Laboratoire Innovations Technologiques pour la Détection et le Diagnostic

Environmental cues profoundly modulate cell proliferation and cell elongation to inform and direct plant growth and development. External phosphate (Pi) limitation inhibits primary root growth in many plant species. However, the underlying Pi sensory mechanisms are unknown. Here we genetically uncouple two Pi sensing pathways in the root apex of Arabidopsis thaliana. First, the rapid inhibition of cell elongation in the transition zone is controlled by transcription factor STOP1, by its direct target, ALMT1, encoding a malate channel, and by ferroxidase LPR1, which together mediate Fe and peroxidase-dependent cell wall stiffening. Second, during the subsequent slow inhibition of cell proliferation in the apical meristem, which is mediated by LPR1-dependent, but largely STOP1-ALMT1-independent, Fe and callose accumulate in the stem cell niche, leading to meristem reduction. Our work uncovers STOP1 and ALMT1 as a signalling pathway of low Pi availability and exuded malate as an unexpected apoplastic inhibitor of root cell wall expansion.

The assembly of single-amplified genomes (SAGs) and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) has led to a surge in genome-based discoveries of members affiliated with Archaea and Bacteria, bringing with it a need to develop guidelines for nomenclature of uncultivated microorganisms. The International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) only recognizes cultures as 'type material', thereby preventing the naming of uncultivated organisms. In this Consensus Statement, we propose two potential paths to solve this nomenclatural conundrum. One option is the adoption of previously proposed modifications to the ICNP to recognize DNA sequences as acceptable type material; the other option creates a nomenclatural code for uncultivated Archaea and Bacteria that could eventually be merged with the ICNP in the future. Regardless of the path taken, we believe that action is needed now within the scientific community to develop consistent rules for nomenclature of uncultivated taxa in order to provide clarity and stability, and to effectively communicate microbial diversity.

The high porosity and versatile composition of the benchmarked mesoporous metal (Fe, Al, Cr) trimesate metal-organic frameworks (MIL-100(Fe, Al, Cr)) make them very promising solids in different strategic industrial and societal domains (separation, catalysis, biomedicine, etc.). In particular, MIL-100(Fe) nanoparticles (NPs) have been recently revealed to be one of the most promising and innovative next generation tools enabling multidrug delivery to overcome cancer resistance. Here, we analyzed the in vitro toxicity of the potential drug nanocarrier MIL-100(Fe) NPs and the effect of the constitutive cation by comparing its cytotoxicity with that one of its Cr and Al analogue NPs. Lung (A549 and Calu-3) and hepatic (HepG2 and Hep3B) cell lines were selected considering pulmonary, ingestion or intravenous exposure modes. First, the complete physicochemical characterization (structural, chemical and colloidal stability) of the MIL-100(Fe, Al, Cr) NPs was performed in the cell culture media. Then, their cytotoxicity was evaluated in the four selected cell lines using a combination of methods from cell impedance, cell survival/death and ROS generation to DNA damage for measuring genotoxicity. Thus, MIL-100(Fe, Al, Cr) NPs did not induce in vitro cell toxicity, even at high doses in the p53 wild type cell lines (A549 and calu-3 (lung) and HepG2 (liver)). The only toxic effect of MIL100-Fe was observed in the hepatocarcinoma cell line Hep3B, which is stress sensitive because it does not express TP53, the guardian of the genome.

Upon contact with biological fluids, nanoparticles (NPs) are readily coated by cellular compounds, particularly proteins, which are determining factors for the localization and toxicity of NPs in the organism. Here, we improved a methodological approach to identify proteins that adsorb on silica NPs with high affinity. Using large-scale proteomics and mixtures of soluble proteins prepared either from yeast cells or from alveolar human cells, we observed that proteins with large unstructured region(s) are more prone to bind on silica NPs. These disordered regions provide flexibility to proteins, a property that promotes their adsorption. The statistical analyses also pointed to a marked overrepresentation of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and of translation initiation factors among the adsorbed proteins. We propose that silica surfaces, which are mainly composed of Si–O− and Si–OH groups, mimic ribose-phosphate molecules (rich in –O− and –OH) and trap the proteins able to interact with ribose-phosphate containing molecules. Finally, using an in vitro assay, we showed that the sequestration of translation initiation factors by silica NPs results in an inhibition of the in vitro translational activity. This result demonstrates that characterizing the protein corona of various NPs would be a relevant approach to predict their potential toxicological effects.

