title: Structural and functional analysis of Bacillus subtilis YisP reveals a role of its product in biofilm production.
abstract: YisP is involved in biofilm formation in Bacillus subtilis and has been predicted to produce C30 isoprenoids. We determined the structure of YisP and observed that it adopts the same fold as squalene and dehydrosqualene synthases. However, the first aspartate-rich motif found in essentially all isoprenoid synthases is aspartate poor in YisP and cannot catalyze head-to-head condensation reactions. We find that YisP acts as a phosphatase, catalyzing formation of farnesol from farnesyl diphosphate, and that it is the first phosphatase to adopt the fold seen in the head-to-head prenyl synthases. Farnesol restores biofilm formation in a Δyisp mutant and modifies lipid membrane structure similarly to the virulence factor staphyloxanthin. This work clarifies the role of YisP in biofilm formation and suggests an intriguing possibility that many of the YisP-like homologs found in other bacteria may also have interesting products and functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Industrial Enzymes National Engineering Lab, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin 300308, China.
authors.forename: Yumei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Industrial Enzymes National Engineering Lab, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin 300308, China.
authors.forename: Yingying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Industrial Enzymes National Engineering Lab, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin 300308, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Hsiang
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Tzu-Ping
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Industrial Enzymes National Engineering Lab, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin 300308, China.
authors.forename: Feifei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Industrial Enzymes National Engineering Lab, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin 300308, China.
authors.forename: Hsiu-Chien
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.affiliation: Interfaculty Institute for Microbiology and Infection Medicine Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany.
authors.forename: Mulugeta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nega
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bogue
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: López
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kolter
authors.affiliation: Interfaculty Institute for Microbiology and Infection Medicine Tübingen, University of Tübingen, Tübingen 72076, Germany.
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Götz
authors.affiliation: Industrial Enzymes National Engineering Lab, Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Tianjin 300308, China. Electronic address: guo_rt@tib.cas.cn.
authors.forename: Rey-Ting
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Electronic address: eo@chad.scs.uiuc.edu.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oldfield
mesh_terms: D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000502:physiology*; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018441:Biofilms / Q000254:growth & development; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008051:Lipid Bilayers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D037521:Virulence Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D024341:Xanthophylls / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D008051:Lipid Bilayers; D037521:Virulence Factors; D024341:Xanthophylls; C031841:staphyloxanthin; D019883:Alkyl and Aryl Transferases