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Infection and Immunity, April 2002, p. 2233-2237, Vol. 70, No. 4
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.4.2233-2237.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Department of Oral Biology, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14214,1 David Axelrod Institute of Public Health, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York 122012
Received 7 November 2001/ Returned for modification 28 December 2001/ Accepted 18 January 2002
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DNA gyrase is a type II topoisomerase which catalyzes the introduction of negative supercoils into DNA at the expense of ATP hydrolysis to ADP and phosphate (7, 20, 24). This enzyme plays an important role in DNA replication, transcription, and recombination. The enzyme is a tetramer composed of two A and two B subunits which are encoded by the gyrA and gyrB genes, respectively. The coumarin antibiotic coumermycin A1 inhibits DNA gyrase by competing with ATP for binding to the B subunits and blocks introduction of supercoils into relaxed DNA (1, 3, 19, 23).
The gyrB gene of the T. denticola ATCC 35405 strain has recently been cloned and sequenced (S. R. Greene and L. V. Stamm, Abstr. 99th Gen. Meet. Am. Soc. Microbiol., p. 257, 1999). Five conserved type II topoisomerase motifs, an ATP binding site (Walker A), and amino acid residues that putatively interact with a nonhydrolyzable ATP analog are highly conserved in T. denticola GyrB. Spontaneous coumermycin A1-resistant T. denticola 35405 mutants were also isolated, and a single point mutation in the gyrB gene, changing Lys-136 to Glu or Thr, confers >20-fold higher resistance in the mutants relative to that in wild-type T. denticola (8). Therefore, we examined the possibility that the mutated gyrB gene which confers coumermycin resistance in T. denticola could serve as a second selectable marker in these spirochetes.
The periplasmic flagella, which contribute to the motility of spirochetes, are located between the outer and cytoplasmic membranes (9). In spite of its unique location, the general structure of the flagella is similar to that of other bacteria and contains filaments, a flagellar hook, a rod, and a basal body (21, 22). Previously in our laboratory, a mutant of the flagellar hook gene, flgE, of T. denticola 35405 was constructed (14). The mutant HL51 lost motility, and electron microscopy showed that the mutant lacks both the flagellar hook and filaments. In this study, we report the construction of a coumermycin A1-resistant E. coli-T. denticola shuttle vector based on our previously reported vector pKMR4PE (2) and the functional complementation of the T. denticola ATCC 33520 flgE mutant (14).
Construction of the coumermycin A1-resistant E. coli-T. denticola shuttle vector. Spontaneous coumermycin A1-resistant T. denticola 33520 was induced according to Greene and Stamm (8), with some modifications. Stationary phase strain 33520 was inoculated in a 1-to-10 ratio in tryptone-yeast extract-gelatin-volatile fatty acids-serum (TYGVS) medium (20) containing 2 µg of coumermycin A1/ml (Sigma, St. Louis, Mo.). The culture was further passaged consecutively through a 10 µg/ml and then a 20 µg/ml concentration of coumermycin A1 in TYGVS medium. Single colonies of coumermycin-resistant T. denticola were isolated from TYGVS 0.8% Seaplaque agarose (Biowhittaker Molecular Applications, Rockland, Maine) plates containing 20 µg of coumermycin A1/ml. Chromosomal DNA was then isolated by using a Puregene DNA isolation kit (Gentra, Minneapolis, Minn.). The gyrB genes of both the wild-type and coumermycin-resistant strains were PCR amplified from the chromosomal DNA by using primers 5'-CCATTCACTCATAGCTCGCCA-3' and 5'-AATTACGCATCACACATCCAG-3'. The approximately 2-kb fragments contained the 120-bp upstream sequence including the potential promoter region and ribosome binding site (8) and end immediately downstream of the stop codon. The fragments were then ligated into the HincII site (Fig. 1) of the plasmid pKMRep4 (2), which contains the open reading frame encoding the Rep protein of T. denticola cryptic plasmid pTS1, to generate pKMgyrB (not shown) and pKMCou (Fig. 1) plasmids, respectively. The wild-type and mutated gyrB genes were sequenced from the respective plasmids by using the above two primers and a third primer (5'-ATAAGATGGGCAGTGGATCC-3') which is located 560 bp downstream of the start codon. The sequences revealed a single point mutation in the mutated gyrB gene which changed Lys-136 to Gln instead of to Glu or Thr as previously reported in coumermycin-resistant T. denticola 35405 (8). The gyrB genes of T. denticola 33520 and 35405 are about 99% identical, with a 17-nucleotide difference in the 1,917-bp gyrB open reading frame.