Threonylcarbamoyladenosine (t(6)A) is a modified nucleoside universally conserved in tRNAs in all three kingdoms of life. The recently discovered genes for t(6)A synthesis, including tsaC and tsaD, are essential in model prokaryotes but not essential in yeast. These genes had been identified as antibacterial targets even before their functions were known. However, the molecular basis for this prokaryotic-specific essentiality has remained a mystery. Here, we show that t(6)A is a strong positive determinant for aminoacylation of tRNA by bacterial-type but not by eukaryotic-type isoleucyl-tRNA synthetases and might also be a determinant for the essential enzyme tRNA(Ile)-lysidine synthetase. We confirm that t(6)A is essential in Escherichia coli and a survey of genome-wide essentiality studies shows that genes for t(6)A synthesis are essential in most prokaryotes. This essentiality phenotype is not universal in Bacteria as t(6)A is dispensable in Deinococcus radiodurans, Thermus thermophilus, Synechocystis PCC6803 and Streptococcus mutans. Proteomic analysis of t(6)A(-) D. radiodurans strains revealed an induction of the proteotoxic stress response and identified genes whose translation is most affected by the absence of t(6)A in tRNAs. Thus, although t(6)A is universally conserved in tRNAs, its role in translation might vary greatly between organisms.

Tandem mass spectrometry-based proteotyping allows characterizing microorganisms in terms of taxonomy and is becoming an important tool for investigating microbial diversity from several ecosystems. Fast and automatable sample preparation for obtaining peptide pools amenable to tandem mass spectrometry is necessary for enabling proteotyping as a high-throughput method. First, the protocol to increase the yield of lysis of several representative bacterial and eukaryotic microorganisms was optimized by using a long and drastic bead-beating setting with 0.1 mm silica beads, 0.1 and 0.5 mm glass beads, in presence of detergents. Then, three different methods to obtain greater digestion yield from these extracts were tested and optimized for improve efficiency and reduce application time: denaturing electrophoresis of proteins and in-gel proteolysis, suspension-trapping filter-based approach (S-Trap) and, solid-phase-enhanced sample preparation named SP3. The latter method outperforms the other two in terms of speed and delivers also more peptides and proteins than with the in-gel proteolysis (2.2 fold for both) and S-trap approaches (1.3 and 1.2 fold, respectively). Thus, SP3 directly improves tandem mass spectrometry proteotyping.

Anthropogenic pollutants are found worldwide. Their fate and effects on human and ecosystem health must be appropriately monitored. Today, ecotoxicology is focused on the development of new methods to assess the impact of pollutant toxicity on living organisms and ecosystems. In situ biomonitoring often uses sentinel animals for which, ideally, molecular biomarkers have been defined thanks to which environmental quality can be assessed. In this context, high-throughput proteomics methods offer an attractive approach to study the early molecular responses of organisms to environmental stressors. This approach can be used to identify toxicity pathways, to quantify more precisely novel biomarkers, and to draw the possible adverse outcome pathways. In this review, we discuss the major advances in ecotoxicoproteomics made over the last decade and present the current state of knowledge, emphasizing the technological and conceptual advancements that allowed major breakthroughs in this field, which aims to "make our planet great again". SIGNIFICANCE: Ecotoxicoproteomics is a protein-centric methodology that is useful for ecotoxicology and could have future applications as part of chemical risk assessment and environmental monitoring. Ecotoxicology employing non-model sentinel organisms with highly divergent phylogenetic backgrounds aims to preserve the functioning of ecosystems and the overall range of biological species supporting them. The classical proteomics workflow involves protein identification, functional annotation, and extrapolation of toxicity across species. Thus, it is essential to develop multi-omics approaches in order to unravel molecular information and construct the most suitable databases for protein identification and pathway analysis in non-model species. Current instrumentation and available software allow relevant combined transcriptomic/proteomic studies to be performed for almost any species. This review summarizes these approaches and illustrates how they can be implemented in ecotoxicology for routine biomonitoring.

