Analysis of initiation of sites of cell wall growth in Streptococcus faecium during a nutritional shift

Three-dimensional reconstruction methods were applied to electron micrographs of Streptococcus faecium to study the initiation of cell wall growth sites during a nutritional shift experiment. Upon lowering the mass doubling time from 76 to 33 min by the addition of excess glutamate, the formation of new cell wall growth sites accelerated above the old steady-state rate at about the same time (10 to 15 min) as did mass, RNA, protein, cell numbers, and autolytic capacity but considerably before DNA (30 min) and peptidoglycan (20 min) synthesis did. During the shift, the average range of cell volumes over which new wall growth sites were introduced did not change significantly. However, upon the shift there was an increase in the frequency of cells having new sites, which was due to the faster-growing cells initiating more new sites in peripheral locations before division. After a transition period, the number of new sites per milliliter of culture increased at a rate that paralleled that of the culture mass. These findings support a model in which new sites are introduced when cells grow to a relatively constant, growth rate-independent size, while the rate at which sites form and grow increases with the growth rate. In this model, chromosome synthesis does not regulate the formation of new sites of cell wall growth, but existing sites cannot be completed until rounds of chromosome synthesis are completed.     

Inhibition of beta-lactam antibiotics at two different times in the cell cycle of Streptococcus faecium ATCC 9790.

Treatment of Streptococcus faecium ATCC 9790 with sublytic concentrations of beta-lactam antibiotics revealed two different division blocks in the cell division cycle. One block, induced by N-formimidoyl thienamycin and methicillin, occurred before the completion of chromosome replication, whereas the other, induced by cefoxitin and cephalothin, took place later in the cycle. In addition, these antibiotics gave rise to distinct morphological forms; the antibiotics acting at the earlier block point produced mainly "dumbbells," whereas those affecting the later time formed "lemons." When used in combination N-formimidoyl thienamycin and cefoxitin exerted synergistic killing on this strain. These data suggest that beta-lactam antibiotics have at least two sites of action in S. faecium.     

Interactions between beta-lactam antibiotics and isolated membranes of Streptococcus faecalis ATCC 9790.

The DD-carboxypeptidase-exchange membrane-bound enzyme in Streptococcus faecalis ATCC 9790 reacts with beta-lactam antibiotics to form complexes with rather long half-lives. Depending upon the antibiotic, the second-order rate constants for complex formation range from 0.75-560 M-1 S-1 (at 37 degrees C and in water) and the first-order rate constants for complex breakdown range from 1.3 to 26 x 10(-5) s-1 (at 37 degrees C and in 5 mM phosphate buffer pH 7.5). There are about 30 pmol of DD-carboxypeptidase-exchange enzyme per mg of membrane protein. The degradation products arising from benzylpenicillin are phenylacetylglycine and probably N-formyl-D-penicillamine. Isolated membranes also contain other penicillin binding sites (about 70 pmol/mg membrane protein). That part of benzylpenicillin which reacts with at least some of these latter sites is slowly degraded into penicilloic acid. Normal functioning of the DD-carboxypeptidase-exchange membrane-bound enzyme is important, if not essential, for cell growth. With the beta-lactam antibiotics tested inhibition of cell growth is mainly related to the rates of formation of the inactive enzyme-antibiotic complexes. The relationship, however, is not a direct one probably due to the competitive effect exerted by the other penicillin binding sites.     

Relationship between beta-lactamase activity and resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics in Mycobacterium smegmatis

Penicillin-susceptible mutants and beta-lactamase-negative mutants were isolated from Mycobacterium smegmatis after nitrosoguanidine mutagenesis. Both the mutants were found to be susceptible to low levels of penicillin and cephalosporins by twofold dilution testing. Clavulanic acid reduced the minimal inhibitory concentrations of beta-lactamase-labile beta-lactams for the penicillin-susceptible mutants and the parent strain, but had no effect on the susceptibility of the beta-lactamase-negative mutants. Comparison of the beta-lactamase activities found in these mutants and the parent strain indicated that there was a rough correlation between the beta-lactamase level in these organisms and their susceptibility to beta-lactams.     

Effect of growth rate on lipid and lipoteichoic acid composition in Streptococcus faecium.