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FIG. 1. Construction of shuttle vectors pKMCou and pKMCouflgE. Relevant restriction sites are indicated.
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The plasmid pKMCou was then transformed into T. denticola 33520 to examine whether possession of the plasmid can render T. denticola coumermycin resistant. Strain 33520 (100 ml) was grown to mid- to late-logarithmic growth phase in TYGVS medium and heat treated at 50°C for 30 min before being chilled on ice for 15 min. This heat treatment greatly increases the efficiency of transformation (W. Shi, personal communication). The bacteria were then washed three times with 10% glycerol and resuspended in 10% glycerol to a 700-µl final volume. Eighty microliters of competent cells was next mixed with 0.5 to 1 µg of plasmid DNA and incubated on ice for 30 min. Electroporation was then carried out as described previously (14). Aliquots of competent cells can be frozen in a dry ice-alcohol bath and stored at -80°C for up to a year without a noticeable drop of efficiency. The transformants were selected on TYGVS 0.8% Seaplaque agarose plates supplemented with 10 µg of coumermycin A1/ml. Higher selection concentrations of coumermycin A1 greatly reduce the number of transformant colonies. The transformation efficiency was about 100 to 200 colonies per microgram of plasmid DNA. The individual colonies were isolated and inoculated into TYGVS medium containing 10 µg of coumermycin A1/ml and were analyzed for the possession of the shuttle plasmid by using the Wizard Miniprep Kit (Promega). Agarose gel electrophoresis of plasmid DNA extracted from the transformants showed that the transformants have an additional plasmid other than the cryptic plasmid pTD1 carried by strain 33520 (data not shown). The recombinant plasmid was then reintroduced into E. coli XL1-Blue cells. The restriction enzyme digestion patterns of the rescued plasmid were indistinguishable from those of the original plasmid (data not shown). These results suggest that the mutated gyrB gene can be used as a second antibiotic marker in T. denticola.
Complementation of T. denticola 33520 flgE mutant HL201. Using both erythromycin and coumermycin A1 resistance markers, we next attempted to carry out complementation experiments with this novel shuttle vector. A T. denticola flgE mutant was chosen for complementation because the complemented bacteria are motile and the phenotype can be easily distinguished from that of the mutant. T. denticola 33520 flgE mutant HL201 was constructed with the same strategy as that used with the 35405 flgE mutant HL51 (14) and was confirmed to have an erythromycin cassette inserted in the flgE gene (data not shown). To complement HL201, the complete flgE gene, which begins 15 bp upstream of its ribosome binding site, was PCR amplified from T. denticola 33520 chromosomal DNA with flgE forward and reverse primers (5'-AAAAA TCTAGAGCAGATAACAATTAGGAGGCA-3' and 5'-AAAAA TCTAGAC CATACTATCGTTTCAAGTTC-3'; XbaI sites in italics) and cloned into the XbaI site of the pKMCou plasmid downstream of the mutated gyrB gene in E. coli XL1-Blue. Since the flgE gene is in the flagellar operon downstream of the tap1 and flgD genes and has no promoter immediately upstream (22), the orientation of the cloned flgE gene was selected such that the flgE gene can be cotranscribed with the mutated gyrB gene from the gyrB promoter (Fig. 1).