Lassa fever is a major threat in Western Africa. The large number of people living at risk for this disease calls for the development of a vaccine against Lassa virus (LASV). We generated live-attenuated LASV vaccines based on measles virus and Mopeia virus platforms and expressing different LASV antigens, with the aim to develop a vaccine able to protect after a single shot. We compared the efficacy of these vaccines against LASV in cynomolgus monkeys. The vaccines were well tolerated and protected the animals from LASV infection and disease after a single immunization but with varying efficacy. Analysis of the immune responses showed that complete protection was associated with robust secondary T cell and antibody responses against LASV. Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses showed an early activation of innate immunity and T cell priming after immunization with the most effective vaccines, with changes detectable as early as 2 days after immunization. The most efficacious vaccine candidate, a measles vector simultaneously expressing LASV glycoprotein and nucleoprotein, has been selected for further clinical evaluation.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a pandemic and is continuing to spread rapidly around the globe. No effective vaccine is currently available to prevent COVID-19, and intense efforts are being invested worldwide into vaccine development. In this context, all technology platforms must overcome several challenges resulting from the use of an incompletely characterized new virus. These include finding the right conditions for virus amplification for the development of vaccines based on inactivated or attenuated whole viral particles. Here, we describe a shotgun tandem mass spectrometry workflow, the data produced can be used to guide optimization of the conditions for viral amplification. In parallel, we analysed the changes occurring in the host cell proteome following SARS-CoV-2 infection to glean information on the biological processes modulated by the virus that could be further explored as potential drug targets to deal with the pandemic.

Deinococcus deserti is a desiccation- and radiation-tolerant desert bacterium. Differential RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) was performed to explore the specificities of its transcriptome. Strikingly, for 1,174 (60%) mRNAs, the transcription start site was found exactly at (916 cases, 47%) or very close to the translation initiation codon AUG or GUG. Such proportion of leaderless mRNAs, which may resemble ancestral mRNAs, is unprecedented for a bacterial species. Proteomics showed that leaderless mRNAs are efficiently translated in D. deserti. Interestingly, we also found 173 additional transcripts with a 5'-AUG or 5'-GUG that would make them competent for ribosome binding and translation into novel small polypeptides. Fourteen of these are predicted to be leader peptides involved in transcription attenuation. Another 30 correlated with new gene predictions and/or showed conservation with annotated and nonannotated genes in other Deinococcus species, and five of these novel polypeptides were indeed detected by mass spectrometry. The data also allowed reannotation of the start codon position of 257 genes, including several DNA repair genes. Moreover, several novel highly radiation-induced genes were found, and their potential roles are discussed. On the basis of our RNA-seq and proteogenomics data, we propose that translation of many of the novel leaderless transcripts, which may have resulted from single-nucleotide changes and maintained by selective pressure, provides a new explanation for the generation of a cellular pool of small peptides important for protection of proteins against oxidation and thus for radiation/desiccation tolerance and adaptation to harsh environmental conditions.

BACKGROUND: By analyzing the proteins which are the workhorses of biological systems, metaproteomics allows us to list the taxa present in any microbiota, monitor their relative biomass, and characterize the functioning of complex biological systems. RESULTS: Here, we present a new strategy for rapidly determining the microbial community structure of a given sample and designing a customized protein sequence database to optimally exploit extensive tandem mass spectrometry data. This approach leverages the capabilities of the first generation of Quadrupole Orbitrap mass spectrometer incorporating an asymmetric track lossless (Astral) analyzer, offering rapid MS/MS scan speed and sensitivity. We took advantage of data-dependent acquisition and data-independent acquisition strategies using a peptide extract from a human fecal sample spiked with precise amounts of peptides from two reference bacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Our approach, which combines both acquisition methods, proves to be time-efficient while processing extensive generic databases and massive datasets, achieving a coverage of more than 122,000 unique peptides and 38,000 protein groups within a 30-min DIA run. This marks a significant departure from current state-of-the-art metaproteomics methodologies, resulting in broader coverage of the metabolic pathways governing the biological system. In combination, our strategy and the Astral mass analyzer represent a quantum leap in the functional analysis of microbiomes. Video Abstract.

