We isolated an Escherichia coli mutant strain that suppresses the glycolate-negative phenotype of a strain deficient in both GlcA and LldP transporters of this compound. This suppressing phenotype was assigned to yjcG, a gene whose function was previously unknown, which was found to encode a membrane protein able to transport glycolate. On the basis of sequence similarity, the yjcG gene product was classified as a member of the sodium:solute symporter family. Northern experiments revealed that yjcG is cotranscribed with its neighbor, acs, encoding acetyl coenzyme A synthetase, which is involved in the scavenging acetate. The fortuitous presence of an IS2 element in acs, which impaired yjcG expression by polarity in our parental strain, allowed us to conclude that the alternative glycolate carrier became active after precise excision of IS2 in the suppressed strain. The finding that yjcG encodes a putative membrane carrier for glycolate and the cotranscription of yjcG with acs suggested that the primary function of the yjcG gene product (proposed gene name, actP) could be acetate transport and allowed us to define an operon involved in acetate metabolism. The time course of [1,2-14 C]acetate uptake and the results of a concentration kinetics analysis performed with cells expressing ActP or cells deficient in ActP supported the the hypothesis that this carrier is an acetate transporter and suggested that there may be another transport system for this monocarboxylate.

The gastrointestinal epithelial layer forms a physical and biochemical barrier that maintains the segregation between host and intestinal microbiota. The integrity of this barrier is critical in maintaining homeostasis in the body and its dysfunction is linked to a variety of illnesses, especially inflammatory bowel disease. Gut microbes, and particularly probiotic bacteria, modulate the barrier integrity by reducing gut permeability and reinforcing tight junctions. Probiotic Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) is a good colonizer of the human gut with proven therapeutic efficacy in the remission of ulcerative colitis in humans. EcN positively modulates the intestinal epithelial barrier through upregulation and redistribution of the tight junction proteins ZO-1, ZO-2 and claudin-14. Upregulation of claudin-14 has been attributed to the secreted protein TcpC. Whether regulation of ZO-1 and ZO-2 is mediated by EcN secreted factors remains unknown. The aim of this study was to explore whether outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) released by EcN strengthen the epithelial barrier. This study includes other E. coli strains of human intestinal origin that contain the tcpC gene, such as ECOR63. Cell-free supernatants collected from the wild-type strains and from the derived tcpC mutants were fractionated into isolated OMVs and soluble secreted factors. The impact of these extracellular fractions on the epithelial barrier was evaluated by measuring transepithelial resistance and expression of several tight junction proteins in T-84 and Caco-2 polarized monolayers. Our results show that the strengthening activity of EcN and ECOR63 does not exclusively depend on TcpC. Both OMVs and soluble factors secreted by these strains promote upregulation of ZO-1 and claudin-14, and down-regulation of claudin-2. The OMVs-mediated effects are TcpC-independent. Soluble secreted TcpC contributes to the upregulation of ZO-1 and claudin-14, but this protein has no effect on the transcriptional regulation of claudin-2. Thus, in addition to OMVs and TcpC, other active factors released by these microbiota strains contribute to the reinforcement of the epithelial barrier.

