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Journal of Bacteriology, December 2003, p . 7279-7284, Vol . 185, No . 24
InvB Is a Type III Secretion-Associated Chaperone for the Salmonella enterica Effector Protein SopE
Sang Ho Lee and Jorge E . Galán*
Section
of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale University School of Medicine,
New Haven, Connecticut 06536
Received 7 August 2003/
Accepted 19 September 2003
SopE
is a bacteriophage-encoded effector protein of Salmonella
enterica serovar Typhimurium that is translocated into the cytosol
of eukaryotic cells by a type III secretion system (TTSS) (W.-D . Hardt,
H . Urlaub, and J . E . Galán, Proc . Natl . Acad . Sci . USA
95:2574-2579, 1998; M . W . Wood, R . Rosqvist,
P . B . Mullan, M . H . Edwards, and E . E.
Galyov, Mol . Microbiol . 22:327-338, 1996) . In this study, we
provide evidence that an unlinked gene carried within the
Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1), invB (K.
Eichelberg, C . Ginocchio, and J . E . Galán, J.
Bacteriol . 176:4501-4510, 1994), is required for the secretion
of SopE through the SPI-1 TTSS . Furthermore, far-Western blotting
analysis shows that SopE directly interacts with InvB through a domain
located at its amino terminus . We conclude that InvB is the
TTSS-associated chaperone for
SopE .
Many gram-negative bacteria that are pathogenic for humans, animals, and
plants have evolved a specialized protein secretion system,
designated type III, which mediates the delivery of a myriad of
virulence effectors into eukaryotic cells
(6,
13) . Once translocated,
these effectors are able to subvert host cellular processes for the
benefit of the infecting pathogen . Salmonella enterica is
equipped with two type III secretion systems (TTSSs), which contribute
to pathogenesis at different stages during infection
(12) . One of the
Salmonella TTSSs, encoded within Salmonella
pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1), mediates the initial interaction of
Salmonella with the intestinal epithelium, eventually leading
to bacterial internalization and the production of proinflammatory
cytokines (15) . Central
to the stimulation of these responses is SopE, a Cdc42 and Rac1 guanine
nucleotide exchange factor encoded within a lysogenic (or for some
strains, defective) bacteriophage that is integrated at a chromosomal
location away from SPI-1
(17,
18,
22,
33) . Many effector
proteins destined to be secreted by the type III secretion machinery
are often associated with specific chaperones that form a tight complex
by binding a discrete domain within the amino terminus of their cognate
substrates (24,
26,
32) . Although the
function of these chaperones is not completely understood, it is clear
that they maintain the substrate proteins as unfolded polypeptides
within the bacterial cytoplasm, presumably in a secretion-competent
state (1,
27) . Although poorly
conserved at the primary amino acid sequence level, the crystal
structures of several TTSS-associated chaperones have revealed a
remarkable structural conservation among the members of this protein
family (1,
27) . A chaperone for SopE
has not yet been identified . However, several biochemical properties of
this protein suggest that it must have a chaperone . (i) Full-length
SopE, but not a deletion mutant version lacking the first 78 amino
acids, is insoluble when expressed in Escherichia coli
(3,
17) . (ii) The catalytic
effector domain of SopE has been mapped to amino acid residues 78 to
240 (3) . (iii) The first
100 amino acids of SopE are sufficient to mediate the
translocation of heterologous proteins into host cells
(10) . TTSS-associated
chaperones are often, though not always, encoded in the vicinity of
their cognate substrate proteins
(32) . Inspection of the
chromosomal region in the vicinity of SopE did not reveal the presence
of any open reading frame capable of encoding a protein that could
constitute a candidate for its putative chaperone (i.e., a protein of
small molecular weight, acidic pI, and propensity to form amphipathic
-helices) . We hypothesized that since SopE is specifically
secreted by the SPI-1 TTSS, a protein encoded within this pathogenicity
island may serve as its cognate chaperone .
Two TTSS-associated
chaperones are encoded within SPI-1: SicP, the chaperone for SptP
(11), and InvB, the
chaperone for SipA (2,
9) . It has been previously
shown that some TTSS-associated chaperones can exert their function on
more than one substrate
(21,
29) . Absence of the
cognate chaperones most often leads to deficiency of secretion and/or
expression of the cognate effector proteins
(24) . We therefore
examined the effect of loss-of-function mutations in either
sicP or invB on the expression and secretion of SopE.
In-frame deletions of sicP or invB were introduced
into an S . enterica serovar Typhimurium strain
carrying an M45 epitope-tagged SopE in the chromosome . Strains were
grown under SPI-1-TTSS-inducing conditions (0.3 M NaCl)
(5); whole cells and
culture supernatants were harvested when cultures reached an optical
density measured at 600 Å of 0.8 and were separated by sodium
dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) . The
samples were then transferred to polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF)
membranes (Immobilon-P; Millipore) and immunoblotted with a monoclonal
antibody directed to the M45 epitope tag
(23) . Neither secretion
nor expression of SopE was altered in the strain carrying a
sicP deletion (Fig.
