Biomedical subjects

R E Hancock

Publications and source records attributed to R E Hancock.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

PubMed1992

Polyphosphate-selective porin OprO of Pseudomonas aeruginosa: expression, purification and sequence.

The oprO gene of Pseudomonas aeruginosa codes for a polyphosphate-specific porin and terminates 458 bp upstream of the start codon for the phosphate-specific porin OprP. OprO was found to be expressed only under phosphate-starvation conditions in both wild-type and oprP::Tn501 mutant P. aeruginosa strains. However, unlike the rest of the genes of the Pho regulon, including oprP, expression of oprO required cells to be in the stationary growth phase in addition to phosphate starvation. Wild-type P. aeruginosa cells were grown in fermentor culture under these conditions and fractionated by selective solubilization in octylpolyoxyethylene detergent solution. Solubilized OprO was separated from OprP by application to a Mono Q FPLC column and elution with a salt gradient and shown to be functionally identical to cloned OprO produced in Escherichia coli. DNA sequencing of oprO showed the gene product to be highly homologous to OprP, with 76% identity and 16% conserved substitutions. Most genes of the Pho regulon possess a modified -35 region called the Pho box. Two such elements, separated by 4 bp were found in oprO. DNA sequencing also revealed a second Pho box in the oprP gene with the same spacing.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1992

Fluoroquinolone supersusceptibility mediated by outer membrane protein OprH overexpression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: evidence for involvement of a nonporin pathway.

Overexpression of Pseudomonas aeruginosa outer membrane protein OprH led to an 8- to 32-fold increase in susceptibility to chloramphenicol and the quinolones nalidixic acid, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, and fleroxacin in comparison with the susceptibility of the wild-type strain H103 grown on Mg(2+)-sufficient medium. This was true regardless of whether OprH overexpression was induced by growth of strain H103 on Mg(2+)-deficient medium, the addition of 5 mM m-toluate to cells containing the cloned oprH gene behind the inducible tol promoter in plasmid pGB25, or mutation in the polymyxin-resistant derivative strain H181. In contrast, OprH overexpression failed to reverse the quinolone resistance phenotype of a nalB mutant. OprH was purified to homogeneity by selective detergent solubilization and fast protein liquid chromatography. The addition of OprH to the solution bathing a black lipid bilayer membrane failed to give rise to an increase in membrane conductance. This suggests that OprH is not a porin but, instead, may cause increased uptake of quinolones and chloramphenicol via a non-porin pathway.

Anti-Infective Agents↗

PubMed1992

Role of Pseudomonas aeruginosa outer membrane protein OprH in polymyxin and gentamicin resistance: isolation of an OprH-deficient mutant by gene replacement techniques.

The cloned oprH gene of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was mutated by inserting a 1.4-kbp fragment that encodes tetracycline resistance. This mutated gene was then incorporated into the P. aeruginosa chromosome by homologous recombination. Growth of the resultant oprH::tet mutant in Mg(2+)-deficient medium had little effect on susceptibility to polymyxin B, gentamicin, or EDTA unless the mutant was complemented by the cloned oprH gene in plasmid pGB25. In contrast, growth of the parent strain on Mg(2+)-deficient medium resulted in resistance to all three agents. These data support the hypothesis that overexpression of OprH under Mg(2+)-deficient growth conditions is conditionally required for resistance to these three agents.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗

PubMed1992

A pleiotropic, posttherapy, enoxacin-resistant mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

An enoxacin-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutant (G49) isolated during patient therapy was characterized in detail. The G49 mutant was cross resistant to several classes of antibiotics including quinolones, beta-lactams, chloramphenicol, and tetracycline, but not imipenem or aminoglycosides. Compared with its paired pretherapy isolate G48, this mutant had several alterations in outer membrane proteins including a complete loss of the major porin protein OprF and a substantially altered lipopolysaccharide profile. Revertants were selected at a frequency of approximately 1% after enrichment for OprF+ cells on low-salt proteose peptone no. 2 medium. Ninety-seven of these OprF+ revertants were as susceptible to carbenicillin and norfloxacin as the pretherapy isolate. One of these revertants was characterized in more detail and shown to be indistinguishable in all properties from the pretherapy isolate. It is proposed that the multiple-antibiotic-resistance (Mar) phenotype of this mutant resulted from a single pleiotropic mutation.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed1992

Pore-forming ability of major outer membrane proteins from Wolinella recta ATCC 33238.

