TY - JOUR A1 - Weinhart, M. A1 - Becherer, T. A1 - Schnurbusch, N. A1 - Schwibbert, Karin A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg A1 - Haag, R. T1 - Linear and hyperbranched polyglycerol derivatives as excellent bioinert glass coating materials JF - Advanced engineering materials N2 - The non-specific adsorption of proteins to surfaces in contact with biofluids constitutes a major problem in the biomedical and biotechnological field, due to the initiation of biofilm formation and the resulting improper function of devices. Therefore, non-fouling surfaces modified with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) are usually applied. In this study, we report the synthesis of triethoxysilane modified glycerol based polymers of linear and branched architecture for the preparation of covalently attached monolayers on glass. Evaluation of the biocompatibility of these surfaces was performed in comparison to bare non-coated glass, hydrophobic hexadecane modified glass, and mPEG modified glass as the controls. Protein adsorption of BSA and fibrinogen (1 mg · mL-1 in PBS) after 4 and 24 h immersion was reduced by more than 96 and 90%, respectively, compared to the adsorption on bare glass substrates. In addition, mouse NIH-3T3 fibroblast cells showed only marginal adhesion on the polyglycerol and mPEG coated slides after 3 and 7 d incubation in cell suspension, which demonstrates the long-term stability of the applied glass coatings. The non-adhesive properties of these coatings were further reflected in bacterial adhesion tests of Escherichia coli K12 and three clinically relevant Gram-positive and negative strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Aeromonas hydrophila), since linear polyglycerol (LPG(OH)), linear poly(methyl glycerol) (LPG(OMe)), and hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG) reduced the adhesion for all tested strains by more than 99% compared to bare glass. Therefore, polyglycerol derivatives present an excellent non-fouling surface coating as an alternative to PEG with feasibility for surface modification of various substrates. KW - Protein adsorption KW - Non-fouling-surfaces KW - Linear polyglycerol KW - Hyperbranched polyglycerol KW - Bacterial adhesion PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.201180012 SN - 1438-1656 VL - 13 IS - 12 SP - B501 EP - B510 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-25221 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marinelli, F. A1 - Kuhlmann, S.I. A1 - Grell, E. A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg A1 - Ziegler, C. M. A1 - Faraldo-Gómez, J.D. T1 - Evidence for an allosteric mechanism of substrate release from membrane-transporter accessory binding proteins JF - Proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the United States of America : PNAS N2 - Numerous membrane importers rely on accessory water-soluble proteins to capture their substrates. These substrate-binding proteins (SBP) have a strong affinity for their ligands; yet, substrate release onto the low-affinity membrane transporter must occur for uptake to proceed. It is generally accepted that release is facilitated by the association of SBP and transporter, upon which the SBP adopts a conformation similar to the unliganded state, whose affinity is sufficiently reduced. Despite the appeal of this mechanism, however, direct supporting evidence is lacking. Here, we use experimental and theoretical methods to demonstrate that an allosteric mechanism of enhanced substrate release is indeed plausible. First, we report the atomic-resolution structure of apo TeaA, the SBP of the Na+-coupled ectoine TRAP transporter TeaBC from Halomonas elongata DSM2581T, and compare it with the substrate-bound structure previously reported. Conformational free-energy landscape calculations based upon molecular dynamics simulations are then used to dissect the mechanism that couples ectoine binding to structural change in TeaA. These insights allow us to design a triple mutation that biases TeaA toward apo-like conformations without directly perturbing the binding cleft, thus mimicking the influence of the membrane transporter. Calorimetric measurements demonstrate that the ectoine affinity of the conformationally biased triple mutant is 100-fold weaker than that of the wild type. By contrast, a control mutant predicted to be conformationally unbiased displays wild-type affinity. This work thus demonstrates that substrate release from SBPs onto their membrane transporters can be facilitated by the latter through a mechanism of allosteric modulation of the former. KW - Binding thermodynamics KW - Periplasmic binding protein KW - Secondary transporter KW - ABC transporter KW - Replica-exchange metadynamics PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112534108 SN - 0027-8424 SN - 1091-6490 VL - 108 IS - 49 SP - E1285 EP - E1292 PB - National Academy of Sciences CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-25049 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwibbert, Karin A1 - Marin-Sanguino, A. A1 - Bagyan, I. A1 - Heidrich, Gabriele A1 - Lentzen, G. A1 - Seitz, H. A1 - Rampp, M. A1 - Schuster, S.C. A1 - Klenk, H.