ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the binding ability of motifs in the serine/threonine kinase StkP extracellular region (EC-StkP) of Streptococcus pneumoniae to β-lactam antibiotics. Methods:Three motifs (SXXK) in the EC-StkP were mutated into AXXA, respectively or simultaneously. Four mutant plasmids (EC- stkp-AXXA1, EC- stkp-AXXA2, EC- stkp-AXXA3 and EC- stkp-AXXA4) were transfected into recipient cells for cloning and expression. SDS-PAGE combined with gel image analysis was used to detect the expression of the recombinant mutant proteins (EC-rStkP-AXXA1, EC-rStkP-AXXA2, EC-rStkP-AXXA3 and EC-rStkP-AXXA4). The expressed mutated proteins were extracted and purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The binding abilities of the mutant proteins to penicillin (PCN) and cefotaxime (CTX) were detected by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC 200) and surface plasmon resonance (Biacore t200). Results:PCN and CTX could not bind to the expressed proteins with mutations in the first or the third motif (EC-rStkP-AXXA1, EC-rStkP-AXXA3, EC-rStkP-AXXA4). EC-rStkP-AXXA2 could weakly bind to CTX, but not to PCN.Conclusions:All three motifs in the EC-StkP of Streptococcus pneumoniae could bind to β-lactam antibiotics with the first and the third motifs being more important.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the correlation between Streptococcus pneumoniae (S.pneumoniae) StkP kinase and drug resistance and to analyze the binding ability of StkP extracellular region (EC-StkP) to β-lactam antibiotics.Methods A stkP gene knockout (ΔstkP) mutant was constructed from S.pneumoniae strain ATCC6306 by insertional inactivation method.E-test was performed to detect the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of penicillin (PCN) and cefotaxime (CTX) against ΔstkP mutant and its wild-type strain.Bioinformatic softwares were used to predict the EC-StkP of S.pneumonia strain ATCC6306,to generate the three-dimensional structure model of EC-StkP and to analyze the correlation between the structure and functions of EC-StkP.PCR was performed to amplify the extracellular segment of stkP (EC-stkP) gene and the product of it was sequenced after T-A cloning.A prokaryotic expression system of EC-stkP gene was constructed.SDS-PAGE in combination with a gel image analysis system was used to detect the expression of the recombinant EC-StkP (EC-rStkP).The expressed EC-rStkP was extracted by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography.The binding abilities of EC-rStkP to PCN and CTX were detected by isothermal titration calorimetry (VT-ITC) and surface plasmon resonance (Biacore).Results S.pneumonia strain ATCC6306 was sensitive to PCN (MIC=0.06 μg/ml) and CTX (MIC=0.12 μg/ml),but its ΔstkP mutant was resistant to the two antibiotics (PCN MIC=16 μg/ml,CTX MIC=32 μg/ml).The 295 aa segment was predicted as the extracellular region at C-end of StkP of S.pneumoniae strain ATCC6306,containing four penicillin-binding proteins and Ser/Thr kinase-associated (PASTA) domains.The cloned EC-stkP segment and the EC-stkP segment in GenBank shared 99.6% similarity in nucleotide sequence and 100% in amino acid sequence.The constructed prokaryotic expression system for EC-stkP gene expressed EC-rStkP in soluble form.Both PCN and CTX could bind to EC-rStkP and CTX was better than PCN in term of binding ability.Conclusion The stkP gene of S.pneumonia is closely related to drug resistance and the encoded protein,Ser/Thr kinase StkP,can recognize and bind to β-lactam antibiotics.