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Turning down tolerance Persister cells, which are found in abundance in biofilms, adopt a quiescent state and survive antimicrobial treatments, seeding disease recurrence and incubating new resistance mutations. Building on work implicating the reactive small-molecule hydrogen sulfide in bacterial defense against antibiotics, Shatalin et al. conducted a structure-based screen for inhibitors of a bacterial hydrogen sulfide–producing enzyme and found a group of inhibitors that act through an allosteric mechanism (see the Perspective by Mah). These inhibitors potentiated bactericidal antibiotics in vitro and in mouse infection models. They also suppressed persister bacteria and disrupted biofilm formation. This strategy of taking out persister cells may be promising for treating recalcitrant infections and holding the line against drug-resistant bacteria. Science , abd8377, this issue p. 1169 ; see also abj3062, p. 1153

l-cysteine is the source of all bacterial sulfurous biomolecules. However, the cytoplasmic level of l-cysteine must be tightly regulated due to its propensity to reduce iron and drive damaging Fenton chemistry. It has been proposed that in Escherichia coli the component of cytochrome bd-I terminal oxidase, the CydDC complex, shuttles excessive l-cysteine from the cytoplasm to the periplasm, thereby maintaining redox homeostasis. Here, we provide evidence for an alternative function of CydDC by demonstrating that the cydD phenotype, unlike that of the bona fide l-cysteine exporter eamA, parallels that of the l-cystine importer tcyP. Chromosomal induction of eamA, but not of cydDC, from a strong pLtetO-1 promoter (Ptet) leads to the increased level of extracellular l-cysteine, whereas induction of cydDC or tcyP causes the accumulation of cytoplasmic l-cysteine. Congruently, inactivation of cydD renders cells resistant to hydrogen peroxide and to aminoglycoside antibiotics. In contrast, induction of cydDC sensitizes cells to oxidative stress and aminoglycosides, which can be suppressed by eamA overexpression. Furthermore, inactivation of the ferric uptake regulator (fur) in Ptet-cydDC or Ptet-tcyP cells results in dramatic loss of survival, whereas catalase (katG) overexpression suppresses the hypersensitivity of both strains to H2O2. These results establish CydDC as a reducer of cytoplasmic cystine, as opposed to an l-cysteine exporter, and further elucidate a link between oxidative stress, antibiotic resistance, and sulfur metabolism.

Emergent resistance to all clinical antibiotics calls for the next generation of therapeutics. Here we report an effective antimicrobial strategy targeting the bacterial hydrogen sulfide (H

Endogenous hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) renders bacteria highly resistant to oxidative stress, but its mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we report that 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (3MST) is the major source of endogenous H 2 S in Escherichia coli . Cellular resistance to H 2 O 2 strongly depends on the activity of mstA , a gene that encodes 3MST. Deletion of the ferric uptake regulator (Fur) renders ∆ mstA cells hypersensitive to H 2 O 2 . Conversely, induction of chromosomal mstA from a strong pLtetO-1 promoter (P tet - mstA ) renders ∆ fur cells fully resistant to H 2 O 2 . Furthermore, the endogenous level of H 2 S is reduced in ∆ fur or ∆ sodA ∆ sodB cells but restored after the addition of an iron chelator dipyridyl. Using a highly sensitive reporter of the global response to DNA damage (SOS) and the TUNEL assay, we show that 3MST-derived H 2 S protects chromosomal DNA from oxidative damage. We also show that the induction of the CysB regulon in response to oxidative stress depends on 3MST, whereas the CysB-regulated l-cystine transporter, TcyP, plays the principle role in the 3MST-mediated generation of H 2 S. These findings led us to propose a model to explain the interplay between l-cysteine metabolism, H 2 S production, and oxidative stress, in which 3MST protects E. coli against oxidative stress via l-cysteine utilization and H 2 S-mediated sequestration of free iron necessary for the genotoxic Fenton reaction.

