AEM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 16 March...

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1 1 GENOMIC SEQUENCE OF BACTERIOPHAGE Φ8074-B1 AND ACTIVITY OF 2 ITS ENDOLYSIN AND ENGINEERED VARIANTS AGAINST CLOSTRIDIUM 3 SPOROGENES 4 5 Running title: Endolysin activity against C. sporogenes 6 7 Melinda J. Mayer # , Michael J. Gasson and Arjan Narbad 8 9 Institute of Food Research, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UA, United Kingdom 10 11 #Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Food Research, Colney, Norwich, 12 NR4 7UA, UK. Phone: +44 1603 255284. Fax: +44 1603 507723. E-mail: 13 [email protected] 14 15 16 17 18 19 Copyright © 2012, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.07884-11 AEM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 16 March 2012 on June 23, 2018 by guest http://aem.asm.org/ Downloaded from

Transcript of AEM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 16 March...

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1

GENOMIC SEQUENCE OF BACTERIOPHAGE Φ8074-B1 AND ACTIVITY OF 2

ITS ENDOLYSIN AND ENGINEERED VARIANTS AGAINST CLOSTRIDIUM 3

SPOROGENES 4

5

Running title: Endolysin activity against C. sporogenes 6

7

Melinda J. Mayer#, Michael J. Gasson and Arjan Narbad 8

9

Institute of Food Research, Colney, Norwich, NR4 7UA, United Kingdom 10

11

#Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Food Research, Colney, Norwich, 12

NR4 7UA, UK. Phone: +44 1603 255284. Fax: +44 1603 507723. E-mail: 13

[email protected] 14

15

16

17

18

19

Copyright © 2012, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.Appl. Environ. Microbiol. doi:10.1128/AEM.07884-11 AEM Accepts, published online ahead of print on 16 March 2012

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Lytic bacteriophage Φ8074-B1 produces large plaques on its host Clostridium 20

sporogenes. Sequencing of the 47,595 bp genome allowed the identification of 82 21

putative open reading frames including proteins for head and tail morphogenesis and 22

lysis. However, sequences commonly associated with lysogeny were absent. ORF22 23

encodes an endolysin, CS74L, that shows homology to N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine 24

amidases and when expressed in E. coli the protein gives effective lysis of C. sporogenes 25

cells when added externally. CS74L was also active on Clostridium tyrobutyricum and 26

Clostridium acetobutylicum. The catalytic domain expressed alone (CS74L1-177) exhibited 27

a similar activity and the same host range as the full length endolysin. A chimeric 28

endolysin consisting of the CS74L catalytic domain fused to the C terminal domain of 29

endolysin CD27L, derived from Clostridium difficile bacteriophage ΦCD27, was 30

produced. This chimera (CSCD) lysed C. sporogenes cells with an equivalent activity to 31

the catalytic domain alone. In contrast, the CD27L C-terminal domain reduced the 32

efficacy of the CS74L catalytic domain when tested against C. tyrobutyricum. The 33

addition of the CD27L C-terminal domain did not enable the lysin to target C. difficile or 34

other CD27L-sensitive bacteria. 35

36

Introduction 37

Clostridium sporogenes is an environmental bacterium which has been associated with 38

a range of food and silage spoilage problems (13, 30, 39, 46). In cheese spoilage it can 39

contribute to gas formation and can also compound the damage caused by Clostridium 40

tyrobutyricum, the major cause of cheese blowing (24, 30). It is also physiologically 41

comparable to a non-toxigenic form of proteolytic Clostridium botulinum (29) and as 42

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such is often used as a model organism for investigating treatments to reduce C. 43

botulinum contamination. Investigation of methods of control have focussed on reducing 44

spore numbers or outgrowth by protocols such as centrifugation and brining (43), 45

polyphosphates and heat treatment (7), acid-blanching and chelation (39), lantibiotics (13, 46

46), a combination of heat, acidification and nisin (35), or pulsed pressurization (1). 47

Nitrosyl complexes have also been shown to inhibit the growing cells (20). 48

Bacteriophages and their endolysins represent an additional avenue for control and could 49

be used alone or in combination with current control methods (36). 50

Bacteriophage endolysins effect the release of new virus particles from an infected cell 51

by attacking the peptidoglycan wall (11, 25). Lysis of Gram positive bacteria can also be 52

achieved by external application of endolysins and recent work has demonstrated their 53

potential to reduce infection by a range of bacteria (reviewed in (12)). Endolysins exhibit 54

a restricted range of activity that is invariably larger than that of the parent bacteriophage 55

but nonetheless relatively specific. Depending on the endolysin, this can encompass all 56

strains within a species, a slightly wider taxonomic grouping or a broad range of targets. 57

