Inactivation of the wall-associated de-N-acetylase (PgdA) of Listeria monocytogenes results in greater susceptibility of the cells to induced autolysis.

Several species of Gram-positive bacteria have cell wall peptidoglycan (syn. murein) in which not all of the sugar moieties are N-acetylated. This has recently been shown to be a secondary effect, caused by the action of a peptidoglycan N-acetylglucosamine deacetylase. We have found that the opportunistic pathogen Listeria monocytogenes is unusual in having three enzymes with such activity, two of which remain in the cytoplasm. Here, we examine the enzyme (PgdA) that crosses the cytoplasmic membrane and is localized in the cell wall. We purified a hexa-His-tagged form of PgdA to study its activity and constructed a mutant devoid of functional Lmo0415 (PgdA) protein. L. monocytogenes PgdA protein exhibited peptidoglycan N-acetylglucosamine deacetylase activity with natural substrates (peptidoglycan) from both L. monocytogenes and Escherichia coli as well as the peptidoglycan sugar chain component N-acetylglucosamine, but not with N-acetylmuramic acid. As was reported recently [6], inactivation of the structural gene was not lethal for L. monocytogenes nor did it affect growth rate or morphology of the cells. However, the pgdA mutant was more prone to autolysis induced by such agents as Triton X-100 and EDTA, and is more susceptible to the cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMP) lysozyme and mutanolysin, using either peptidoglycan muramidases or autolysis-inducing agents. The pgdA mutant was also slightly more susceptible than the wild-type strain to the action of certain beta-lactam antibiotics. Our results indicate that protein PgdA plays a protective physiological role for listerial cells.