The prototypical proton-coupled oligopeptide transporter YdgR from Escherichia coli facilitates chloramphenicol uptake into bacterial cells

TY - JOUR

T1 - The prototypical proton-coupled oligopeptide transporter YdgR from Escherichia coli facilitates chloramphenicol uptake into bacterial cells

AU - Prabhala, Bala K

AU - Aduri, Nanda G

AU - Sharma, Neha

AU - Shaheen, Aqsa

AU - Sharma, Arpan

AU - Iqbal, Mazhar

AU - Hansen, Paul R

AU - Brasen, Christoffer

AU - Gajhede, Michael

AU - Rahman, Moazur

AU - Mirza, Osman

N1 - Copyright © 2017, The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

PY - 2018/1/19

Y1 - 2018/1/19

N2 - Chloramphenicol (Cam) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to combat bacterial infections in humans and animals. Cam export from bacterial cells is one of the mechanisms by which pathogens resist Cam’s antibacterial effects, and several different proteins are known to facilitate this process. However, to date no report exists on any specific transport protein that facilitates Cam uptake. The proton-coupled oligopeptide transporter (POT) YdgR from Escherichia coli is a prototypical member of the POT family, functioning in proton-coupled uptake of di- and tripeptides. By following bacterial growth and conducting LC-MS– based assays we show here that YdgR facilitates Cam uptake. Some YdgR variants displaying reduced peptide uptake also exhibited reduced Cam uptake, indicating that peptides and Cam bind YdgR at similar regions. Homology modeling of YdgR, Cam docking, and mutational studies suggested a binding mode that resembles that of Cam binding to the multidrug resistance transporter MdfA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Cam uptake into bacterial cells mediated by a specific transporter protein. Our findings suggest a specific bacterial transporter for drug uptake that might be targeted to promote greater antibiotic influx to increase cytoplasmic antibiotic concentration for enhanced cytotoxicity.

AB - Chloramphenicol (Cam) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to combat bacterial infections in humans and animals. Cam export from bacterial cells is one of the mechanisms by which pathogens resist Cam’s antibacterial effects, and several different proteins are known to facilitate this process. However, to date no report exists on any specific transport protein that facilitates Cam uptake. The proton-coupled oligopeptide transporter (POT) YdgR from Escherichia coli is a prototypical member of the POT family, functioning in proton-coupled uptake of di- and tripeptides. By following bacterial growth and conducting LC-MS– based assays we show here that YdgR facilitates Cam uptake. Some YdgR variants displaying reduced peptide uptake also exhibited reduced Cam uptake, indicating that peptides and Cam bind YdgR at similar regions. Homology modeling of YdgR, Cam docking, and mutational studies suggested a binding mode that resembles that of Cam binding to the multidrug resistance transporter MdfA. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Cam uptake into bacterial cells mediated by a specific transporter protein. Our findings suggest a specific bacterial transporter for drug uptake that might be targeted to promote greater antibiotic influx to increase cytoplasmic antibiotic concentration for enhanced cytotoxicity.

KW - Journal Article

U2 - 10.1074/jbc.m117.805960

DO - 10.1074/jbc.m117.805960

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29150447

SN - 0021-9258

VL - 293

SP - 1007

EP - 1017

JO - Journal of Biological Chemistry

JF - Journal of Biological Chemistry

ER -