The lipid composition of Streptococcus faecium (S. faecalis ATCC 9790) was analyzed at various growth rates. Diphosphatidylglycerol and the non-ionic lipid fraction containing diacylglycerols and neutral glycolipids appeared to accumulate relative to cellular mass as the culture mass doubling time increased from 30 to 80 min. Within the same range of doubling times the non-ionic lipid fraction appeared to become substantially enriched with diacylglycerols. All lipid species and cellular lipoteichoic acid accumulated relative to the cellular mass at doubling times exceeding 80 min, although diacylglycerol accumulation exceeded that of all other compounds studied.     

Buoyant density, growth rate, and the cell cycle in Streptococcus faecium.

The buoyant density in rapidly growing Streptococcus faecium 9790 cells varies over the cell cycle, in contrast to the density in Escherichia coli. Buoyant density in S. faecium was measured by using Percoll (Pharmacia Fine Chemicals, Piscataway, N.J.) density gradients. We found that the mean and coefficient of variation of the population density increased with growth rate; and within a population, the mean cell volume, which was measured electronically, increased with density. These results were compared with electron microscopic measurements of the size distributions of cell wall growth sites within each fraction of the density gradient. As the density increased within a population, the frequency of large cells increased and the frequency of newly initiated cell wall growth sites increased. These effects were more marked as the growth rate increased. Next, these data were regrouped by cell size by using the size of the central growth site as an index of cell cycle stage. Each frequency value was weighted by the proportion of the population represented by that density fraction. Then, the average buoyant density was calculated for each value of cell size. In all cell populations, the density decreased and then increased as the central site enlarged. Peripheral growth sites were initiated as density reached a maximum. At faster growth rates, density increased more steeply, and new peripheral growth sites opened up at a higher frequency. We suggest that the rate at which density increases during the cell cycle correlates with the initiation of new cell wall growth sites.     

Production and release of peptidoglycan and wall teichoic acid polymers in pneumococci treated with beta-lactam antibiotics

Autolysin-defective pneumococci treated with inhibitory concentrations of penicillin and other beta-lactam antibiotics continued to produce non-cross-linked peptidoglycan and cell wall teichoic acid polymers, the majority of which were released into the surrounding medium. The released cell wall polymers were those synthesized by the pneumococci after the addition of the antibiotics. The peptidoglycan and wall teichoic acid chains released were not linked to one another; they could be separated by affinity chromatography on an agarose-linked phosphorylcholine-specific myeloma protein column. Omission of choline, a nutritional requirement and component of the pneumococcal teichoic acid, from the medium inhibited both teichoic acid and peptidoglycan synthesis and release. These observations are discussed in terms of plausible mechanisms for the coordination between the biosynthesis of peptidoglycan and cell wall teichoic acids.     

Cell cycle changes in the buoyant density of exponential-phase cells of Streptococcus faecium.

Cell buoyant densities were determined by centrifugation in Percoll gradients containing exponential-phase cells of Streptococcus faecium ATCC 9790 grown at a mass doubling time of about 33 min. This bacterium showed the highest average density values (1.13 g/ml) measured to date for any eucaryotic or procaryotic organism. Fractions having the highest densities were enriched with cells that were in the process of dividing or had just divided. These high-density fractions were also enriched with cells that had newly initiated sites of cell wall growth. It appears that S. faecium shows minimum cell densities in the midportion of its cycle.     

Ecology of Streptococcus faecium bacteriophage in chicken gut.

The interaction in the chick gut between Streptococcus faecium and its phage was examined. In conventional chicks, large numbers of S. faecium and phage were found in the cecum and smaller numbers were found in the anterior gut. In gnotobiotic chicks associated with S. faecium SY1 and its phage, there was no marked effect on bacterial numbers, but resistance to the phage rapidly developed. Depression of chick growth caused by S. faecium strain SY1 was partially reversed by its phage.     

A chemically-defined medium for the growth of a ureolytic strain of Streptococcus faecium.

A chemically-defined medium was developed which supported growth of Streptococcus faecium and permitted synthesis of urease. This streptococcus cannot utilize ammonia and needs a complex medium, but its requirements are probably provided in the rumen. The specific activity of urease was inversely related to growth and in no medium was there high growth and high urease activity. Anaerobic culture and the presence of urea in the medium were essential for urease activity, but not for growth.     

