N localized in live pneumococcal cells. However, the variety of tools

N localized in live pneumococcal cells. However, the variety of tools available for these studies is still limited. In this paper, we report the construction of new plasmids that expand the tools available for S. pneumoniae cell biology studies by allowing the expression of N- or C- terminal protein fusions to different fluorescent reporters, namely mCherry, Citrine, CFP and GFP. For this purpose we have improved the expression of the various fluorescent proteins in S. pneumoniae, by introducing an upstream tag, named “i-tag”, which increases protein translation. The availability of these plasmids should greatly facilitate studies of protein localization in this important clinical pathogen.Expression of Fluorescent Proteins in S.pneumoniaeResults and Discussion Expression of mCherry, Citrine, CFP and GFP in S. pneumoniaeS. pneumoniae is a microaerophile organism and therefore can only grow in the presence of low levels of oxygen, which may impair the correct Madrasin folding of GFP-like proteins that are known to require the presence of oxygen [15]. We have expressed fusions of Wze, a protein required for the regulation of the synthesis of the capsule polysaccharide [3], to four different fluorescent proteins, mCherry [16], GW-0742 web Citrine [17], CFP [18] and GFP [19], two of which (CFP and GFP) had not been previously used in S. pneumoniae. The protein fusions Wze-CFP (BCSMH029) and Wze FP (BCSMH030), expressed in the encapsulated strain ATCC6314, allowed the visualization of Wze protein at the septum (Fig. 1A), in accordance to what we have previously described for WzemCherry (BCSMH015) and Wze-Citrine (BCSMH016) [14]. This indicates that sufficient amounts of fluorescent proteins tested were able to fold correctly, allowing detection, in the growth conditions used. In order to test which of the four fluorescent proteins could potentially be used together for applications that require colocalization studies in S. pneumoniae, we mixed and analyzed various combinations of strains expressing the fluorescent proteins (data not shown). Fluorescence microscopy analysis of a slide containing a mixture of three different cultures of the unencapsulated laboratory R36A strain expressing Wze-mCherry (BCSMH006), Wze-Citrine (BCSMH007) and Wze-CFP (BCSMH035), in the cytoplasm (Fig. 1B), showed that the fluorescent signals of these three proteins did not overlap. We further confirmed that the spectral overlap of CFP, Citrine and mCherry could be limited with the 1662274 filter sets used 15755315 (Fig. S1). We then constructed new vectors for cell biology studies in S. pneumoniae (plasmids pBCSMH001, pBCSMH002, pBCSMH018 and pBCSMH020) expressing the four fluorescent proteins, not fused to any protein. These replicative vectors are derivatives of the plasmid pLS1, which is reported to be at a copy number of 24 per pneumococcal bacteria [20]. Surprisingly, all strains expressing solely the untagged fluorescent proteins mCherry (BCSMH032), Citrine (BCSMH033), CFP (BCSMH034) and GFP (BCSMH036) showed extremely low levels of fluorescence (Fig. 2).Optimization of expression of fluorescent proteins in S. pneumoniaeThe four fluorescent proteins used in our studies all included, at their N-terminal, a linker region, which introduced a spacer between the fluorescent protein and the protein of interest, and a GFP-like terminus region that had been proposed to stabilize the fluorescent signal [16] (Fig. 3A). We therefore asked whether this N-terminal linker was responsible for the lack of flu.N localized in live pneumococcal cells. However, the variety of tools available for these studies is still limited. In this paper, we report the construction of new plasmids that expand the tools available for S. pneumoniae cell biology studies by allowing the expression of N- or C- terminal protein fusions to different fluorescent reporters, namely mCherry, Citrine, CFP and GFP. For this purpose we have improved the expression of the various fluorescent proteins in S. pneumoniae, by introducing an upstream tag, named “i-tag”, which increases protein translation. The availability of these plasmids should greatly facilitate studies of protein localization in this important clinical pathogen.Expression of Fluorescent Proteins in S.pneumoniaeResults and Discussion Expression of mCherry, Citrine, CFP and GFP in S. pneumoniaeS. pneumoniae is a microaerophile organism and therefore can only grow in the presence of low levels of oxygen, which may impair the correct folding of GFP-like proteins that are known to require the presence of oxygen [15]. We have expressed fusions of Wze, a protein required for the regulation of the synthesis of the capsule polysaccharide [3], to four different fluorescent proteins, mCherry [16], Citrine [17], CFP [18] and GFP [19], two of which (CFP and GFP) had not been previously used in S. pneumoniae. The protein fusions Wze-CFP (BCSMH029) and Wze FP (BCSMH030), expressed in the encapsulated strain ATCC6314, allowed the visualization of Wze protein at the septum (Fig. 1A), in accordance to what we have previously described for WzemCherry (BCSMH015) and Wze-Citrine (BCSMH016) [14]. This indicates that sufficient amounts of fluorescent proteins tested were able to fold correctly, allowing detection, in the growth conditions used. In order to test which of the four fluorescent proteins could potentially be used together for applications that require colocalization studies in S. pneumoniae, we mixed and analyzed various combinations of strains expressing the fluorescent proteins (data not shown). Fluorescence microscopy analysis of a slide containing a mixture of three different cultures of the unencapsulated laboratory R36A strain expressing Wze-mCherry (BCSMH006), Wze-Citrine (BCSMH007) and Wze-CFP (BCSMH035), in the cytoplasm (Fig. 1B), showed that the fluorescent signals of these three proteins did not overlap. We further confirmed that the spectral overlap of CFP, Citrine and mCherry could be limited with the 1662274 filter sets used 15755315 (Fig. S1). We then constructed new vectors for cell biology studies in S. pneumoniae (plasmids pBCSMH001, pBCSMH002, pBCSMH018 and pBCSMH020) expressing the four fluorescent proteins, not fused to any protein. These replicative vectors are derivatives of the plasmid pLS1, which is reported to be at a copy number of 24 per pneumococcal bacteria [20]. Surprisingly, all strains expressing solely the untagged fluorescent proteins mCherry (BCSMH032), Citrine (BCSMH033), CFP (BCSMH034) and GFP (BCSMH036) showed extremely low levels of fluorescence (Fig. 2).Optimization of expression of fluorescent proteins in S. pneumoniaeThe four fluorescent proteins used in our studies all included, at their N-terminal, a linker region, which introduced a spacer between the fluorescent protein and the protein of interest, and a GFP-like terminus region that had been proposed to stabilize the fluorescent signal [16] (Fig. 3A). We therefore asked whether this N-terminal linker was responsible for the lack of flu.