Calderon, P. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2020

The putative phosphate transporter PitB (PP1373) is involved in tellurite uptake in Pseudomonas putida KT2440

Tellurium oxyanions are chemical species with great toxicity; their presence in the environment has increased because of mining industries and photovoltaic and electronic waste. Recovery strategies based on microorganisms for this metalloid are of interest, but further studies of the transport systems and enzymes responsible for implementing tellurium transformations are required because many mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we investigated the involvement in tellurite uptake of the putative phosphate transporter PitB (PP1373) in soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440. For this purpose, through a method based on the CRISPR/Cas9 system, we generated a strain deficient in pitB gene and characterized its phenotype on exposing it to varied concentrations of tellurite. Growth curves and Transmission Electronic Microscopy experiments of wild type and {Delta}pitB showed that both strains were able to internalize tellurite into the cytoplasm and reduce the oxyanion to black nano-sized and rod-shaped tellurium particles, however, {Delta}pitB strain showed an increased resistance to the tellurite toxic effects. At a concentration of 100 uM tellurite, where the biomass formation of wild type strain decreased by half, we observed a greater ability of {Delta}pitB to reduce this oxyanion with respect to wild type strain (~38% vs ~16%), which is related by the greater biomass production of {Delta}pitB and not by a greater consumption of tellurite per cell. The phenotype of the mutant was restored on over-expressing pitB in trans. In summary, our results indicate that PitB is one of several transporters responsible for tellurite uptake in P. putida KT2440.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2020

Characterization of exosporium layer variability of Clostridioides difficile spores in the epidemically relevant strain R20291.

Clostridioides difficile is a Gram-positive anaerobic intestinal pathogenic bacterium and the causative agent of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and spores are the transmission vehicle of the disease. In C. difficile spores, the outermost exosporium layer is the first barrier of interaction with the host and should carry spore ligands involved in spore-host interactions. C. difficile forms two types of spores (i.e., thin and thick exosporium layers). In this communication, we contribute to understand several biological aspects of these two exosporium morphotypes. By transmission electron microscopy, we demonstrate that both exosporium morphotypes appear simultaneously during sporulation and that the laminations of the spore-coat are formed under anaerobic conditions. Nycodenz density-gradient allows enrichment of spores with a thick-exosporium layer morphotype and presence of polar appendage. Using translational fluorescent fusions with exosporium proteins BclA3, CdeA, CdeC and CdeM as well as with several spore coat proteins, we observed that expression intensity and distribution of SNAP-translational fusions in R20291 strain is highly heterogeneous. Electron micrographs demonstrate that multicopy expression of CdeC, but not CdeM, SNAP translational fusion, increases the abundance of the thick exosporium morphotype. Collectively, these results raise further questions on how these distinctive exosporium morphotypes are made during spore formation.

microbiology↗