The Twin-Arginine Translocation (Tat) Pathway Is Essential for Virulence,Flagellation,and Chemotaxis in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola Strain RsGD42

Bacterial leaf streak, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola, is an important disease of rice （Oryza sativa）. Genetic determinants （tatABC genes） of the twin-arginine translocation （Tat） pathway from X. oryzae pv. oryzicola strain RsGD42 were cloned and characterized, meanwhile, a tatC disruption mutant was generated. The tatC mutant lacked detectable flagella and was highly impaired in motility and chemotaxis. Furthermore, it was observed that the tatC mutant exhibited a reduced production of extracellular polysaccharide （EPS） and a significant reduction of virulence on adult rice plants compared to wild type strain. However, the tatC mutation in X. oryzae pv. oryzieola strain RsGD42 did not affect the growth rate and the ability to induce hypersensitive response （HR） in nonhost tobacco （Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Samsun）. In conclusion, the data indicated that the Tat pathway significantly contributed to the virulence of X. oryzae pv. oryzicola.

Enhanced production of poly-γ-glutamic acid via optimizing the expression cassette of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin in Bacillus licheniformis

Poly-γ-glutamic acid(γ-PGA)is a natural polymer with various applications,and its high-viscosity hinders ox-ygen transmission and improvement of synthesis level.Vitreoscilla hemoglobin(VHB)has been introduced into various hosts as oxygen carrier,however,its expression strength and contact efficiency with oxygen hindered efficient oxygen transfer and metabolite synthesis.Here,we want to optimize the expression cassette of VHB for γ-PGA production.Firstly,our results implied that γ-PGA yields were enhanced when introducing twin-arginine translocation(Tat)signal peptides(SP_(YwbN),SP_(PhoD) and SP_(TorA))into VHB expression cassette,and the best per-formance was attained by SP YwbN from Bacillus subtilis,theγ-PGA yield of which was 18.53% higher than that of control strain,and intracellular ATP content and oxygen transfer coefficient(K_(L)a)were increased by 29.71% and 73.12%,respectively,indicating that VHB mediated by SP YwbN benefited oxygen transfer and ATP generation forγ-PGA synthesis.Furthermore,four promoters were screened,and P vgb was proven as the more suitable promoter for VHB expression andγ-PGA synthesis,andγ-PGA yield of attaining strain WX/pPvgb-YwbN-Vgb was further increased to 40.59 g/L by 10.18%.Finally,WX/pPvgb-YwbN-Vgb was cultivated in 3 L fermentor for fed-batch fermentation,and 46.39 g/Lγ-PGA was attained by glucose feeding,increased by 49.26%compared with the initial yield(31.01 g/L).Taken together,this study has attained an efficient VHB expression cassette for oxygen transfer andγ-PGA synthesis,which could also be applied in the production of other metabolites.

Identification in Lupin Seed of a Serine- Endopeptidase Activity Cleaving between Twin Arginine Pairs and Causing Limited Proteolysis of Seed Storage Proteins

The occurrence of twin-arginine motifs （-R-R-） in the amino acid sequences of animal pro-proteins frequently defines the cleavage site（s） for their structural/functional maturation. No information is available on the presence and possible biological meaning of these motifs in the seed storage proteins. In this work, a novel endopeptidase activity with cleavage specificity to twin-arginine pairs has been detected in mature dry Lupinus albus seeds. The endopeptidase was tested with a number of endogenous and exogenous protein substrates, which were selected according to the pres- ence of one or more twin-arginine residue motifs in their amino acid sequences. The observed hydrolysis patterns were limited and highly specific. Partial proteolysis led to stable polypeptide fragments that were characterized by 1- and 2-D electrophoresis. Selected polypeptides were submitted to N-terminal amino acid sequencing and mass spectrometry anal- yses, These approaches, supported by bioinformatic analysis of the available sequences, allowed the conclusion that the polypeptide cleavage events had occurred at the peptide bonds comprised between twin-arginine residue pairs with all tested protein substrates. The endopeptidase activity was inhibited by 4-（2-AminoEthyl）Benzene-Sulphonyl Fluoride hy- drochloride （AEBSF）, leupeptin, and serine proteinase protein inhibitors, while it was not affected by pepstatin, trans- EpoxysuccinyI-L-leucylamido（4-guanidino）butane （E64）, and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid （EDTA）, thus qualifying the Arg-Arg cleaving enzyme as a serine endopeptidase. The structural features of storage proteins from lupin and other legume seeds strongly support the hypothesis that the occurrence of an endopeptidase activity cleaving -R-R- bonds may be functional to facilitate their degradation at germination and possibly generate polypeptide fragments with specific biological activity.