The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis
The mobile genetic element ICEBs1 is an integrative and conjugative element (ICE) found in Bacillus subtilis. One of the ICEBs1 genes, cwlT, encodes a cell wall hydrolase with two catalytic domains, a muramidase and a peptidase. We found that cwlT is required for ICEBs1 conjugation. We examined the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Society for Microbiology
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98082 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8235-7227 |
| _version_ | 1811071707105984512 |
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| author | DeWitt, Tyler Grossman, Alan Davis |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology DeWitt, Tyler Grossman, Alan Davis |
| author_sort | DeWitt, Tyler |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The mobile genetic element ICEBs1 is an integrative and conjugative element (ICE) found in Bacillus subtilis. One of the ICEBs1 genes, cwlT, encodes a cell wall hydrolase with two catalytic domains, a muramidase and a peptidase. We found that cwlT is required for ICEBs1 conjugation. We examined the role of each of the two catalytic domains and found that the muramidase is essential, whereas the peptidase is partially dispensable for transfer of ICEBs1. We also found that the putative signal peptide in CwlT is required for CwlT to function in conjugation, consistent with the notion that CwlT is normally secreted from the cytoplasm. We found that alteration of the putative lipid attachment site on CwlT had no effect on its role in conjugation, indicating that if CwlT is a lipoprotein, the lipid attachment is not required for conjugation. Finally, we found conditions supporting efficient transfer of ICEBs1 into and out of Bacillus anthracis and that cwlT was needed for ICEBs1 to function in B. anthracis. The mature cell wall of B. anthracis is resistant to digestion by CwlT, indicating that CwlT might act during cell wall synthesis, before modifications of the peptidoglycan are complete. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:55:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/98082 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:55:13Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | American Society for Microbiology |
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| spelling | mit-1721.1/980822022-09-26T09:10:39Z The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis DeWitt, Tyler Grossman, Alan Davis Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology Grossman, Alan D. DeWitt, Tyler Grossman, Alan D. The mobile genetic element ICEBs1 is an integrative and conjugative element (ICE) found in Bacillus subtilis. One of the ICEBs1 genes, cwlT, encodes a cell wall hydrolase with two catalytic domains, a muramidase and a peptidase. We found that cwlT is required for ICEBs1 conjugation. We examined the role of each of the two catalytic domains and found that the muramidase is essential, whereas the peptidase is partially dispensable for transfer of ICEBs1. We also found that the putative signal peptide in CwlT is required for CwlT to function in conjugation, consistent with the notion that CwlT is normally secreted from the cytoplasm. We found that alteration of the putative lipid attachment site on CwlT had no effect on its role in conjugation, indicating that if CwlT is a lipoprotein, the lipid attachment is not required for conjugation. Finally, we found conditions supporting efficient transfer of ICEBs1 into and out of Bacillus anthracis and that cwlT was needed for ICEBs1 to function in B. anthracis. The mature cell wall of B. anthracis is resistant to digestion by CwlT, indicating that CwlT might act during cell wall synthesis, before modifications of the peptidoglycan are complete. National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship (Grant 1122374) National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (Award R01GM050895) 2015-08-13T19:54:19Z 2015-08-13T19:54:19Z 2014-02 2014-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0021-9193 1098-5530 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98082 DeWitt, T., and A. D. Grossman. “The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus Subtilis and B. Anthracis.” Journal of Bacteriology 196, no. 8 (February 14, 2014): 1588–1596. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8235-7227 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/jb.00012-14 Journal of Bacteriology Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf American Society for Microbiology Grossman via Courtney Crummett |
| spellingShingle | DeWitt, Tyler Grossman, Alan Davis The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis |
| title | The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis |
| title_full | The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis |
| title_fullStr | The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis |
| title_short | The Bifunctional Cell Wall Hydrolase CwlT Is Needed for Conjugation of the Integrative and Conjugative Element ICEBs1 in Bacillus subtilis and B. anthracis |
| title_sort | bifunctional cell wall hydrolase cwlt is needed for conjugation of the integrative and conjugative element icebs1 in bacillus subtilis and b anthracis |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98082 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8235-7227 |
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