This targeting is commonly thought to be associated with a C-terminal cell wall binding 58

domain, while the hydrolysis of peptidoglycan is achieved by one or more N-terminal 59

catalytic domains. This specificity gives added value to their application as antimicrobials 60

in mixed communities, allowing targeted killing of pathogens or spoilage organisms 61

without disruption of commensal or fermentative microbes. 62

A number of studies have shown that endolysin domains can be utilised separately – the 63

cell wall binding domain can be isolated and used in conjunction with a reporter or 64

capture system for detection or collection of cells (22, 26, 41), and catalytic domains can 65

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be attached to cell wall binding domains from autolysins, other endolysins or 66

bacteriophage tail-associated peptidoglycan hydrolases to produce new chimeric enzymes 67

with specificities that match the new C-terminal domain (4, 10, 31, 42). In addition, some 68

endolysin catalytic domains retain both their activity and a measure of specificity after 69

removal of their C-terminal domains (9, 28, 32). 70

In this study, we have sequenced the genome of bacteriophage 8074-B1, which infects 71

C. sporogenes (6) and identified 82 putative open reading frames, many of whose 72

predicted proteins show little homology to existing bacteriophage sequences. The 73

predicted endolysin was expressed in Escherichia coli and demonstrated to exhibit lytic 74

activity against cells of C. sporogenes. A similar level of lytic activity was produced by 75

the N-terminal region of the endolysin expressed either alone or in conjunction with the 76

C-terminal domain of an endolysin active against Clostridium difficile (33). 77

78

MATERIALS AND METHODS 79

Bacterial strains and growth conditions. C. sporogenes strain ATCC 17786, C. 80

difficile strain NCTC 11204 and C. tyrobutyricum strain NCIMB 9582 were maintained 81

in Robertson’s cooked meat media (SGL) at room temperature and grown at 37°C in 82

anaerobic conditions in either RCM broth (Oxoid) or BHI with complements (33). 83

Escherichia coli strains (Invitrogen) were grown in L broth shaken at 37°C. Other strains 84

were obtained from the NCTC (HPA, London), the NCIMB (Aberdeen, UK), the DSMZ 85

(Braunschweig, Germany) or were kindly donated by Clare Aldus and Sandra Stringer 86

(IFR, Norwich) and were grown as recommended by DSMZ or in BHI with 87

complements. Strains used to investigate the host range of the endolysin were 88

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Anaerococcus hydrogenalis DSMZ 7454, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 0880, Bacillus 89

cereus NCIMB 11796, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Clostridium acetobutylicum 90

BL75141, Clostridium bifermentans NCTC 13019, Clostridium butyricum NCIMB 7423 91

and 8082, Clostridium cellobioparum DSMZ 1351, Clostridium coccoides NCTC 11035, 92

Clostridium innocuum DSMZ 1286, Clostridium leptum DSMZ 753, Clostridium 93

perfringens NCTC 3110, Clostridium ramosum DSMZ 1402, Clostridium sordellii 94

NCTC 13356, C. tyrobutyricum NCIMB 9582, Eubacterium barkeri DSMZ 1223, 95

Listeria innocua NCTC 11288, Listeria ivanovii NCTC 11007 and C. sporogenes ATCC 96

17886 (also known as 213 (6)), NCIMB 8053, 532, 10696, 9381, 9382, 9383, 12148, 97

12343, 700933, 701789, 701791, 701792, 701793, NCDO 1792 and PA 3679 98

Propagation and sequencing of bacteriophage Φ8074-B1. Bacteriophage ATCC 99

Φ8074-B1 (also known as F1(6)) was propagated on sensitive strain C. sporogenes 100

ATCC 17786 on RCM supplemented with 5 mM CaCl2 as described previously (34). 101

Genomic DNA was extracted from filtered plate lysates using a λ midikit (Qiagen). 102

Sequencing and assembly of the bacteriophage Φ8074-B1 genome was performed by the 103

DNA Sequencing Facility (University of Cambridge) using 454 sequencing on a Genome 104

Sequencer FLX (Roche) and assembled with the Phred-Phrap program. Open reading 105

frames (ORFs) were determined by Artemis (40) with Blastp searches (2) and domain 106

searches were performed by InterProScan (49). Amino acid and nucleotide alignments 107

were performed with Vector NTI using the Clustal W algorithm (Invitrogen). Phobius 108

was used to identifiy transmembrane domains (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/phobius/), 109

JPred3 (http://www.compbio.dundee.ac.uk/www-jpred/) was used for prediction of 110

secondary structure and Grease (http://fasta.bioch.virginia.edu/fasta_www2/) was used 111

