N-terminomics identifies Prli42 as a membrane miniprotein conserved in Firmicutes and critical for stressosome activation in Listeria monocytogenes

作者：Impens Francis; Rolhion Nathalie; Radoshevich Lilliana; Becavin Christophe; Duval Melodie; Mellin Jeffrey; del Portillo Francisco Garcia; Graciela Pucciarelli M; Williams Allison H; Cossart Pascale^*

来源：Nature Microbiology, 2017, 2(5): 17005.

DOI：10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.5

To adapt to changing environments, bacteria have evolved numerous pathways that activate stress response genes. In Gram-positive bacteria, the stressosome, a cytoplasmic complex, relays external cues and activates the sigma B regulon. The stressosome is structurally well-characterized in Bacillus, but how it senses stress remains elusive. Here, we report a genome-wide N-terminomic approach in Listeria that strikingly led to the discovery of 19 internal translation initiation sites and 6 miniproteins, among which one, Prli42, is conserved in Firmicutes. Prli42 is membrane-anchored and interacts with orthologues of Bacillus stressosome components. We reconstituted the Listeria stressosome in vitro and visualized its supramolecular structure by electron microscopy. Analysis of a series of Prli42 mutants demonstrated that Prli42 is important for sigma B activation, bacterial growth following oxidative stress and for survival in macrophages. Taken together, our N-terminonic approach unveiled Prli42 as a long-sought link between stress and the stressosome.

• 出版日期2017-5