Acetylation of glucosyltransferases regulates Streptococcus mutans biofilm formation and virulence

PLoS Pathog. 2021 Dec 3;17(12):e1010134. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010134. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Lysine acetylation is a frequently occurring post-translational modification (PTM), emerging as an important metabolic regulatory mechanism in prokaryotes. This process is achieved enzymatically by the protein acetyltransferase (KAT) to specifically transfer the acetyl group, or non-enzymatically by direct intermediates (acetyl phosphate or acetyl-CoA). Although lysine acetylation modification of glucosyltransferases (Gtfs), the important virulence factor in Streptococcus mutans, was reported in our previous study, the KAT has not been identified. Here, we believe that the KAT ActG can acetylate Gtfs in the enzymatic mechanism. By overexpressing 15 KATs in S. mutans, the synthesized water-insoluble extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) and biofilm biomass were measured, and KAT (actG) was identified. The in-frame deletion mutant of actG was constructed to validate the function of actG. The results showed that actG could negatively regulate the water-insoluble EPS synthesis and biofilm formation. We used mass spectrometry (MS) to identify GtfB and GtfC as the possible substrates of ActG. This was also demonstrated by in vitro acetylation assays, indicating that ActG could increase the acetylation levels of GtfB and GtfC enzymatically and decrease their activities. We further found that the expression level of actG in part explained the virulence differences in clinically isolated strains. Moreover, overexpression of actG in S. mutans attenuated its cariogenicity in the rat caries model. Taken together, our study demonstrated that the KAT ActG could induce the acetylation of GtfB and GtfC enzymatically in S. mutans, providing insights into the function of lysine acetylation in bacterial virulence and pathogenicity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylation
  • Acetyltransferases / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Biofilms*
  • Female
  • Glucosyltransferases / metabolism*
  • Lysine / metabolism
  • Rats
  • Rats, Sprague-Dawley
  • Streptococcus mutans / pathogenicity*
  • Streptococcus mutans / physiology
  • Virulence / physiology*

Substances

  • Acetyltransferases
  • Glucosyltransferases
  • Lysine

Grants and funding

The research performed in the Li lab was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32170046 to Y.L.) and International Research and Development Program of Sichuan (2021YFH0060 to Y.L.). The research performed in the Zou lab was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82170947 to J.Z.) and International Research and Development Program of Sichuan (2019YFH0025 to J.Z.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.