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for Kyte Doolittle hydropathy plots (23). Electron microscopy to confirm bacteriophage 112

morphology was performed as described previously (33). 113

Subcloning and expression of Φ8074-B1 endolysin. The Φ8074-B1 putative 114

endolysin gene, cs74l, was amplified from genomic DNA using Phusion polymerase 115

(Finnzymes) and primers CS74L-F (5’- GGA CTA CAT ATG AAG ATA GGT ATT G 116

[bold letters represent altered nucleotides throughout], Sigma Genosys) with CS74L-R 117

(5’-TAT TGG GAT CCC TAA ATC CTT) giving a product of 849 bp. The PCR product 118

was restricted and subcloned into the NdeI and BamHI sites of vector pET15b (Novagen) 119

and transformed into E. coli as described previously (33). Positive transformants were 120

selected with ampicillin (100 μg/ml) and after sequence confirmation, construct cs74l-121

pET15b was transformed into E. coli BL21(DE3) (Invitrogen) for protein expression. 122

Truncated endolysin sequence cs74l1-177 was amplified from cs74l-pET15b using primers 123

T7P from the vector (5’- TAA TAC GAC TCA CTA TAG GG) and CS74L-EAD (5’-124

TTG ATT CTA GTT TCC AGA TTC T) to insert a stop site after Asn 177. The 687 bp 125

product was subcloned into pCR2.1 (Invitrogen) then excised with NdeI and XhoI, 126

subcloned into pET15b and transformed for sequence confirmation and expression as 127

before. Chimeric lysin sequence cscd was produced by splice overlap PCR from cs74l-128

pET15b and cd27l-pET15b (33). The sequence for the CS74L catalytic domain was 129

amplified using primer T7P and CS_CDC (5’-TTT AAC TCC CTC ATT GTT TCC 130

AGA TTC TCC A). The sequence for the C-terminal domain of CD27L was amplified 131

with CDC_CS (5’-GGA GAA TCT GGA AAC AAT GAG GGA GTT AAA C) and T7T 132

from the vector (5’- GCT AGT TAT TGC TCA GCG G). After amplification and 133

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splicing, final products were restricted with NdeI and BamHI and subcloned into pET15b 134

as before. 135

Measurement of cell lysis. Endolysin expression was induced in BL21(DE3) cells by 136

IPTG for 4 h as described by the manufacturer (Invitrogen). Crude protein extracts were 137

prepared in either 20 mM sodium phosphate (pH 6), 100 mM HEPES (pH 7) or 20 mM 138

TrisHCl, 50 mM NaCl (pH8) by bead beating as described previously (33) and stored at 139

4°C. Protein extracts were analysed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting using antibodies 140

to the His tag (Novagen), and His-tagged endolysin was partially purified using Qiagen 141

Ni-NTA Fast Start columns, all as described previously (33). 1 mM DTT was added to 142

samples before storage. Activity of His-tagged endolysins was assessed using turbidity 143

assays on fresh or frozen cells using 10 μg crude protein extract in 20 mM sodium 144

phosphate (pH 6) or 10 μg partially purified endolysin in elution buffer (50 mM Na-145

phosphate, 300 mM NaCl, 250 mM imidazole, pH 8.0). Chicken egg white lysozyme 146

(Sigma) was used as a positive control. 147

Nucleotide sequence accession number. The genome of phage Φ8074-B1 was deposited 148

in GenBank under accession number JQ246028. 149

150

RESULTS 151

Φ8074-B1 genomic analysis. Bacteriophage ATCC Φ8074-B1 (F1) was previously 152

described as a lytic phage with the ability to form plaques on several strains of C. 153

sporogenes (6). Electron microscopy of phages propagated in strain ATCC 17886 154

revealed a prolate capsid with icosahedral caps (c. 70 nm x 46 nm) with a cross banded 155

and flexible tail (c. 110 nm long and c. 7 nm wide) with no visible neck. Microscopy also 156

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revealed the presence of short tail fibres. Overall, this indicates that the virus is a member 157

of the Siphoviridae family (Fig. 1) and confirms the morphology described by Betz (5). 158

In addition to the sensitive strains listed previously (6), Φ8074-B1 was able to form 159

plaques on 8 of the 16 C. sporogenes strains tested (Table 1). 160

The dsDNA genome of Φ8074-B1 is 47,595 bp with 35.4% GC content and contains 82 161

putative open reading frames (ORFs). Open reading frames were selected on the basis of 162

proximity to the consensus ribosome binding site, an AG-rich region 5-13 nt from the 163

start codon. Most of the ribosome binding site (RBS) sequences match the most 164

favourable GGAGG sequence (47); AUG is the most common start codon but some 165

ORFs also have GUG (ORFs 15, 25 and 68), UUG (ORFs 35, 47 and 78) and in one case 166

