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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 277, Issue 4, 2385-2395, January 25, 2002
From the
Received for publication, August 7, 2001, and in revised form, October 19, 2001
Under iron limitation, the plant pathogen
Erwinia chrysanthemi produces the catechol-type siderophore
chrysobactin, which acts as a virulence factor. It can also use
enterobactin as a xenosiderophore. We began this work by sequencing the
5'-upstream region of the fct-cbsCEBA operon, which encodes
the ferric chrysobactin receptor and proteins involved in synthesis of
the catechol moiety. We identified a new iron-regulated gene
(cbsH) transcribed divergently relative to the
fct gene, the translated sequence of which is 45.6%
identical to that of Escherichia coli ferric enterobactin esterase. Insertions within this gene interrupt the chrysobactin biosynthetic pathway by exerting a polar effect on a downstream gene
with some sequence identity to the E. coli enterobactin
synthase gene. These mutations had no effect on the ability of the
bacterium to obtain iron from enterobactin, showing that a functional
cbsH gene is not required for iron removal from ferric
enterobactin in E. chrysanthemi. The
cbsH-negative mutants were less able to utilize ferric
chrysobactin, and this effect was not caused by a defect in transport
per se. In a nonpolar cbsH-negative mutant, chrysobactin accumulated intracellularly. These defects were rescued by
the cbsH gene supplied on a plasmid. The amino acid
sequence of the CbsH protein revealed characteristics of the S9 prolyl oligopeptidase family. Ferric chrysobactin hydrolysis was detected in
cell extracts from a cbsH-positive strain that was
inhibited by diisopropyl fluorophosphate. These data are consistent
with the fact that chrysobactin is a
D-lysyl-L-serine derivative. Mössbauer spectroscopy of whole cells at various states of
57Fe-labeled chrysobactin uptake showed that this enzyme is
not required for iron removal from chrysobactin in vivo.
The CbsH protein may therefore be regarded as a peptidase that prevents the bacterial cells from being intracellularly iron-depleted by chrysobactin.
Iron is an essential but nevertheless potentially toxic element
for most living organisms. The bioavailability of the ferric ion is
extremely limited because of its poor solubility (at pH 7, Ksp (solubility product) of
Fe(OH)3 = 10 Under iron limitation, E. chrysanthemi produces the catechol
siderophore chrysobactin. This siderophore is essential for this pathogen to disseminate throughout its host plant and to cause systemic
soft-rot symptoms (15). Chrysobactin is a bidentate ligand consisting
of a monomer of
2,3-dihydroxybenzoyl-D-lysyl-L-serine (16) (see
Fig. 1). Ferric chrysobactin is transported back into the cell via its
specific TonB-dependent outer membrane receptor Fct
(17-19) and a cytoplasmic membrane permease that is missing in a class
of mutants deficient in ferric chrysobactin uptake (20). These mutants
do not acquire iron from ferric enterobactin. Enterobactin is not
synthesized by E. chrysanthemi cells, but promotes growth of
a chrysobactin-deficient mutant if supplied exogenously. An
iron-regulated outer membrane protein with an apparent molecular mass
of 88,000 Da and immunologically related to the E. coli
ferric enterobactin receptor FepA is thought to play a similar function
in E. chrysanthemi (21). In addition, E. chrysanthemi strain 3937 produces another high-affinity iron uptake system mediated by a citrate siderophore called
achromobactin (22).
Most of the proteins involved in chrysobactin-mediated iron transport
are encoded by a 50-kb contiguous region of the E. chrysanthemi chromosome (20). The fct-cbsCEBA operon
codes for the receptor Fct and the enzymes leading to the catechol
moiety in chrysobactin biosynthesis (23) (see Fig. 1). Analysis of the
fct gene sequence (18) revealed a strong resemblance of the
promoter region to the bidirectional promoter controlling the
expression of the fepA-entD and fes-entF operons
in E. coli (24, 25) (Fig. 1).
The fepA gene codes for the receptor FepA (26, 27). The
entD and entF genes (Fig. 1) encode the EntD and
EntF proteins, respectively, which are two components of the
enterobactin synthase multienzyme complex (28-31). In E. chrysanthemi, as in E. coli and many other bacterial
species, control by iron is achieved via a fur gene that
encodes a protein highly similar to the E. coli Fur
regulator (32). In the presence of ferrous iron as a cofactor, the
E. coli Fur protein acts as a transcriptional repressor by
binding to operator-specific sequences (Fur or iron boxes) (33,
34).
