Functional Differences between E. coli and ESKAPE Pathogen GroES/GroEL

As the GroES/GroEL chaperonin system is the only bacterial chaperone that is essential under all conditions, we have been interested in the development of GroES/GroEL inhibitors as potential antibiotics. Using GroES/GroEL as a surrogate, we have discovered several classes of GroES/GroEL inhibitors that show potent antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. However, it remains unknown if GroES/GroEL is functionally identical to other GroES/GroEL chaperonins and hence if our inhibitors will function against other chaperonins. Herein we report our initial efforts to characterize the GroES/GroEL chaperonins from clinically significant ESKAPE pathogens ( , , , , , and species). We used complementation experiments in GroES/GroEL-deficient and -null strains to report on exogenous ESKAPE chaperone function. In GroES/GroEL-deficient (but not knocked-out) , we found that only a subset of the ESKAPE GroES/GroEL chaperone systems could complement to produce a viable organism. Surprisingly, GroES/GroEL chaperone systems from two of the ESKAPE pathogens were found to complement in , but only in the strict absence of either GroEL ( ) or both GroES and GroEL ( ). In addition, GroES/GroEL from was unable to complement GroES/GroEL under all conditions. The resulting viable strains, in which was replaced with ESKAPE , demonstrated similar growth kinetics to wild-type , but displayed an elongated phenotype (potentially indicating compromised GroEL function) at some temperatures. These results suggest functional differences between GroES/GroEL chaperonins despite high conservation of amino acid identity. The GroES/GroEL chaperonin from has long served as the model system for other chaperonins. This assumption seemed valid because of the high conservation between the chaperonins. It was, therefore, shocking to discover ESKAPE pathogen GroES/GroEL formed mixed-complex chaperonins in the presence of GroES/GroEL, leading to loss of organism viability in some cases. Complete replacement of with ESKAPE restored organism viability, but produced an elongated phenotype, suggesting differences in chaperonin function, including client specificity and/or refolding cycle rates. These data offer important mechanistic insight into these remarkable machines, and the new strains developed allow for the synthesis of homogeneous chaperonins for biochemical studies and to further our efforts to develop chaperonin-targeted antibiotics.