Three major outer membrane proteins with apparent molecular masses of 43, 45, and 51 kDa were purified from Wolinella recta ATCC 33238, and their pore-forming abilities were determined by the black lipid bilayer method. The non-heat-modifiable 45-kDa protein (Omp 45) showed no pore-forming activity even at high KCl concentrations. The single-channel conductances in 1 M KCl of the heat-modifiable proteins with apparent molecular masses of 43 kDa (Omp 43) and 51 kDa (Omp 51) were 0.49 and 0.60 nS, respectively. The proteins formed nonselective channels and, as determined by experiments of ion selectivity and zero-current potential, were weakly anion selective.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗

PubMed1992

Analysis of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa major outer membrane protein OprF by use of truncated OprF derivatives and monoclonal antibodies.

TnphoA mutagenesis of the cloned oprF gene was utilized to generate 16 classes of fusions encoding differing lengths of the amino terminus of OprF fused to either alkaline phosphatase or to peptide tags of 1 to 20 amino acids, depending on the orientation and reading frame into which TnphoA was inserted. Representatives of each of the 16 classes were sequenced to determine the precise fusion joint. Four of these 16 representatives which produced in-frame fusions to alkaline phosphatase and another 8 with fusion joints in the amino-terminal half of OprF failed to react with a panel of 10 specific monoclonal antibodies. In contrast, OprF derivatives with predicted fusion joints at amino acids 180, 204, 289, and 299 reacted with one to five of the monoclonal antibodies. Four other immunoreactive OprF derivatives were created by subcloning and encoded amino acids 1 to 187, 188 to 326, 1 to 273 and 1 to 170 plus 301 to 326. On the basis of reactivity with the TnphoA-truncated derivatives and subclones of oprF, the epitopes for all 10 monoclonal antibodies were localized, in part, to specific regions of OprF. Nine of the 10 monoclonal antibodies, 8 of which recognize surface-exposed epitopes, mapped within the carboxy-terminal region of OprF that is homologous to the Escherichia coli outer membrane protein OmpA. Thus, we concluded that parts of the carboxy terminus of OprF are exposed on the external face of the outer membrane. In addition, a clone containing only the first two cysteine residues of OprF demonstrated reactivity with monoclonal antibodies MA4-4 and MA7-8 that was destroyed by 2-mercaptoethanol treatment, as was reactivity with intact OprF. Thus, we conclude that this first pair of cysteines at residues 176 and 185 of mature OprF form a disulfide bond.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

PubMed1992

Reevaluation, using intact cells, of the exclusion limit and role of porin OprF in Pseudomonas aeruginosa outer membrane permeability.

Earlier studies that used model membrane reconstitution methods have come to different conclusions regarding the exclusion limit of the outer membrane of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and whether OprF is the major channel-forming protein in the outer membrane. In this study, a 6.2-kbp SalI fragment, encoding only two cytoplasmic enzymes, alpha-galactosidase and sucrose hydrolase, and the inner membrane raffinose permease, was cloned behind the m-toluate-inducible tol promoter of vector pNM185 to create plasmid pFB71. P. aeruginosa strains harboring pFB71, when grown with inducer, produced both enzymes encoded by the insert and had acquired the ability to grow on the disaccharide melibiose and the trisaccharide raffinose. The rate of growth was dependent on the concentration and size of the saccharide and was decreased three- to fivefold by the absence of OprF, as examined by measuring the growth on melibiose and raffinose of an isogenic OprF-deficient omega insertion derivative, H636(pFB71). At high concentrations, di-, tri-, and tetrasaccharides could pass across the outer membrane to plasmolyze P. aeruginosa, as measured by light scattering and confirmed by electron microscopy. The initial rate kinetics of light-scattering changes were dependent on the size of the saccharide being used. Furthermore, the rates of change in light scattering due to raffinose and stachyose uptake across the outer membrane for strain H636 were fivefold or more lower than for its OprF-sufficient parent H103. These data are consistent with model membrane studies showing that OprF is the most predominant porin for compounds larger than disaccharides in P. aeruginosa and suggest that the exclusion limit for this porin and the outer membrane is greater than the size of a tetrasaccharide. In addition, these data confirmed the existence of other porins with a predominant function in monosaccharide uptake and a more minor function in the uptake of larger saccharides.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗

PubMed1992

Overexpression in Escherichia coli and functional analysis of a novel PPi-selective porin, oprO, from Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Immediately upstream from and adjacent to the oprP gene, which codes for the phosphate-specific porin OprP of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, lies the PR region (oprO), which cross-hybridizes with oprP DNA. To determine the function of this region, the oprO gene was expressed behind the lactose promoter in Escherichia coli, and the resultant OprO protein was purified and reconstituted into planar lipid bilayers. OprO formed sodium dodecyl sulfate-stable trimers, cross-reacted immunologically with OprP, and, like OprP, formed an anion-specific, phosphate-selective porin. However, it demonstrated lower affinity for and higher maximal conductance of both chloride and phosphate than did the OprP channel. Examination by macroscopic conductance inhibition experiments of the affinity of OprO for phosphates of different lengths revealed a preference for PPi and tripolyphosphate over Pi, suggesting that OprO functioned as a PPi-selective polyphosphate channel, in contrast to OprP, which has a marked preference for Pi.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗

PubMed1991

Expression in Caulobacter crescentus of the phosphate-starvation-inducible porin OprP of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The gene for the phosphate-starvation-inducible outer membrane protein OprP, of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was introduced into Caulobacter crescentus CB2A on a plasmid vector. As is the case in P. aeruginosa and Escherichia coli the oprP gene was inducible under conditions of limiting phosphate in C. crescentus. However, the maximal medium concentration of phosphate which still permitted induction of OprP was lower in C. crescentus (50 microM) than in P. aeruginosa (200 microM). Induction of OprP was coincident with the process of stalk elongation, known to occur in C. crescentus under phosphate starvation conditions. When induced, OprP was localized to the cell envelope and became a major membrane protein, indicating that the Pseudomonas promoter was efficiently recognized in C. crescentus and that the gene product was targeted to the appropriate region of the cell. Our data provide support for the hypothesis that the mechanism for regulation of phosphate-starvation-inducible genes is highly conserved amongst the eubacteria.

Bacteria↗

PubMed1991

Novel method for measurement of outer membrane permeability to new beta-lactams in intact Enterobacter cloacae cells.

The ability of five new beta-lactams to permeate the outer membrane of intact Enterobacter cloacae beta-lactamase-overproducing cells was measured by using a high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based technique that avoided certain possible artifacts of the traditional methods. Low concentrations of antibiotics were mixed with bacterial suspensions, and at different times, the cells were removed from the medium by filtration. Residual beta-lactam concentrations in the medium were then assessed by HPLC and UV detection. The assay was performed under conditions in which no beta-lactamase activity was detected in the filtrate and the number of viable cells remained constant during the experiment. Outer membrane permeability was assessed with the Zimmermann-Rosselet equation, in which outer membrane permeability was rate limiting for hydrolysis of the beta-lactam by periplasmic beta-lactamase. Thus, the rate of disappearance of beta-lactam was equal to the rate of outer membrane permeation. Preincubation of bacterial suspensions with 300 micrograms of cloxacillin per ml inhibited the hydrolysis of beta-lactams by intact cells, demonstrating that beta-lactam hydrolysis by periplasmic beta-lactamase was essential in order to allow measurement of outer membrane permeability by this method. Permeability coefficients (P) were calculated from the Zimmermann-Rosselet equation and were independent of the external concentration of antibiotic over a 100-fold concentration range. Cefepime and cefpirome exhibited rates of outer membrane permeation 5- to 20-fold higher than those of carumonam, ceftriaxone, and cefotaxime. Thus, the presence of a positive charge in the 3-lateral chain increased the permeation ability of beta-lactam molecules considerably.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed1991

Reevaluation of the factors involved in the efficacy of new beta-lactams against Enterobacter cloacae.

The roles of outer membrane permeability, beta-lactamase stability, and inhibition of penicillin-binding proteins in the activity of new beta-lactams against Enterobacter cloacae were reappraised by using several methodological improvements. Outer membrane permeability in intact cells was determined by using a high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based technique that avoided certain possible artifacts of the traditional methods. Vmax values were calculated from the numbers of enzyme molecules produced per cell and from catalytic constant (Kcat) values, which were obtained with purified beta-lactamase. Minimal periplasmic antibiotic concentrations needed to inhibit bacterial cell wall synthesis were estimated from the Zimmermann-Rosselet equation. All the beta-lactams tested formed relatively stable complexes with purified beta-lactamase. The antibiotics that exhibited low affinity for beta-lactamase apparently needed higher periplasmic concentrations to inhibit cell wall synthesis, suggesting a possible correlation between the affinity of beta-lactamase and the affinity of penicillin-binding proteins for the new beta-lactams. By using these estimates of outer membrane permeability, beta-lactamase hydrolysis, and cell wall-inhibiting concentrations, MIC could be theoretically predicted to within 1 dilution for five beta-lactams in three isogenic E. cloacae strains with differences in antibiotic susceptibility due to different porin or beta-lactamase contents.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed1991

Interaction of aminoglycosides with the outer membranes and purified lipopolysaccharide and OmpF porin of Escherichia coli.

