Uncovering novel cell wall chemistries in gram negative bacteria : from development or dedicated peptidoglycan chemometric tools to functional genomics

Sammanfattning: Bacteria are surrounded by an external cell wall whose main component is a polymeric net-like structure called the peptidoglycan (PG) or murein sacculus. PG plays crucial roles in bacterial physiology (eg morphogenesis, growth fitness and regulation of innate immunity). Based on the characteristics of this macromolecule, bacteria are grouped as gram negative and positive. Gram negatives present a thin PG layer in the periplasmic space, while Gram positive bacteria contain one thick multi-layered sacculus covering the cytoplasmic membrane. Although the PG sacculus is widely conserved between bacteria, variations in its chemical structure (ie sugars and peptide components) have been reported as a coping mechanism to stress. For example, V. choleraeis able to downregulate PG biosynthesis through non-canonical D-amino acids (NCDAAs) cell wall editing when entering stationary phase. NCDAAs production relies on Bsr enzymes, broad spectrum racemases which are expressed in V. cholerae under the control of stress sigma factor RpoS. In this thesis, we present a comprehensive study that allows us to determine the basic structural and biochemical features required for prominent D-amino acid production by Bsr enzymes.V. cholerae’s PG editing by NCDAAs revealed the existence of previously unappreciated  chemical modification in the cell wall of bacteria. Such an observation made us question whether the latest technology could reveal, otherwise undetectable, novel PG traits and furthermore, revisit the existence of murein in bacteria which were previously defined as PG-less. Finally, these studies would promote a global assessment of the degree of PG-chemical variability at a Kingdom scale.On the search for novel functional chemistries and associated mechanisms of cell wall regulation, we analysed the cell wall of hundreds of different species. Here, I present two proof of concept studies: i) investigation of the existence of PG in the Plantomycetes Kuenenia stuttgartiensis, a species previously classified as PG-less; and ii) PG chemical diversity within Class Alphaproteobacteria. To do so, we developed and experimentally validated an innovative chemometric pipeline to rapidly analyse large PG datasets. Chemometric analyses revealed 3 PG clusters within Alphaproteobacteria, which included unprecedented PG modifications widely conserved in family Acetobacteria: amidation at the α-(L)-carboxyl of meso-diaminopimelic acid and the presence of (1–3) cross-linked muropeptides between L-Ala and D-(meso)-diaminopimelate residues from adjacent moieties. Fluctuations of the relative abundance of these PG traits were growth phase and media composition dependent. Functional studies demonstrated that Acetobacteria atypical muropeptides enabled cellular protection against Type VI secreted endopeptidases and negatively affected innate immune system recognition suggesting relevant functional roles in the environmental adaptability of these bacteria.