Sequence analysis of the 5'-upstream region of the fct gene
revealed the existence of a gene (cbsH) transcribed in the
opposite direction to the fct gene that shares identity with
the E. coli fes gene. The functional analysis of the
cbsH gene product is presented.
Bacterial Strains, Plasmids, and Microbiological
Techniques--
The bacterial strains used are listed in Table I.
Plasmids are described in Table I and Fig. 2A. The
cbsE-1 and acs-37 mutations were transduced into
strain L2 cbsH-19 with phage General DNA Methods--
All DNA manipulations were carried out
as described previously (35, 36). The aphA-3 cassette,
obtained by SmaI digestion of pUC18K (39), was inserted into
AfeI-digested pCS2 and then recombined into the chromosome.
The AfeI site lies within the cbsH gene at a
position corresponding to amino acid 274.
Deletion Analysis, Nucleotide Sequence Determination, and Primer
Extension--
Serial truncations (200-250 bp) of pDE34 (see Fig.
2A) were carried out from the SalI site using the
double-stranded nested deletion kit from Amersham Biosciences AB
(Uppsala, Sweden). The deleted subclones were polyethylene
glycol-purified (40) and sequenced using the Sequenase kit (U. S.
Biochemical Corp.) and [
RNA templates were isolated from cultures of E. chrysanthemi
strain 3937 and E. coli strain JM101 harboring pCS1 and
grown in Tris medium, reaching an absorbance at 600 nm of 0.8 and 0.6 for high- and low-iron conditions, respectively. RNA isolation and
primer extension analyses were performed as described previously (18).
A 32P-labeled oligonucleotide complementary to nucleotides
158-142 was used for primer extension.
Identification of the CbsH Product--
The procedure described
by Tabor and Richardson (42) was used to produce proteins
encoded by the pT7 derivative plasmid. Samples were radiolabeled as
described previously (37). Proteins were separated by electrophoresis
on SDS-8% polyacrylamide gel.
Siderophore Detection--
Catechol was determined by the
chemical assay of Arnow (43) using dihydroxybenzoic acid as the
standard. Siderophore activity was detected as chrome azurol
S-reacting material in the culture supernatant (44) using
desferrioxamine B (Desferal, Novartis Pharma S. A., Rueil
Malmaison, France) as the standard. The biological activities of
chrysobactin and enterobactin were determined in bioassays as described
previously (16) using strains RW193 and RW818-60 for enterobactin and
strains L2 cbsE-1 and L2 fct-34 for chrysobactin
as indicators.
Quantitative Determination of Ferric Chrysobactin in Cell
Lysates--
A culture (grown exponentially in L broth) of the strain
to be studied was diluted 1:40 in 20 ml of Tris medium supplemented with glucose and 5 µM FeCl3. Cultures were
grown aerobically for 12-14 h. Cells were washed, suspended in 1 ml of
Tris medium, and disrupted in a Vibra Cell apparatus (Sonics and
Materials Inc.). The lysis mixture was centrifuged at 7000 rpm for 30 min at 4 °C in a microcentrifuge (Medical Scientific Equipment,
Leicester, United Kingdom). Pelleted cell debris was discarded, and the
supernatant was checked for the presence of ferric chrysobactin in a
bioassay. The concentrations of ferric chrysobactin in cell lysates and in culture supernatants equivalent to 5 × 108
colony-forming units was determined spectrophotometrically. The ferric
complex (at pH 7.4) had an absorption maximum at 525 nm ( Assay for Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Ferric
Chrysobactin--
Hydrolysis of ferric chrysobactin was assayed in
cell extracts from the bacterial strains tested and prepared as
following. Cells were grown aerobically in 500 ml of Tris medium
supplemented with glucose until an absorbance at 600 nm of 0.6-0.9 was
reached. Cells were washed, suspended in 2 ml of 0.1 M
Tris-HCl (pH 7.5) and disrupted as described above. Lysates were
supplemented with dithiothreitol at a final concentration of 0.005 mM and centrifuged for 20 min at 20,000 × g. The enzymatic activity in the supernatants was
immediately tested. The reaction mixture (incubated at 37 °C for
1 h) contained 0.300 ml of lysate, 0.430 ml of 0.1 M
Tris-HCl (pH 7.5), and 0.020 ml of the bis complex of ferric
chrysobactin to give a final concentration of 0.028 mM.
