A cryptic oxidoreductase safeguards oxidative protein folding in <i>Corynebacterium diphtheriae</i>.

Abstract

In many gram-positive Actinobacteria, including <i>Actinomyces oris</i> and <i>Corynebacterium matruchotii</i>, the conserved thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase MdbA that catalyzes oxidative folding of exported proteins is essential for bacterial viability by an unidentified mechanism. Intriguingly, in <i>Corynebacterium diphtheriae</i>, the deletion of <i>mdbA</i> blocks cell growth only at 37 °C but not at 30 °C, suggesting the presence of alternative oxidoreductase enzyme(s). By isolating spontaneous thermotolerant revertants of the <i>mdbA</i> mutant at 37 °C, we obtained genetic suppressors, all mapped to a single T-to-G mutation within the promoter region of <i>tsdA</i>, causing its elevated expression. Strikingly, increased expression of <i>tsdA</i>-via suppressor mutations or a constitutive promoter-rescues the pilus assembly and toxin production defects of this mutant, hence compensating for the loss of <i>mdbA</i>. Structural, genetic, and biochemical analyses demonstrated TsdA is a membrane-tethered thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase with a conserved CxxC motif that can substitute for MdbA in mediating oxidative folding of pilin and toxin substrates. Together with our observation that <i>tsdA</i> expression is upregulated at nonpermissive temperature (40 °C) in wild-type cells, we posit that TsdA has evolved as a compensatory thiol-disulfide oxidoreductase that safeguards oxidative protein folding in <i>C. diphtheriae</i> against thermal stress.