Proteins Induced during Adaptation of Acetobacter aceti to High Acetate Concentrations

As a typical product of microbial metabolism, the weak acid acetate is well known for its cytotoxic effects. In contrast to most other microbes, the so-called acetic acid bacteria can acquire significant resistance to high acetate concentrations when properly adapted to such hostile conditions. To characterize the molecular events that are associated with this adaptation, we analyzed global protein expression levels during adaptation of Acetobacter aceti by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Adaptation was achieved by using serial batch and continuous cultivations with increasing acetate supplementation. Computer-aided analysis revealed a complex proteome response with at least 50 proteins that are specifically induced by adaptation to acetate but not by other stress conditions, such as heat or oxidative or osmotic stress. Of these proteins, 19 were significantly induced in serial batch and continuous cultures and were thus noted as acetate adaptation proteins (Aaps). Here we present first microsequence information on such Aaps from A. aceti. Membrane-associated processes appear to be of major importance for adaptation, because some of the Aap bear N-terminal sequence homology to membrane proteins and 11 of about 40 resolved proteins from membrane protein-enriched fractions are significantly induced.     

Long-term continuous evolution of acetate resistant Acetobacter aceti

Elevated concentrations of cytotoxic acetate are found in many environmental niches, and few species are relatively resistant to acetate. In particular the high-level acetate resistance of so-called acetic acid bacteria that occurs in industrial settings must be constantly selected for. To investigate the nature of such high-level resistance, we grew the moderately acetate-resistant Acetobacter aceti wild-type and acetate-sensitive Escherichia coli in long-term continuous cultures with increasing acetate concentrations at near neutral pH. While E. coli did not acquire any significant resistance after 125 generations of selection, A. aceti evolved the capability to grow at acetate concentrations exceeding 50 g/L within 240 generations. This phenotype was found to be stable for several generations in the absence of selective pressure, hence must be genetically determined. Intracellular acetate concentrations were significantly lower in evolved A. aceti, when compared to wild-type A. aceti and E. coli, indicating that cytoplasmatic anion accumulation is an important component of acetate toxicity.     

Acetobacter aceti possesses a proton motive force-dependent efflux system for acetic acid

Acetic acid bacteria are obligate aerobes able to oxidize ethanol, sugar alcohols, and sugars into their corresponding acids. Among them, Acetobacter and Gluconacetobacter species have very high ethanol oxidation capacity, leading to accumulation of vast amounts of acetic acid outside the cell. Since these bacteria are able to grow in media with high concentrations of acetic acid, they must possess a specific mechanism such as an efflux pump by which they can resist the toxic effects of acetic acid. In this study, the efflux pump of Acetobacter aceti IFO 3283 was examined using intact cells and membrane vesicles. The accumulation of acetic acid/acetate in intact cells was increased by the addition of a proton uncoupler and/or cyanide, suggesting the presence of an energy-dependent efflux system. To confirm this, right-side-out and inside-out membrane vesicles were prepared from A. aceti IFO 3283, and the accumulation of acetic acid/acetate in the vesicles was examined. Upon the addition of a respiratory substrate, the accumulation of acetic acid/acetate in the right-side-out vesicles was largely decreased, while its accumulation was very much increased in the inside-out vesicles. These respiration-dependent phenomena observed in both types of membrane vesicles were all sensitive to a proton uncoupler. Acetic acid/acetate uptake in the inside-out membrane vesicles was dependent not on ATP but on the proton motive force. Furthermore, uptake was shown to be rather specific for acetic acid and to be pH dependent, because higher uptake was observed at lower pH. Thus, A. aceti IFO 3283 possesses a proton motive force-dependent efflux pump for acetic acid.     

A specialized citric acid cycle requiring succinyl-coenzyme A (CoA):acetate CoA-transferase (AarC) confers acetic acid resistance on the acidophile Acetobacter aceti

