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Increased Bacterial Hemolytic Activity is Conferred by Expression of TlyA Methyltransferase but not by its 2′-O-methylation of the Ribosome

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Abstract

Bacterial 2′-O-methyltransferase TlyA methylates either both nucleotide C1409 of 16S rRNA and C1920 of 23S rRNA or only the C1920. Both ribosomal methylations increase bacterial susceptibility to ribosome-targeting antibiotics capreomycin and viomycin. However, TlyA has been suggested to also function as a hemolysin. Here, heterologous expression of TlyA from six diverse bacteria (including Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. smegmatis) was found to increase hemolytic ability in the Escherichia coli host. Characterizing E. coli strains expressing mycobacterial TlyA with mutated rRNA recognition domain and impaired rRNA methylations showed that the abolished C1409 methylation altogether with significantly reduced C1920 methylation did not affect E. coli hemolytic activity. Thus, the increased bacterial hemolytic function is not likely a consequence of TlyA-mediated methylations of the ribosome. Purified water-soluble TlyA showed a weak concentration-dependent hemolysis in vitro. Therefore, the TlyA isoform alone is not a potent hemolysin. The results suggested that the bacterial hemolytic function might relate to the over-expression of TlyA and its interaction to other non-ribosomal target that is associated with the hemolytic ability.

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Abbreviations

SAM:

S-Adenosyl-methionine

MIC:

Minimum inhibitory concentration

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks Dr. Stephen Douthwaite for the E. coli strains and Dr. Robert Butcher for English proofreading and critical reading. This study was supported by the Thailand Research Fund (Grant MRG 5480109 to T.M.) and the Ratchadapisek Somphot Project of Chulalongkorn University.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phayathai Road, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Tanakarn Monshupanee

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Correspondence to Tanakarn Monshupanee.

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Monshupanee, T. Increased Bacterial Hemolytic Activity is Conferred by Expression of TlyA Methyltransferase but not by its 2′-O-methylation of the Ribosome. Curr Microbiol 67, 61–68 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-013-0332-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-013-0332-7

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