Ferric chrysobactin was prepared by adding FeCl3 to
chrysobactin in 0.1 M Tris (pH 7.5) at a ligand/iron ratio
of 4:1. Chrysobactin (a gift from Dr. J. S. Buyer) was synthesized
according to the procedure described previously (46). Protein
concentration in cell lysates was determined with the Bradford reagent.
Hydrolytic activity was determined spectrophotometrically as described
above. Enzymatic activity is expressed in nanomoles of ferric
chrysobactin hydrolyzed per mg of protein/h. Diisopropyl
fluorophosphate was added to the reaction mixture at a final
concentration of 0.036 mM. For each strain, three
independent experiments were performed.
Assay for Ferric Enterobactin Esterase Activity--
For ferric
enterobactin esterase activity, cell extracts from the bacterial
strains tested were prepared as described above. Lysates were assayed
as reported by Langman et al. (13). Enzymatic activity is
expressed in nanomoles of enterobactin hydrolyzed per mg of protein/h.
For each strain, three independent experiments were performed. Ferric
enterobactin was prepared according to the procedure reported by
Greenwood and Luke (10), with modifications. The supernatant of a
10-liter culture of E. coli strain BZB1013 was lyophilized
and extracted with ethyl acetate. As a final purification step, ferric
enterobactin dissolved in methanol was passed through a column of
Sephadex LH-20 (30 g) with methanol as the eluent. Fractions were
collected, evaporated, and dissolved in 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7). Catechol-positive fractions were bioassayed using strains RW193 and RW818-60 as indicators and checked by ultraviolet spectrometry. The purest fraction yielded ~50 µmol of ferric enterobactin.
Transport Experiments--
An overnight culture in L broth of
the strain to be studied was diluted 1:40 in Tris medium supplemented
with glucose and incubated with shaking until the required absorbance
at 600 nm was reached. Bacterial cells were harvested by
centrifugation, washed with Tris medium without phosphate, suspended in
phosphate-free Tris medium supplemented with glucose, and kept on ice
until use. The transport medium was Tris medium containing 40-50
µM dihydroxybenzoic acid equivalents of chrysobactin and
supplemented with 1 µM 59FeCl3
(0.1 mCi/ml iron(III) chloride in 0.1 M HCl; Amersham
Biosciences AB). For transport experiments, the bacterial suspension
was diluted in transport medium to give A600 nm = 0.4 in a total volume of 5 ml and placed in a 50-ml Erlenmeyer flask.
At intervals of 5-30 min, 200 µl was withdrawn and immediately
filtered through a filter with 0.45-µ pores that had been soaked for
at least 12 h in Tris medium supplemented with 20 µM
unlabeled FeCl3. Filters were immediately washed with 20 ml
of Tris medium without phosphate. The filters were placed in
scintillation vials and air-dried, and radioactivity was measured by
liquid scintillation counting. Two 20-µl samples of each bacterial
culture were counted to check the total amount of radioactivity. For
each strain, experiments were performed in triplicate.
Mössbauer Measurements--
For each Mössbauer
measurement, a 2-liter bacterial culture in 5-liter Erlenmeyer flasks
was required to obtain ~1 ml of packed cells. Cultures of
strains L2 cbsE-1 and L2 cbsH-19 were grown in
Tris medium supplemented with glucose for 12 h. The absorbance at
600 nm was 0.65. 57Fe-Labeled chrysobactin was added to the
cell suspensions at a final concentration of 1.3 µM
(ligand/iron ratio of 4:1.3). Cells were grown for an additional 30, 60, and 120 min. At 0 min and each additional time, cells were cooled
to 4 °C within 2 min, harvested, washed in Tris medium, and
transferred to Delrin Mössbauer sample holders. All sample
volumes were ~1 ml. Sample thickness did not exceed 9 mm. The
containers were quickly frozen in liquid nitrogen and kept in a liquid
nitrogen storage vessel until measurements were carried out. The
Mössbauer spectra were recorded in the horizontal transmission
geometry using a constant acceleration spectrometer operated in
conjunction with a 512-channel analyzer in the time-scale mode. The
source was at room temperature and consisted of 1.15 GBq of
57Co diffused in rhodium foil (AEA,
Braunschweig, Germany). The spectrometer was calibrated against a
metallic Characterization of the cbsH Gene and Its Translation
Product--
The sequence of the 2.1-kb
SspI-SalI fragment (Fig.