Microbes tailor macromolecules and metabolism to overcome specific environmental challenges. Acetic acid bacteria perform the aerobic oxidation of ethanol to acetic acid and are generally resistant to high levels of these two membrane-permeable poisons. The citric acid cycle (CAC) is linked to acetic acid resistance in Acetobacter aceti by several observations, among them the oxidation of acetate to CO2 by highly resistant acetic acid bacteria and the previously unexplained role of A. aceti citrate synthase (AarA) in acetic acid resistance at a low pH. Here we assign specific biochemical roles to the other components of the A. aceti strain 1023 aarABC region. AarC is succinyl-coenzyme A (CoA):acetate CoA-transferase, which replaces succinyl-CoA synthetase in a variant CAC. This new bypass appears to reduce metabolic demand for free CoA, reliance upon nucleotide pools, and the likely effect of variable cytoplasmic pH upon CAC flux. The putative aarB gene is reassigned to SixA, a known activator of CAC flux. Carbon overflow pathways are triggered in many bacteria during metabolic limitation, which typically leads to the production and diffusive loss of acetate. Since acetate overflow is not feasible for A. aceti, a CO(2) loss strategy that allows acetic acid removal without substrate-level (de)phosphorylation may instead be employed. All three aar genes, therefore, support flux through a complete but unorthodox CAC that is needed to lower cytoplasmic acetate levels.     

Effect of Escherichia coli biomass composition on central metabolic fluxes predicted by a stoichiometric model

The amino acid composition of proteins and the fatty acid composition of the cell membranes were measured in Escherichia coli growing exponentially in batch culture on glucose, succinate, glycerol, pyruvate, and acetate, and growing under continuous culture conditions on glucose at dilutions rates equivalent to the growth rates of the batch cultures. Although the fatty acid composition of the membranes did change significantly with carbon source and dilution rate, the amino acid content of proteins did not change significantly under either condition. A previously developed stoichiometric model of metabolism was used to calculate the fluxes through the metabolic reactions and to determine their sensitivity to changes in fatty acid and amino acid composition.     

Yeast genes involved in response to lactic acid and acetic acid: acidic conditions caused by the organic acids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cultures induce expression of intracellular metal metabolism genes regulated by Aft1p

Using two types of genome-wide analysis to investigate yeast genes involved in response to lactic acid and acetic acid, we found that the acidic condition affects metal metabolism. The first type is an expression analysis using DNA microarrays to investigate 'acid shock response' as the first step to adapt to an acidic condition, and 'acid adaptation' by maintaining integrity in the acidic condition. The other is a functional screening using the nonessential genes deletion collection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The expression analysis showed that genes involved in stress response, such as YGP1, TPS1 and HSP150, were induced under the acid shock response. Genes such as FIT2, ARN1 and ARN2, involved in metal metabolism regulated by Aft1p, were induced under the acid adaptation. AFT1 was induced under acid shock response and under acid adaptation with lactic acid. Moreover, green fluorescent protein-fused Aft1p was localized to the nucleus in cells grown in media containing lactic acid, acetic acid, or hydrochloric acid. Both analyses suggested that the acidic condition affects cell wall architecture. The depletion of cell-wall components encoded by SED1, DSE2, CTS1, EGT2, SCW11, SUN4 and YNL300W and histone acetyltransferase complex proteins encoded by YID21, EAF3, EAF5, EAF6 and YAF9 increased resistance to lactic acid. Depletion of the cell-wall mannoprotein Sed1p provided resistance to lactic acid, although the expression of SED1 was induced by exposure to lactic acid. Depletion of vacuolar membrane H+-ATPase and high-osmolarity glycerol mitogen-activated protein kinase proteins caused acid sensitivity. Moreover, our quantitative PCR showed that expression of PDR12 increased under acid shock response with lactic acid and decreased under acid adaptation with hydrochloric acid.     

A gene encoding phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase from Acetobacter aceti and some properties of its disruptant

Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is a major component of membranes not only in eukaryotes, but also in several bacteria, including Acetobacter. To identify the PC biosynthetic pathway and its role in Acetobacter sp., we have studied Acetobacter aceti IFO3283, which is characterized by high ethanol oxidizing ability and high resistance to acetic acid. The pmt gene of A. aceti, encoding phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (Pmt), which catalyzes methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) to PC, has been cloned and sequenced. One recombinant plasmid that complemented the PC biosynthesis was isolated from a gene library of the genomic DNA of A. aceti. The pmt gene encodes a polypeptide with molecular mass of either 25125, 26216, or 29052 for an about 27-kDa protein. The sequence of this gene showed significant similarity (44.3% identity in the similar sequence region) with the Rhodobacter sphaeroides pmtA gene which is involved in PE N-methylation. When the pmt gene was expressed in E. coli, which lacks PC, the Pmt activity and PC formation were clearly demonstrated. A. aceti strain harboring an interrupted pmt allele, pmt::Km, was constructed. The pmt disruption was confirmed by loss of Pmt and PC, and by Southern blot analyses. The null pmt mutant contained no PC, but tenfold more PE and twofold more phosphatidylglycerol (PG). The pmt disruptant did not show any dramatic effects on growth in basal medium supplemented with ethanol, but the disruption caused slow growth in basal medium supplemented with acetate. These results suggest that the lack of PC in the A. aceti membrane may be compensated by the increases of PE and PG by an unknown mechanism, and PC in A. aceti membrane is related to its acetic acid tolerance.     