-P. A1 - Pfeiffer, F. A1 - Oesterheit, D. A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg T1 - A blueprint of ectoine metabolism from the genome of the industrial producer Halomonas elongata DSM 2581T JF - Environmental microbiology N2 - The halophilic γ-proteobacterium Halomonas elongata DSM 2581T thrives at high salinity by synthesizing and accumulating the compatible solute ectoine. Ectoine levels are highly regulated according to external salt levels but the overall picture of its metabolism and control is not well understood. Apart from its critical role in cell adaptation to halophilic environments, ectoine can be used as a stabilizer for enzymes and as a cell protectant in skin and health care applications and is thus produced annually on a scale of tons in an industrial process using H. elongata as producer strain. This paper presents the complete genome sequence of H. elongata (4 061 296 bp) and includes experiments and analysis identifying and characterizing the entire ectoine metabolism, including a newly discovered pathway for ectoine degradation and its cyclic connection to ectoine synthesis. The degradation of ectoine (doe) proceeds via hydrolysis of ectoine (DoeA) to Nα-acetyl-L-2,4-diaminobutyric acid, followed by deacetylation to diaminobutyric acid (DoeB). In H. elongata, diaminobutyric acid can either flow off to aspartate or re-enter the ectoine synthesis pathway, forming a cycle of ectoine synthesis and degradation. Genome comparison revealed that the ectoine degradation pathway exists predominantly in non-halophilic bacteria unable to synthesize ectoine. Based on the resulting genetic and biochemical data, a metabolic flux model of ectoine metabolism was derived that can be used to understand the way H. elongata survives under varying salt stresses and that provides a basis for a model-driven improvement of industrial ectoine production. KW - Genom KW - Ectoin KW - Biotechnologie KW - Halophile Bakterien PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02336.x SN - 1462-2912 SN - 1462-2920 VL - 13 IS - 8 SP - 1973 EP - 1994 PB - Blackwell Science CY - Oxford AN - OPUS4-22344 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Marinelli, F. A1 - Kuhlmann, S. I. A1 - Grell, E. A1 - Kunte, Hans-Jörg A1 - Ziegler, C. M. A1 - Faraldo-Gómez, J. D. T1 - Evidence for an allosteric mechanism of substrate release from membrane-transporter accessory binding proteins JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) N2 - Numerous membrane importers rely on accessory water-soluble proteins to capture their substrates. These substrate-binding Proteins (SBP) have a strong affinity for their ligands; yet, Substrate release onto the low-affinity membrane transporter must occur for uptake to proceed. It is generally accepted that release is facilitated by the association of SBP and transporter, upon which the SBP adopts a conformation similar to the unliganded state, whose affinity is sufficiently reduced. Despite the appeal of this mechanism, however, direct supporting evidence is lacking. Here, we use experimental and theoretical methods to demonstrate that an allosteric mechanism of enhanced substrate release is indeed plausible. First, we report the atomic-resolution structure of APO TeaA, the SBP of the Na!-coupled ectoine TRAP transporter TeaBC from Halomonas elongata DSM2581T, and compare it with the substrate-bound structure previously reported. Conformational freeenergy landscape calculations based upon molecular Dynamics simulations are then used to dissect the mechanism that couples ectoine binding to structural change in TeaA. These insights allow us to design a triple mutation that biases TeaA toward apo-like conformations without directly perturbing the binding cleft, thus mimicking the influence of the membrane transporter. Calorimetric measurements demonstrate that the ectoine affinity of the conformationally biased triple mutant is 100-fold weaker than that of the wild type. By contrast, a control mutant predicted to be conformationally unbiased displays wild-type affinity. This work thus demonstrates that substrate release from SBPs onto their Membrane transporters can be facilitated by the latter through a mechanism of allosteric modulation of the former. KW - Binding thermodynamics KW - Periplasmic binding protein KW - Secondary transporter KW - ABC transporter KW - Replica-exchange metadynamics PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112534108 SN - 0027-8424 SN - 1091-6490 VL - 108 IS - 49 SP - E1285 EP - E1292 AN - OPUS4-37681 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -