To survive and proliferate in the absence of oxygen, many enteric pathogens can undergo anaerobic respiration within the host by using nitrate (NO3-) as an electron acceptor(1,2). In these bacteria, NO3- is typically reduced by a nitrate reductase to nitrite (NO2-), a toxic intermediate that is further reduced by a nitrite reductase(3). However, Vibrio cholerae, the intestinal pathogen that causes cholera, lacks a nitrite reductase, leading to NO2- accumulation during nitrate reduction 4(.) Thus, V. cholerae is thought to be unable to undergo NO3-(-)dependent anaerobic respiration(4). Here, we show that during hypoxic growth, NO3- reduction in V. cholerae divergently affects bacterial fitness in a manner dependent on environmental pH. Remarkably, in alkaline conditions, V. cholerae can reduce NO3- to support population growth. Conversely, in acidic conditions, accumulation of NO2- from NO3- reduction simultaneously limits population expansion and preserves cell viability by lowering fermentative acid production. Interestingly, other bacterial species such as Salmonella typhimurium, enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) and Citrobacter rodentium also reproduced this pH-dependent response, suggesting that this mechanism might be conserved within enteric pathogens. Our findings explain how a bacterial pathogen can use a single redox reaction to divergently regulate population expansion depending on the fluctuating environmental pH.

Bacteria face tough competition in polymicrobial communities. To persist in a specific niche, many species produce toxic extracellular effectors to interfere with the growth of nearby microbes. These effectors include the recently reported non-canonical D-amino acids (NCDAAs). In Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, NCDAAs control cell wall integrity in stationary phase. Here, an analysis of the composition of the extracellular medium of V. cholerae revealed the unprecedented presence of D-Arg. Compared with other D-amino acids, D-Arg displayed higher potency and broader toxicity in terms of the number of bacterial species affected. Tolerance to D-Arg was associated with mutations in the phosphate transport and chaperone systems, whereas D-Met lethality was suppressed by mutations in cell wall determinants. These observations suggest that NCDAAs target different cellular processes. Finally, even though virtually all Vibrio species are tolerant to D-Arg, only a few can produce this D-amino acid. Indeed, we demonstrate that D-Arg may function as part of a cooperative strategy in vibrio communities to protect non-producing members from competing bacteria. Because NCDAA production is widespread in bacteria, we anticipate that D-Arg is a relevant modulator of microbial subpopulations in diverse ecosystems.

Bacterial cells are surrounded by an exoskeleton-like structure, the cell wall, composed primarily of the peptidoglycan (PG) sacculus. This structure is made up of glycan strands cross-linked by short peptides generating a covalent mesh that shapes bacteria and prevents their lysis due to their high internal osmotic pressure. Even though the PG is virtually universal in bacteria, there is a notable degree of diversity in its chemical structure. Modifications in both the sugars and peptides are known to be instrumental for bacteria to cope with diverse environmental challenges. In this review, we summarize and discuss the cell wall strategies to withstand biotic and abiotic environmental insults such as the effect of antibiotics targeting cell wall enzymes, predatory PG hydrolytic proteins, and PG signaling systems. Finally we will discuss the opportunities that species-specific PG variability might open to develop antimicrobial therapies.

The present work integrates network analysis with chromatography and proposes a novel analytical procedure to classify the bacterial cell wall collection. The network analysis model can capture the heterogeneity present in the datasets and hence can provide unsupervised classification. The proposed approach is successfully applied for classifying the peptidoglycan samples of certain bacterial collections belonging to the class of Alphaproteobacteria. The obtained classification results are found to correlate well with their relative similarity in the peptidoglycan compositions. In summary, the proposed network analysis approach can be helpful in automatizing the bacterial cell wall analysis. The proposed approach can be useful to accelerate the research related to understanding the morphology of bacterial cell walls, host-pathogen interaction and development of effective antibiotics.

