The polyamine N-acetyltransferase-like enzyme PmvE plays a role in the virulence of Enterococcus faecalis.
We previously showed that the mutant strain of Enterococcus faecalis lacking the transcriptional regulator SlyA is more virulent than the parental strain. We hypothesized that this phenotype was due to overexpression of the second gene of the slyA operon, ef_3001, renamed pmvE (for polyamine metabolism and virulence of E. faecalis). PmvE shares strong homologies with N(1)-spermidine/spermine acetyltransferase enzymes involved in the metabolism of polyamines. In this study, we used an E. faecalis strain carrying the recombinant plasmid pMSP3535-pmvE (V19/p3535-pmvE), which allows the induction of pmvE by addition of nisin. Thereby, we showed that the overexpression of PmvE increased the virulence of E. faecalis in the Galleria mellonella infection model, as well as the persistence within peritoneal macrophages. We were also able to show a direct interaction between the His-tagged recombinant PmvE (rPmvE) protein and putrescine by the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique on a Biacore instrument. Moreover, biochemical assays showed that PmvE possesses an N-acetyltransferase activity toward polyamine substrates. Our results suggest that PmvE contributes to the virulence of E. faecalis, likely through its involvement in the polyamine metabolism.
Equipe Stress Virulence, Unité de Recherche Risques Microbiens (U2RM), Université de Caen, Caen, France Institute of Microbiology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Cecilia
C
Martini
Equipe Stress Virulence, Unité de Recherche Risques Microbiens (U2RM), Université de Caen, Caen, France.
Charlotte
C
Michaux
Institute of Microbiology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Francesca
F
Bugli
Institute of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Alessandro
A
Arcovito
Institute of Biochemistry and Clinical Biochemistry, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Federica
F
Iavarone
Institute of Microbiology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Margherita
M
Cacaci
Institute of Microbiology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Francesco
F
Paroni Sterbini
Equipe Stress Virulence, Unité de Recherche Risques Microbiens (U2RM), Université de Caen, Caen, France.
Axel
A
Hartke
Equipe Stress Virulence, Unité de Recherche Risques Microbiens (U2RM), Université de Caen, Caen, France.
Nicolas
N
Sauvageot
Institute of Microbiology, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Maurizio
M
Sanguinetti
Institute of Public Health, Catholic University of Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Brunella
B
Posteraro
Equipe Antibio-Résistance, Unité de Recherche Risques Microbiens (U2RM), Université de Caen, Caen, France jean-christophe.giard@unicaen.fr.
Jean-Christophe
JC
Giard
D000123:Acetyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D013293:Enterococcus faecalis / Q000254:growth & development*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007915:Lepidoptera; D011485:Protein Binding; D011700:Putrescine / Q000378:metabolism; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance; D014774:Virulence
D000123:Acetyltransferases; C030992:polyamine N-acetyltransferase; D011700:Putrescine