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Journal of Bacteriology, March 1999, p. 1689-1693, Vol. 181, No. 5
Department of Molecular Biology, University
of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming 82071
Received 22 September 1998/Accepted 17 December 1998
The properties of the cysteines in the pBR322-encoded tetracycline
resistance protein have been examined. Cysteines are important but not
essential for tetracycline transport activity. None of the cysteines
reacted with biotin maleimide, suggesting that they are shielded from
the aqueous phase or reside in a negatively charged local environment.
The tetracycline resistance protein
(TetA) encoded by the pBR322 cloning vector (3) is a member
of a family of related tetracycline efflux proteins that are prevalent
in members of the family Enterobacteriaceae (2, 15,
25). Six classes of TetA transporters have been identified, all
of which catalyze H+-driven antiport of a divalent metal
ion-tetracycline complex out of the cytoplasm (28). The
class C protein encoded by pBR322 is 78% identical to the class A
protein encoded by Tn1721 (2, 26) and is 44%
identical to the class B transporter encoded by transposon
Tn10 (23). Due to their high degree of sequence identity, it is likely that the three-dimensional structures of the
proteins are very similar. TetA proteins also may be structurally similar to other members of the major facilitator superfamily to which
they belong (24).
The membrane topologies of the Tn10- and pBR322-encoded
proteins have been investigated by proteolysis (5, 8, 21, 22), chemical labeling (5, 10, 12, 13), and gene
fusion (1) methods. Based on these studies and hydropathy
analysis (23), the proteins were predicted to have 12
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Functional Importance and Local Environments of the
Cysteines in the Tetracycline Resistance Protein Encoded by
Plasmid pBR322
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ABSTRACT
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TEXT
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-helical transmembrane (TM) segments and to have N and C termini
located in the cytoplasm (Fig. 1). The
five cytoplasmic loops of the proteins are exposed to water at the
surface of the inner membrane and can be digested in inverted membrane
vesicles by several proteases (5, 8, 21, 22). In contrast,
the six periplasmic loops appear not to project outside the membrane
surface because they are refractory to protease digestion. However, it
has been possible to label cysteines introduced into each periplasmic
loop by reaction with N-[14C]ethylmaleimide
(12). Cysteine scanning mutagenesis and
N-ethylmaleimide labeling also have been applied to
determine the membrane boundaries of TM3 and TM9 in the
Tn10-encoded protein (10, 13).

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FIG. 1.
Membrane topology of the CMT10 MBP-TetA chimeric
protein. The sequences of the 12 pBR322-encoded TetA TM segments are
drawn in
-helical conformation, and the locations of periplasmic
loops (P1 to P6) and cytoplasmic loops (C1 to C5) are indicated. The
MBP
2-26 domain is fused to the N-terminal methionine of TetA.
Naturally occurring cysteine residues in TM2 (C59), TM5 (C139), TM6
(C178), and TM12 (C381) are shown in boldface, as are several residues
that may line the tetracycline transport pathway (13, 31,
34). Cysteines were introduced into a Cys-minus version of the
protein at position I157 in the P3 loop (in the I157C protein) and
between R190 and P191 of the C3 loop (in the C3Cys protein). The
topology model is based on that for Tn10-encoded TetA
(5) and has been modified in the P2 and P5 loops according
to fine-structure mapping of the TM3 and TM9 boundaries of
Tn10-encoded TetA (10, 13).
Considerable progress has been made in determining the mechanism of transport and the substrate translocation pathway through the proteins. Aspartates in TM1, TM3, and TM9 (11, 19, 32) and a histidine in TM8 (30), which are conserved in all family members (2), have been shown by site-directed mutagenesis experiments to be essential for tetracycline and proton transport. The substrate translocation pathway through the Tn10-encoded protein is lined by Y50 and Q54 in TM2 (34) and by S77, G80, and D84 in TM3 (13, 31). Amino acids in the conserved GXXXX(R/K)XGR(R/K) sequence in the C1 loop appear to form a gate that regulates movement of tetracycline through the Tn10-encoded transporter (29, 33). Many other functionally important residues have been located in the pBR322-encoded protein by random mutagenesis (20).
In this paper, we report on the functional importance of the four
naturally occurring cysteines that reside in TM2 (C59), TM5 (C139), TM6
(C178), and TM12 (C381) of pBR322-encoded TetA (Fig. 1). We also have
examined the local environments near the cysteines by attempting to
label them with 3-(N-maleimidylpropionyl)biocytin (biotin
maleimide). While none of the cysteines are fully conserved, each one
is found in at least three of the six members of the family
(2). It was shown previously that substitutions at C59 and
C139 reduce activity (20); however, the requirements for C178 and C381 have not been studied before. All four cysteines appear
to be located within one to two
-helical turns of the cytoplasmic
surface of the inner membrane and therefore could be accessible to the
aqueous phase. In addition, C59 is located on the same side of TM2 as
Y52 and Q56, and by comparison to Tn10-encoded TetA, C59
could face the tetracycline translocation pathway in pBR322-encoded
TetA (Fig. 1). Thus, an analysis of the chemical labeling properties of
C59 may provide additional information about the properties of the
translocation pathway.
Effects of cysteine substitutions on activity.
The functional
requirements for the naturally occurring cysteines in pBR322-encoded
TetA were investigated by using four cysteine-to-serine single
substitution mutants (the C59S, C139S, C178S, and C381S proteins) and a
Cys-minus mutant (CMT0) in which all four cysteines were replaced with
serines (Table 1). Four
cysteine-to-serine triple substitution mutants (designated C59, C139,
C178, and C381) were constructed and used to determine the
accessibility of each cysteine to biotin maleimide. In addition, two
CMT0 derivatives with cysteines in the P3 and C3 loops (the I157C and
C3Cys proteins) were constructed as controls for labeling experiments.