In the environment bacteria share their habitat with a great diversity of organisms, from microbes to humans, animals and plants. In these complex communities, the production of extracellular effectors is a common strategy to control the biodiversity by interfering with the growth and/or viability of nearby microbes. One of such effectors relies on the production and release of extracellular D-amino acids which regulate diverse cellular processes such as cell wall biogenesis, biofilm integrity, and spore germination. Non-canonical D-amino acids are mainly produced by broad spectrum racemases (Bsr). Bsr's promiscuity allows it to generate high concentrations of D-amino acids in environments with variable compositions of L-amino acids. However, it was not clear until recent whether these molecules exhibit divergent functions. Here we review the distinctive biological roles of D-amino acids, their mechanisms of action and their modulatory properties of the biodiversity of complex eco-systems.

The elevated value of α‐keto acids has pushed scientists to explore more efficient and less expensive alternatives for their synthesis. In this work, an immobilized tri‐enzyme system that produced α‐keto acids in “one‐pot” from l‐ or racemic mixtures of diverse amino acids was presented. The system combined a broad‐spectrum amino acid racemase (BsrV), a d‐amino acid oxidase (DAAO) and catalase (CAT). BsrV racemized l‐amino acids into their d‐enantiomers, DAAO catalyzed the stereospecific oxidative deamination of the d‐amino acids into their corresponding α‐keto acids, ammonium ion, and H₂O₂. Finally, CAT converted the inactivating H₂O₂ into H₂O and O₂, which can be reused by the oxidase reaction. BsrV thermal stability was improved 3,300‐fold by immobilizing the enzyme on glyoxyl‐activated agarose beads. DAAO and CAT were co‐immobilized on agarose beads functionalized with glutaraldehyde groups for enhancing their stabilities and eliminating H₂O₂ in a much more effective way. To show the versatility of this system, racemic mixtures of amino acids were converted in their corresponding α‐keto acids. The coupling of the three immobilized enzymes permitted conversions of approximately 99 % through a dynamic kinetic resolution process. This system conserved 100 % of its initial effectiveness after 8 reaction cycles. Collectively, our innovative tri‐enzyme system for the synthesis of α‐keto acids opens the door for a cheapening in the production of many pharmaceutical and cosmetics.

In the present work, Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) is introduced to develop a robust model to classify the chromatographic data sets of peptidoglycan sample. PcoA captures the heterogeneity present in the data sets by using the dissimilarity matrix as input. Thus, in principle, it can even capture the subtle differences in the bacterial peptidoglycan composition and can provide a more robust and fast approach for classifying the bacterial collection and identifying the novel cell wall targets for further biological and clinical studies. The utility of the proposed approach is successfully demonstrated by analysing the two different kind of bacterial collections. The first set comprised of peptidoglycan sample belonging to different subclasses of Alphaproteobacteria. Whereas, the second set that is relatively more intricate for the chemometric analysis consist of different wild type Vibrio Cholerae and its mutants having subtle differences in their peptidoglycan composition. The present work clearly proposes a useful approach that can classify the chromatographic data sets of chromatographic peptidoglycan samples having subtle differences. Furthermore, present work clearly suggest that PCoA can be a method of choice in any data analysis workflow.

In many Thermus thermophilus strains, nitrate respiration is encoded in mobile genetic regions, along with regulatory circuits that modulate its expression based on anoxia and nitrate presence. The oxygen‐responsive system has been identified as the product of the dnrST (dnr) operon located immediately upstream of the nar operon (narCGHJIKT), which encodes the nitrate reductase (NR) and nitrate/nitrite transporters. In contrast, the nature of the nitrate sensory system is not known. Here, we analyse the putative nitrate‐sensing role of the bicistronic drp operon (drpAB) present downstream of the nar operon in most denitrifying Thermus spp. Expression of drp was found to depend on the master regulator DnrT, whereas the absence of DrpA or DrpB increased the expression of both DnrS and DnrT and, concomitantly, of the NR. Absence of both proteins made expression from the dnr and nar operons independent of nitrate. Polyclonal antisera allowed us to identify DrpA as a periplasmic protein and DrpB as a membrane protein, with capacity to bind to the cytoplasmic membrane. Here, we propose a role for DrpA/DrpB as nitrate sensors during denitrification.