Adaptive changes of the yeast mitochondrial proteome in response to salt stress

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles with the capacity to adapt to environmental stimuli and stress. Here we use yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in combination with proteomic approaches to quantify the changes in the protein composition of mitochondria in the presence of salt stress provoked by NaCl. We identified 15 proteins that were more than twofold overrepresented in salt adapted mitochondria. These proteins are mainly involved in the oxidative stress defense, the biosynthesis of amino acids and ubiquinone or in the metabolism of pyruvate and acetate. Loss of function of most of the upregulated proteins did not result in a significant growth phenotype under high salt conditions. However, all identified proteins were necessary to sustain efficient growth under oxidative stress caused by hydrogen peroxide. Additionally, a subset of outer mitochondrial membrane proteins was shown to be upregulated upon salt stress. We furthermore identified nine proteins that were more than threefold underrepresented in salt adapted mitochondria. These proteins were mainly glycolytic enzymes or proteins with a predominant localization at the endoplasmatic reticulum. Our results underline the complex nature of the stress adaptation of mitochondria and identify functional groups of proteins whose specific role in salt resistance should be revealed in the future.     

A Gene Encoding Phosphatidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase from Acetobacter aceti and Some Properties of its Disruptant

Phosphatidylcholine (PC) is a major component of membranes not only in eukaryotes, but also in several bacteria, including Acetobacter. To identify the PC biosynthetic pathway and its role in Acetobacter sp., we have studied Acetobacter aceti IFO3283, which is characterized by high ethanol oxidizing ability and high resistance to acetic acid. The pmt gene of A. aceti, encoding phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (Pmt), which catalyzes methylation of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) to PC, has been cloned and sequenced.

One recombinant plasmid that complemented the PC biosynthesis was isolated from a gene library of the genomic DNA of A. aceti. The pmt gene encodes a polypeptide with molecular mass of either 25125, 26216, or 29052 for an about 27-kDa protein. The sequence of this gene showed significant similarity (44.3% identity in the similar sequence region) with the Rhodobacter sphaeroides pmtA gene which is involved in PE N-methylation. When the pmt gene was expressed in E. coli, which lacks PC, the Pmt activity and PC formation were clearly demonstrated. A. aceti strain harboring an interrupted pmt allele, pmt::Km, was constructed. The pmt disruption was confirmed by loss of Pmt and PC, and by Southern blot analyses. The null pmt mutant contained no PC, but tenfold more PE and twofold more phosphatidylglycerol (PG). The pmt disruptant did not show any dramatic effects on growth in basal medium supplemented with ethanol, but the disruption caused slow growth in basal medium supplemented with acetate. These results suggest that the lack of PC in the A. aceti membrane may be compensated by the increases of PE and PG by an unknown mechanism, and PC in A. aceti membrane is related to its acetic acid tolerance.     

Acid adaptation induces cross-protection against environmental stresses in Salmonella typhimurium.

The relationship of acid adaptation to tolerance of other environmental stresses was examined in Salmonella typhimurium. S. typhimurium was adapted to acid by exposing the cells to mildly acidic conditions (pH 5.8) for one to two cell doublings. Acid-adapted cells were found to have increased tolerance towards various stresses including heat, salt, an activated lactoperoxidase system, and the surface-active agents crystal violet and polymyxin B. Acid adaptation increased cell surface hydrophobicity. Specific outer membrane proteins were induced by acid adaptation, but the lipopolysaccharide component appeared to be unaltered. These results show that acid adaptation alters cellular resistance to a variety of environmental stresses. The mechanism of acid-induced cross-protection involved changes in cell surface properties in addition to the known enhancement of intracellular pH homeostasis.     

Chromatin‐based mechanisms of temperature memory in plants

For successful growth and development, plants constantly have to gauge their environment. Plants are capable to monitor their current environmental conditions, and they are also able to integrate environmental conditions over time and store the information induced by the cues. In a developmental context, such an environmental memory is used to align developmental transitions with favourable environmental conditions. One temperature‐related example of this is the transition to flowering after experiencing winter conditions, that is, vernalization. In the context of adaptation to stress, such an environmental memory is used to improve stress adaptation even when the stress cues are intermittent. A somatic stress memory has now been described for various stresses, including extreme temperatures, drought, and pathogen infection. At the molecular level, such a memory of the environment is often mediated by epigenetic and chromatin modifications. Histone modifications in particular play an important role. In this review, we will discuss and compare different types of temperature memory and the histone modifications, as well as the reader, writer, and eraser proteins involved.     

