Identification and Characterization of Zn (II)-Responsive Genes And
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MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School Certificate for Approving the Dissertation We hereby approve the Dissertation of J. Allen Easton Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy ______________________________________________ Director (Dr. Michael W. Crowder) ______________________________________________ Reader (Dr. John W. Hawes) ______________________________________________ Reader (Dr. Chris A. Makaroff) ______________________________________________ Reader (Dr. Gary A. Lorigan) ______________________________________________ Graduate School Representative (Dr. Gary Janssen) ABSTRACT IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZN(II)- RESPONSIVE GENES AND PROTEINS IN E. COLI By J. Allen Easton Transition metal ion homeostasis is absolutely crucial for the survival of all organisms. Zinc (Zn(II)) is perhaps one of the most important, yet least studied transition metals. Previous studies indicate that intracellular Zn(II) levels in E. coli are in the low millimolar range, yet there is less than one “free” Zn(II) ion per cell. All of the intracellular Zn(II) must then be bound and Zn(II) must be delivered from transporters and inserted into Zn(II)-metalloproteins. The cytoplasmic transport of transition metals, such as copper, iron, nickel, manganese, and arsenic, is accomplished by a group of proteins called metallochaperones. No such metallochaperone has been identified for Zn(II). In an effort to identify the Zn(II) metallochaperones in E. coli, proteomic and genomic studies were conducted. Proteomic studies were used to probe for the time-dependent response of E. coli to stress by Zn(II) excess. Genomic studies were used to probe for the transcriptional response of E. coli to stress by Zn(II) excess and deficiency. Several Zn(II)-metallochaperone candidates were identified, and these proteins were cloned, over-expressed, purified, and characterized. Trigger factor was found to be down-regulated at the proteomic level in response to excess Zn(II). Over-expression and characterization of trigger factor show that it tightly binds 0.5 Zn(II)/monomer; however, spectroscopic studies showed that Zn(II) binding is most likely adventitious. GatY/GatZ Zn(II)-responsive proteins that are part of the galactitol catabolic pathway. GatY was over-expressed and shown to bind 2 Zn(II) equivalents per enzyme. GatZ, reported to be necessary for GatY function, was tested for Zn(II)- binding and shown to not bind Zn(II). A transcript found to be highly up-regulated was ykgM. We cloned and over-expressed YkgM to elucidate why it is highly responsive to Zn(II). We determined that YkgM does not bind Zn(II), and may substitute for Zn(II)-containing ribosomal protein L31 in Zn(II)-limiting conditions. ZnuA was cloned, over-expressed, purified, and characterized. We found that ZnuA tightly binds 2 equivalents of Zn(II) per monomer. Our proteomic and genomic data suggest that there are no soluble, cytoplasmic Zn(II) metallochaperones in E. coli. Based on this conclusion, a novel model is hypothesized that explains Zn(II) transport in E. coli cytoplasm. Identification and Characterization of Zn(II)-responsive Genes and Proteins in E. coli A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial Fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry By J. Allen Easton Miami University Oxford, OH 2007 Dissertation Director: Dr. Michael W. Crowder TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 The importance of Metal Ions 1 1.2 The importance of Zinc 3 1.3 Zinc homeostasis in eukaryotes 3 1.4 Zinc homeostasis in prokaryotes 6 1.5 Discovery of metallochaperones 9 1.6 Proteomic and genomic techniques 11 1.6.1 Proteomics 11 1.6.2 Genomics 18 1.7 Chapters of the dissertation 19 1.8 References 22 Chapter 2: Time-dependent Translational Response of E. coli to Excess Zn(II) 28 2.1 Summary 29 2.2 Introduction 30 2.3 Materials and methods 30 2.3.1 Growth medium and conditions 30 2.3.2 Acetone precipitation and sample cleanup for 2D gels 31 2.3.3 IEF and second dimension SDS-PAGE 31 2.3.4 Gel Imaging 31 2.3.5 In-gel trypsin digestion and MALDI-TOF analysis 31 2.3.6 Database analysis 32 2.4 Results and discussion 32 2.5 Acknowledgements 38 2.6 References 39 Chapter 3: Time-dependent response of Zn(II)-induced genes to TPEN 43 3.1 Summary 44 3.2 Introduction 45 ii 3.3 Materials and methods 46 3.3.1 Growth medium