2A) begins at nucleotide +3 of
the fct-cbsCEBA transcript and ends 100 bp upstream from the
SalI site. Two contiguous ORFs (ORF1 and ORF2) and the
beginning of a third (ORF3) were identified (Fig. 2A). ORF1
has two putative ATG initiation codons (ATG1 position 142 and ATG2
position 277) (Fig. 2B) and terminates with a TAG stop codon
(position 1444). Potential ribosome-binding sites are located 6 and 8 bp upstream from the initiation codons, respectively. ORF2 starts with
an ATG codon (position 1557), terminates with a TGA codon (position
1796), and has a ribosome-binding site 9 bp upstream from the start
codon. A GTG initiation codon (position 1815) preceded by a
Shine-Dalgarno sequence (5'-AGGA-3', position 1804) suggests the
beginning of ORF3. ORF1 is separated from ORF2 by 100 bp, and ORF2 is
separated from ORF3 by 18 bp. The nucleic acid sequence of ORF1 is 64%
identical to the E. coli fes gene for the 871 nucleotides
from positions 272 to 1143. The deduced 389-amino acid polypeptide
sequence is 45.6% identical to that of the E. coli Fes
protein. The beginning of ORF3 (from positions 1815 to 2023) is
identical to that of the E. coli entF gene encoding enterobactin synthase. The gene corresponding to ORF1 was designated cbsH.
Sequence analysis predicted a potential P promoter, overlapping the P'
promoter of the fct-cbsCEBA operon characterized previously (Fig. 2B). To determine the transcriptional start site of
the cbsH gene, total RNA from iron-replete and -depleted
cultures of E. chrysanthemi strain 3937 and E. coli strain JM101 harboring pCS1 was used as a template in
extension reactions primed with a 32P-labeled 17-mer
oligonucleotide complementary to the sequence between positions 158 and
142. For both strains, the reactions yielded iron-regulated cDNAs
that comigrated with an A residue (Fig. 2C). The occurrence
of a transcriptional start at a T nucleotide (position 49) is
consistent with the predicted P promoter. Two putative Fur-binding
sites overlapping the
The two potential translational start codons ATG1 and ATG2 (Fig.
2B) have good matches with the Shine-Dalgarno sequence
(5'-GGAGG-3' and 5'-GGACG-3', respectively). To determine which
of these codons is functional, we analyzed the translation products of
two constructs (pCS3 and pLR1) placed under the control of the T7 A cbsH Mutation Has No Effect on Iron Acquisition from Enterobactin
in E. chrysanthemi--
We investigated the protein encoded by the
cbsH gene by isolating mutants (L2 cbsH-17 and L2
cbsH-19) (Table I) using insertional mutagenesis. Insertion
cbsH-19 was mapped to position 943 by sequencing and was
analyzed further. As the MudI1734 prophage generates polar mutations, we first investigated whether the mutant was able to produce
chrysobactin. It did not grow on EDDHA/L agar medium. It produced
catechol compounds, but did not release a functional siderophore, as
shown by the chrome azurol S assay and growth stimulation experiments
(data not shown). The introduction of pCS2, which carries the
cbsH gene and ORF2, did not enable the mutant cells to grow
on EDDHA/L agar medium. We therefore concluded that the mutant did not
synthesize chrysobactin because of the polar effect on the downstream
gene that shares identity with the E. coli entF gene.
As ferric enterobactin esterase is an essential component of the
enterobactin-mediated iron transport pathway in E. coli, we
investigated whether the L2 cbsH-19 mutant could use ferric enterobactin as an iron source (Table
II). Ferric enterobactin promoted
the growth of this mutant as efficiently as for a
cbsH-positive strain. This mutant may be able to utilize
ferric enterobactin because it produced achromobactin or catechol. We
therefore transduced the mutant with mutations acs-37 and
cbsE-1. The transductant L2 cbsH-19 acs-37 cbsE-1
utilized ferric enterobactin as efficiently as did the simple mutant
(Table II). This shows that a functional cbsH gene is not
required in E. chrysanthemi for iron acquisition from enterobactin.
