ClpP participates in stress tolerance, biofilm formation, antimicrobial tolerance, and virulence of Enterococcus faecalis

• Published in: BMC microbiology Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 30 - 18
• Main Authors: Zheng, Jinxin, Wu, Yang, Lin, Zhiwei, Wang, Guangfu, Jiang, Sibo, Sun, Xiang, Tu, Haopeng, Yu, Zhijian, Qu, Di
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 07.02.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Abundance; Adapters; Adenosine triphosphatase; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial tolerance; Bacteria; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Biofilm formation; Biofilms; Blood proteins; Cellular proteins; Clonal deletion; ClpP; Control systems; Deletion mutant; Dihydroorotase; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; Endopeptidase Clp - genetics; Endopeptidase Clp - metabolism; Enterococcus; Enterococcus faecalis; Enterococcus faecalis - pathogenicity; Enterococcus faecalis - physiology; Esterase; Experiments; Gelatinase; Gene Deletion; Gene mutation; Genetic aspects; Growth; High temperature; Hydrogen peroxide; Linezolid; Linezolid - pharmacology; Lipase; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; MecA protein; Minocycline; Minocycline - pharmacology; Mutants; Mutation; Nosocomial infections; Orotate phosphoribosyltransferase; Oxidative stress; Phosphates; Phosphoribosyltransferase; Physiological aspects; Proteins; Proteomics; Proteomics - methods; Quality control; Ribosomal protein L13; Ribosomal protein L4; Ribosomal protein L7; Ribosomal protein S14; Sodium chloride; Spectroscopy; Staphylococcus infections; Strain; Streptococcus infections; Stress response; Stress tolerance; Stress, Physiological; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Transcription; Virulence; United States; Enterococcus faecalis; Antimicrobial tolerance; ClpP; Biofilm formation; Stress tolerance; Virulence
• ISSN: 1471-2180; 1471-2180
• DOI: 10.1186/s12866-020-1719-9

ClpP is important for bacterial growth and plays an indispensable role in cellular protein quality control systems by refolding or degrading damaged proteins, but the physiological significance of ClpP in Enterococcus faecalis remains obscure. A clpP deletion mutant (△clpP) was constructed using the E. faecalis OG1RF strain to clarify the effect of ClpP on E. faecalis. The global abundance of proteins was determined by a mass spectrometer with tandem mass tag labeling. The ΔclpP mutant strain showed impaired growth at 20 °C or 45 °C at 5% NaCl or 2 mM H O . The number of surviving ΔclpP mutants decreased after exposure to the high concentration (50× minimal inhibitory concentration) of linezolid or minocycline for 96 h. The ΔclpP mutant strain also demonstrated decreased biofilm formation but increased virulence in a Galleria mellonella model. The mass spectrometry proteomics data indicated that the abundances of 135 proteins changed (111 increased, 24 decreased) in the ΔclpP mutant strain. Among those, the abundances of stress response or virulence relating proteins: FsrA response regulator, gelatinase GelE, regulatory protein Spx (spxA), heat-inducible transcription repressor HrcA, transcriptional regulator CtsR, ATPase/chaperone ClpC, acetyl esterase/lipase, and chaperonin GroEL increased in the ΔclpP mutant strain; however, the abundances of ribosomal protein L4/L1 family protein (rplD), ribosomal protein L7/L12 (rplL2), 50S ribosomal protein L13 (rplM), L18 (rplR), L20 (rplT), 30S ribosomal protein S14 (rpsN2) and S18 (rpsR) all decreased. The abundances of biofilm formation-related adapter protein MecA increased, while the abundances of dihydroorotase (pyrC), orotate phosphoribosyltransferase (pyrE), and orotidine-5'-phosphate decarboxylase (pyrF) all decreased in the ΔclpP mutant strain. The present study demonstrates that ClpP participates in stress tolerance, biofilm formation, antimicrobial tolerance, and virulence of E. faecalis.