selected on L agar supplemented with tetracycline and ampicillin. The site and
orientation of the inserts were determined by restriction analysis and
by sequencing with a primer (5'-GTGCCTGACTGCGTTAGC-3') which
anneals upstream of the pBR322 tet gene. The tet
gene was subsequently excised by digestion with BglII
followed by religation of the plasmids and selection of transformants
which were ampicillin resistant but tetracycline sensitive. This
resulted in insertion of 54 bp within fpvA encoding either
the factor Xa cleavage site in all three reading frames
(orientation 1) and insertion of 18 amino acids in FpvA or
translational stop signals in all three reading frames (orientation 2)
and no FpvA product.
Insertion mutagenesis of fpvA. Alignment of the predicted FpvA primary amino acid sequence with homologous receptor proteins identified several potential membrane-spanning and loop regions of FpvA (31, 33). Insertions of the 54-bp sequence encoding the factor Xa cleavage site within the fpvA gene of pPVR2 were achieved as outlined above, and insertion derivatives were expressed in the FpvA-deficient strain K691. Several hundred inserts within pPVR2 were screened, and many occurred outside the fpvA coding region. Those harboring the factor Xa coding sequences in the proper orientation within fpvA are described in Table 1. Although these derivatives were ultimately not susceptible to digestion with factor Xa, the insertion derivatives, but not FpvA itself, were cleaved by a nonspecific protease (subtilisin) in intact cells (data not shown), suggesting that the insertion sites were, nonetheless, surface accessible.
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Activity of FpvA derivatives. We then assessed the impact of the insertions on FpvA receptor activity. Growth of P. aeruginosa in minimal medium supplemented with the nonmetabolizable iron chelator EDDHA [ethylene diamine di(o-hydroxyphenyl acetic acid)] is dependent upon the production of pyoverdine and the presence of a functional ferric pyoverdine uptake system (32). Thus, the growth of K691 harboring the various fpvA insertion derivatives in medium containing EDDHA was measured. As expected, K691 itself grew very poorly, if at all, while the same strain harboring and expressing the wild-type fpvA gene (pPVR2) grew well (Table 1). Most of the FpvA insertion derivatives also provided for excellent growth of K691 in EDDHA-containing medium (Table 1), including those with insertions at R451 (pLK161-3), R521 (pLK32S-1), and R558 (pLK39S-1), indicating that insertions in these regions did not interfere with receptor function. In contrast, insertions at Y350 (pLK141-1) and A402 (pLK127-2) abolished the ability of these FpvA derivatives to support the growth of K691 in this medium (Table 1), consistent with these regions being important for FpvA activity. The apparent defect in activity of receptors FpvAY350 and FpvAA402 was confirmed in pyoverdine-mediated iron uptake assays (Fig. 2). As expected, K691 harboring wild-type fpvA (present on pPVR2) or an fpvA insertion derivative which did not adversely affect growth in EDDHA-containing medium (e.g., FpvAR521 [pLK21S-1]) was proficient in ferric pyoverdine uptake (Fig. 2).
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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We thank P. Klebba for helpful suggestions regarding the ferric pyoverdine binding assay.
This work was supported by an operating grant from the Medical Research Council of Canada. K.P. is a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council University Research Fellow.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada. Phone: (613) 545-6677. Fax: (613) 545-6796. E-mail: poolek{at}post.queensu.ca.
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