Expression of Vibrio vulnificus insulin-degrading enzyme is regulated by the cAMP-CRP complex.

Components of the bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) : carbohydrate phosphortransferase system (PTS) have multiple regulatory roles in addition to PEP-dependent transport/phosphorylation of numerous carbohydrates. We have recently shown that, in an opportunistic human pathogen, Vibrio vulnificus, enzyme IIA(Glc) (EIIA(Glc)) interacts with a peptidase that has high sequence similarity to mammalian insulin-degrading enzymes, called Vibrio insulin-degrading enzyme (vIDE). Although the vIDE-EIIA(Glc) interaction is independent of the phosphorylation state of EIIA(Glc), vIDE shows no peptidase activity unless complexed with the unphosphorylated form of EIIA(Glc). A deletion mutant of ideV, the gene encoding vIDE, shows remarkably lower degrees of survival and virulence than the wild-type strain in mice, implying that vIDE is a virulence factor. In this study, we investigated regulation of ideV expression at the transcriptional level. Primer extension analysis identified two different transcriptional start sites of ideV: P(L) for the longer transcript and P(S) for the shorter transcript. We performed ligand fishing experiments by using the promoter region of ideV and found that the cAMP receptor protein (CRP) specifically binds to the promoter. DNase I footprinting experiments revealed that CRP binds to a region between the two promoters. In vitro transcription assays showed that CRP activates ideV P(S) transcription in the presence of cAMP whose concentration is regulated by EIIA(Glc). These results suggest that EIIA(Glc) regulates the expression level of vIDE as well as its activity.

A mammalian insulysin homolog is regulated by enzyme IIA(Glc) of the glucose transport system in Vibrio vulnificus.

Vibrio vulnificus is an opportunistic human pathogen that causes severe infections in susceptible individuals. While the components of the Escherichia coli phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) have been shown to regulate numerous targets, little such information is available for the V. vulnificus PTS. Here we show that enzyme IIA(Glc) of the PTS regulates the peptidase activity of a mammalian insulysin homolog in V. vulnificus. While interaction of IIA(Glc) with the insulysin homolog is independent of the phosphorylation state of IIA(Glc), only unphosphorylated IIA(Glc) activates the insulysin homolog. Taken together, our results suggest that the V. vulnificus insulysin-IIA(Glc) complex plays a role in survival in the host by sensing glucose.

Increased [PSI+] appearance by fusion of Rnq1 with the prion domain of Sup35 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

During propagation, yeast prions show a strict sequence preference that confers the specificity of prion assembly. Although propagations of [PSI(+)] and [RNQ(+)] are independent of each other, the appearance of [PSI(+)] is facilitated by the presence of [RNQ(+)]. To explain the [RNQ(+)] effect on the appearance of [PSI(+)], the cross-seeding model was suggested, in which Rnq1 aggregates act as imperfect templates for Sup35 aggregation. If cross-seeding events take place in the cytoplasm of yeast cells, the collision frequency between Rnq1 aggregates and Sup35 will affect the appearance of [PSI(+)]. In this study, to address whether cross-seeding occurs in vivo, a new [PSI(+)] induction method was developed that exploits a protein fusion between the prion domain of Sup35 (NM) and Rnq1. This fusion protein successfully joins preexisting Rnq1 aggregates, which should result in the localization of NM around the Rnq1 aggregates and hence in an increased collision frequency between NM and Rnq1 aggregates. The appearance of [PSI(+)] could be induced very efficiently, even with a low expression level of the fusion protein. This study supports the occurrence of in vivo cross-seeding between Sup35 and Rnq1 and provides a new tool that can be used to dissect the mechanism of the de novo appearance of prions.