1) . In contrast, the level of SopE was drastically reduced in culture
supernatants of a strain harboring an invB deletion (Fig.
1, right panel),
suggesting that InvB is required for efficient SopE secretion . The
secretion defect associated with the invB mutation could be
complemented by expression of invB on an arabinose-inducible
plasmid (16) (Fig.
1, right panel) . Secretion
of other TTSS-secreted proteins such as SptP and SipB was unaffected in
the
invB strain (data not shown), indicating that the
secretion defect observed in this strain was not the result of an
overall effect on TTSS-mediated secretion .
| FIG . 1 . InvB
is required for SopE secretion . A Salmonella serovar
Typhimurium strain carrying a chromosomal copy of M45 epitope-tagged
sopE (wild type) and isogenic derivatives carrying deletion
mutations in sicP or invB were grown under
SPI-1-TTSS-inducing conditions
(5) . The presence of
SopE-M45 in whole-cell lysates and culture supernatants was evaluated
by Western immunoblot analysis using a monoclonal antibody directed to
the M45 epitope as previously described
(11) . A complementing
arabinose-inducible plasmid, pBAD-invB, was introduced into
the
invB mutant strain, and whole-cell lysates and
culture supernatants of the strain grown under inducing conditions (in
the presence of 0.02% arabinose) were prepared under identical
conditions.
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It is often observed
that the stability of secreted proteins within the bacterial cytoplasm
is compromised in the absence of their cognate chaperones
(24) . In addition, it has
been reported that some chaperones control the transcription or the
translation of genes encoding their cognate secreted proteins
(7,
29) . Despite the drastic
defect in secretion, the levels of SopE in whole-cell lysates of the
invB strain were only slightly reduced (Fig.
1, left panel).
Furthermore, transcription and translation of SopE in the
invB strain were also equivalent to those of the wild
type (Fig.
2) . This behavior of SopE is reminiscent of the Yersinia species
effector proteins YopH, YscM, and YopN, which in the absence of their
chaperones are produced but not secreted
(4,
19,
25,
30) .
A key
characteristic of chaperones is their ability to bind to their cognate
substrates (31) . To
investigate whether InvB is able to bind to SopE, we utilized
far-Western blotting analysis as previously described
(11) . Wild-type
Salmonella serovar Typhimurium (SL1344) and its isogenic
derivative carrying a nonpolar in-frame deletion of sopE were
grown under SPI-1-TTSS-inducing conditions, and proteins in
whole-cell lysates were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to a PVDF
membrane . The membranes were then treated with a soluble extract of an
Escherichia coli strain expressing InvB-M45 epitope tag
(equivalent to 109 CFU) for 2 h, followed by
Western immunoblot analysis using a monoclonal antibody directed to the
M45 epitope tag . Far-Western blot analysis revealed an InvB-interacting
band corresponding to the molecular mass of SopE
( 28 kDa) (Fig.
3) . This band was not
observed in the sopE
mutant, which strongly suggests that InvB specifically binds to SopE . A
high-molecular-mass band (>70 kDa) presumably corresponding to
SipA was also detected, in keeping with the reported activity of InvB
as a chaperone for SipA
(2) (Fig.
3) .
| FIG . 3 . InvB
specifically binds SopE . Whole-cell lysates of wild-type
Salmonella serovar Typhimurium or its isogenic
sopE mutant were separated by SDS-PAGE and
transferred to a PVDF membrane . The blot was treated with a soluble
lysate of E . coli expressing M45 epitope-tagged InvB, and the
bound InvB-M45 was detected with a monoclonal antibody directed against
M45 as previously described
(11) . Notice that in
addition to SopE, InvB binds to a high-molecular-mass band, which has
been tentatively identified as SipA, consistent with a previous report
(2) . More experiments
would be required for confirmation of the identity of this
protein.
| |
Far-Western blot
analysis was also used to dissect the InvB-interacting domain of SopE.
Various amino-terminal segments of SopE (amino acid residues 1 to 15, 1
to 38, 1 to 50, and 1 to 104) were fused to PhoA and introduced into
serovar Typhimurium carrying an in-frame deletion of sopE. In
addition, various carboxy termini of SopE (amino acid residues 78 to
240 and 115 to 240) were fused to glutathione S-transferase
(GST) and expressed in E . coli . Whole-cell extracts of these
strains were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to PVDF membranes,
which were then overlaid with a lysate of an E . coli strain
expressing InvB-M45 and then immunoblotted with monoclonal antibody
directed against the M45 epitope . InvB was unable to bind to the first
15 residues of SopE or to its carboxy terminus (residues 78 to 240 or
115 to 240), which comprises its catalytic guanine nucleotide exchange
factor domain (Fig.