Background Using Bacillus anthracis as a model gram-positive bacterium, we investigated the effects of host protein S-nitrosylation during bacterial infection. B. anthracis possesses a bacterial nitric oxide synthase (bNOS) that is important for its virulence and survival. However, the role of S-nitrosylation of host cell proteins during B. anthracis infection has not been determined. Methods Nitrosoproteomic analysis of human small airway epithelial cells (HSAECs) infected with toxigenic B. anthracis Sterne was performed, identifying peroxiredoxin 1 (Prx1) as one predominant target. Peroxidase activity of Prx during infection was measured using 2-Cys-Peroxiredoxin activity assay. Chaperone activity of S-nitrosylated Prx1 was measured by insulin aggregation assay, and analysis of formation of multimeric species using Native PAGE. Griess assay and DAF-2DA fluorescence assay were used to measure NO production. Cell viability was measured using the Alamar Blue assay and the ATPlite assay (Perkin Elmer). Results S-nitrosylation of Prx1 in Sterne-infected HSAECs leads to a decrease in its peroxidase activity while enhancing its chaperone function. Treatment with bNOS inhibitor, or infection with bNOS deletion strain, reduces S-nitrosylation of Prx1 and decreases host cell survival. Consistent with this, siRNA knockdown of Prx1 lowers bNOS-dependent protection of HSAEC viability. Conclusions Anthrax infection results in S-nitrosylation of multiple host proteins, including Prx1. The nitrosylation-dependent decrease in peroxidase activity of Prx1 and increase in its chaperone activity is one factor contributing to enhancing infected cell viability. General significance These results provide a new venue of mechanistic investigation for inhalational anthrax that could lead to novel and potentially effective countermeasures.

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a highly toxic gas that interferes with cellular respiration; however, at low physiological amounts, it plays an important role in cell signaling. Remarkably, in bacteria, endogenously produced H2S has been recently recognized as a general protective molecule, which renders multiple bacterial species highly resistant to oxidative stress and various classes of antibiotics. The mechanism of this phenomenon remains poorly understood. In this paper, we use Escherichia coli as a model system to elucidate its major enzymatic source of H2S and establish the principle biochemical pathways that account for H2S-mediated protection against reactive oxygen species. Understanding those mechanisms has far-reaching implications in preventing bacterial resistance and designing effective antimicrobial therapies.

Many prokaryotic species generate hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) in their natural environments. However, the biochemistry and physiological role of this gas in nonsulfur bacteria remain largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that inactivation of putative cystathionine β-synthase, cystathionine γ-lyase, or 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase in Bacillus anthracis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli suppresses H(2)S production, rendering these pathogens highly sensitive to a multitude of antibiotics. Exogenous H(2)S suppresses this effect. Moreover, in bacteria that normally produce H(2)S and nitric oxide, these two gases act synergistically to sustain growth. The mechanism of gas-mediated antibiotic resistance relies on mitigation of oxidative stress imposed by antibiotics.

SummaryFrequent codirectional collisions between the replisome and RNA polymerase (RNAP) are inevitable because the rate of replication is much faster than that of transcription. Here we show that, in E. coli, the outcome of such collisions depends on the productive state of transcription elongation complexes (ECs). Codirectional collisions with backtracked (arrested) ECs lead to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), whereas head-on collisions do not. A mechanistic model is proposed to explain backtracking-mediated DSBs. We further show that bacteria employ various strategies to avoid replisome collisions with backtracked RNAP, the most general of which is translation that prevents RNAP backtracking. If translation is abrogated, DSBs are suppressed by elongation factors that either prevent backtracking or reactivate backtracked ECs. Finally, termination factors also contribute to genomic stability by removing arrested ECs. Our results establish RNAP backtracking as the intrinsic hazard to chromosomal integrity and implicate active ribosomes and other anti-backtracking mechanisms in genome maintenance.

It's a Gas Many antibiotics, including beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, and quinolones, kill bacteria (at least in part) by oxidative stress. Gusarov et al. (p. 1380 ) show that nitric oxide (NO) produced by bacterial NO synthases (bNOS) protects bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus anthracis , against toxic agents they may encounter in the soil or in host organisms. Thus, bNOS activity is specifically induced in response to antibiotics and, in turn, activates the expression of another key antioxidant enzyme: superoxide dismutase. Hence, NO-mediated antibiotic resistance not only operates by direct chemical modification of toxic molecules, but also alleviates oxidative stress caused by naturally occurring antibiotics.

Biosynthesis of NAD(P) cofactors is of special importance for cyanobacteria due to their role in photosynthesis and respiration. Despite significant progress in understanding NAD(P) biosynthetic machinery in some model organisms, relatively little is known about its implementation in cyanobacteria. We addressed this problem by a combination of comparative genome analysis with verification experiments in the model system ofSynechocystissp. strain PCC 6803. A detailed reconstruction of the NAD(P) metabolic subsystem using the SEED genomic platform (http://theseed.uchicago.edu/FIG/index.cgi) helped us accurately annotate respective genes in the entire set of 13 cyanobacterial species with completely sequenced genomes available at the time. Comparative analysis of operational variants implemented in this divergent group allowed us to elucidate both conserved (de novo and universal pathways) and variable (recycling and salvage pathways) aspects of this subsystem. Focused genetic and biochemical experiments confirmed several conjectures about the key aspects of this subsystem. (i) The product of the slr1691 gene, a homolog ofEscherichia coligenenadEcontaining an additional nitrilase-like N-terminal domain, is a NAD synthetase capable of utilizing glutamine as an amide donor in vitro. (ii) The product of the sll1916 gene, a homolog ofE. coligenenadD, is a nicotinic acid mononucleotide-preferring adenylyltransferase. This gene is essential for survival and cannot be compensated for by an alternative nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN)-preferring adenylyltransferase (slr0787 gene). (iii) The product of the slr0788 gene is a nicotinamide-preferring phosphoribosyltransferase involved in the first step of the two-step nondeamidating utilization of nicotinamide (NMN shunt). (iv) The physiological role of this pathway encoded by a conserved gene cluster, slr0787-slr0788, is likely in the recycling of endogenously generated nicotinamide, as supported by the inability of this organism to utilize exogenously provided niacin. Positional clustering and the cooccurrence profile of the respective genes across a diverse collection of cellular organisms provide evidence of horizontal transfer events in the evolutionary history of this pathway.