Lack of Functional Complementation of the E. coli fes Mutation by
the cbsH Gene--
These data led us to verify whether the
cbsH gene could functionally complement an E. coli
fes mutant. MM272-60 cells were transformed with plasmid pCS2 or
pLR2. The transformants did not grow on EDDHA/L agar medium, and their
growth was not stimulated by ferric enterobactin (Table II). A similar
result was obtained with MM272-60 cells harboring pTF12, which contains
the cbsH gene on a low-copy-number vector (Table II). We
checked that the lack of complementation did not result from the
production of nonphysiological levels of the CbsH protein by testing
low-iron cultures of cells harboring pLR2 for the presence of
enterobactin. All culture supernatants tested were strongly positive in
the bioassay (data not shown).
A cbsH Mutation Affects Iron Acquisition from Chrysobactin in E. chrysanthemi--
To determine whether the CbsH protein is a component
of the chrysobactin-dependent iron transport pathway, we
assessed the stimulation of growth of the L2 cbsH-19 acs-37
mutant by chrysobactin. After 24 h of incubation, the mutant had
not grown; but after 72 h, a halo of growth became visible (Table
II). The introduction of pCS2 into the mutant restored its growth in
24 h. Rescue was also observed after the introduction of pLR2,
which carries the only cbsH gene (Table II). Thus, the
mutant phenotype did not result from a polar effect of the mutation on
downstream genes of the same operon. In contrast, the E. coli
fes mutant (MM272-60), in which the ferric chrysobactin receptor
fct gene is present on plasmid pLR3 (unlike pLR2), grew
normally if supplied with ferric chrysobactin as an iron source (Table
II). The halo of growth was similar with strain MM272-60 carrying
pTF12, which contains the cbsH gene (Table II). Thus, the
protein encoded by the cbsH gene is not required in E. coli cells if ferric chrysobactin is the iron source. One possible
interpretation of these data is that a cbsH-negative mutant
of E. chrysanthemi was affected in the transport of ferric chrysobactin.
We therefore determined the ability of the mutant to transport
59Fe-labeled chrysobactin and compared it with that of the
parental strain (Fig. 3). Strains were
grown in Tris medium, and uptake experiments were conducted with cells
harvested at A600 nm = 0.6. After 5 h, the
growth of mutant L2 cbsH-19 acs-37 had slower considerably,
indicating that iron was poorly assimilated (Fig. 3A). The
ferric chrysobactin transport rate was higher in the mutant than in the
parental strain (Fig. 3B). Thus, the mutation had no effect
on ferric chrysobactin transport per se. The transport rate
seems to depend on the intracellular metabolic state and presumably
reflects the level of derepression by iron of the entire protein
machinery involved in transport.
Accumulation of Ferric Chrysobactin in a Nonpolar cbsH-negative
Mutant--
We investigated the protein encoded by the cbsH
gene by constructing a nonpolar mutant with the aphA-3
cassette (39). Mutant L2 cbsH::aphA-3
acs-37 gave rise to colonies with a red color that was not
observed in polar mutants. The E. coli fes mutant was also
red on L agar medium. The mutant did not grow on EDDHA/L agar medium.
If supplied with ferric chrysobactin, there was a time lag before it
started growing, as observed with polar mutants (Table II). This mutant
grew very slowly in Tris medium, but transported 59Fe-labeled chrysobactin very quickly, indicating that the
bacterial cells were severely iron-depleted (Fig. 3B). These
observations suggest that an iron-binding compound accumulated inside
the cells. To determine whether this compound was the ferric
chrysobactin complex, cell extracts of L2
cbsH::aphA-3 acs-37 were compared with
those of a fur mutant (L37 acsA-1 fur)
that also overexpresses chrysobactin biosynthesis and transport
proteins in Tris medium supplemented with FeCl3. Bioassay
showed that extracts from cbsH-negative cells promoted the
growth of a chrysobactin-deficient strain very efficiently (Fig.
