Macrophage catabolism of lipid A is regulated by endotoxin stimulation

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a Gram-negative bacterial glycolipid that is believed to cause, by virtue of its stimulatory actions on macrophages and other eukaryotic cells, the life-threatening symptoms associated with Gram-negative infections. Macrophages both respond to and catabolically deactivate LPS. The lipid A moiety of LPS is responsible for the stimulatory actions of LPS on macrophages. We have previously developed methods employing a radiolabeled bioactive lipid A precursor, 4'-32P-lipid IVA, to study the interaction of this class of lipids with animal cells (Hampton, R. Y., Golenbock, D. T., and Raetz, C. R. H. (1988). J. Biol. Chem. 263, 14802-14807). In the current work, we have examined the uptake and catabolism of 4'-32P-lipid IVA by the RAW 264.7 cell line in serum-containing medium at physiological temperatures and have studied the effect of LPS stimulation on the ability of these cells to catabolize lipid IVA. RAW 264.7 macrophage-like cells avidly take up 4'-32P-lipid IVA under cell culture conditions at nanomolar concentrations. Uptake of lipid IVA was accompanied by lysosomal dephosphorylation of a fraction of the lipid to yield 4'-monophosphoryl lipid IVA. Chemically generated 4'-monophosphoryl lipid IVA was found to be substantially less bioactive than lipid IVA in the RAW cell, indicating that this catabolic dephosphorylation results in detoxification. In uptake experiments of 3-4 h duration, all metabolism of lipid IVA is blocked by ligands of the macrophage scavenger receptor. In longer experiments (24 h), both scavenger receptor-dependent and -independent uptake are responsible for the lysosomal catabolism of lipid IVA. Preincubation of RAW 264.7 cells with LPS caused dose-dependent inhibition of lipid IVA dephosphorylation. Sufficient LPS stimulation resulted in essentially complete inhibition of lipid IVA catabolism in both short- and long-term uptake experiments. This effect occurred at physiologically relevant concentrations of LPS (IC50 less than 1 ng/ml), and our data indicate that LPS-induced blockade of lipid IVA catabolism was due to the resultant physiological stimulation of the cells, and not inhibition of dephosphorylation by competition for uptake or enzymatic sites or by simple sequestration of labeled lipid IVA by LPS aggregates. We suggest that in the macrophage, LPS can modulate its own catabolism by virtue of its pharmacological properties. This effect of LPS could play a role in LPS pathophysiology as well as in macrophage biology.     

Phosphatidylserine synthetase mutants of Escherichia coli. Genetic mapping and membrane phospholipid composition.

Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 defective in CDP-diglyceride:L-serine phosphatidyltransferase (phosphatidylserine synthetase) can be isolated by a rapid autoradiographic screening assay described previously (Raetz, C. R. H. (1975) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 72, 2274-2278). Four organisms of this kind have now been characterized. The gene (designated pss) which is altered in these mutants is closely linked to the nadB locus near minute 49 on the E. coli chromosome. Strains carrying the pss-8 mutation do not grow at elevated temperatures and have low levels of an altered synthetase in cell extracts. An analysis of several hundred transductants and temperature-resistant revertants reveals that the pss-8 mutation is responsible both for the enzyme defect and for the phenotype. When a pss-8 mutant is shifted to the nonpermissive temperature, the cells stop dividing and form long filaments. After 3 hours at 44 degrees the level of phosphatidylethanolamine drops from 66 to 32% (percentage of the total lipid phosphorus), while the combined levels of phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin rise from 34 to 68%.     