Thiamin and riboflavin are precursors of essential coenzymes-thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) and flavin mononucleotide (FMN)/flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), respectively. In Bacillus spp, genes responsible for thiamin and riboflavin biosynthesis are organized in tightly controllable operons. Here, we demonstrate that the feedback regulation of riboflavin and thiamin genes relies on a novel transcription attenuation mechanism. A unique feature of this mechanism is the formation of specific complexes between a conserved leader region of the cognate RNA and FMN or TPP. In each case, the complex allows the termination hairpin to form and interrupt transcription prematurely. Thus, sensing small molecules by nascent RNA controls transcription elongation of riboflavin and thiamin operons and possibly other bacterial operons as well.

Novel drug targets are required in order to design new defenses against antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Comparative genomics provides new opportunities for finding optimal targets among previously unexplored cellular functions, based on an understanding of related biological processes in bacterial pathogens and their hosts. We describe an integrated approach to identification and prioritization of broad-spectrum drug targets. Our strategy is based on genetic footprinting in Escherichia coli followed by metabolic context analysis of essential gene orthologs in various species. Genes required for viability of E. coli in rich medium were identified on a whole-genome scale using the genetic footprinting technique. Potential target pathways were deduced from these data and compared with a panel of representative bacterial pathogens by using metabolic reconstructions from genomic data. Conserved and indispensable functions revealed by this analysis potentially represent broad-spectrum antibacterial targets. Further target prioritization involves comparison of the corresponding pathways and individual functions between pathogens and the human host. The most promising targets are validated by direct knockouts in model pathogens. The efficacy of this approach is illustrated using examples from metabolism of adenylate cofactors NAD(P), coenzyme A, and flavin adenine dinucleotide. Several drug targets within these pathways, including three distantly related adenylyltransferases (orthologs of the E. coli genes nadD , coaD , and ribF ), are discussed in detail.

Mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase and citrate synthase are sequential enzymes in the Krebs tricarboxylic acid cycle. We have shown [Lindbladh, C., Rault, M., Hagglund, C., Small, W. C., Mosbach, K., Bülow, L., Evans, C., and Srere, P.A (1994) Biochemistry 33, 11692-11698] that a fusion protein of yeast mitochondrial citrate synthase and yeast mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase channels oxaloacetate between the active sites. A Brownian dynamics simulation model of porcine mitochondrial enzymes of citrate synthase and malate dehydrogenase was used [Elcock, A. H., and McCammon, A. M. (1996) Biochemistry 35, 12652-12658], showing that a positive electrostatic surface potential between the active sites of the fusion protein could account for the channeling of oxaloacetate we observed with the yeast fusion protein. Since the data were established with a yeast fusion protein and the model was with porcine fusion protein, we have now prepared and studied the porcine fusion protein. The channeling of the oxaloacetate intermediate was the same for the porcine fusion protein as it was for the yeast fusion protein. This channeling behavior is eliminated at high ionic strength. A fusion protein of porcine citrate synthase and porcine cytosolic malate dehydrogenase does not exhibit any channeling of oxaloacetate. A model of the fusion protein with the cytosolic malate dehydrogenase shows no clear positive electrostatic potential surface between the two active sites, thus distinguishing it from the fusion protein with the mitochondrial malate dehydrogenase. These results establish the electrostatic nature of channeling in mitochondrial fusion proteins.