4A). This effect was not
observed with extracts from fur-deficient cells. The ferric
chrysobactin complex was quantitatively determined in culture
supernatants and cell lysates (Fig. 4B). The cbsH
mutant accumulated ferric chrysobactin intracellularly, unlike the
fur strain, for which most of the ferric complex was present
in the culture supernatant.
The CbsH Protein Is a Peptidase Hydrolyzing Chrysobactin--
The
accumulation of the ferric chrysobactin complex in the cytosol of
cbsH-negative cells indicates that this molecule was not
degraded following its transport. As chrysobactin possesses a peptide
bond, one possibility was that the cbsH gene encodes a
peptidase. Indeed, the catalytic mechanism of certain esterases involving the formation of an acetyl-enzyme intermediate during the
reaction is analogous to that of serine proteases (47). The alignment
of ferric enterobactin esterase-like protein sequences from various
bacterial genera present in data banks (Fig.
5) reveals the presence of a common
signature, GXSXGGDH found in the family of prolyl
oligopeptidases (48). These residues are within ~130 residues of the
C terminus, and the N-terminal parts of the molecule are more or less
variable. Therefore, we investigated whether cbsH-positive
cells had an enzyme enabling them to catalyze the hydrolysis of ferric
chrysobactin that was lacking in mutant cells. Enzymatic activity was
determined in cell extracts from low-iron cultures of the parental
strain L2 cbsE-1 and the mutant L2 cbsH-19 (Table
III). We observed the disappearance of
the ferric chrysobactin complex only in cbsH-positive cells.
This enzymatic activity was thiol-dependent, like a number
of other cytosolic peptidases. The addition of diisopropyl
fluorophosphate, an inhibitor of serine proteases. totally blocked the
reaction. These results show that the CbsH protein has a ferric
chrysobactin peptidase activity. To also determine whether this enzyme
has a ferric enterobactin esterase activity, we used ferric
enterobactin as a substrate. Although cbsH-positive cells
had a significant level of ferric enterobactin esterase activity
compared with mutant cells, the specific enzymatic activity was 10 times lower than that found for the hydrolysis of ferric chrysobactin
under the same conditions.
Iron Removal from Chrysobactin in Vivo Does Not Require a
Functional cbsH Gene--
To obtain basic information on the metabolic
utilization of chrysobactin-bound iron, in situ
Mössbauer spectroscopy of whole cells was performed at various
states of chrysobactin uptake. In principle, in situ
Mössbauer spectroscopy enables the simultaneous identification of
all main iron metabolites at a qualitative as well as quantitative
level without destruction of the cellular assembly (49, 50). Moreover,
time-dependent changes can be followed, the resolution of
which is merely limited by the time required for sample preparation
(50).
As expected, samples of either strain (L2 cbsE-1 and L2
cbsH-19) taken directly after addition of
57Fe-labeled chrysobactin yielded Mössbauer spectra
with very poor resolution. The cbsH-positive sample
exhibited a single doublet of ferrous high-spin iron in an octahedral
oxygen or nitrogen environment:
The second component observed spectroscopically corresponds to a ferric
high-spin species. The 57Fe content of the cells grew with
increasing incubation time (increasing total absorption area), although
it was slightly slower for the cbsH-positive strain. Whereas
after 30 min of incubation the ferric iron species contributed only
little to the Mössbauer absorption, it represented the major
component after 2 h. This species exhibited Mössbauer
parameters very similar to those of bacterioferritin found in E. coli (54, 55). Comparison of the Mössbauer parameters obtained from a spectrum measured at 86 K (data not shown) with those
derived from a spectrum at 4.3 K (Fig. 6) revealed a significant increase in In this study, we report the functional analysis of a new gene
(cbsH) that belongs to the
chrysobactin-dependent iron transport gene cluster of
E. chrysanthemi strain 3937. The cbsH gene
is the first gene of an operon involved in chrysobactin biosynthesis and transcribed from the iron-regulated divergent promoter
fct-cbsH, which controls, in the opposite orientation, the
transcription of the fct-cbsCEBA operon, identified earlier
(23). The cbsH gene is 64% identical to the E. coli
fes gene for the 871 nucleotides from positions 272 to 1143. It
encodes a polypeptide with an apparent molecular mass of 43,000 Da, a
size similar to that reported for the E. coli Fes protein
(25). The CbsH protein is 45.6% identical to the Fes protein of
E. coli, 46% identical to the Fes protein of Yersinia
enterocolitica (57), and 42% identical to Salmonella enterica IroD (iroD gene, GenBankTM/EBI
Data Bank accession number U97227), with the level of identity uniform
over the entire amino acid sequence (according to the program BLAST)
The presence in E. chrysanthemi of a homolog of the ferric
enterobactin esterase of E. coli was expected. E. chrysanthemi has a ferric enterobactin transport system that
supplies the cell with iron. As the hydrolysis of ferric enterobactin
is essential in E. coli cells, we thought it likely that
this molecule would have the same fate in E. chrysanthemi.