Enhanced expression of aconitase raises acetic acid resistance in Acetobacter aceti

Acetobacter spp. are used for industrial vinegar production because of their high ability to oxidize ethanol to acetic acid and high resistance to acetic acid. Two-dimensional gel electrophoretic analysis of a soluble fraction of Acetobacter aceti revealed the presence of several proteins whose production was enhanced, to various extents, in response to acetic acid in the medium. A protein with an apparent molecular mass of 100 kDa was significantly enhanced in amount by acetic acid and identified to be aconitase by NH2-terminal amino acid sequencing and subsequent gene cloning. Amplification of the aconitase gene by use of a multicopy plasmid in A. aceti enhanced the enzymatic activity and acetic acid resistance. These results showed that aconitase is concerned with acetic acid resistance. Enhancement of the aconitase activity turned out to be practically useful for acetic acid fermentation, because the A. aceti transformant harboring multiple copies of the aconitase gene produced a higher concentration of acetic acid with a reduced growth lag-time.     

Structure of a NADH-insensitive hexameric citrate synthase that resists acid inactivation

Acetobacter aceti converts ethanol to acetic acid, and strains highly resistant to both are used to make vinegar. A. aceti survives acetic acid exposure by tolerating cytoplasmic acidification, which implies an unusual adaptation of cytoplasmic components to acidic conditions. A. aceti citrate synthase (AaCS), a hexameric type II citrate synthase, is required for acetic acid resistance and, therefore, would be expected to function at low pH. Recombinant AaCS has intrinsic acid stability that may be a consequence of strong selective pressure to function at low pH, and unexpectedly high thermal stability for a protein that has evolved to function at approximately 30 degrees C. The crystal structure of AaCS, complexed with oxaloacetate (OAA) and the inhibitor carboxymethyldethia-coenzyme A (CMX), was determined to 1.85 A resolution using protein purified by a tandem affinity purification procedure. This is the first crystal structure of a "closed" type II CS, and its active site residues interact with OAA and CMX in the same manner observed in the corresponding type I chicken CS.OAA.CMX complex. While AaCS is not regulated by NADH, it retains many of the residues used by Escherichia coli CS (EcCS) for NADH binding. The surface of AaCS is abundantly decorated with basic side chains and has many fewer uncompensated acidic charges than EcCS; this constellation of charged residues is stable in varied pH environments and may be advantageous in the A. aceti cytoplasm.     

Proteome and membrane fatty acid analyses on Oligotropha carboxidovorans OM5 grown under chemolithoautotrophic and heterotrophic conditions

Oligotropha carboxidovorans OM5 T. (DSM 1227, ATCC 49405) is a chemolithoautotrophic bacterium able to utilize CO and H(2) to derive energy for fixation of CO(2). Thus, it is capable of growth using syngas, which is a mixture of varying amounts of CO and H(2) generated by organic waste gasification. O. carboxidovorans is capable also of heterotrophic growth in standard bacteriologic media. Here we characterize how the O. carboxidovorans proteome adapts to different lifestyles of chemolithoautotrophy and heterotrophy. Fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analysis of O. carboxidovorans grown with acetate or with syngas showed that the bacterium changes membrane fatty acid composition. Quantitative shotgun proteomic analysis of O. carboxidovorans grown in the presence of acetate and syngas showed production of proteins encoded on the megaplasmid for assimilating CO and H(2) as well as proteins encoded on the chromosome that might have contributed to fatty acid and acetate metabolism. We found that adaptation to chemolithoautotrophic growth involved adaptations in cell envelope, oxidative homeostasis, and metabolic pathways such as glyoxylate shunt and amino acid/cofactor biosynthetic enzymes.     

