Cyclophilin D Modulates Mitochondrial F0F1-ATP Synthase by Interacting with the Lateral Stalk of the Complex

Blue native gel electrophoresis purification and immunoprecipitation of F₀F₁-ATP synthase from bovine heart mitochondria revealed that cyclophilin (CyP) D associates to the complex. Treatment of intact mitochondria with the membrane-permeable bifunctional reagent dimethyl 3,3-dithiobis-propionimidate (DTBP) cross-linked CyPD with the lateral stalk of ATP synthase, whereas no interactions with F₁ sector subunits, the ATP synthase natural inhibitor protein IF1, and the ATP/ADP carrier were observed. The ATP synthase-CyPD interactions have functional consequences on enzyme catalysis and are modulated by phosphate (increased CyPD binding and decreased enzyme activity) and cyclosporin (Cs) A (decreased CyPD binding and increased enzyme activity). Treatment of MgATP submitochondrial particles or intact mitochondria with CsA displaced CyPD from membranes and activated both hydrolysis and synthesis of ATP sustained by the enzyme. No effect of CsA was detected in CyPD-null mitochondria, which displayed a higher specific activity of the ATP synthase than wild-type mitochondria. Modulation by CyPD binding appears to be independent of IF1, whose association to ATP synthase was not affected by CsA treatment. These findings demonstrate that CyPD association to the lateral stalk of ATP synthase modulates the activity of the complex.     

Gene replacement and quantitative mass spectrometry approaches validate guanosine monophosphate synthetase as essential for Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth

Guanosine monophosphate synthetase (GMPS), encoded by guaA gene, is a key enzyme for guanine nucleotide biosynthesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The guaA gene from several bacterial pathogens has been shown to be involved in virulence; however, no information about the physiological effect of direct guaA deletion in M. tuberculosis has been described so far. Here, we demonstrated that the guaA gene is essential for M. tuberculosis H37Rv growth. The lethal phenotype of guaA gene disruption was avoided by insertion of a copy of the ortholog gene from Mycobacterium smegmatis, indicating that this GMPS protein is functional in M. tuberculosis. Protein validation of the guaA essentiality observed by PCR was approached by shotgun proteomic analysis. A quantitative method was performed to evaluate protein expression levels, and to check the origin of common and unique peptides from M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis GMPS proteins. These results validate GMPS as a molecular target for drug design against M. tuberculosis, and GMPS inhibitors might prove to be useful for future development of new drugs to treat human tuberculosis.     

Structural and Functional Characterization of the Enantiomers of the Antischistosomal Drug Oxamniquine

Background

For over two decades, a racemic mixture of oxamniquine (OXA) was administered to patients infected by Schistosoma mansoni, but whether one or both enantiomers exert antischistosomal activity was unknown. Recently, a ~30 kDa S. m ansoni sulfotransferase (SmSULT) was identified as the target of OXA action.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Here, we separate the OXA enantiomers using chromatographic methods and assign their optical activities as dextrorotary [(+)-OXA] or levorotary [(-)-OXA]. Crystal structures of the parasite enzyme in complex with optically pure (+)-OXA and (-)-OXA) reveal their absolute configurations as S- and R-, respectively. When tested in vitro, S-OXA demonstrated the bulk of schistosomicidal activity, while R-OXA had antischistosomal effects when present at relatively high concentrations. Crystal structures R-OXA•SmSULT and S-OXA•SmSULT complexes reveal similarities in the modes of OXA binding, but only the S-OXA enantiomer is observed in the structure of the enzyme exposed to racemic OXA.

Conclusions/Significance

Together the data suggest the higher schistosomicidal activity of S-OXA is correlated with its ability to outcompete R-OXA binding the sulfotransferase active site. These findings have important implications for the design, syntheses, and dosing of new OXA-based antischistosomal compounds.     

Natural occurrence of microbial sulphur oxidation by long-range electron transport in the seafloor

Recently, a novel mode of sulphur oxidation was described in marine sediments, in which sulphide oxidation in deeper anoxic layers was electrically coupled to oxygen reduction at the sediment surface. Subsequent experimental evidence identified that long filamentous bacteria belonging to the family Desulfobulbaceae likely mediated the electron transport across the centimetre-scale distances. Such long-range electron transfer challenges some long-held views in microbial ecology and could have profound implications for sulphur cycling in marine sediments. But, so far, this process of electrogenic sulphur oxidation has been documented only in laboratory experiments and so its imprint on the seafloor remains unknown. Here we show that the geochemical signature of electrogenic sulphur oxidation occurs in a variety of coastal sediment environments, including a salt marsh, a seasonally hypoxic basin, and a subtidal coastal mud plain. In all cases, electrogenic sulphur oxidation was detected together with an abundance of Desulfobulbaceae filaments. Complementary laboratory experiments in intertidal sands demonstrated that mechanical disturbance by bioturbating fauna destroys the electrogenic sulphur oxidation signal. A survey of published geochemical data and 16S rRNA gene sequences identified that electrogenic sulphide oxidation is likely present in a variety of marine sediments with high sulphide generation and restricted bioturbation, such as mangrove swamps, aquaculture areas, seasonally hypoxic basins, cold sulphide seeps and possibly hydrothermal vent environments. This study shows for the first time that electrogenic sulphur oxidation occurs in a wide range of marine sediments and that bioturbation may exert a dominant control on its natural distribution.