Regulation of S-Adenosylmethionine Synthetase Genes in Amoebae by Bacterial Endosymbionts
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University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-2003 Regulation of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase genes in amoebae by bacterial endosymbionts Taeck-Joong Jeon Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Jeon, Taeck-Joong, "Regulation of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase genes in amoebae by bacterial endosymbionts. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2003. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/5141 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Taeck-Joong Jeon entitled "Regulation of S- adenosylmethionine synthetase genes in amoebae by bacterial endosymbionts." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology. Kwang W. Jeon, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Taeck-Joong Jeon entitled "Regulation of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase genes in amoebaeby bacterial endosymbionts." I have examinedthe final paper copy of this dissertation for formand content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology. We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Accepted for the Council: Vice Provost and Dean raduate Studies REGULATION OF S-ADENOSYLMETHIONINE SYNTHETASE GENES IN AMOEBAE BY BACTERIAL ENDOSYMBIONTS A Dissertation Presented forthe Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Taeck-Joong Jeon August 2003 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my parents Mr. Byung-InJeon and Mrs. Joong-Ok Nam 11.. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am most gratefulto my major professor, Dr. Kwang W. Jeon who has been a fatheror uncle figure in these past five years. Without his patience, support, and encouragement, I would not be where I stand now. He will remain in my mind as a person of patience, generosity, and care. I also thankother members of my dissertation committee, Drs. BarryBruce, Ranjan Ganguly, Bruce D. McKee, and Albrecht von Arnim for their advice, helpful suggestions, and critical reviews on my research. I wish to express my special gratitude to Drs. Kil-Jae Lee and Tae In Ahn who encouraged and helped me to continue my graduate study in this laboratory andgave me helpful suggestions from far away. I also thank Dr. Sang Wook Oh for his guidance in taking care ofamoebae and lab in the beginning of my graduate work and Dr. Siuk Yoo for his help in my study. This study was supported by Dr. Jeon's grant from the National Science Foundation. I am also gratefulto the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for financialsupport in the form of Graduate Teaching Assistantship. I wish to express my sincere gratitudeto my parents, Mr. Byung-In Jeon and Mrs. Joong-Ok Nam, and all my family members for their everlasting love and encouragement. Finally, I express my deepest gratitudeto my wife, Hyona Baek. Without her sacrifice, support, and love, none of this would have been possible. I also thank my son, Jonghee, who has always pleased me. 111... ABSTRACT The xD strain of Amoeba proteus that arose fromthe D strain by spontaneous infectionof X-bacteria is now dependenton X-bacteria forsurvival. The S adenosylmethionine synthetase (SAMS) is the enzymethat catalyzes the synthesis of S adenosylmethionine (SAM), a major methyl donor in cells. As a result of harboring obligatory bacterial endosymbionts, xD amoebae do not transcribe the sams gene and no longer produce their own SAMS. When symbiont-freeD amoebae are infectedwith symbionts (X-bacteria), the amountof amoebaSAMS decreases to a negligible level within fourweeks, but about 4 7% of the SAMS activity, which apparently comes from another source,is still detected. Therefore,it was postulated that X-bacteria suppressed the expression of amoeba's sams and in turnprovided the enzymeof SAM for their hosts, forcinghost amoebaeto become dependent on symbionts themselves. As a partof my work to elucidate the mechanism forthe development of mutual dependence between symbionts andhosts, firstthe sams genes of amoebaeand X bacteria were cloned andcharacterized (PART II}. The previously reported sams gene of amoebaeturned out to be an isoform,so now we call the gene sams 1. The open reading frameof the amoeba'ssamsl gene has 1,281 nucleotides, encoding SAMS of 426 amino acids with a mass of 48 kDa andpl of 6.5. The 5'-flankingregion of amoeba samsl contains consensus-binding sites for several transcription factorsthat are related to the regulation of sams genes in E. coli andyeast. The open reading frameof X-bacteria sams is 1,146 nucleotides long, encoding SAMS of 381 amino acids with a mass of 41 kDa and pl of 6.0. The X-bacteria SAMS has 45% sequence identity with that of A. proteus. Next I tested if symbionts supplied SAMS or SAM to host xD amoebaeby localizing X-bacteria SAMS in xD amoebaeand measuring SAMS activities in D and xD amoebae (PART Ill). The results show that amoebaehave a second sams (sams2) gene, encoding 390 amino acids and that the SAMS activity foundin xD amoebae comes from SAMS2 not from the endosymbionts. Interestingly, the expression of two amoeba sams genes was switched from samsl to sams2 by infectionwith X-bacteria, raising a possibility that the switch in the expression of sams genes by bacteria plays a role in the IV development of symbiosis and the host-pathogen interactions. This is the firstreport showing the switch in the expression of host sams genes by infecting bacteria. In PART IV, the analysis forDNA adenine methylation of samsl shows that the samsl gene is methylated at an internaladenine residue ofGATC site in xD amoebae whereas no methylation occurs in D amoebae. This result implies that the modification might be the reason for the suppression of sams 1 in xD amoebae. The methylation of cytosine residue in CpG sites is the most common modificationin eukaryotes. However, it appears that the methylation of cytosine residues is not responsible for the inactivation of samsl in xD amoebae. DNA analysis shows that adenine residues in X-bacteria sams are also methylated, indicating Legionella-like X-bacteria belong to Dam methylase positive strains. In addition, it appears that SAM and methionine act as a negative regulator for the expression of samsl whereas the expression of sams2 is not affectedin amoebae. After the removal ofX-bacteria fromxD amoebae, the samsl gene was reactivated and sams2 was down-regulated. The results are reversed in the expression of sams genes when amoebae are infected with X-bacteria. This is the first report to show that a specific eukaryotic gene is modified by DNA adenine methylation. V TABLE OF CONTENTS PART PAGE I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW ----------------------------- 1 1) Amoeba/X-bacteria Symbiosis --------------------------------------------------------- 2 2) S-adenosylmethionine synthetase (SAMS) ------------------------------------------- 4 3) SpecificAims ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7 References --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8 II. CHARACTERIZATION OF SAMS GENES OF AMOEBA PROTEUS AND THE ENDOSYMBIOTIC X-BACTERIA ---------------------------------------- 11 1) Abstract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 2) Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 13 3) Materials and Methods ----------------------------------------------------------------- 15 4) Results ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 21 5) Discussion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 25 References -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 29 Appendix --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 2 III. GENE SWITCHING IN AMOEBA PROTEUS CAUSED BY ENDOSYMBIOTI C BACTERIA -------------------------------------------------- 42 1) Abstract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 43 2) Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 44 3) Materials and Methods ---------------------------------------------------------------- 46 4) Results ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 52 5) Discussion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57 References ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 62 Appendix ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------