Novel mechanism of beta-lactam resistance due to bypass of DD-transpeptidation in Enterococcus faecium

The peptidoglycan structure of in vitro selected ampicillin-resistant mutant Enterococcus faecium D344M512 and of the susceptible parental strain D344S was determined by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. The muropeptide monomers were almost identical in the two strains. The substantial majority (99.3%) of the oligomers from the susceptible strain D344S contained the usual d-alanyl --> d-asparaginyl (or d-aspartyl)-l-lysyl cross-link (d-Ala --> d-Asx-l-Lys) generated by beta-lactam-sensitive DD-transpeptidation. The remaining oligomers (0.7%) were produced by beta-lactam-insensitive LD-transpeptidation, because they contained l-Lys --> d-Asx-l-Lys cross-links. The muropeptide oligomers of the ampicillin-resistant mutant D344M512 contained only these l-Lys --> d-Asx-l-Lys cross-links indicating that resistance was due to the bypass of the beta-lactam-sensitive DD-transpeptidation reaction. The discovery of this novel resistance mechanism indicates that DD-transpeptidases cannot be considered anymore as the sole essential transpeptidase enzymes.     

Novel mechanism of resistance to glycopeptide antibiotics in Enterococcus faecium

Glycopeptides and beta-lactams are the major antibiotics available for the treatment of infections due to Gram-positive bacteria. Emergence of cross-resistance to these drugs by a single mechanism has been considered as unlikely because they inhibit peptidoglycan polymerization by different mechanisms. The glycopeptides bind to the peptidyl-D-Ala(4)-D-Ala(5) extremity of peptidoglycan precursors and block by steric hindrance the essential glycosyltransferase and D,D-transpeptidase activities of the penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs). The beta-lactams are structural analogues of D-Ala(4)-D-Ala(5) and act as suicide substrates of the D,D-transpeptidase module of the PBPs. Here we have shown that bypass of the PBPs by the recently described beta-lactam-insensitive L,D-transpeptidase from Enterococcus faecium (Ldt(fm)) can lead to high level resistance to glycopeptides and beta-lactams. Cross-resistance was selected by glycopeptides alone or serially by beta-lactams and glycopeptides. In the corresponding mutants, UDP-MurNAc-pentapeptide was extensively converted to UDP-MurNAc-tetrapeptide following hydrolysis of D-Ala(5), thereby providing the substrate of Ldt(fm). Complete elimination of D-Ala(5), a residue essential for glycopeptide binding, was possible because Ldt(fm) uses the energy of the L-Lys(3)-D-Ala(4) peptide bond for cross-link formation in contrast to PBPs, which use the energy of the D-Ala(4)-D-Ala(5) bond. This novel mechanism of glycopeptide resistance was unrelated to the previously identified replacement of D-Ala(5) by D-Ser or D-lactate.     

Cellular autolytic activity in synchronized populations of Streptococcus faecium.

The autolytic capacity of Streptococcus faecium (S. faecalis ATCC 9790) varied during synchronous cell division. This phenomenon was initially observed in rapidly dividing populations (TD=30 to 33 min) synchronized by a combination of induction and size selection techniques. To minimize the problems inherent in studies of cells containing overlapping chromosome cycles and possible artifacts generated by induction techniques, the autolytic capacities of slowly dividing populations (TD=60 to 110 min) synchronized by selection only were examined. Although the overall level of cellular autolytic capacity was observed to decline with decreasing growth rate, sharp, periodic fluctuations in cellular autolytic capacity were seen during synchronous growth at all growth rates examined. On the basis of similar patterns of cyclic fluctuations in autolytic capacity of cultures synchronized by (i) selection, (ii) amino acid starvation followed by size selection, and (iii) amino acid starvation followed by inhibition of DNA synthesis, a link of such fluctuations with the cell division cycle has been postulated.     

The exocellular DD-carboxypeptidase-endopeptidase of Streptomyces albus G. Interaction with beta-lactam antibiotics.