The tetracycline resistance levels conferred by the triple substitution
mutants and the I157C and C3Cys proteins also were measured. All of the proteins studied are derivatives of the CMT10 maltose-binding protein
(MBP)-TetA chimeric protein in which an MBP
2-26 domain that lacks a
signal sequence is attached to the N-terminal methionine of TetA
(8, 22). The MBP domain served as a tag for
immunoprecipitation of biotinylated proteins and detection of proteins
by Western immunoblotting. It should be noted that MBP lacks cysteines
(4).
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Local environments of cysteines. The local environments of the cysteines were examined by determining if they were susceptible to labeling with biotin maleimide (6, 17, 18). Cysteines react with biotin maleimide, and N-ethylmaleimide, by nucleophilic addition of a thiolate anion to the olefinic double bond of the maleimide ring (16). The formation of cysteinyl thiolate anions is favored by increasing the solution pH (7) and is optimum in an aqueous rather than in a nonpolar medium. For this reason, biotin maleimide reacts preferentially with cysteines exposed to the aqueous phase rather than with cysteines residing within the nonpolar interior of the membrane. As shown below, biotin maleimide can pass through both the outer and the inner membranes of E. coli.
Labeling experiments were performed with strain PR722 transformed with the chimeric protein expression plasmids. Strains were grown at 37°C to an optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of 0.6 to 0.7 in M9 minimal medium supplemented with 0.2% dextrose, 0.2% Casamino Acids, 2 µg of thiamine-HCl per ml, and 100 µg of ampicillin per ml. MBP-TetA protein synthesis was induced by adding isopropyl-
-D-thiogalactopyranoside at a 1 mM final
concentration to the cultures for 30 min. Subsequently, cells were
washed once in M9 salts containing 2 mM dithiothreitol and once in M9
salts alone and then were resuspended at 5 OD600 U/ml in 20 mM 3-[N-morpholino]propanesulfonic acid (pH 7.0)-0.25 M
KCl-1 mM MgSO4 buffer (18) containing 1 mM
biotin maleimide (Molecular Probes) (added from a 100 mM stock in
dimethyl formamide). Labeling was performed for 30 min at 37°C, and
then excess reagent was quenched and removed by washing cells three
times with M9 salts containing 28 mM 2-mercaptoethanol. When
experiments were conducted with the charged, membrane-impermeant
blocking reagent stilbenedisulfonate maleimide (SDM) (Molecular Probes)
(6, 17), cells were incubated for 30 min at room temperature
in the above 3-[N-morpholino]propanesulfonic acid buffer
containing 250 µM SDM and then were washed one time in M9 salts
before resuspension in labeling buffer containing 1 mM biotin maleimide.
After completion of labeling and washing steps, cell pellets were lysed
at 5 OD600 U/ml in 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-10 mM
sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) by heating them at 65°C for 5 min.
To detect biotinylated MBP-TetA proteins, lysates were diluted 10-fold
in 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7), and 50-µl aliquots of the
lysates were immunoprecipitated with anti-MBP rabbit antiserum (New
England Biolabs), separated on a 10% polyacrylamide-SDS gel
(14), and electroblotted onto nitrocellulose filter paper. Filter papers were incubated in a solution of avidin complexed with
biotinylated alkaline phosphatase (ABC kit; Pierce) and developed with
nitroblue tetrazolium-5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylphosphate substrates
(Promega). The relative expression levels of MBP-TetA proteins were
compared by incubating a parallel set of electroblotted samples with
rabbit anti-MBP antiserum and goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin G
conjugated with alkaline phosphatase (Promega) followed by development with nitroblue tetrazolium-5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylphosphate (21).
The results obtained for biotin maleimide labeling of CMT10, the four
triple cysteine-to-serine substitution mutants, and CMT0 are shown in
Fig. 2A. None of the four naturally
occurring cysteines in CMT10 (lane 2) or in the C59, C139, C178, and
C381 proteins (lanes 3 to 6) reacted with the reagent. In contrast, the
periplasmic and cytoplasmic loop substitution mutants used as positive
controls
I157C (lane 7) and C3Cys (lane 9)
were labeled strongly.
Labeling was specific for cysteines, as the CMT0 negative control
protein (lane 1) was not labeled. The results obtained with C3Cys rule
out the possibility that the naturally occurring cysteines failed to be
labeled because the cytoplasmic membrane is impermeable to biotin
maleimide. In addition, the lack of labeling was not caused by poor
expression of the mutants (Fig. 2B). The analysis of the control
proteins demonstrates that SDM blocking can be applied to discriminate
between periplasmic and cytoplasmic locations in pBR322-encoded TetA.
In this regard, pretreatment of cells with SDM blocked I157C
(lane 8) but not C3Cys (lane 10) from subsequent reaction with biotin
maleimide.
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Concluding remarks.
The four cysteines in the pBR322-encoded
TetA protein are important, but not essential, for activity. These
residues reside in regions of TM
-helices that are unfavorable for
the generation of thiolate anions or reaction with bulky labeling
reagents. Because a Cys-minus derivative of the protein retains
significant activity, the structure and function of pBR322-encoded TetA
can be investigated by cysteine substitution mutagenesis and chemical labeling.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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The research was supported by a grant to K.W.M. from the National Institutes of Health (GM47269).
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FOOTNOTES |
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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology, University of Wyoming, P.O. Box 3944, Laramie, WY 82071-3944. Phone: (307) 766-2037. Fax: (307) 766-5098. E-mail: kwmiller{at}uwyo.edu.
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