AUA (ORF 72) as predicted start codons. Most of the proposed ORFs have the same 167

orientation and several overlap at the predicted starts and ends (Fig. 2). Putative functions 168

were assigned on the basis of Blastp analysis and/or domain searches (Table S1). In 169

contrast to previously published bacteriophage genomes from Clostridiales, a large 170

number of ORFs did not show high homologies to existing sequences. Those predicted 171

proteins which did show matches to known sequences appeared to be of diverse 172

evolutionary origin, showing similarities to proteins from a wide range of mostly Gram 173

positive bacteria and phages. No elements associated with lysogeny were identified, and 174

the lack of a prophage state would explain the low level of similar sequences in 175

Clostridial genomes. One of the exceptions is the endolysin, ORF22 (cs74l). A translation 176

of this sequence showed good homology to N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidases from 177

a variety of sequenced C. botulinum genomes, representing either prophage genes or 178

autolysins. The N-terminal region of CS74L has homology to an N-acetylmuramoyl-L-179

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alanine amidase domain (cd02696, MurNac-LAA, E value 4e-36), while the C-terminal 180

region showed no homology to the identified cell wall binding domains found in many 181

other endolysins. 182

The ORF immediately upstream of the endolysin commonly codes for the holin, 183

forming a two-gene lysis cassette. Unusually, the translation product from the small ORF 184

upstream of ORF22 does not show any predicted transmembrane domains (TMDs). 185

Computer analysis suggests that its structure is largely helical and slightly hydrophobic. It 186

does share limited homology with part of the predicted holin from ФCD27, giving amino 187

acid matches of 15.9% (identity) and 26.1% (similarity), but the lack of TMDs argues for 188

either a different function or a different membrane topology. The translation of ORF21 189

does have some homology (19.3% identity and 36.8% similarity) to the predicted protein 190

upstream of the sequence with the highest Blastp homology to endolysin ORF22 191

(YP_002862711 and YP_002862712 respectively), and to other coding sequences 192

upstream of endolysins with similarity to ORF22, suggesting that ORF21 and ORF22 193

have been co-inherited. However, although holins and lysins would be expected to be co-194

transcribed, similarity to a consensus promoter sequence was not identified upstream of 195

ORF21. There were no predicted ORFs overlapping the endolysin sequence. 196

Both the ORF downstream of cs74l (ORF23) and a shorter ORF (ORF25) have one 197

predicted transmembrane domain but the N-termini are predicted to be non-cytoplasmic 198

and the C-termini cytoplasmic, unlike typical holins of Type III (48). Blastp searches 199

show that the translation product of ORF23 has similarity to Imm proteins from 200

Clostridium novyi and C. botulinum. 201

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The end of the genome sequence has a section of ORFs reading in the opposite 202

orientation to the majority of the genome. Many of these are short and have limited or no 203

homology to sequences in databases, but most have good matches to the consensus RBS; 204

this section is preceded by c. 875 bp where none of the short predicted reading frames 205

have recognisable RBS sites. This gap and the change in orientation might suggest some 206

rearrangement of DNA in the past. 207

CS74L endolysin activity. His-tagged CS74L was expressed in E. coli and crude 208

protein extracts showed clear lytic activity on C. sporogenes 17786 cells (Fig. 3). The 209

most effective extraction buffer in terms of yield and activity was 20 mM sodium 210

phosphate (pH 6); SDS-PAGE and Western analysis of the extracts revealed a c. 33 kDa 211

band (predicted size 31.1 kDa) in all extracts with a second c. 27 kDA band hybridising 212

to the His Tag antibody in the extracts in 20 mM sodium phosphate (pH 6) and 100 mM 213

HEPES (pH 7) which was absent from extracts in 20 mM TrisHCl, 50 mM NaCl (pH8). 214

Proteins extracted in HEPES buffer showed a reduced lytic activity. Extracts from cells 215

harbouring pET15b alone did not produce appreciable lysis. 216

CD27L, which targets C. difficile, is an N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase endolysin 217

whose truncated catalytic domain (CD27L1-179) shows an increased activity compared to 218

the full endolysin (32). It shows some similarity to CS74L across the whole length of the 219

proteins (41.7% consensus, 28.4% identity) but is not active against C. sporogenes cells. 220

To investigate the activity and specificity of CS74L further, constructs were produced to 221

express either the CS74L catalytic domain alone (amino acids 1-177, covering the region 222

of homology to cd02696 (2-171)) or a chimera of this domain fused to the region 223

downstream of the catalytic domain of CD27L (amino acids 180-270; Fig. 4). Partially-224