The FucO protein, a member of the group III "iron-activated" dehydrogenases, catalyzes the interconversion between L-lactaldehyde and L-1,2-propanediol in Escherichia coli. The three-dimensional structure of FucO in a complex with NAD ؉ was solved, and the presence of iron in the crystals was confirmed by X-ray fluorescence. The FucO structure presented here is the first structure for a member of the group III bacterial dehydrogenases shown experimentally to contain iron. FucO forms a dimer, in which each monomer folds into an ␣/␤ dinucleotide-binding N-terminal domain and an all-␣-helix C-terminal domain that are separated by a deep cleft. The dimer is formed by the swapping (between monomers) of the first chain of the ␤-sheet. The binding site for Fe 2؉ is located at the face of the cleft formed by the C-terminal domain, where the metal ion is tetrahedrally coordinated by three histidine residues (His200, His263, and His277) and an aspartate residue (Asp196). The glycine-rich turn formed by residues 96 to 98 and the following ␣-helix is part of the NAD ؉ recognition locus common in dehydrogenases. Site-directed mutagenesis and enzyme kinetic assays were performed to assess the role of different residues in metal, cofactor, and substrate binding. In contrast to previous assumptions, the essential His267 residue does not interact with the metal ion. Asp39 appears to be the key residue for discriminating against NADP ؉ . Modeling L-1,2-propanediol in the active center resulted in a close approach of the C-1 hydroxyl of the substrate to C-4 of the nicotinamide ring, implying that there is a typical metal-dependent dehydrogenation catalytic mechanism.In Escherichia coli and other enterobacteria the anaerobic metabolism of L-fucose and L-rhamnose requires the enzyme lactaldehyde:propanediol oxidoreductase (FucO), which is encoded by the fucO gene of the fucose regulon (6,14,16,24,32). The breakdown of these methylpentoses generates the intermediate metabolite L-lactaldehyde, which under anaerobic conditions, with NADH as a cofactor, is reduced by FucO to L-1,2-propanediol, which is excreted as a fermentation product (14). In mutant strains of E. coli adapted to grow on L-1,2-propanediol, FucO catalyzes the oxidation of the polyol to L-lactaldehyde, which is subsequently oxidized to L-lactate by a specific aldehyde dehydrogenase (41) and introduced into the general metabolism. FucO, which is induced regardless of the respiratory conditions of the culture, remains fully active in the absence of oxygen (11). In the presence of oxygen, this enzyme becomes oxidatively inactivated by a metal-catalyzed oxidation mechanism (10).FucO is an iron-dependent metalloenzyme that is inactivated by other metals, such as zinc, copper, or cadmium (40), and has been reported to be a homodimer formed by monomers consisting of 383 amino acids and having a molecular mass of 40,644 Da. The iron in the active center accounts for the oxidative inactivation of FucO mentioned above (10). A putative iron-binding motif encompassing a 15-amino-ac...

The locus glc (min 64.5), associated with the glycolate utilization trait in Escherichia coli, is known to contain glcB, encoding malate synthase G, and the gene(s) needed for glycolate oxidase activity. Subcloning, sequencing, insertion mutagenesis, and expression studies showed five additional genes: glcC and in the other direction glcD, glcE, glcF, and glcG followed by glcB. The gene glcC may encode the glc regulator protein. Consistently a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase insertion mutation abolished both glycolate oxidase and malate synthase G activities. The proteins encoded from glcD and glcE displayed similarity to several flavoenzymes, the one from glcF was found to be similar to iron-sulfur proteins, and that from glcG had no significant similarity to any group of proteins. The insertional mutation by a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase cassette in either glcD, glcE, or glcF abolished glycolate oxidase activity, indicating that presumably these proteins are subunits of this enzyme. No effect on glycolate metabolism was detected by insertional mutation in glcG. Northern (RNA) blot experiments showed constitutive expression of glcC but induced expression for the structural genes and provided no evidence for a single polycistronic transcript.

Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) is a probiotic strain with proven efficacy in inducing and maintaining remission of ulcerative colitis. However, the microbial factors that mediate these beneficial effects are not fully known. Gram-negative bacteria release outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) as a direct pathway for delivering selected bacterial proteins and active compounds to the host. In fact, vesicles released by gut microbiota are emerging as key players in signaling processes in the intestinal mucosa. In the present study, the dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model was used to investigate the potential of EcN OMVs to ameliorate mucosal injury and inflammation in the gut. The experimental protocol involved pre-treatment with OMVs for 10 days before DSS intake, and a 5-day recovery period. Oral administration of purified EcN OMVs (5 μg/day) significantly reduced DSS-induced weight loss and ameliorated clinical symptoms and histological scores. OMVs treatment counteracted altered expression of cytokines and markers of intestinal barrier function. This study shows for the first time that EcN OMVs can mediate the anti-inflammatory and barrier protection effects previously reported for this probiotic in experimental colitis. Remarkably, translation of probiotics to human healthcare requires knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in probiotic–host interactions. Thus, OMVs, as a non-replicative bacterial form, could be explored as a new probiotic-derived therapeutic approach, with even lower risk of adverse events than probiotic administration.