Family Report for: PE-PPE

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the most successful pathogen with multiple mechanisms to subvert host immune response resulting in insidious disease A unique Mycobacterium antigen family termed PPE Pro-Pro-Glu has long been widely speculated as molecular mantra to escape host immunity Members of this family are characterized by a conserved N terminal and a variable C terminal This family associated closely with ESAT-6(ESX secretion system and largely located in cell wall or cell membrane The expression of PPE protein is temporally regulated and highly expressed during M tuberculosis persistence Importantly the distribution of PPE family is so far limited to Mycobacterium genus prevalent among pathogenic Mycobacterium species It is tempting to explore this family due to its potential in the latency and reactivation of M tuberculosis The evolution structure and functions of most PPE proteins remain elusive The understanding of these questions will deepen our appreciation of the pathogenesis of M tuberculosis and accelerate novel anti-TB measures discovery.

The PE and PPE proteins first reported in the genome sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv are now identified in all mycobacterial species. The PE-PPE domain (Pfam ID: PF08237) is a 225 amino acid residue conserved region located towards the C-terminus of some PE and PPE proteins and hypothetical proteins. Our in-silico sequence analysis revealed that this domain is present in all Mycobacteria, some Rhodococcus and Nocardia farcinica genomes. This domain comprises a pentapeptide sequence motif GxSxG/S at the N-terminus and conserved amino acid residues Ser, Asp and His that constitute a catalytic triad characteristic of lipase, esterase and cutinase activity. The fold prediction and comparative modeling of the 3-D structure of the PE-PPE domain revealed a "serine alpha/beta hydrolase" structure with a central beta-sheet flanked by alpha-helices on either side. The structure comprises a lid insertion with a closed structure conformation and has a solvent inaccessible active site. The oxyanion hole that stabilizes the negative charge on the tetrahedral intermediate has been identified. Our findings add to the growing list of serine hydrolases in mycobacterium, which are essential for the maintenance of their impermeable cell wall and virulence. These results provide the directions for the design of experiments to establish the function of PE and PPE proteins.

Amino acid sequence analysis corresponding to the PPE proteins in H37Rv and CDC1551 strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes resulted in the identification of a previously uncharacterized 225 amino acid-residue common region in 22 proteins. The pairwise sequence identities were as low as 18%. Conservation of amino acid residues was observed at fifteen positions that were distributed over the whole length of the region. The secondary structure corresponding to this region is predicted to be a mixture of a-helices and b-strands. Although the function is not known, proteins with this region specific to mycobacterial species may be associated with a common function. We further observed another group of 20 PPE proteins corresponding to the conserved C-terminal region comprising 44 amino acid residues with GFxGT and PxxPxxW sequence motifs. This region is preceded by a hydrophobic region, comprising 40-100 amino acid residues, that is flanked by charged amino acid residues. Identification of conserved regions described above may be useful to detect related proteins from other genomes and assist the design of suitable experiments to test their corresponding functions. Amino acid sequence analysis corresponding to the PE proteins resulted in the identification of tandem repeats comprising 41-43 amino acid residues in the C-terminal variable regions in two PE proteins (Rv0978 and Rv0980). These correspond to the AB repeats that were first identified in some proteins of the Methanosarcina mazei genome, and were demonstrated as surface antigens. We observed the AB repeats also in several other proteins of hitherto uncharacterized function in Archaea and Bacteria genomes. Some of these proteins are also associated with another repeat called the C-repeat or the PKD-domain comprising 85 amino acid residues. The secondary structure corresponding to the AB repeat is predicted mainly as 4 b-strands. We suggest that proteins with AB repeats in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other genomes may be associated as surface antigens. The M. leprae genome, however, does not contain either the AB or C-repeats and different proteins may therefore be recruited as surface antigens in the M. leprae genome compared to the M. tuberculosis genome.