We have shown that the CbsH protein is not required for the removal of
iron from ferric enterobactin in E. chrysanthemi. These data
indicate that cleavage of the ester bonds of ferric enterobactin is not
required in E. chrysanthemi for iron reduction and release.
This was not because of the presence of an additional
fes-like gene on the E. chrysanthemi chromosome,
as shown by DNA/DNA hybridization analysis (data not shown). In
contrast, the Fes homolog from Y. enterocolitica appears to
be absolutely required for ferric enterobactin utilization in this
bacterium (57). In addition, the viuB gene from Vibrio cholerae, which is involved in vibriobactin processing, can
complement the E. coli fes mutation (58). No functional
complementation of the E. coli fes mutation was observed
with the E. chrysanthemi cbsH gene. These results show that
iron release from enterobactin is not CbsH-dependent.
Instead, a Fes/CbsH-independent mechanism has to be considered.
We should point out that the role of the E. coli ferric
enterobactin esterase has been much debated. In particular, several experimental aspects have remained unexplained (10, 11, 59). For
instance, this enzyme is required for the removal of iron from
enterobactin analogs devoid of ester bonds (60, 61). The redox
potential of a ferric siderophore depends on the binding constant for
iron and thus on the capacity of the molecule to be protonated at
neutral pH (62). If the internal pH of E. chrysanthemi were
slightly lower than that of E. coli, then iron would be
easier to extract in E. chrysanthemi than in E. coli. Cohen et al. (59) have reported that
enterobactin, like synthetic analogs such as TRENSAM, may adopt
a Tris salicylate mode of binding if sequentially protonated, with iron
release facilitated by a biological reductant.
On the basis of amino acid sequence comparisons, we found that the CbsH
protein displays characteristics of the S9 prolyl oligopeptidase family
(48), viz. the conservation of amino acids around the
catalytic triad Ser, Asp, and His (Fig. 5). The S9 family contains
serine peptidases with a varied range of restricted specificities,
including oligopeptidase B from eubacteria, which cleaves arginyl and
lysyl bonds. In agreement with sequence predictions, we showed that the
CbsH protein is an enzyme able to degrade ferric chrysobactin in the
cytosol. This hydrolytic activity is thiol-dependent and
inhibited by fluorophosphates such as diisopropyl fluorophosphate. Given the chrysobactin structure (Fig. 1), it is very likely that this
enzyme cleaves the lysyl bond, thus forming
2,3-dihydroxybenzoyllysine and serine.