Bacterial cell division has been studied extensively under laboratory conditions. Despite being a key event in the bacterial cell cycle, cell division has not been explored in vivo in bacterial pathogens interacting with their hosts. We discovered in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium a gene absent in nonpathogenic bacteria and encoding a peptidoglycan synthase with 63% identity to penicillin-binding protein 3 (PBP3). PBP3 is an essential cell division-specific peptidoglycan synthase that builds the septum required to separate daughter cells. Since S. Typhimurium carries genes that encode a PBP3 paralog-which we named PBP3(SAL)-and PBP3, we hypothesized that there are different cell division events in host and nonhost environments. To test this, we generated S. Typhimurium isogenic mutants lacking PBP3(SAL) or the hitherto considered essential PBP3. While PBP3 alone promotes cell division under all conditions tested, the mutant producing only PBP3(SAL) proliferates under acidic conditions (pH <= 5.8) but does not divide at neutral pH. PBP3(SAL) production is tightly regulated with increased levels as bacteria grow in media acidified up to pH 4.0 and in intracellular bacteria infecting eukaryotic cells. PBP3(SAL) activity is also strictly dependent on acidic pH, as shown by beta-lactam antibiotic binding assays. Live-cell imaging microscopy revealed that PBP3(SAL) alone is sufficient for S. Typhimurium to divide within phagosomes of the eukaryotic cell. Additionally, we detected much larger amounts of PBP3(SAL) than those of PBP3 in vivo in bacteria colonizing mouse target organs. Therefore, PBP3(SAL) evolved in S. Typhimurium as a specialized peptidoglycan synthase promoting cell division in the acidic intraphagosomal environment. IMPORTANCE During bacterial cell division, daughter cells separate by a transversal structure known as the division septum. The septum is a continuum of the cell wall and therefore is composed of membrane(s) and a peptidoglycan layer. To date, actively growing bacteria were reported to have only a "cell division-specific" peptidoglycan synthase required for the last steps of septum formation and consequently, essential for bacterial life. Here, we discovered that Salmonella enterica has two peptidoglycan synthases capable of synthesizing the division septum. One of these enzymes, PBP3(SAL), is present only in bacterial pathogens and evolved in Salmonella to function exclusively in acidic environments. PBP3(SAL) is used preferentially by Salmonella to promote cell division in vivo in mouse target organs and inside acidified phagosomes. Our data challenge the concept of only one essential cell division-specific peptidoglycan synthase and demonstrate that pathogens can divide in defined host locations using alternative mechanisms.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a rod-shaped bacterium that grows by polar insertion of new peptidoglycan during cell elongation. As the cell cycle progresses, peptidoglycan synthesis at the pole ceases prior to insertion of new peptidoglycan at midcell to enable cell division. The A. tumefaciens homolog of the Caulobacter crescentus polar organelle development protein PopZ has been identified as a growth pole marker and a candidate polar growth-promoting factor. Here, we characterize the function of PopZ in cell growth and division of A. tumefaciens. Consistent with previous observations, we observe that PopZ localizes specifically to the growth pole in wild-type cells. Despite the striking localization pattern of PopZ, we find the absence of the protein does not impair polar elongation or cause major changes in the peptidoglycan composition. Instead, we observe an atypical cell length distribution, including minicells, elongated cells, and cells with ectopic poles. Most minicells lack DNA, suggesting a defect in chromosome segregation. Furthermore, the canonical cell division proteins FtsZ and FtsA are misplaced, leading to asymmetric sites of cell constriction. Together, these data suggest that PopZ plays an important role in the regulation of chromosome segregation and cell division. IMPORTANCE A. tumefaciens is a bacterial plant pathogen and a natural genetic engineer. However, very little is known about the spatial and temporal regulation of cell wall biogenesis that leads to polar growth in this bacterium. Understanding the molecular basis of A. tumefaciens growth may allow for the development of innovations to prevent disease or to promote growth during biotechnology applications. Finally, since many closely related plant and animal pathogens exhibit polar growth, discoveries in A. tumefaciens may be broadly applicable for devising antimicrobial strategies.