A single amino acid substitution in the C terminus of OmpR alters DNA recognition and phosphorylation

In bacteria and lower eukaryotes, adaptation to changes in the environment is often mediated by two-component regulatory systems. Such systems provide the basis for chemotaxis, nitrogen and phosphate regulation and adaptation to osmotic stress, for example. In Escherichia coli, the sensor kinase EnvZ detects a change in the osmotic environment and phosphorylates the response regulator OmpR. Phospho-OmpR binds to the regulatory regions of the porin genes ompF and ompC, and alters their expression. Recent evidence suggests that OmpR functions as a global regulator, regulating additional genes besides the porin genes. In this study, we have characterized a previously isolated OmpR2 mutant (V203M) that constitutively activates ompF and fails to express ompC. Because the substitution was located in the C-terminal DNA-binding domain, it had been assumed that the substitution would not affect phosphorylation of the N-terminal domain of OmpR. Our results indicate that this substitution completely eliminates phosphorylation by a small phosphate donor, acetyl phosphate, but not phosphorylation by the kinase EnvZ. The mutant OmpR has altered dephosphorylation kinetics and altered binding affinities to both ompF and ompC sites compared to the wild-type. Thus, a single amino acid substitution in the C-terminal DNA-binding domain has dramatic effects on the N-terminal phosphorylation domain. Most strikingly, we have identified a single base change in the OmpR binding site of ompC that restores high-affinity binding activity by the mutant. We interpret our results in the context of a model for porin gene expression.     

Phosphorylation of a bacterial activator protein, OmpR, by a protein kinase, EnvZ, results in stimulation of its DNA-binding ability

The Escherichia coli OmpR protein is an activator protein specific for the ompF and ompC genes, which respectively encode the outer membrane proteins, OmpF and OmpC. The EnvZ protein is a protein kinase specific for the OmpR protein. In this study, we compared the in vitro DNA-binding ability of the phosphorylated form of the OmpR protein with that of the non-phosphorylated form by means of non-denaturing gel retardation analysis and DNase I footprinting analysis. The results indicate that the phosphorylation of the OmpR protein results in stimulation of its in vitro DNA-binding ability as to both the ompF and ompC promoter DNAs.     

Location of phosphorylation site and DNA-binding site of a positive regulator, OmpR, involved in activation of the osmoregulatory genes of Escherichia coli

The OmpR protein of Escherichia coli is a positive regulator involved in activation of the ompF and ompC genes which encode the major outer membrane proteins OmpF and OmpC, respectively. By employing recombinant DNA techniques, we isolated the N- and C-terminal halves of the OmpR molecule. From the results of biochemical analyses of these fragments, it was concluded that the N-terminal portion contains a site involved in phosphorylation by an OmpR-specific protein kinase EnvZ, whereas the C-terminal part possesses a DNA-binding site for the ompC and ompF promoters.     

Evidence for the physiological importance of the phosphotransfer between the two regulatory components, EnvZ and OmpR, in osmoregulation in Escherichia coli

Previously, the transfer of the phosphoryl group between the EnvZ and OmpR proteins, which are involved in activation of the ompF and ompC genes in response to the medium osmolarity, has been demonstrated in vitro. In this study, we characterized mutant EnvZ and OmpR proteins in terms of their in vitro phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. The proteins isolated from the mutants, envZ11 and ompR3, were found to be defective in seemingly the same aspect, i.e. OmpR dephosphorylation. The protein isolated from the ompR77 mutant, which is a suppressor mutant specific for envZ11, was found to be defective in another aspect, i.e. OmpR phosphorylation. These results imply that the phosphotransfer reactions observed in vitro play roles in the mechanism underlying the osmoregulatory expression of the ompF and ompC genes in vivo. We provide evidence that the EnvZ protein is involved not only in OmpR phosphorylation but also in OmpR dephosphorylation.     

Transmembrane signal transduction and osmoregulation in Escherichia coli: II. The osmotic sensor, EnvZ, located in the isolated cytoplasmic membrane displays its phosphorylation and dephosphorylation abilities as to the activator protein, OmpR

The EnvZ protein is presumably a membrane-located osmotic sensor, which specifically phosphorylates the activator protein, OmpR, involved in expression of the ompF and ompC genes in Escherichia coli. In this study, we developed an in vitro system for analyzing the intact form of the EnvZ protein located in the isolated cytoplasmic membrane. This particular form of the EnvZ protein exhibited its in vitro ability not only as to OmpR-phosphorylation but also OmpR-dephosphorylation. It was found that when a high concentration of a mono-cation (K+, Na-, or Li+) was present during the in vitro reactions, OmpR-dephosphorylation was preferentially inhibited and consequently the phosphorylated from of the OmpR protein was accumulated under the in vitro conditions used, although the K+ ion appears to be essential for the OmpR-phosphorylation reaction. Procaine, a local anesthetic, is known to affect the osmotic regulation of the ompF and ompC genes in vivo. In this study, procaine was also found to preferentially inhibit OmpR-dephosphorylation mediated by the EnvZ protein in vitro.     