For the rapid and reliable differentiation of clinically-relevant bacterial species, mass spectrometry-based methods have emerged in recent years as valid alternatives to existing techniques. Mass profiles generated by whole-cell Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight mass spectrometry have revolutionized microorganism identification and proven their potential for proteotyping at the species level. Indeed, the methodology has been widely deployed in clinical settings. However, the low resolution and dynamic range of the methodology has limited its capacity to distinguish between subspecies. This discrimination capacity is pivotal in cases where certain strains display virulence or antibiotic resistance, and for epidemiologic analyses. Moreover, sensitivity and specificity are both key parameters when attempting to discriminate between microorganisms present in complex multi-pathogenic samples. These two parameters are also essential to meet the growing interest in the characterization of microorganisms contained within even more complex samples, such as the human microbiome. Tandem mass spectrometry, with its high resolution, holds great potential for use in the real-time direct analysis of pathogens at the most relevant taxonomic rank in routine clinical practice. This review explores the numerous benefits and challenges of implementing advanced proteotyping methods, based on tandem mass spectrometry, in clinical laboratories. We provide an overview of the current applications and methodologies, while also discussing recent improvements and potential new approaches for typing, as well as their future applications.

This study unveils the single and combined drought and heat impacts on the photosynthetic performance of Coffea arabica cv. Icatu and C. canephora cv. Conilon Clone 153 (CL153). Well-watered (WW) potted plants were gradually submitted to severe water deficit (SWD) along 20 days under adequate temperature (25/20ºC, day/night), and thereafter exposed to a gradual temperature rise up to 42/30ºC, followed by a 14-day water and temperature recovery. Single drought affected all gas exchanges (including Amax) and most fluorescence parameters in both genotypes. However, Icatu maintained Fv/Fm and RuBisCO activity, and reinforced electron transport rates, carrier contents, and proton gradient regulation (PGR5) and chloroplast NADH dehydrogenase-like (NDH) complex proteins abundance. This suggested negligible non-stomatal limitations of photosynthesis that were accompanied by a triggering of protective cyclic electron transport (CEF) involving both photosystems (PSs). These findings contrasted with declines in RuBisCO and PSs activities, and cytochromes (b559, f, b563) contents in CL153. Remarkable heat tolerance in potential photosynthetic functioning was detected in WW plants of both genotypes (up to 37/28ºC or 39/30ºC) , likely associated with CEF in Icatu. Yet, at 42/30ºC the tolerance limit was exceeded. Reduced Amax and increased Ci values reflected non-stomatal limitations of photosynthesis, agreeing with impairments in energy capture (F0 rise), PSII photochemical efficiency, and RuBisCO and Ru5PK activities. In contrast to PSs activities and electron carrier contents, enzyme activities were highly heat sensitive. Until 37/28ºC, stresses interaction was largely absent, and drought played the major role in constraining photosynthesis functioning. Harsher conditions (SWD, 42/30ºC) exacergated impairments to PSs, enzymes, and electron carriers, but uncontrolled energy dissipation was mitigated by photoprotective mechanisms.. Most parameters recovered fully between 4 and 14 days after stress relief in both genotypes, although some aftereffects persisted in SWD plants. Icatu was more drought tolerant, with WW and SWD plants usually showing a faster and/or greater recovery than CL153. Heat affected both genotypes mostly at 42/30ºC, especially in SWD and Icatu plants. Overall, photochemical components were highly tolerant to heat and to stress interaction in contrast to enzymes that deserve special attention by breeding programs to increase coffee sustainability in climate change scenarios.

Pseudomonas putida BIRD-1 has the potential to be used for the industrial production of butanol due to its solvent tolerance and ability to metabolize low-cost compounds. However, the strain has two major limitations: it assimilates butanol as sole carbon source and butanol concentrations above 1% (v/v) are toxic. With the aim of facilitating BIRD-1 strain design for industrial use, a genome-wide mini-Tn5 transposon mutant library was screened for clones exhibiting increased butanol sensitivity or deficiency in butanol assimilation. Twenty-one mutants were selected that were affected in one or both of the processes. These mutants exhibited insertions in various genes, including those involved in the TCA cycle, fatty acid metabolism, transcription, cofactor synthesis and membrane integrity. An omics-based analysis revealed key genes involved in the butanol response. Transcriptomic and proteomic studies were carried out to compare short and long-term tolerance and assimilation traits. Pseudomonas putida initiates various butanol assimilation pathways via alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases that channel the compound to central metabolism through the glyoxylate shunt pathway. Accordingly, isocitrate lyase - a key enzyme of the pathway - was the most abundant protein when butanol was used as the sole carbon source. Upregulation of two genes encoding proteins PPUBIRD1_2240 and PPUBIRD1_2241 (acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and acyl-CoA synthetase respectively) linked butanol assimilation with acyl-CoA metabolism. Butanol tolerance was found to be primarily linked to classic solvent defense mechanisms, such as efflux pumps, membrane modifications and control of redox state. Our results also highlight the intensive energy requirements for butanol production and tolerance; thus, enhancing TCA cycle operation may represent a promising strategy for enhanced butanol production.

The exported protein fraction of an organism may reflect its life strategy and, ultimately, the way it is perceived by the outside world. Bioinformatic prediction of the exported pan-proteome of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus lineages demonstrated that (i) this fraction of the encoded proteome had a much higher incidence of lineage-specific proteins than the cytosolic fraction (57% and 73% homologue incidence respectively) and (ii) exported proteins are largely uncharacterized to date (54%) compared with proteins from the cytosolic fraction (35%). This suggests that the genomic and functional diversity of these organisms lies largely in the diverse pool of novel functions these organisms export to/through their membranes playing a key role in community diversification, e.g. for niche partitioning or evading predation. Experimental exoproteome analysis of marine Synechococcus showed transport systems for inorganic nutrients, an interesting array of strain-specific exoproteins involved in mutualistic or hostile interactions (i.e. hemolysins, pilins, adhesins), and exoenzymes with a potential mixotrophic goal (i.e. exoproteases and chitinases). We also show how these organisms can remodel their exoproteome, i.e. by increasing the repertoire of interaction proteins when grown in the presence of a heterotroph or decrease exposure to prey when grown in the dark. Finally, our data indicate that heterotrophic bacteria can feed on the exoproteome of Synechococcus.

Most of the energy that is introduced into the oceans by photosynthetic primary producers is in the form of organic matter that then sustains the rest of the food web, from micro to macro-organisms. However, it is the interactions between phototrophs and heterotrophs that are vital to maintaining the nutrient balance of marine microbiomes that ultimately feed these higher trophic levels. The primary produced organic matter is mostly remineralized by heterotrophic microorganisms but, because most of the oceanic dissolved organic matter is in the form of biopolymers, and microbial membrane transport systems operate with molecules <0.6 kDa, it must be hydrolyzed outside the cell before a microorganism can acquire it. As a simili of the marine microbiome, we analyzed, using state-of-the-art proteomics, the exoproteomes obtained from synthetic communities combining specific Roseobacter (Ruegeria pomeroyi DSS-3, Roseobacter denitrificans OCh114, and Dinoroseobacter shibae DFL-12) and Synechococcus strains (WH7803 and WH8102). This approach identified the repertoire of hydrolytic enzymes secreted by Roseobacter, opening up the black box of heterotrophic transformation/remineralization of biopolymers generated by marine phytoplankton. As well as highlighting interesting exoenzymes this strategy also allowed us to infer clues on the molecular basis of niche partitioning.

