Transient Glycolytic Complexation of Arsenate Enhances Resistance in the Enteropathogen Vibrio cholerae

Even though resistance to arsenate has been extensively investigated in environmental bacteria, how enteric pathogens tolerate this toxic compound remains unknown. Here, we found that the cholera pathogen V. cholerae exhibits increased resistance to arsenate compared to closely related enteric pathogens. The ubiquitous presence of toxic arsenate (As-V) in the environment has raised mechanisms of resistance in all living organisms. Generally, bacterial detoxification of As-V relies on its reduction to arsenite (As-III) by ArsC, followed by the export of As-III by ArsB. However, how pathogenic species resist this metalloid remains largely unknown. Here, we found that Vibrio cholerae, the etiologic agent of the diarrheal disease cholera, outcompetes other enteropathogens when grown on millimolar concentrations of As-V. To do so, V. cholerae uses, instead of ArsCB, the As-V-inducible vc1068-1071 operon (renamed var for vibrio arsenate resistance), which encodes the arsenate repressor ArsR, an alternative glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, a putative phosphatase, and the As-V transporter ArsJ. In addition to Var, V. cholerae induces oxidative stress-related systems to counter reactive oxygen species (ROS) production caused by intracellular As-V. Characterization of the var mutants suggested that these proteins function independently from one another and play critical roles in preventing deleterious effects on the cell membrane potential and growth derived from the accumulation As-V. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that V. cholerae complexes As-V with the glycolytic intermediate 3-phosphoglycerate into 1-arseno-3-phosphoglycerate (1As3PG). We further show that 1As3PG is not transported outside the cell; instead, it is subsequently dissociated to enable extrusion of free As-V through ArsJ. Collectively, we propose the formation of 1As3PG as a transient metabolic storage of As-V to curb the noxious effect of free As-V. This study advances our understanding of As-V resistance in bacteria and underscores new points of vulnerability that might be an attractive target for antimicrobial interventions. IMPORTANCE Even though resistance to arsenate has been extensively investigated in environmental bacteria, how enteric pathogens tolerate this toxic compound remains unknown. Here, we found that the cholera pathogen V. cholerae exhibits increased resistance to arsenate compared to closely related enteric pathogens. Such resistance is promoted not by ArsC-dependent reduction of arsenate to arsenite but by an operon encoding an arsenate transporter (ArsJ), an alternative glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (VarG), and a putative, uncharacterized phosphatase (VarH). Mechanistically, we demonstrate that V. cholerae detoxifies arsenate by complexing it with the glycolytic intermediate 3-phosphoglycerate into 1-arseno-3-phosphoglycerate (1As3PG). 1As3PG is not transported outside the cell; instead, it is subsequently dissociated by VarH to enable extrusion of free arsenate through ArsJ. Collectively, this study proposes a novel mechanism for arsenate detoxification, entirely independent of arsenate reduction and arsenite extrusion, that enhances V. cholerae resistance to this metalloid compared to other enteric pathogens.

Automated summary

Even though resistance to arsenate has been extensively investigated in environmental bacteria, how enteric pathogens tolerate this toxic compound remains unknown. Here, we found that the cholera pathogen V. cholerae exhibits increased resistance to arsenate compared to closely related enteric pathogens.