4) . These results indicate that InvB binds to residues 15 to 78 of SopE, a
finding which is consistent with the observation that TTSS-associated
chaperones bind to the amino terminus of their cognate substrates
(24) . The observed
binding profile was not due to nonspecific binding either to PhoA or
GST, since SptP1-35-PhoA or GST-SptP did not interact with
InvB (Fig . 4).
Furthermore, the absence of binding was not due to lack of expression
of the relevant constructs, since all constructs were shown to be
expressed to equivalent levels when subsequently probed with antibodies
directed against PhoA or GST (Fig.
4, lower panels) . Even
though SopE and SipA bind the same chaperone, there is no obvious
primary amino acid similarity between these two proteins . However, this
is not surprising, since despite the structural similarity of many
TTSS-associated chaperones, there is little similarity in the primary
amino acid sequence of the binding domains of their cognate binding
proteins . Presumably, binding to the chaperones is dictated by a few
key amino acids and secondary structural features which are compatible
with variations in the primary amino acid sequence
(26) .
| FIG . 4 . Delineation
of the InvB-binding domain of SopE . Whole-cell lysates of
Salmonella serovar Typhimurium
sopE strains
carrying different plasmids expressing various segments of the amino
terminus of SopE (residues 1 to 15, 1 to 38, 1 to 50, and 1 to 104)
fused to PhoA, or whole-cell lysates of E . coli expressing
carboxy-terminal domains of SopE (residues 78 to 240 and 115 to 240)
fused to GST, were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to PVDF
membranes . The blots were treated with a soluble lysate of E.
coli expressing M45 epitope-tagged InvB, and the bound InvB-M45
was detected with a monoclonal antibody directed against M45 as
previously described (upper panels)
(2) . To confirm the
expression of the different constructs, the membranes were reprobed
with antibodies directed against PhoA or GST (lower
panels).
| |
The
observation that SopE is not secreted into the culture supernatant in
the absence of InvB did not rule out the possibility that InvB may not
be required for the translocation of SopE into eukaryotic cells . To
address this issue, we examined whether the SopE-mediated invasion
phenotype of a Salmonella strain carrying loss-of-function
mutations in sopB and sopE2 was affected by the
introduction of the invB mutation . In the absence of SopB and
SopE2, Salmonella invasion into tissue culture cells is
mediated solely by the activity of SopE
(34) . Therefore,
bacterial internalization is a sensitive surrogate measure of SopE
translocation . The ability of a Salmonella strain carrying
deletion mutations of the sopB and sopE2
genes or that of its isogenic derivative carrying an
invB null mutation to enter into cultured intestinal Henle-407
cells was examined by using the gentamicin protection assay as
previously described
(14) . In the absence of
InvB, the
sopB
sopE2 strain was
severely defective in its ability to invade cultured intestinal cells
(Fig.
5), indicating that InvB is required for the translocation of SopE into
host cells .
In this study, we have identified InvB as the
chaperone for the Salmonella type III secreted effector
protein SopE . This conclusion is supported by the following pieces of
evidence . (i) In the absence of InvB, SopE is not secreted or
translocated into cultured host cells . (ii) InvB specifically binds a
discrete domain within the amino terminus of SopE . InvB exhibits a
number of unique features . Unlike most chaperones identified thus far,
InvB is not encoded in the vicinity of its cognate SopE effector
protein . Interestingly, the chaperone and its cognate substrate are
maintained in two separate genetic elements, a pathogenicity island
(SPI-1) and an integrated bacteriophage, which were presumably
horizontally acquired independently through evolution . It has been
previously shown that InvB is also a chaperone for an SPI-1-encoded
secreted protein, SipA
(2) . Although not
specifically examined in this study, it is possible that InvB serves as
a chaperone for the highly related protein SopE2
(28) . Therefore, InvB
serves as a chaperone for two or perhaps even three secreted proteins
that are genetically unlinked . SopE, SopE2, and SipA exert their
function very early during the infection process
(15) . It is therefore
possible that the utilization of a common chaperone is related to
yet-undefined control mechanisms of the secretion process to ensure the
rapid and early delivery of these effector
proteins .
We thank
members of the Galán laboratory for critical reading of the
manuscript .
S.H.L . was supported by NRSA fellowship number
AI52710-01 from the National Institutes of Health . This work was
supported by Public Health Service grant number AI30492 from the
National Institutes of Health to
J.E.G .
* Corresponding
author . Mailing address: Section of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale
University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06536 . Phone: (203)
737-2404 . Fax: (203) 737-2630 . E-mail:
Jorge.galan{at}yale.edu .
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