NAD is a ubiquitous and essential metabolic redox cofactor which also functions as a substrate in certain regulatory pathways. The last step of NAD synthesis is the ATP-dependent amidation of deamido-NAD by NAD synthetase (NADS). Members of the NADS family are present in nearly all species across the three kingdoms of Life. In eukaryotic NADS, the core synthetase domain is fused with a nitrilase-like glutaminase domain supplying ammonia for the reaction. This two-domain NADS arrangement enabling the utilization of glutamine as nitrogen donor is also present in various bacterial lineages. However, many other bacterial members of NADS family do not contain a glutaminase domain, and they can utilize only ammonia (but not glutamine) in vitro. A single-domain NADS is also characteristic for nearly all Archaea, and its dependence on ammonia was demonstrated here for the representative enzyme from Methanocaldococcus jannaschi. However, a question about the actual in vivo nitrogen donor for single-domain members of the NADS family remained open: Is it glutamine hydrolyzed by a committed (but yet unknown) glutaminase subunit, as in most ATP-dependent amidotransferases, or free ammonia as in glutamine synthetase? Here we addressed this dilemma by combining evolutionary analysis of the NADS family with experimental characterization of two representative bacterial systems: a two-subunit NADS from Thermus thermophilus and a single-domain NADS from Salmonella typhimurium providing evidence that ammonia (and not glutamine) is the physiological substrate of a typical single-domain NADS. The latter represents the most likely ancestral form of NADS. The ability to utilize glutamine appears to have evolved via recruitment of a glutaminase subunit followed by domain fusion in an early branch of Bacteria. Further evolution of the NADS family included lineage-specific loss of one of the two alternative forms and horizontal gene transfer events. Lastly, we identified NADS structural elements associated with glutamine-utilizing capabilities.

Phagocytes generate nitric oxide (NO) and other reactive oxygen and nitrogen species in large quantities to combat infecting bacteria. Here, we report the surprising observation that in vivo survival of a notorious pathogen— Bacillus anthracis —critically depends on its own NO-synthase (bNOS) activity. Anthrax spores (Sterne strain) deficient in bNOS lose their virulence in an A/J mouse model of systemic infection and exhibit severely compromised survival when germinating within macrophages. The mechanism underlying bNOS-dependent resistance to macrophage killing relies on NO-mediated activation of bacterial catalase and suppression of the damaging Fenton reaction. Our results demonstrate that pathogenic bacteria use their own NO as a key defense against the immune oxidative burst, thereby establishing bNOS as an essential virulence factor. Thus, bNOS represents an attractive antimicrobial target for treatment of anthrax and other infectious diseases.

Monitoring of gene knockouts is a new microarray-based genetic technique used for genome-wide identification of conditionally essential genes in bacteria, We have developed a new microarray-based genetic technique, named MGK (Monitoring of Gene Knockouts), for genome-wide identification of conditionally essential genes. MGK identified bacterial genes that are critical for fitness in the absence of aromatic amino acids, and was further applied to identify genes whose inactivation causes bacterial cell death upon exposure to the bacteriostatic antibiotic chloramphenicol. Our findings suggest that MGK can serve as a robust tool in functional genomics studies.

Thiamin and riboflavin are precursors of essential coenzymes-thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) and flavin mononucleotide (FMN)/flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), respectively. In Bacillus spp, genes responsible for thiamin and riboflavin biosynthesis are organized in tightly controllable operons. Here, we demonstrate that the feedback regulation of riboflavin and thiamin genes relies on a novel transcription attenuation mechanism. A unique feature of this mechanism is the formation of specific complexes between a conserved leader region of the cognate RNA and FMN or TPP. In each case, the complex allows the termination hairpin to form and interrupt transcription prematurely. Thus, sensing small molecules by nascent RNA controls transcription elongation of riboflavin and thiamin operons and possibly other bacterial operons as well.

Many prokaryotic species generate hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and nitric oxide (NO) enzymatically, from cysteine and arginine, respectively, in their natural environments. Both gases are small freely diffusible signaling molecules that are known to be involved in numerous physiological and pathological processes in mammals. However the biochemistry and physiological role of these gases in bacteria remains largely unknown. We have shown that inactivation of H2S producing enzymes (cystathionine beta-synthase, cystathionine gamma lyase, or 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase) and NO-synthase in several Gram (+) and Gram (−) bacteria render them highly sensitive to different classes of antibiotics (Gusarov et al., Science 325 (2009) 1380–1384; Shatalin et al. Science 334 (2011) 986–990). We also presented evidence that Bacillus anthracis-derived NO is critical at the early stage of infection (Shatalin et al. PNAS 105 (2008) 1009–1013). Here we show that: (1) cbs/cse and nos mutations change Bacilli global gene transcription profile; (2) apore formation process in cbs/cse and nos mutants ofB. anthracis is affected; (3) virulence of cbs/cse and nos mutants of B. anthracis is diminished. These results demonstrate that bacterial H2S and NO are an important virulence factors, and that enzymes generated these gases may serve as an attractive target for antimicrobial therapy.