To further understand the role of this enzyme, we analyzed the cellular
distribution and redox state of iron following the transport of ferric
chrysobactin into the cytosol using Mössbauer spectroscopy. After
30 min of incubation with 57Fe-labeled chrysobactin, the
Mössbauer spectra of the cbsH-positive strain and of a
cbsH-negative mutant showed mainly ferrous iron. The total
lack of ferric chrysobactin and the initially observed high-ferrous
iron contribution in the cell spectra of Erwinia clearly
demonstrate that ferric chrysobactin transport is followed by a very
rapid intracellular enzymatic iron reduction. Because ferric
chrysobactin is transported across the cell membranes via a highly
specific receptor-mediated pathway (18), the reduction obviously occurs
at the level of the cytoplasmic membrane or in the cytosol. The
affinity of catecholate siderophores for ferrous iron is very low. Even
water is a better chelator of ferrous high-spin iron than these
siderophores. Therefore, the presence of ferrous iron provides evidence
for a rapid reductive release of the metal from its carrier, preventing
an observable intracellular concentration of 57Fe-labeled
chrysobactin. Although a ferrous hexaquo complex is stable in a strict
reductive (and anaerobic) environment, it is very likely that the
reduced metal is complexed by a specific intracellular chelator to
prevent Haber-Weiss-Fenton chemistry (50). Previously, we found that
ferrous iron constitutes one of the major cellular iron species in many
microorganisms under conditions of siderophore-controlled growth (52,
53). The corresponding compound has been isolated from E. coli and from Pantoea
agglomerans2 and
partially characterized as an oligomeric sugar phosphate (52). It was
termed ferrochelatin (53). Based on the previous studies, we attribute
the detected ferrous iron to ferrochelatin. Whereas ferrochelatin-bound
iron keeps its intracellular concentration at a certain level (~0.3%
effect), the second component of the Mössbauer spectra increases
its contribution by time and represents the major component after
2 h of incubation. Based on the temperature-dependent Mössbauer spectra and their parameters, the conclusion must be drawn that this component represents a bacterioferritin-like iron storage compound. Thus, ferrous iron released from chrysobactin is
immediately transferred into the iron storage form, where it is
oxidized again at the ferroxidase site (71, 72). In summary, the
Mössbauer spectroscopic analysis shows significant differences neither in the chrysobactin-mediated iron uptake between the parental strain and its mutant nor in the metabolic distribution pattern. Based
on the results of this investigation, it is safe to state that
metabolic utilization of both enterobactin- and chrysobactin-bound iron
is not cbsH-dependent (see scheme shown in Fig.
8).
As described above, there is good evidence for hydrolytic cleavage of
chrysobactin by CbsH. In addition, long-term growth inhibition has been
observed in cbsH-negative mutants. This ligand hydrolysis
occurs obviously after iron removal, and lack of hydrolysis in the
mutants results in growth inhibition. This unexpected finding might be
linked either to utilization of the aromatic systems of chrysobactin
for anabolic reactions or to a role of cbsH in intracellular
iron homeostasis. Within the rationale of bacterial iron metabolism, we
favor the latter line of thought. The free chrysobactin ligand is
thermodynamically capable of extracting ferric iron from all
intracellular ferric iron sources exhibiting a lower complex formation
constant than that of ferric chrysobactin. In addition, recent studies
on the uptake of iron(III) by chrysobactin have shown that the carboxyl
group of the serine residue in chrysobactin strongly influences the
kinetics of formation of the ferric
complex.3 To prevent iron
removal from metabolically active enzymes or from any accessible
intracellular iron pool, either the ligand has to be re-excreted (which
is known for some bacterial siderophore uptake systems), or it must be
degraded or modified. At this point, it is important to note that the
nonpolar cbsH-negative mutant behaves as if it was severely
iron-depleted, although it contains high levels of ferric chrysobactin.
This finding fits well with our hypothesis because an intracellular
post-transport recomplexation of iron by the non-degraded ligand seems
to occur. In summary, taking all pieces of circumstantial evidence
together, we suggest that hydrolytic degradation of chrysobactin by
CbsH is aimed at keeping the intracellular iron distribution at
a well regulated level (iron homeostasis) in E. chrysanthemi
strain 3937.
We thank Céline Masclaux and Chrystèle Sauvage for the construction of recombinant plasmids and interest in this work, Prof. Kenneth Raymond and Thierry Franza for helpful discussions, Dr. Anne-Marie Albrecht-Gary for communicating data prior to publication, and Alex Edelman for reading the manuscript.
* This work was supported by grants from the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique.The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. The nucleotide sequence(s) reported in this paper has been submitted to the GenBankTM/EBI Data Bank with accession number(s) AF011334.
§ Researcher from CNRS. To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 33-1-44-08-17-06; Fax: 33-1-44-08-16-31; E-mail: expert@inapg.inra.fr.
Published, JBC Papers in Press, November 1, 2001, DOI 10.1074/jbc.M107530200
2 B. F. Matzanke, unpublished data.
3 A.-M. Albrecht-Gary, personal communication.
The abbreviations used are: EDDHA, ethylenediamine-N,N'-bis(2-hydroxyphenylacetic acid); ORF, open reading frame.
Copyright © 2002 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. This article has been cited by other articles:
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