The resulting plasmid, pKMCouflgE, was transformed as described above into T. denticola HL201, and transformants were selected on 0.8% Seaplaque agarose plates containing 10 µg of coumermycin A1/ml and 40 µg of erythromycin/ml. The coumermycin- and erythromycin-resistant transformant colonies (Fig. 2B) grew larger over time and had diffuse edges like those of the wild-type strain (Fig. 2A). In contrast, the HL201 colonies were small with defined edges (Fig. 2C). The complemented transformants were also motile when viewed under a dark-field microscope (model E400; Nikon, Tokyo, Japan), whereas the HL201 colonies were nonmotile. The transformants had an irregular morphology like that of the wild-type strain, while the HL201 colonies had a helical morphology (21). The transformants were further analyzed for plasmids. As shown in Fig. 3, lane 2, the transformants had a plasmid the same size as the original pKMCouflgE (Fig. 3, lane 4) in addition to the cryptic plasmid pTD1. The plasmid from the transformants was then retransformed into E. coli XL1-Blue cells, and restriction endonuclease analysis confirmed that the plasmid was identical to the original pKMCouflgE (Fig. 3, lanes 5 to 8). To confirm that the transformants were complemented instead of the flgE mutation being reverted, ten of the above transformants were examined by PCR with the flgE forward primer (see above) and erythromycin cassette reverse primer (5'-GAAGCTGTCAGTAGTATACC-3'). The predicted size band was amplified, suggesting that the transformants still had a mutated flgE gene on the chromosome of the complemented strain (data not shown).
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FIG. 2. Colonies of wild-type T. denticola 33520 (A), T. denticola flgE mutant HL201 (C), and pKMCouflgE HL201 transformants (B) on 0.8% agarose plates.
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FIG. 3. Electrophoretic analysis of plasmids isolated from T. denticola HL201 pKMCouflgE transformants. Lanes 1 and 9, 1-kb DNA ladder; lane 2, plasmids from T. denticola HL201 pKMCouflgE transformants; lanes 3, 5, and 7, plasmids from E. coli XL1-Blue retransformed with the plasmids shown in lane 2; lanes 4, 6, and 8, original pKMCouflgE; lanes 3 and 4, undigested plasmids; lanes 5 and 6, XbaI digestion of the respective plasmids; lanes 7 and 8, PstI digestion of the respective plasmids.
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FIG. 4. Western blot analysis of T. denticola HL201 pKMCouflgE transformants. Cell extracts were separated on a sodium dodecyl sulfate-4 to 20% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gel and transferred to a Hybond C Extra membrane. Antibody developed to the T. pallidum FlgE protein was used as the primary antibody (1:3,000 dilution), and horseradish peroxidase-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG (1:250,000 dilution) was used as the secondary antibody (Pierce, Rockford, Ill.). The blot was developed by using Supersignal West Dura Western blotting kits (Pierce). Lane 1, cell extract of wild-type T. denticola 33520; lane 2, cell extract of T. denticola flgE mutant HL201; lane 3, cell extract of T. denticola HL201 pKMCouflgE transformants. Numbers on the left indicate molecular masses in kilodaltons.
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E. coli overexpressing its own mutated gyrB gene from a plasmid is more resistant to coumermycin A1 (MIC, 40 µg/ml) (4) than the bacteria overexpressing the T. denticola mutated gyrB gene (MIC, 6 µg/ml). One reason for this may be that the T. denticola GyrB protein lacks sufficient homology for expressing increased resistance in E. coli. The GyrB proteins of T. denticola and E. coli are 66% homologous and 54% identical. The E. coli GyrB protein is also 166 amino acids longer than T. denticola GyrB (10). The function of the additional amino acids at the C-terminal region of E. coli GyrB is still unknown.
At present, although heterologous DNA can be transformed into T. denticola 35405 and mutants can be constructed, shuttle vector pKMCou does not replicate in this strain. One reason for this defect could be that strain 35405, lacking a cryptic plasmid, is incapable of maintaining plasmids. T. denticola 33520, which can be transformed with shuttle vectors, contains the cryptic plasmid pTD1 (12), which suggests that strain 33520 expresses a system for maintaining plasmids. Alternatively, the cryptic plasmid pTD1 may be important in maintaining the shuttle vector. Experiments are presently in progress to test these hypotheses.
The technical assistance of L. Wagner and S. Scanga is gratefully acknowledged.
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