and conditions 46 3.3.2 RNA isolation and quality assessment 47 3.3.3 Real-time PCR primer design 47 3.3.4 Real-time PCR 47 3.3.5 Standard curves and data analysis 47 3.3.6 Iron/zinc rescue experiments 47 3.3.7 Total protein assay 49 3.3.8 Microarray sample preparation 49 3.3.9 Microarray data analysis 49 3.4 Results 50 3.4.1 TPEN stress 50 3.4.2 ZnSO4 stress 51 3.4.3 Total protein assay 51 3.4.4 Iron/zinc rescue experiments 52 3.4.5 cDNA microarrays 52 3.5 Discussion 59 3.6 Acknowledgements 60 3.7 References 61 Chapter 4: Non-specific Zn(II) binding to E. coli Trigger Factor 77 4.1 Summary 78 4.2 Introduction 79 4.3 Materials and methods 80 4.3.1 Cloning and over-expression of E. coli trigger factor 80 4.3.2 Metal analysis 81 4.3.3 Fluorescence spectra 81 4.3.4 Gel filtration chromatography 81 4.3.5 UV-Visible spectrum of Co(II)-substituted trigger factor 81 4.3.6 EPR spectroscopy of Co(II)-substituted trigger factor 82 4.3.7 NMR spectroscopy of Co(II)-substituted trigger factor 82 iii 4.3.8 Prolyl isomerase assay 82 4.3.9 Refolding of GAPDH 82 4.3.10 Refolding of tryptophanase 83 4.4. Results 83 4.5 Discussion 85 4.6 Acknowledgements 89 4.7 References 90 Chapter 5: Structure and metal binding properties of ZnuA, a periplasmic zinc transport protein from Escherichia coli 93 5.1 Summary 95 5.2 Introduction 96 5.3 Materials and methods 97 5.3.1 Cloning, expression, and purification of Eco-ZnuA 97 5.3.2 Eco-ZnuA Crystallization and structure determination 98 5.3.3 Model refinement 99 5.3.4 Sample preparation for spectroscopic studies 100 5.3.5 Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy 101 5.3.6 Spectroscopic analysis of Zn2+ binding to Eco-ZnuA 101 5.3.7 Spectroscopic studies of Co2+-substituted Eco-ZnuA 102 5.3.8 EXAFS studies of Zn2+-and Zn2+Co2+-substituted Eco-ZnuA 102 5.3.9 Fluorescence emission with ANS 103 5.4 Results 104 5.4.1 Overall structure of Eco-ZnuA 104 5.4.2 The primary metal-binding site 106 5.4.3 The second metal-binding site 110 5.4.4 Circular dichroism (CD spectroscopy 110 5.4.5 Zn2+ binding affinity of Eco-ZnuA 112 5.4.6 Spectroscopic studies of CoZnuA 115 5.4.7 EXAFS studies of Zn- and ZnCo-Substituted Eco-ZnuA 119 5.4.8 Metal specificity of ZnuA monitored by ANS fluorescence 120 iv 5.5 Discussion 123 5.5.1 Metal specificity 123 5.5.2 Metal stoichiometry 124 5.5.3 Mechanistic implications 124 5.6. Acknowledgements 126 5.7 References 127 5.8 Supplementary material 135 Chapter 6: Characterization of Zn(II)-responsive proteins in E. coli 143 6.1 Abstract 143 6.2 Introduction 144 6.2.1 GatY and GatZ 144 6.2.2 YkgM 145 6.3 Materials and methods 146 6.3.1 Cloning, over-expression, and purification of MBP-GatY and MBP-GatZ 146 6.3.2 Metal analyses 147 6.3.3 Aldolase assays 147 6.3.4 Cloning, over-expression, and purification of YkgM 147 6.3.5 Metal analyses 148 6.4 Results 148 6.4.1 GatY and GatZ 148 6.4.2 YkgM 149 6.5 Discussion 150 6.5.1 GatY/Z 150 6.5.2 YkgM 151 6.6 References 151 Chapter 7: Conclusion 159 7.1 Perspectives on metal ion homeostasis 159 7.2 Approaches taken 160 v 7.2.1 Proteomics 161 7.2.2 Genomics 162 7.2.3 Characterization 162 7.3 Future directions 164 7.3.1 Examination of ribosomal proteins 164 7.4 References 166 vi List of Tables: Table 2.1 Proteins with differential expression after Zn(II) stress for 30 minutes. 40 Table 2.2 Proteins with differential expression after Zn(II) stress for 4 hours. 41 Table 3.1 Primers used for real-time PCR. 47 Table 3.2 Genes up-regulated by TPEN. 66 Table 3.3 Genes down-regulated by TPEN. 67 Table S1 Complete list of up-regulated genes in response to 30 min of TPEN stress. 68 Table S2 Down-regulated genes in response to 30 min of TPEN stress. 72 Table 5.1 Crystallographic Statistics. 132 Table 5.2 Thermodynamic parameters for apoZnuA and ZnZnuA folding. 133 Table 5.3 EXAFS curve fitting results for 1-ZnZnuA and CoZnZnuA 134 Table S1 Important interatomic distances and angles. 136 Table S2 Comparison of metal – ligand distances in various ZnZnuA structures. 137 vii List of Figures: Figure 1.1 A dose-response diagram for an essential element. 2 Figure 1.2 Zinc homeostasis in eukaryotes. 4 Figure 1.3 Zinc transport and homeostasis in prokaryotes. 8 Figure 1.4 Two-dimensional SDS-PAGE gel. 12 Figure 1.5 Spots of varying intensity. 13 Figure 1.6 Peptide mass spectrum from MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer. 15 Figure 1.7 MASCOT database search. 16 Figure 1.8 The database search results. 17 Figure 3.1 Time-dependent real-time PCR of Zur-regulated genes.