The mechanism of uptake of aminoglycosides across the outer membrane of Escherichia coli was reevaluated. Porin-deficient mutants showed no alteration in gentamicin or kanamycin susceptibility. Furthermore, the influence of kanamycin on intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence of porin OmpF (Y. Kobayashi, and T. Nakae, Eur. J. Biochem. 151:231-236, 1985) was shown to be strongly influenced by protein concentration and EDTA. This led to the hypothesis that aminoglycoside-mediated increases and decreases in intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence were due to aggregation-disaggregation of OmpF mediated by interaction at a divalent cation binding site on OmpF. Gentamicin, kanamycin, and polymyxin B increased E. coli outer membrane permeability to the hydrophobic fluorescent compound 1-N-phenyl-naphthylamine (NPN) and the peptidoglycan-degrading enzyme lysozyme. Addition of Mg2+ blocked these permeabilizing activities. Furthermore, gentamicin and polymyxin B bound to Mg(2+)-binding sites on E. coli lipopolysaccharide, as determined in dansyl polymyxin displacement experiments. A polymyxin-resistant, lipopolysaccharide-altered pmr mutant of E. coli had a fourfold-lower MIC of gentamicin and kanamycin and was more poorly permeabilized to 1-N-phenylnaphthylamine than was its parent strain. These data were consistent with uptake of aminoglycosides across the E. coli outer membrane by the self-promoted uptake mechanism.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed1991

Purification of glucose-inducible outer membrane protein OprB of Pseudomonas putida and reconstitution of glucose-specific pores.

A 43,000 molecular-weight, glucose-inducible, organic acid-repressible protein (OprB) was identified in the outer membrane of Pseudomonas putida. OprB was surface expressed in whole cells, had a high beta-sheet content, and was heat modifiable, as demonstrated by 125I-labeling, circular dichroism spectroscopy, and mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. OprB was extracted from outer membrane preparations by using 2% Lubrol PX with 10 mM EDTA and purified by DEAE-Sephacel ion exchange chromatography following ammonium sulfate precipitation. Reconstitution experiments with black lipid membranes showed that OprB formed small, cation-selective pores which bound glucose (KS = 110 mM) and other carbohydrates. However, the binding site of OprB appeared to be distinct from that of the maltodextrin-specific porin LamB from Escherichia coli.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗

PubMed1991

Conservation of the gene for outer membrane protein OprF in the family Pseudomonadaceae: sequence of the Pseudomonas syringae oprF gene.

The conservation of the oprF gene for the major outer membrane protein OprF was determined by restriction mapping and Southern blot hybridization with the Pseudomonas aeruginosa oprF gene as a probe. The restriction map was highly conserved among 16 of the 17 serotype strains and 42 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa. Only the serotype 12 isolate and one clinical isolate showed small differences in restriction pattern. Southern probing of PstI chromosomal digests of 14 species from the family Pseudomonadaceae revealed that only the nine members of rRNA homology group I hybridized with the oprF gene. To reveal the actual extent of homology, the oprF gene and its product were characterized in Pseudomonas syringae. Nine strains of P. syringae from seven different pathovars hybridized with the P. aeruginosa gene to produce five different but related restriction maps. All produced an OprF protein in their outer membranes with the same apparent molecular weight as that of P.aeruginosa OprF. In each case the protein reacted with monoclonal antibody MA4-10 and was similarly heat and 2-mercaptoethanol modifiable. The purified OprF protein of the type strain P. syringae pv. syringae ATCC 19310 reconstituted small channels in lipid bilayer membranes. The oprF gene from this latter strain was cloned and sequenced. Despite the low level of DNA hybridization between P. aeruginosa and P. syringae DNA, the OprF gene was highly conserved between the species with 72% DNA sequence identity and 68% amino acid sequence identity overall. The carboxy terminus-encoding region of P. syringae oprF showed 85 and 33% identity, respectively, with the same regions of the P. aeruginosa oprF and Escherichia coli ompA genes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1991

Pseudomonas aeruginosa outer membrane protein OprH: expression from the cloned gene and function in EDTA and gentamicin resistance.