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purified extracts of His-tagged proteins CS74L, truncated CS74L1-177 and chimera CSCD 225

all showed lytic activity on fresh and frozen cells of C. sporogenes 17886 (Fig. 5, Table 226

1). Lysis of fresh cells commonly occurred after a lag of c. 15 min. When similar 227

amounts of total protein were added, the truncated catalytic domain CS74L1-177 was 228

slightly more effective than the whole endolysin. This may reflect the higher number of 229

catalytic units in the reaction due to the smaller molecular weight. However, 230

unexpectedly CSCD, comprising the CS74L catalytic domain fused to the CD27L C-231

terminal domain, gave a similar rate of lysis to CS74L1-177. Lysis from 1 μg partially-232

purified CS74L was less than that from 10 μg and there was a longer lag period before 233

lysis was observed (c. 30 min, Fig 5B). Similar results were obtained with CS74L1-177 and 234

CSCD, while lysis from assays containing 0.1 μg or 0.01 μg lysins was comparable to the 235

gradual autolysis from buffer controls (data not shown). 236

The effect of pH on endolysin activity was investigated using crude protein extracts 237

(Fig. 6). CS74L and CSCD were barely active at pH 4.5 but showed increasing activity to 238

pH 8.5; CS74L1-177 also had little activity at lower pH and a maximum activity at pH 7.5 239

with a similar activity at 8.5. 240

All three lysins were active against 15 other strains of C. sporogenes. In more than half 241

of the strains, sensitivity to CS74L1-177 and CSCD was similar and slightly greater than 242

that to CS74L when using 10 μg of each partially-purified protein (Table 1). However 243

several strains showed a faster lysis with the CS74L and one strain (NCIMB 9381) 244

showed a much greater resistance to the engineered lysins. 245

All three lysins were also active on C. tyrobutyricum – CS74L and CS74L1-177 gave 246

similar rates of lysis to that produced by endolysin CTP1L, derived from a bacteriophage 247

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of C. tyrobutyrcium (34) while CSCD was less effective (Table 1). As CS74L and the 248

glucosyl hydrolase CTP1L have different enzymatic targets the enzymes were tested both 249

singly and in combination using frozen cells to investigate their potential for synergy. A 250

combination of 5 μg each of CS74L and CTP1L together did indeed give a slightly faster 251

rate of lysis (57.8 +/- 1 % drop in OD over 8 min) than 5 μg of each lysin alone (32.0 +/- 252

10.0 % CS74L and 40.9 +/- 0.5 % CTP1L respectively) but a similar rate of lysis to that 253

from 10 μg CS74L (55.3 +/- 0 %) indicating a lack of synergy. 254

CS74L was not effective against C. difficile and the addition of the C-terminal domain 255

of C. difficile-targeting endolysin CD27L failed to endow CS74L1-177 with the ability to 256

lyse C. difficile cells. A slight difference between the lysin samples and the buffer 257

controls was noted after an extended incubation but the effect of CSCD was similar to 258

that of CS74L1-177 (Fig. 5C). 259

A range of other Gram positive species were also tested for sensitivity to the lysins. 260

Only C. acetobutylicum showed clear sensitivity to all three lysins and this was 261

quantitatively similar (Table 1). Other Clostridiales, including C. bifermentans, C. 262

cellobioparum, C. coccoides, C. innocuum, C. leptum, C. perfringens, C. ramosum, C. 263

sordellii, E. barkeri and less closely related species B. amyloliquefaciens, B. cereus, B. 264

subtilis, L. innocua and L. ivanovii were insensitive to CS74L, CS74L1-177 and CSCD. All 265

three lysins acted on frozen A. hydrogenalis but only after prolonged incubation – while 266

10 μg CS74L took only c. 8 min to reduce the OD of frozen cells of C. sporogenes by 267

30%, the same drop in OD required c. 370 min with A. hydrogenalis and although 268

CS74L1-177 and CSCD were more active (c. 250 and c. 180 min respectively) there was 269

still no observable lysis until after 3 h incubation. 270

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271

DISCUSSION 272

C. sporogenes is of interest not only in its similarity to proteolytic C. botulinum but also 273

in its own right as a spoilage organism. Previous studies identified several bacteriophages 274

capable of infecting C. sporogenes and described Ф8074-B1 (F1) as a tailed 275

bacteriophage with the ability to produce large plaques on several host strains of C. 276

sporogenes (6). Although Betz (5) mentioned preliminary evidence of its ability to 277

lysogenise, F1 was classed as a virulent phage (44). In the current study, no ORFs with 278

homology to sequences associated with lysogeny were identified in the genome sequence 279

of Ф8074-B1; however, the genome contains a large number of unidentified hypothetical 280

proteins so the presence of such a module cannot be ruled out completely. 281

Despite a lack of homology of many of the ORFs to known sequences in databases, the 282

CS74L endolysin sequence was highly conserved with N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine 283

amidases from the sequenced genomes of a number of strains of C. botulinum, including 284

some annotated as bacteriophage endolysins. A high conservation of endolysin sequence 285

has been also noted previously in bacteriophages of C. perfringens (37). We failed to 286

identify a typical holin gene in the region of the endolysin gene. Holins usually fall into 287

one of 3 classes based on membrane topology (48) – Class I has 3 transmembrane 288

domains (TMD) with the N-terminus on the outside and the C-terminus inside, class II 289

have two TMDs with both termini inside the cytoplasm and class III has only a single 290

TMD with the N-terminus on the inside and the C-terminus outside the membrane. Holin 291

genes are not always located immediately upstream of the endolysin gene – holin coding 292

sequences from one clade of bacteriophages infecting C. perfringens were found 293

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downstream of the lysin genes (37), bacteriophage ФC2 which infects C. difficile has a 294

larger lysis cassette, with an ORF with homology to the abiF gene (ORF37) located 295

between the holin and the lysin sequences (16), while in the T7 phage the holin gene is 296

located in a different cluster to the lysis cassette (48). There are also other examples of 297

bacteriophages where potential classic holins have not been identified (8). Further work 298

to co-express the lysin with potential holins may help to identify a functional holin gene 299

and demonstrate whether the genome contains a novel type of holin. The abiF gene is 300

thought to confer phage resistance, possibly to prevent superinfection by other phages 301

(16) and so has a functional similarity to the Imm protein. It is possible that ORF23 is 302

part of the lysis cassette, playing a similar role to the ΦC2 ORF37. It is interesting to note 303

that the length of the region covering ORFs 21, 22 and 23 and the immediate up- and 304

down-stream non coding regions corresponds to a molecular weight of c. 0.4 x 106, the 305

same size as a late transcript of Φ8074-B1 identified in previous work (45). 306

Endolysin CS74L lysed cells of all 16 strains of C. sporogenes tested but was inactive 307

on a range of other Clostridia, with the exception of C. acetobutylicum and C. 308

tyrobutyricum. Truncation of the endolysin to just the proposed catalytic domain 309

produced an active lysin but did not affect the specificity. Other studies report of the 310

maintenance of endolysin activity upon removal of C-terminal domains – in many cases 311

this truncation led to a notable increase in activity (9, 14, 28, 32) while in others activity 312

remained similar or was reduced compared to the full length endolysin (10, 21). In 313

several cases, endolysin catalytic domains retained the same or a similar host range upon 314

removal of the C-terminal domain (9, 18, 28, 32), despite the fact that their peptidoglycan 315

target is usually shared with a number of other species. The difference in lytic activities 316

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between CS74L and CS74L1-177 varied between the target strains of C. sporogenes – in 317

the majority of cases activity was broadly similar or slightly greater, although with some 318

strains the full length endolysin was clearly more effective. This may reflect strain-319

specific differences in cell wall decorations that could impact on binding to the endolysin, 320

such that in some strains the possession of the correct C-terminal domain is 321

advantageous. In cases where CS74L1-177 was more effective than CS74L, a chimera 322

containing a different C-terminal domain often had a similar lytic activity to the truncated 323

endolysin, which implies that the increase is not associated with improved access to the 324

peptidoglycan due to a reduction in size of the protein. 325

CS74L did not cause significant lysis of C. difficile cells and the chimera CSCD, 326

consisting of the CS74L catalytic domain co-translationally fused to the CD27L C-327

terminal domain, showed only a very limited activity on C. difficile cells which was 328

similar to the activity of CS74L1-177, indicating that the CD27L C-terminal domain did 329

not confer a significant improvement by targeting the endolysin to the cell wall. A 330

number of other studies have demonstrated the ability of endolysin or autolysin C-331

terminal domains to confer new host specificities on catalytic domains (4, 10, 42). It is 332

possible that the CD27L C-terminal domain does not contain a cell wall binding 333

capability – like CS74L and CTP1L there are no recognised cell wall binding motifs such 334

as those found in other lysins (eg SH3b, LysM (4, 19)). Alternatively, it could be that the 335

CD27L cell wall binding activity is not fully effective when added externally; as it has 336

evolved to act from inside the cell it may not be able to access the peptidoglycan or its 337

binding target from the outside due to external structures such as the extensive array of 338

surface layer proteins. It has been proposed that endolysin C-terminal domains exhibit an 339

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inhibitory activity when not bound to the correct target (27-28). Although the presence of 340

the CD27L C-terminal domain did not reduce activity of the CS74L catalytic domain on 341