Lipid A binding sites in membranes of macrophage tumor cells

Lipopolysaccharide affects a variety of eukaryotic cells and mammalian organisms. These actions are involved in the pathogenesis of Gram-negative septicemia. Many of the actions of lipopolysaccharide are believed to be caused by its active moiety, lipid A. Our laboratory has previously identified a bioactive lipid A precursor, termed lipid IVA (Raetz, C. R. H., Purcell, S., Meyer, M. V., Qureshi, N., and Takayama, K. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 16080-16888), which can be labeled with 32P of high specific activity and purified. In this work we have used the labeled probe, 4'-32P-lipid IVA, to develop a novel assay for the specific binding of lipid IVA to whole cells. We have also demonstrated its use in a ligand blotting assay of immobilized cellular proteins. Using the whole cell assay, we show that 4'-32P-lipid IVA specifically binds to RAW 264.7 macrophage-like cultured cells. The binding is saturable, is inhibited with excess unlabeled lipid IVA, and is proteinase K-sensitive. It displays cellular and pharmacological specificity. Using the ligand blotting assay, we show that several RAW 264.7 cell proteins can bind 4'-32P-lipid IVA. The two principal binding proteins have Mr values of 31 and 95 kDa, as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Fractionation studies indicate that the 31-kDa protein is enriched in the nuclear fraction and may be a histone, whereas the 95-kDa protein is enriched in the membrane fraction. The binding assays that we have developed should lead to a clearer understanding of lipid A/animal cell interactions.     

Location of polar substituents and fatty acyl chains on lipid A precursors from a 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid-deficient mutant of Salmonella typhimurium. Studies by 1H, 13C, and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance

Eight anionic disaccharide precursors of lipid A accumulate at 42 degrees C in 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid-deficient temperature-sensitive mutants of Salmonella typhimurium. These compounds comprise a series of lipids based on the minimal structure, O-[2-amino-2-deoxy-N2,O3-bis(3-hydroxytetradecanoyl)-beta-D-glucopyranos yl] -(1----6)-2-amino-2-deoxy-N2, O3-bis(3-hydroxytetradecanoyl)-alpha-D-glucopyranose 1,4'- bisphosphate (designated lipid IVA) that differ from each other by the presence of an additional phosphoethanolamine moiety (IIIA), or an aminodeoxypentose moiety (IIA), or both (IA). A homologous set of metabolites is further derivatized with a palmitoyl function; these are designated IVB, IIIB, IIB, and IB (Raetz, C. R. H., Purcell, S., Meyer, M. V., Qureshi, N., and Takayama, K. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 16080-16088). The attachment of the palmitoyl moiety, known to be on the reducing terminal GlcN residue by mass spectrometry, was determined to be O-beta of the N2-linked beta-hydroxymyristoyl group of that residue of IVB by 13C NMR and two-dimensional 1H chemical shift correlation spectroscopy experiments. 31P NMR indicated the presence of diphosphodiester moieties in IIIA, IIIB, and IA and monophosphodiester moieties in IIA and IA. Selective 1H decoupling of the 31P spectrum of IIIA demonstrated that the O-diphosphoethanolamine moiety is attached to the O4' position in IIIA. On the basis of the observed 31P chemical shifts it was concluded that the aminodeoxypentose is located at position 1 in IIA and IA, while diphosphoethanolamine is most likely located at O-4' in IA and IIIB, as in IIIA.     

Molecular cloning and sequencing of the gene for CDP-diglyceride synthetase of Escherichia coli

The cds gene of Escherichia coli codes for the enzyme CDP-diglyceride synthetase. We now report the construction of plasmids which carry cds. Using these plasmids, we have sequenced 1274 base pairs of DNA, including a 750-base pair open reading frame which is the coding region of the cds gene. This DNA sequence allows the deduction of the primary peptide sequence for CDP-diglyceride synthetase. The protein is very hydrophobic, and, assuming no processing or modification, has a molecular weight of 27,570. Furthermore, there is a second open reading frame immediately after cds, implying that cds may be part of an operon. We have also constructed a runaway replication cds-plasmid that directs approximately 50-fold overproduction of CDP-diglyceride synthetase. This overproduction has been utilized in the purification of the enzyme to homogeneity, as described in the accompanying paper (Sparrow, C.P., and Raetz, C.R.H., J. Biol. Chem. 260, 12084-12091). Finally, the molecular cloning work reported herein allows the exact placement of the cds gene on the E. coli genetic map.     

pH-sensitive CDP-diglyceride synthetase mutants of Escherichia coli: phenotypic suppression by mutations at a second site.