Overexpression of major outer membrane protein OprH of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a result of mutation (in strain H181) or adaptation to low Mg2+ concentrations (in parent strain H103) is accompanied by increased resistance to polymyxin B, gentamicin, and EDTA. A 2.8-kb EcoRI fragment containing the oprH gene was subcloned into several different expression plasmids in Escherichia coli. These experiments showed that significant levels of OprH could be produced from a promoter on the EcoRI fragment; that the cloned oprH gene was not regulated by Mg2+ deficiency; that there were no differences in the expression of OprH in any construction, regardless of whether the gene from strain H103 or its OprH-overexpressing, polymyxin B-resistant derivative, strain H181, was used; and that overexpression of OprH in E. coli to the level observed in P. aeruginosa H181 did not result in a resistance phenotype. These results favored the conclusion that the mutation in strain H181 was a regulatory rather than a promoter mutation. The oprH gene was cloned behind the benzoate-inducible pm promoter in plasmid pGB25 and transferred to P. aeruginosa H103. Overexpression of OprH from the cloned gene in H103/pGB25 resulted in EDTA resistance but not polymyxin B resistance. This result suggested that another factor, possibly lipopolysaccharide, was affected by the mutation in strain H181. Consistent with this suggestion was the demonstration that mutants of strain H181 with alterations in lipopolysaccharide had reverted to wild-type polymyxin B susceptibility but had unaltered gentamicin and EDTA resistance. These data were consistent with the hypothesis that OprH replaces outer membrane-stabilizing divalent cations.

Aminoglycosides↗

PubMed1990

Sequence and relatedness in other bacteria of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa oprP gene coding for the phosphate-specific porin P.

The oprP gene encoding the Pseudomonas aeruginosa phosphate-specific outer membrane porin protein OprP was sequenced. Comparison of the derived amino acid sequence with the known sequences of other bacterial porins demonstrated that OprP could be no better aligned to these porin sequences than it could to the periplasmic phosphate-binding protein PhoS of Escherichia coli. Southern hybridization and restriction mapping of the oprP gene in 37 clinical isolates and the 17 serotype strains of P. aeruginosa revealed that restriction sites in the vicinity of the oprP gene were highly conserved. Several species from the Pseudomonas fluorescens rRNA homology group contained DNA that hybridized to an oprP gene probe.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1990

Outer membrane proteins of Pseudomonas.

In this review, we describe the outer membrane proteins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and related strains from the Pseudomonas fluorescens rRNA homology group of the Pseudomonadaceae, with emphasis on the physiological function and biochemical characteristics of these proteins. The use of opr (for outer membrane protein) is proposed as the genetic designation for the P. aeruginosa outer membrane proteins and letters are assigned, in conjunction with this designation, to known outer membrane proteins. Proteins whose primary functions involve pore formation, transport of specific substrates, cell structure determination and membrane stabilization are discussed. The conservation of selected proteins in the above Pseudomonas species is also examined.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗

PubMed1990

Comparison of the outer membrane protein and lipopolysaccharide profiles of mucoid and nonmucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Laboratory-derived mucoid variants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were selected by plating the standard PAO1 laboratory strain with bacteriophage. These mucoid variants formed two distinct groups of strains on the basis of phage typing. The first group had the same phage-typing pattern as the parent PAO1 strain, while the second group had a distinctly different phage-typing pattern. One strain from each group was assessed along with the parent PAO1 strain for its outer membrane protein (OMP) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) profiles by sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis followed by appropriate staining. The mucoid derivatives were found to differ from the parent PAO1 nonmucoid strain in having lost a high-molecular-weight LPS species. Furthermore, the reversion of the mucoid strains to the nonmucoid phenotype was accompanied by a return of the missing high-molecular-weight LPS species. No observable difference between the mucoid derivatives and the parent nonmucoid strain was noted in the OMP profiles. The opposite was found in the case of four isolates of mucoid P. aeruginosa from patients with cystic fibrosis. Two OMP bands (of approximately 55 and 25 kilodaltons) were present in the mucoid isolates but missing in their sister nonmucoid strains. In the case of the cystic fibrosis isolates, no difference in the LPS profiles within mucoid-nonmucoid pairs was noted.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