Two Essential Arginine Residues in the T Components of Energy-Coupling Factor Transporters

Energy-coupling factor (ECF) transporters, a recently discovered class of importers of micronutrients, are composed of a substrate-specific transmembrane component (S component) and a conserved energy-coupling module consisting of a transmembrane protein (T component) and pairs of ABC ATPases (A proteins). Based on utilization of a dedicated (subclass I) or shared (subclass II) energy-coupling module, ECF systems fall into two subclasses. The T components are the least-characterized proteins of ECF importers, and their function is essentially unknown. Using RcBioN and LmEcfT, the T units of the subclass I biotin transporter (RcBioMNY) of a gram-negative bacterium and of the subclass II folate, pantothenate, and riboflavin transporters of a lactic acid bacterium, respectively, we analyzed the role of two strongly conserved short motifs, each containing an arginine residue. Individual replacement of the two Arg residues in RcBioN reduced ATPase activity, an indicator of the transporter function, by two-thirds without affecting the modular assembly of the RcBioMNY complex. A double Arg-to-Glu replacement destroyed the complex and abolished ATPase activity. The corresponding single mutation in motif II of LmEcfT, as well as a double mutation, led to loss of the T unit from the subclass II ECF transporters and inactivated these systems. A single Arg-to-Glu replacement in motif I, however, abolished vitamin uptake activity without affecting assembly of the modules. Our results indicate that the conserved motif I in T components is essential for intramolecular signaling and, in cooperation with motif II, for subunit assembly of modular ECF transporters.Energy-coupling factor (ECF) transporters are a recently discovered novel class of importers of micronutrients in prokaryotes (9, 12, 13, 20). They are composed of a conserved energy-coupling module consisting of a transmembrane protein (T component) and pairs of ATP-binding cassette-containing proteins (A proteins), as well as an S unit (S component) through which substrate specificity is conveyed. S components represent a group of highly diverse small integral membrane proteins with predicted or experimentally established individual specificity for transition metal ions, B vitamins or their precursors, biotin, lipoate, and intermediates of salvage pathways. A link between substrate specificity and S components has been experimentally demonstrated in the case of CbiMN (Co²⁺) and NikMN (Ni²⁺) (13), RibU (riboflavin) (4, 6, 19), BioY (biotin) (9), FolT (folate) (8, 12), and ThiT (thiamine) (8, 12, 14). Based on utilization of a dedicated or shared AAT module, ECF transporters fall into two subclasses. Members of subclass I are encoded by operons containing one or two ABC ATPase genes, a T-component gene, and an S-component gene (12). RcBioMNY, the biotin transporter of Rhodobacter capsulatus, is the prototype of these systems. Previous work has established that the solitary BioY (S component) can function as a low-affinity transporter. It is converted into a high-affinity system in the presence of the AAT module BioMN (9). Notably, the majority of ECF transporters belong to subclass II. These promiscuous systems are widespread in the Firmicutes and also occur in members of the Thermotogales lineage and in archaea (12). In general, the cells contain a single ecfA1A2T operon and a number of genes for S units that are scattered around the genome. Cooccurrence of subclass I and subclass II ECF transporters is found in archaeal and bacterial species. The bioinformatic prediction for subclass II systems suggesting that several diverse S components interact with the same EcfA1A2T module has recently been confirmed experimentally for folate, riboflavin, and thiamine transporters of Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus casei, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides and for the hypothetical pantothenate transporter of L. mesenteroides (12).The modular composition of ECF transporters poses questions about their oligomeric structure, the specificity of subunit recognition, and the intersubunit signaling that couples substrate uptake to ATP hydrolysis by the ABC ATPase domains. These issues are essentially unsolved for any ECF transporter.In the present study, we confirm the predicted role of L. mesenteroides PanT (LmPanT) as a pantothenate-specific S component that functionally interacts with the LmEcfA1A2T module. The main focus is on the role of the T components, which are the least-characterized proteins of ECF importers. T proteins have moderately similar primary structures. Two 3-amino-acid signatures with Ala-Arg-Gly as the consensus sequence in the C-terminal part are the most conserved feature in the T units. Using RcBioMNY as a member of subclass I and LmEcfA1A2T plus LmFolT, LmPanT, or LmRibU as representatives of subclass II ECF transporters, we obtained evidence that replacement of either of the Arg residues in the T proteins strongly reduces or abolishes activity of the systems. While double mutations interfered with complex stability in each case, single replacements of the Arg residue in motif I did not have a marked impact on stability of the complexes, suggesting that this residue is important primarily for intramolecular signaling in both subclasses of ECF transporters.