C. sporogenes, it did have a negative effect on CSCD lytic activity against C. 342

tyrobutyricum. 343

Bacteriophages and their endolysins are of increasing interest as possible novel 344

biocontrol agents to reduce usage of antibiotics and to target antibiotic-resistant bacteria. 345

Although bacteriophages only infect a few strains, the use of bacteriophage cocktails has 346

shown promise in the reduction of disease in animals (3) and biocontrol of food-bourne 347

pathogens (17). With their broader host range, bacteriophage-derived endolysins have 348

shown potential both as antimicrobials against a range of pathogens and as the basis for 349

novel detection systems (12). These characteristics are also applicable in food protection 350

to reduce spoilage and improve safety. Endolysins have already been demonstrated to 351

reduce pathogens in milk both alone and in combination with lantibiotics (15, 38). 352

Although the use of a protein might be problematic for long-term control, endolysins can 353

be delivered by food-grade organisms such as Lactococcus lactis (14, 33). Co-culture of a 354

C. sporogenes strain isolated from silage with bacteriocin-producing Streptococcus bovis 355

can reduce ammonia production which could be applicable in the prevention of silage 356

spoilage (13). In a similar way, co-culture of strains which overproduce and export 357

endolysins might reduce numbers of spoilage organisms or pathogens in such diverse 358

processes as silage fermentation, cheese production or food preservation. Further analysis 359

of their mode of action, the nature of specificity and appropriate delivery systems will aid 360

their use as novel biocontrol agents. 361

362

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 363

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This work was supported by a strategic core grant from the Biotechnology and 364

Biological Science Research Council. 365

The authors would like to thank Kathryn Cross (Imaging Platform, IFR) for electron 366

microscopy, Shilo Dickens and John Lester (University of Cambridge) for genome 367

sequencing and Dr Rob Meijers (EMBL, Hamburg) for helpful discussions. 368

369

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517

Figures and Tables 518

519

FIG. 1 Electron micrograph of Φ8074-B1. The micrograph was taken at a lens setting of 520

80,000 x, bar represents 20 nm. 521

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522

FIG. 2. Φ8074-B1 genome map showing predicted ORFs. Arrows indicate the direction 523

of transcription. Proposed functional modules are marked based on Blast and domain 524

search results (see Table S1). 525

526

FIG. 3 Activity of CS74L in crude protein extracts. (A) SDS-PAGE analysis of crude 527

extracts from E. coli expressing His-tagged endolysin CS74L or empty vector controls. 528

Lane 1 SeeBlue marker (Invitrogen), lanes 2-4 E. coli cs74l-pET15b total protein and 529

lanes 5-7 E. coli pET15b total protein, all after 4 h induction with IPTG, extracted with 530

20 mM sodium phosphate (pH 6) (lanes 2, 5), 100 mM HEPES (pH 7) (lanes 3, 6) or 20 531

mM TrisHCl, 50 mM NaCl (pH 8) (lanes 4, 7). Crude protein samples were loaded at 10 532

μg per lane. Arrow indicates endolysin CS74L. (B) Western blot analysis of gel (A) 533

hybridised to His tag antibody. (C) Turbidity reduction assay of frozen cells of C. 534

sporogenes 17886 incubated with 10 μg crude protein extracts from E. coli expressing 535

cs74l-pET15b (filled symbols) or pET15b (open symbols) extracted in 20 mM sodium 536

phosphate (pH 6) (■), 100 mM HEPES (pH 7) (●) or 20 mM TrisHCl, 50 mM NaCl 537

(pH8) (▲). Values represent the mean of replicate assays +/- standard deviation. 538

539

FIG 4. Summary of endolysin truncation and chimera mutants. Portions from endolysin 540

CS74L are in black and those from CD27L are in white. N-AAA, N-acetylmuramoyl-L-541

alanine amidase. 542

543

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FIG 5. Turbidity reduction assays. Ni-NTA purified protein extracts were incubated with 544

fresh cells of (A, B) C. sporogenes ATCC17886 and (C) C. difficile NCTC 11204. (A) ■, 545

10 μg CS74L, Δ, 10 μg CS74L1-177, ●, 10 μg CSCD, +, 1000U lysozyme, x, buffer 546

control, (B) ■, 10 μg CS74L, □, 1 μg CS74L, x, buffer control, (C) ■, 10 μg CS74L, Δ, 547

