Colicins U and Y inhibit growth of Escherichia coli strains via recognition of conserved OmpA extracellular loop 1
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | International Journal of Medical Microbiology |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmm.2016.07.002 |
| Field | Microbiology, virology |
| Keywords | Colicin U; Colicin Y; Colicin-receptor interaction; Escherichia coli; OmpA |
| Description | Interactions of colicins U and Y with the OmpA (Outer membrane protein A) receptor molecule were studied using site-directed mutagenesis and colicin binding assay. A systematic mutagenesis of the colicin-susceptible OmpA sequence from Escherichia coli (OmpAEC) to the colicin-resistant OmpA sequence from Serratia marcescens (OmpASM) was performed in regions corresponding to extracellular OmpA loops 1-4. Susceptibility to colicins U and Y was significantly affected by the OmpA mutation in loop 1. As with functional analysis, a decrease in binding capacity of His-tagged colicin U was found for recombinant OmpA with a mutated segment in loop 1 compared to control OmpAEC. To verify the importance of the identified amino acid residues in OmpA loop 1, we introduced loop 1 from OmpAEC into OmpASM, which resulted in the substantial increase of susceptibility to colicins U and Y. In addition, colicins U and Y were tested against a panel of 118 bacteriocin non-producing strains of four Escherichia species, including E. coli (39 strains), E. fergusonii (10 strains), E. hermannii (42 strains), and E. vulneris (27 strains). A majority (82%) of E. coli strains was susceptible to colicins U and Y. Interestingly, colicins U and Y also inhibited all of the 30 tested multidrug-resistant E. coli O25b-ST131 isolates. These findings, together with the fact that OmpA loop 1 is important for bacterial virulence and is evolutionary conserved, offer the potential of using colicins U and Y as specific anti-OmpA loop 1 directed antibacterial proteins. |
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