Biomolecules, and particularly proteins, bind on nanoparticle (NP) surfaces to form the so-called protein corona. It is accepted that the corona drives the biological distribution and toxicity of NPs. Here, the corona composition and structure were studied using silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) of different sizes interacting with soluble yeast protein extracts. Adsorption isotherms showed that the amount of adsorbed proteins varied greatly upon NP size with large NPs having more adsorbed proteins per surface unit. The protein corona composition was studied using a large-scale label-free proteomic approach, combined with statistical and regression analyses. Most of the proteins adsorbed on the NPs were the same, regardless of the size of the NPs. To go beyond, the protein physicochemical parameters relevant for the adsorption were studied: electrostatic interactions and disordered regions are the main driving forces for the adsorption on SiNPs but polypeptide sequence length seems to be an important factor as well. This article demonstrates that curvature effects exhibited using model proteins are not determining factors for the corona composition on SiNPs, when dealing with complex biological media.

BACKGROUND: Soil and sediment microorganisms are highly phylogenetically diverse but are currently largely under-represented in public molecular databases. Their functional characterization by means of metaproteomics is usually performed using metagenomic sequences acquired for the same sample. However, such hugely diverse metagenomic datasets are difficult to assemble; in parallel, theoretical proteomes from isolates available in generic databases are of high quality. Both these factors advocate for the use of theoretical proteomes in metaproteomics interpretation pipelines. Here, we examined a number of database construction strategies with a view to increasing the outputs of metaproteomics studies performed on soil samples. RESULTS: The number of peptide-spectrum matches was found to be of comparable magnitude when using public or sample-specific metagenomics-derived databases. However, numbers were significantly increased when a combination of both types of information was used in a two-step cascaded search. Our data also indicate that the functional annotation of the metaproteomics dataset can be maximized by using a combination of both types of databases. CONCLUSIONS: A two-step strategy combining sample-specific metagenome database and public databases such as the non-redundant NCBI database and a massive soil gene catalog allows maximizing the metaproteomic interpretation both in terms of ratio of assigned spectra and retrieval of function-derived information. Video abstract.

BACKGROUND: There is an important need for the development of fast and robust methods to quantify the diversity and temporal dynamics of microbial communities in complex environmental samples. Because tandem mass spectrometry allows rapid inspection of protein content, metaproteomics is increasingly used for the phenotypic analysis of microbiota across many fields, including biotechnology, environmental ecology, and medicine. RESULTS: Here, we present a new method for identifying the biomass contribution of any given organism based on a signature describing the number of peptide sequences shared with all other organisms, calculated by mathematical modeling and phylogenetic relationships. This so-called "phylopeptidomics" principle allows for the calculation of the relative ratios of peptide-specified taxa by the linear combination of such signatures applied to an experimental metaproteomic dataset. We illustrate its efficiency using artificial mixtures of two closely related pathogens of clinical interest, and with more complex microbiota models. CONCLUSIONS: This approach paves the way to a new vision of taxonomic changes and accurate label-free quantitative metaproteomics for fine-tuned functional characterization. Video abstract.

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is an age-related disease that currently faces a lack of symptomatic treatment. Inflammation, which is mainly sustained by pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1b, TNF, and IL-6, plays an important role in osteoarthritis progression. In this context, pro-inflammatory cytokines are widely used to mimic the inflammatory component of osteoarthritis in vitro. However, the therapeutic failures of clinical trials evaluating anti-cytokines drugs highlight the lack of overall understanding of the effects of these cytokines on chondrocytes. METHODS: Here, we generated a comprehensive transcriptomic and proteomic dataset of osteoarthritic chondrocytes treated with these cytokines to describe their pro-inflammatory signature and compare it to the transcriptome of non-osteoarthritic chondrocytes. Then, the dysregulations highlighted at the molecular level were functionally confirmed by real-time cellular metabolic assays. RESULTS: We identified dysregulation of metabolic-related genes in osteoarthritic chondrocytes but not in non-osteoarthritic chondrocytes. A metabolic shift, toward increased glycolysis at the expense of mitochondrial respiration, was specifically confirmed in osteoarthritic chondrocytes treated with IL-1b or TNF. CONCLUSION: These data show a strong and specific association between inflammation and metabolism in osteoarthritic chondrocytes, which was not found in non-osteoarthritic chondrocytes. This indicates that the link between inflammation and metabolic dysregulation may be exacerbated during chondrocyte damage in osteoarthritis. Video Abstract.