Transmembrane signal transduction and osmoregulation in Escherichia coli. Functional importance of the periplasmic domain of the membrane-located protein kinase, EnvZ

The EnvZ protein is presumably a membrane-located osmotic sensor which is involved in expression of the ompF and ompC genes in Escherichia coli. Previously, we developed an in vitro method for analyzing the intact form of the EnvZ protein located in isolated cytoplasmic membranes, and demonstrated that this particular form of the EnvZ protein exhibits the ability not only as to OmpR phosphorylation but also OmpR dephosphorylation. In this study, to gain an insight into the structural and functional importance of the putative periplasmic domain of the EnvZ protein, a set of mutant EnvZ proteins, which lack various portions of the periplasmic domain, were characterized in terms of not only their in vivo osmoregulatory phenotypes but also in vitro EnvZ-OmpR phosphotransfer reactions. It was revealed that these deletion mutant EnvZ proteins are normally incorporated into the cytoplasmic membrane. Cells harboring these mutant EnvZ proteins showed a pleiotropic phenotype, namely, OmpF- Mal- LamB- PhoA-, and produced the OmpC protein constitutively irrespective of the medium osmolarity. It was also suggested that all of these mutant EnvZ proteins were defective in their in vitro OmpR dephosphorylation ability, while their OmpR phosphorylation ability remained unaffected. These results imply the functional importance of the periplasmic domain of the EnvZ protein for modulation of the kinase/phosphatase activity exhibited by the cytoplasmic domain in response to an environmental osmotic stimulus.     

Osmoregulatory expression of the porin genes in Escherichia coli: evidence for signal titration in the signal transduction through EnvZ-OmpR phosphotransfer

The OmpR protein of Escherichia coli is a positive regulator specific for the ompF and ompC genes. The function of OmpR is modulated through phosphotransfer signaling mediated by the kinase, EnvZ. We previously demonstrated that OmpR contains two functional domains, which are physically separable; one is responsible for the interaction with EnvZ, whereas the other participates in interactions with cognate promoter DNAs. In this study, these domains of OmpR were overproduced in wild-type cells harboring the endogenous intact ompR gene on their chromosome. It was found that when the N-terminal domain of OmpR, which contains the phosphorylation site, was overproduced, expression of the ompF and ompC genes was markedly inhibited, irrespective of the osmolarity of the growth medium. Based on our current model for the molecular mechanism underlying signal transduction through Envz-OmpR phosphotransfer (T. Mizuno and S. Mizushima, Mol. Microbiol. 4, (1990), 1077-1082), we provide evidence that this phenomenon is best interpreted by the concept of 'signal titration' in the phosphotransfer signaling pathway.     

Signal transduction and osmoregulation in Escherichia coli. A single amino acid change in the protein kinase, EnvZ, results in loss of its phosphorylation and dephosphorylation abilities with respect to the activator protein, OmpR

The EnvZ protein is a bacterial protein kinase, which specifically phosphorylates the activator protein, OmpR, involved in expression of the ompF and ompC genes in Escherichia coli. The phosphotransfer between the EnvZ and OmpR proteins was postulated to be involved in the signal transduction in response to an environmental osmotic stimulus. In this study, we isolated a novel type of envZ mutant, in which a base substitution resulted in a Tyr-to-Ser conversion at amino acid residue 351 of the EnvZ protein. This single amino acid conversion was found to dramatically affect the functions of the EnvZ protein. The mutant EnvZ protein was defective in its ability not only as to OmpR-phosphorylation but also as to OmpR-dephosphorylation. The envZ mutant, termed envZ30, was isolated as a pseudorevertant, which phenotypically suppresses an ompR3-type mutant exhibiting an OmpF- OmpC-constitutive phenotype. These results will be discussed in relation to the structure and function of the protein kinase, EnvZ.     

Re-examination of the role of the periplasmic domain of EnvZ in sensing of osmolarity signals in Escherichia coli

In Escherichia coli , EnvZ senses changes in the osmotic conditions of the growth environment and controls the phosphorylated state of the regulatory protein, OmpR. OmpR-phosphate regulates the expression of the porin genes, ompF and ompC . To investigate the role of the periplasmic domain of EnvZ in sensing of osmolarity signals, portions of this domain were deleted. Cells containing the EnvZ mutant proteins were able to regulate normally the production of OmpF and OmpC in response to changes in osmolarity. The periplasmic domain of EnvZ was also replaced with the non-homologous periplasmic domain of the histidine kinase PhoR of Bacillus subtilis . Osmoregulation of OmpF and OmpC production in cells containing the PhoR–EnvZ hybrid protein was indistinguishable from that in cells containing wild-type EnvZ. Identical results were obtained with an envZ – pta/ack strain, which could not synthesize acetyl phosphate. Thus, acetyl phosphate was not involved in the regulation of ompF and ompC observed in this study. These results indicate that the periplasmic domain of EnvZ is not essential for sensing of osmolarity signals.     

Transmembrane signal transduction and osmoregulation in Escherichia coli: functional importance of the transmembrane regions of membrane-located protein kinase, EnvZ.

EnvZ is a membrane-located protein kinase which modulates expression of the ompF and ompC genes through phosphotransfer signal transduction in Escherichia coli. Previously, we developed an in vitro method for analyzing the intact form of EnvZ in isolated cytoplasmic membranes, and demonstrated that this particular form of EnvZ exhibits the ability not only of OmpR phosphorylation but also OmpR dephosphorylation. Taking advantage of this in vitro system, in this study, to assess the structural and functional importance of the membrane-spanning (transmembrane) regions of EnvZ, a set of mutant envZ genes, each of which specifies a mutant EnvZ protein with a single amino acid replacement within or very near the transmembrane regions, were isolated and characterized in terms of their in vivo osmoregulatory phenotypes and in vitro EnvZ-OmpR phosphotransfer activities. On the basis of the results, it was suggested that the transmembrane regions of EnvZ play roles in transmembrane signaling and consequent modulation of the kinase/phosphatase activity exhibited by the cytoplasmic domain in response to an osmotic stimulus.