Kinetically, the three-step model proposed for the interaction between beta-lactam antibiotics and the exocellular DD-carboxypeptidases-transpeptidases of Streptomyces R61 and Actinomadura R39 [Frère, Ghuysen & Iwatsubo (1975) Eur. J. Biochem. 57, 343--357; Fuad, Frère, Ghuysen, Duez & Iwatsubo (1976) Biochem. J. 155, 623--629] applies to the interaction between the much less penicillin-sensitive exocellular DD-carboxypeptidase-endopeptidase of Streptomyces albus G and at least phenoxymethylpenicillin, cephalothin and cephalosporin C. The penicillin resistance of the albus G enzyme is mainly due to the low efficiency with which the first reversible complex formed with the antibiotic (complex EI) undergoes transformation into a second more stable complex EI*. Analysis of the ternary interaction between enzyme, NalphaNepsilon-diacetyl-L-lysyl-D-alanyl-D-alanine (Ac2-L-Lys-D-Ala-D-Ala) and cephalosporin C indicates a non-competitive mechanism.     

Multiple sites for the initiation of microtubule assembly in mammalian cells.

The pattern of microtubule regrowth in mammalian fibroblast and epithelial cells has been examined by immunofluorescence of cytoskeletal preparations with antibody to tubulin. After reversal of treatment with colcemid, vinblastine or low temperature, microtubules appear to grow simultaneously from several distinct initiation sites located within 5 microns of the nucleus of mouse and human fibroblasts. Each site initiates the growth of 10-30 microtubules. More than 70% of the mouse fibroblasts have between 5 and 10 initiation sites with an average of 8. The human fibroblasts have an average of 5 sites per cell. The average number and numerical distribution of sites per fibroblast cell are not affected by time of exposure to colcemid or the concentration of colcemid applied to the cells. Multiple microtubule initiation sites are also observed during the process of microtubule depolymerization. In addition to growth from these complex initiation sites, microtubules appear to grow singly from the perinuclear region of human fibroblasts. The regrowth of individual microtubules from the perinuclear growth is especially prominent in epithelial cell lines from rat kangaroo and pig. These epithelial lines have only a single complex initiation site per cell. Two classes of complex initiation sites can be distinguished in microtubule regrowth experiments in human and mouse fibroblasts after exposure to griseofulvin. Microtubules first grow extensively from a single distinct site, which has approximately 20 microtubules growing from it and may be the centriole or centriolar pair. Subsequently, microtubules regrow from other perinuclear complex initiation sites. It thus appears that at least three distinct classes of initiation sites can be observed in mammalian cells: primary sites, which regrow microtubules first after griseofulvin treatment; secondary sites, which are distinct perinuclear sites and recover from griseofulvin treatment more slowly than the primary sites; and tertiary sites or sites of growth of single microtubules, also located near the cell nucleus.     

Mutations in the active site of penicillin-binding protein PBP2x from Streptococcus pneumoniae. Role in the specificity for beta-lactam antibiotics.

Penicillin-binding protein 2x (PBP2x) isolated from clinical beta-lactam-resistant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae (R-PBP2x) have a reduced affinity for beta-lactam antibiotics. Their transpeptidase domain carries numerous substitutions compared with homologous sequences from beta-lactam-sensitive streptococci (S-PBP2x). Comparison of R-PBP2x sequences suggested that the mutation Gln552 --> Glu is important for resistance development. Mutants selected in the laboratory with cephalosporins frequently contain a mutation Thr550 --> Ala. The high resolution structure of a complex between S-PBP2x* and cefuroxime revealed that Gln552 and Thr550, which belong to strand beta3, are in direct contact with the cephalosporin. We have studied the effect of alterations at positions 552 and 550 in soluble S-PBP2x (S-PBP2x*) expressed in Escherichia coli. Mutation Q552E lowered the acylation efficiency for both penicillin G and cefotaxime when compared with S-PBP2x*. We propose that the introduction of a negative charge in strand beta3 conflicts with the negative charge of the beta-lactam. Mutation T550A lowered the acylation efficiency of the protein for cefotaxime but not for penicillin G. The in vitro data presented here are in agreement with the distinct resistance profiles mediated by these mutations in vivo and underline their role as powerful resistance determinants.