The distinctive PE and PPE families of proteins in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), the tuberculosis (TB) causing bacteria, have been associated primarily with antigenicity, immune-modulation and virulence. Earlier, using structure-based sequence annotation, we identified a 225 amino acid conserved PE-PPE domain (Pfam: PF08237) commonly present in some PE and PPE proteins which was observed to comprise alpha/beta-serine hydrolase fold. The prediction was supported by experimental validations of PE16 that was shown to exhibit esterase activity. In this study, we undertook the characterization of the probable operonic ORFs Rv0151c (pe1) and Rv0152c (pe2). Here we demonstrated that pe1 and pe2 are operonic in organization and are co-transcribed. Both PE1 and PE2 proteins possess esterase activity and hydrolyze short to medium chain p-nitrophenyl esters with more specific activity for p-nitrophenyl caproate (C6) with the optimal catalytic conditions of 37-38 degrees C and pH 7.0-8.0. The thermal denaturation temperature of PE1 and PE2 proteins were found to be 50 degrees C. The esterase activity of full length PE1, PE2 and their PE-PPE (alpha/beta-serine hydrolase) domains are similar indicating that the function of PE-PPE domain is independent of the rest of the protein. The esterase activity of these proteins was validated by mutagenesis of the active site Ser; using PE1 Ser246Ala and PE2 Ser163Ala mutants. With these experiments, we conclusively show that the co-transcribed pe1 and pe2 genes code for enzymes belonging to the esterase family of proteins.

The PE and PPE protein family are unique to mycobacteria. Though the complete genome sequences for over 500 M. tuberculosis strains and mycobacterial species are available, few PE and PPE proteins have been structurally and functionally characterized. We have therefore used bioinformatics tools to characterize the structure and function of these proteins. We selected representative members of the PE and PPE protein family by phylogeny analysis and using structure-based sequence annotation identified ten well-characterized protein domains of known function. Some of these domains were observed to be common to all mycobacterial species and some were species specific.

Trehalose glycolipids are found in many bacteria in the suborder Corynebacterineae, but methyl-branched acyltrehaloses are exclusive to virulent species such as the human pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In M. tuberculosis, the acyltransferase PapA3 catalyzes the formation of diacyltrehalose (DAT), but the enzymes responsible for downstream reactions leading to the final product, polyacyltrehalose (PAT), have not been identified. The PAT biosynthetic gene locus is similar to that of another trehalose glycolipid, sulfolipid 1. Recently, Chp1 was characterized as the terminal acyltransferase in sulfolipid 1 biosynthesis. Here we provide evidence that the homologue Chp2 (Rv1184c) is essential for the final steps of PAT biosynthesis. Disruption of chp2 led to the loss of PAT and a novel tetraacyltrehalose species, TetraAT, as well as the accumulation of DAT, implicating Chp2 as an acyltransferase downstream of PapA3. Disruption of the putative lipid transporter MmpL10 resulted in a similar phenotype. Chp2 activity thus appears to be regulated by MmpL10 in a relationship similar to that between Chp1 and MmpL8 in sulfolipid 1 biosynthesis. Chp2 is localized to the cell envelope fraction, consistent with its role in DAT modification and possible regulatory interactions with MmpL10. Labeling of purified Chp2 by an activity-based probe was dependent on the presence of the predicted catalytic residue Ser141 and was inhibited by the lipase inhibitor tetrahydrolipstatin (THL). THL treatment of M. tuberculosis resulted in selective inhibition of Chp2 over PapA3, confirming Chp2 as a member of the serine hydrolase superfamily. Efforts to produce in vitro reconstitution of acyltransferase activity using straight-chain analogues were unsuccessful, suggesting that Chp2 has specificity for native methyl-branched substrates.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the most successful pathogen with multiple mechanisms to subvert host immune response resulting in insidious disease A unique Mycobacterium antigen family termed PPE Pro-Pro-Glu has long been widely speculated as molecular mantra to escape host immunity Members of this family are characterized by a conserved N terminal and a variable C terminal This family associated closely with ESAT-6(ESX secretion system and largely located in cell wall or cell membrane The expression of PPE protein is temporally regulated and highly expressed during M tuberculosis persistence Importantly the distribution of PPE family is so far limited to Mycobacterium genus prevalent among pathogenic Mycobacterium species It is tempting to explore this family due to its potential in the latency and reactivation of M tuberculosis The evolution structure and functions of most PPE proteins remain elusive The understanding of these questions will deepen our appreciation of the pathogenesis of M tuberculosis and accelerate novel anti-TB measures discovery.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis possesses unique cell-surface lipids that have been implicated in virulence. One of the most abundant is sulfolipid-1 (SL-1), a tetraacyl-sulfotrehalose glycolipid. Although the early steps in SL-1 biosynthesis are known, the machinery underlying the final acylation reactions is not understood. We provide genetic and biochemical evidence for the activities of two proteins, Chp1 and Sap (corresponding to gene loci rv3822 and rv3821), that complete this pathway. The membrane-associated acyltransferase Chp1 accepts a synthetic diacyl sulfolipid and transfers an acyl group regioselectively from one donor substrate molecule to a second acceptor molecule in two successive reactions to yield a tetraacylated product. Chp1 is fully active in vitro, but in M. tuberculosis, its function is potentiated by the previously identified sulfolipid transporter MmpL8. We also show that the integral membrane protein Sap and MmpL8 are both essential for sulfolipid transport. Finally, the lipase inhibitor tetrahydrolipstatin disrupts Chp1 activity in M. tuberculosis, suggesting an avenue for perturbing SL-1 biosynthesis in vivo. These data complete the SL-1 biosynthetic pathway and corroborate a model in which lipid biosynthesis and transmembrane transport are coupled at the membrane-cytosol interface through the activity of multiple proteins, possibly as a macromolecular complex.

