Maintenance of bacterial outer membrane lipid asymmetry: insight into MlaA

The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria acts as an effective barrier to protect against toxic compounds.

By nature, the OM is asymmetric with the highly packed lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at the outer leaflet and glycerophospholipids at the inner leaflet.

OM asymmetry is maintained by the Mla system, in which is responsible for the retrograde transport of glycerophospholipids from the OM to the inner membrane.

This system is comprised of six Mla proteins, including MlaA, an OM lipoprotein involved in the removal of glycerophospholipids that are mis-localized at the outer leaflet of the OM.

Interestingly, MlaA was initially identified - and called VacJ - based on its role in the intracellular spreading of Shigella flexneri .

Many open questions remain with respect to the Mla system and the mechanism involved in the translocation of mislocated glycerophospholipids at the outer leaflet of the OM, by MlaA.

After summarizing the current knowledge on MlaA, we focus on the impact of mlaA deletion on OM lipid composition and biophysical properties of the OM.

How changes in OM lipid composition and biophysical properties can impact the generation of membrane vesicles and membrane permeability is discussed.

Finally, we explore whether and how MlaA might be a candidate for improving the activity of antibiotics and as a vaccine candidate.

Efforts dedicated to understanding the relationship between the OM lipid composition and the mechanical strength of the bacterial envelope and, in turn, how such properties act against external stress, are needed for the design of new targets or drugs for Gram-negative infections.