Characterization of the protein-synthesis dependent adaptive acid tolerance response in Lactobacillus acidophilus

Exposure of L. acidophilus CRL 639 cells to sublethal adaptive acid conditions (pH 5.0 for 60 min) was found to confer protection against subsequent exposure to lethal pH (pH 3.0). Adaptation, which only occurred in complex media, was dependent on de novo protein synthesis and was inhibited by amino acid analogues. There was no modification in the protein synthesis rate during adaptation, but the protein degradation rate decreased. Synthesis of acid stress proteins may increase the stability of pre-existing proteins. By 2D-PAGE, induction of nine acid stress proteins and repression of several housekeeping proteins was observed. Putative heat shock proteins DnaK, DnaJ, GrpE, GroES and GroEL (70, 43, 24, 10 and 55 kDa, respectively) were among the proteins whose synthesis was induced in response to acid adaptation.     

Formyl-coenzyme A (CoA):oxalate CoA-transferase from the acidophile Acetobacter aceti has a distinctive electrostatic surface and inherent acid stability

Bacterial formyl-CoA:oxalate CoA-transferase (FCOCT) and oxalyl-CoA decarboxylase work in tandem to perform a proton-consuming decarboxylation that has been suggested to have a role in generalized acid resistance. FCOCT is the product of uctB in the acidophilic acetic acid bacterium Acetobacter aceti. As expected for an acid-resistance factor, UctB remains folded at the low pH values encountered in the A. aceti cytoplasm. A comparison of crystal structures of FCOCTs and related proteins revealed few features in UctB that would distinguish it from nonacidophilic proteins and thereby account for its acid stability properties, other than a strikingly featureless electrostatic surface. The apparently neutral surface is a result of a "speckled" charge decoration, in which charged surface residues are surrounded by compensating charges but do not form salt bridges. A quantitative comparison among orthologs identified a pattern of residue substitution in UctB that may be a consequence of selection for protein stability by constant exposure to acetic acid. We suggest that this surface charge pattern, which is a distinctive feature of A. aceti proteins, creates a stabilizing electrostatic network without stiffening the protein or compromising protein-solvent interactions.     

Stress induced cross-protection against environmental challenges on prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes

Prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes thrive successfully in stressful environments such as high osmolarity, acidic or alkali, solar heat and u.v. radiation, nutrient starvation, oxidative stress, and several others. To live under these continuous stress conditions, these microbes must have mechanisms to protect their proteins, membranes, and nucleic acids, as well as other mechanisms that repair nucleic acids. The stress responses in bacteria are controlled by master regulators, which include alternative sigma factors, such as RpoS and RpoH. The sigma factor RpoS integrates multiple signals, such as the general stress response regulators and the sigma factor RpoH regulates the heat shock proteins. These response pathways extensively overlap and are induced to various extents by the same environmental stresses. In eukaryotes, two major pathways regulate the stress responses: stress proteins, termed heat shock proteins (HSP), which appear to be required only for growth during moderate stress, and stress response elements (STRE), which are induced by different stress conditions and these elements result in the acquisition of a tolerant state towards any stress condition. In this review, the mechanisms of stress resistance between prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbes will be described and compared.     

Aerobic glucose metabolism of Saccharomyces kluyveri: growth, metabolite production, and quantification of metabolic fluxes.

The growth and product formation of Saccharomyces kluyveri was characterized in aerobic batch cultivation on glucose. At these conditions it was found that ethyl acetate was a major overflow metabolite in S. kluyveri. During the exponential-growth phase on glucose ethyl acetate was produced at a constant specific rate of 0.12 g ethyl acetate per g dry weight per hour. The aerobic glucose metabolism in S. kluyveri was found to be less fermentative than in S. cerevisiae, as illustrated by the comparably low yield of ethanol on glucose (0.08 +/- 0.02 g/g), and high yield of biomass on glucose (0.29 +/- 0.01 g/g). The glucose metabolism of S. kluyveri was further characterized by the new and powerful techniques of metabolic network analysis. Flux distributions in the central carbon metabolism were estimated for respiro-fermentative growth in aerobic batch cultivation on glucose and respiratory growth in aerobic glucose-limited continuous cultivation. It was found that in S. kluyveri the flux into the pentose phosphate pathway was 18.8 mmole per 100 mmole glucose consumed during respiratory growth in aerobic glucose-limited continuous cultivation. Such a low flux into the pentose phosphate pathway cannot provide the cell with enough NADPH for biomass formation which is why the remaining NADPH will have to be provided by another pathway. During batch cultivation of S. kluyveri the tricarboxylic acid cycle was working as a cycle with a considerable flux, that is in sharp contrast to what has previously been observed in S. cerevisiae at the same growth conditions, where the tricarboxylic acid cycle operates as two branches. This indicates that the respiratory system was not significantly repressed in S. kluyveri during batch cultivation on glucose.