The PE and PPE proteins first reported in the genome sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain H37Rv are now identified in all mycobacterial species. The PE-PPE domain (Pfam ID: PF08237) is a 225 amino acid residue conserved region located towards the C-terminus of some PE and PPE proteins and hypothetical proteins. Our in-silico sequence analysis revealed that this domain is present in all Mycobacteria, some Rhodococcus and Nocardia farcinica genomes. This domain comprises a pentapeptide sequence motif GxSxG/S at the N-terminus and conserved amino acid residues Ser, Asp and His that constitute a catalytic triad characteristic of lipase, esterase and cutinase activity. The fold prediction and comparative modeling of the 3-D structure of the PE-PPE domain revealed a "serine alpha/beta hydrolase" structure with a central beta-sheet flanked by alpha-helices on either side. The structure comprises a lid insertion with a closed structure conformation and has a solvent inaccessible active site. The oxyanion hole that stabilizes the negative charge on the tetrahedral intermediate has been identified. Our findings add to the growing list of serine hydrolases in mycobacterium, which are essential for the maintenance of their impermeable cell wall and virulence. These results provide the directions for the design of experiments to establish the function of PE and PPE proteins.

Amino acid sequence analysis corresponding to the PPE proteins in H37Rv and CDC1551 strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes resulted in the identification of a previously uncharacterized 225 amino acid-residue common region in 22 proteins. The pairwise sequence identities were as low as 18%. Conservation of amino acid residues was observed at fifteen positions that were distributed over the whole length of the region. The secondary structure corresponding to this region is predicted to be a mixture of a-helices and b-strands. Although the function is not known, proteins with this region specific to mycobacterial species may be associated with a common function. We further observed another group of 20 PPE proteins corresponding to the conserved C-terminal region comprising 44 amino acid residues with GFxGT and PxxPxxW sequence motifs. This region is preceded by a hydrophobic region, comprising 40-100 amino acid residues, that is flanked by charged amino acid residues. Identification of conserved regions described above may be useful to detect related proteins from other genomes and assist the design of suitable experiments to test their corresponding functions. Amino acid sequence analysis corresponding to the PE proteins resulted in the identification of tandem repeats comprising 41-43 amino acid residues in the C-terminal variable regions in two PE proteins (Rv0978 and Rv0980). These correspond to the AB repeats that were first identified in some proteins of the Methanosarcina mazei genome, and were demonstrated as surface antigens. We observed the AB repeats also in several other proteins of hitherto uncharacterized function in Archaea and Bacteria genomes. Some of these proteins are also associated with another repeat called the C-repeat or the PKD-domain comprising 85 amino acid residues. The secondary structure corresponding to the AB repeat is predicted mainly as 4 b-strands. We suggest that proteins with AB repeats in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other genomes may be associated as surface antigens. The M. leprae genome, however, does not contain either the AB or C-repeats and different proteins may therefore be recruited as surface antigens in the M. leprae genome compared to the M. tuberculosis genome.