In Escherichia coli, mutations which lower the level of CDP-diglyceride synthetase are designated cds and map at min 4. The cds-8 mutation resulted in strikingly defective enzyme activity and also rendered cells pH sensitive for growth. Both the inhibition of growth and the massive accumulation of phosphatidic acid which occur in a cds-8 mutant at pH 8 were suppressed by mutations at a second locus, designated cdsS, which mapped between argG and gltB near min 68. The cdsS3 mutation by itself did not affect CDP-diglyceride synthetase activity in wild-type cells, but it caused a twofold stimulation of the residual activity present in strains harboring cds-8. Both the insensitivity to pH and the twofold stimulation of residual activity were lost by introduction of an F' strain carrying cdsS+ into a recA1 cds-8 cdsS3 host. When a culture of a cds-8 cdsS+ strain was shifted to pH 8, the residual specific activity of synthetase dropped by 75% within 100 min. In a cds-8 cdsS3 double mutant under the same conditions, the activity declined appreciably less, about to the level found in the cds-8 cdsS+ strain under permissive conditions (pH 6). Thus, it appears that mutations in the cdsS gene suppress the pH sensitivity of cds mutants by inhibiting the decay of residual CDP-diglyceride synthetase activity at the nonpermissive pH. The cdsS locus appears to be distinct from any known nonsense or missense suppressor.     

A trans-acting regulatory mutation that causes overproduction of phosphatidylserine synthase in Escherichia coli

We have isolated three mutants of Escherichia coli which have elevated levels of the phospholipid synthetic enzyme phosphatidylserine synthase. One of these strains carries a mutation, designated pssR1, which maps near minute 84 of the chromosome, distinct from the synthase structural gene (pss) at minute 56. The pssR1 mutation causes selective overproduction of phosphatidylserine synthase, since the levels of six other lipid synthetic enzymes are unaltered. The specific activity of the synthase in crude cell extracts of mutants harboring pssR1 is about five times greater than wild type. The synthase can also be overproduced 10-fold in wild type strains with hybrid ColE1 plasmids carrying the synthase structural gene (pss). A pssR1 mutant harboring such a pss plasmid overproduces the synthase about 50-fold. This multiplicative interaction of pssR1 and cloned pss demonstrates that pssR1 is trans-acting. The synthase has been purified in parallel from pssR1 and pssR+ strains. The pssR1 mutant yields more total synthase protein than pssR+, but the pure enzyme has the same specific activity in both cases. Therefore, pssR1 acts by increasing the amount of the normal protein, not by activating the enzyme. The discovery of pssR shows that there are regulatory loci which control the production of enzymes involved in membrane lipid synthesis.     

Biosynthesis of lipopolysaccharide in Escherichia coli. Cytoplasmic enzymes that attach 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid to lipid A

Previous studies in our laboratory led to the elucidation of the covalent structure of a tetraacyldisaccharide 1,4'-bisphosphate precursor of lipid A (designated lipid IVA), that accumulates at 42 degrees C in temperature-sensitive mutants defective in 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid (KDO) biosynthesis (Raetz, C. R. H., Purcell, S., Meyer, M. V., Qureshi, N., and Takayama, K. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 16080-16088). Using [4'-32P]lipid IVA as the probe, we now demonstrate the existence of cytoplasmic KDO-transferases in Escherichia coli capable of attaching 2 KDO residues, derived from CMP-KDO, to lipid IVA. A partial purification has been developed to obtain a cytoplasmic subfraction that adds these 2 KDO residues with a 90% yield. The product is shown to have the stoichiometry of (KDO)2-IVA by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry and NMR spectroscopy. The partially purified enzyme can utilize alternative lipid-disaccharide cosubstrates bearing five or six fatty acyl chains, but it has an absolute requirement for a monophosphate residue at position 4' of the lipid acceptor. When reincubated with a crude cytoplasmic fraction, a nucleoside triphosphate and Mg2+, (KDO)2-IVA is rapidly metabolized to more polar substances, the identity of which is unknown. The KDO-transferase(s) described in the present study should be very useful for the semisynthetic preparation of complex lipopolysaccharide substructures and analogs.