10 μg CS74L1-177, ●, 10 μg CSCD, x, buffer control. Values are the means of duplicate 548

samples +/- standard deviation. 549

550

FIG. 6. pH profile of endolysin activity. Endolysin activity was measured in a turbidity 551

reduction assay using 10 μg crude protein extract incubated with frozen cells of C. 552

sporogenes ATCC 17886. Results are the means of duplicate assays +/- standard 553

deviation and are plotted as the percent decrease in OD600 over 8 min linear lysis. ■, 554

CS74L, Δ, CS74L1-177, ●, CSCD. 555

556

Table 1 Lytic activity of CS74L, CS74L1-177 and CSCD on sensitive species. 557

bacterium Lytic activitya Φ8074-B1 plaque formation CS74L CS74L1-177 CSCD CTP1L

C. sporogenes ATCC 17886 59.9 +/- 0.3 67.8 +/- 0.3 69.4 +/-1.3 - C C. sporogenes NCIMB 10696 84.0 +/- 0.3 61.6 +/- 3.4 71.2 +/- 0.1 - R C. sporogenes NCIMB 532 53.6 +/- 3.7 62.8 +/- 0.1 67.9 +/- 0.4 - R C. sporogenes NCIMB 9381 77.7 +/- 1.8 21.5 +/- 6.4 9.6 +/- 3.4 - R C. sporogenes NCIMB 9382 73.3 +/- 4.5 33.4 +/- 5.1 58.0 +/- 2.2 - C C. sporogenes NCIMB 9383 78.9 +/- 0.5 44.3 +/- 2.0 75.7 +/- 1.1 - C C. sporogenes NCIMB 12148 40.2 +/- 0.7 68.1 +/- 0.2 55.8 +/- 0.3 - R C. sporogenes NCIMB 12343 75.9 +/- 5.6 70.4 +/- 1.6 80.2 +/- 1.1 - T C. sporogenes NCIMB 700933 54.9 +/- 2.0 74.8 +/- 0.2 74.6 +/- 1.9 - R C. sporogenes NCIMB 701789 35.9 +/- 0.3 72.2 +/- 0.8 58.6 +/- 3.2 - c C. sporogenes NCIMB 701791 50.7 +/- 4.8 75.9 +/- 2.5 66.9 +/- 2.1 - R C. sporogenes NCIMB 701792 65.9 +/- 4.7 76.3 +/- 1.7 68.9 +/- 1.2 - c C. sporogenes NCIMB 701793 58.2 +/- 1.9 73.6 +/- 0.2 71.9 +/- 0.7 - R C. sporogenes NCIMB 8053 83.4 +/- 0.9 52.7 +/- 2.5 74.9 +/- 0.9 - R C. sporogenes NCDO 1792 51.0 +/- 0.5 67.5 +/- 1.2 69.0 +/- 0.7 - c C. sporogenes PA 3679 44.7 +/- 0.4 68.5 +/- 1.8 64.5 +/- 1.4 - c C. acetobutylicum BL75141 32.5 +/- 0.7 31.1 +/- 1.1 48.5 +/- 6.0 - R

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C. tyrobutyricum NCIMB 9582 52.7 +/- 2.5 46.5 +/- 7.0 16.8 +/- 4.2 57.6 +/- 0.6 R 558 a Figures represent percentage drop in OD600 in 8 min +/- SD, measured over linear lysis 559

of frozen cells incubated with 10 μg partially-purified protein; -, not measured, C large 560

clear plaques, c, small clear plaques, T, large turbid plaques, R, no plaque formation. 561

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Figure 1

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5000 10000 15000 20000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 11 13 14 15 16 17 18 20 22 24 26 27 28 30

25000 30000 35000 40000

31 33 36 39 42 43 44 46 47 49 50 53 54 55 58 61 64 67 70 71 74 76 82

45000

TerminasePortal protein

Head proteins Tail proteinTape measure protein

Tail proteins Tail proteinEndolysin

DNA pol IRecB

Packaging and head morphogenesis

Tail assembly and structural proteins Cell lysis DNA replicationand modification

RecA Helicases

Anaerobic ribonucleoside triphosphate reductases

Ligase

Primase

dUTPase

Nucleoside deoxyribosyltransferase

Endonuclease

DNA replication and modification

Figure 2

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0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

0 10 20 30 40min

OD

600

kDa18898

6249

38

281914

63

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7A B C

Figure 3

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CS74L

N-AAA domain

CS74L1-177

CSCD

Asn177

Asn177

1

1

264

270

TAG

Asn177

Asn180

1 CS74L1-177

CD27L180-270

Figure 4

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0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

0 200 400 600min

OD

600

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0 10 20 30 400

0.1

0.20.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.70.8

0.9

1

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

OD

600

A B C

OD

600

min min

Figure 5

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

4.5 5.5 6.5 7.5 8.5

pH

perc

enta

ge d

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ase

in O

D60

0

Figure 6

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