scholarly journals The Lon protease regulates swarming motility and virulence gene expression in Proteus mirabilis

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (8) ◽  
pp. 931-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katy M. Clemmer ◽  
Philip N. Rather
2009 ◽  
Vol 191 (18) ◽  
pp. 5592-5602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy T. Y. Yeung ◽  
Ellen C. W. Torfs ◽  
Farzad Jamshidi ◽  
Manjeet Bains ◽  
Irith Wiegand ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibits swarming motility on semisolid surfaces (0.5 to 0.7% agar). Swarming is a more than just a form of locomotion and represents a complex adaptation resulting in changes in virulence gene expression and antibiotic resistance. In this study, we used a comprehensive P. aeruginosa PA14 transposon mutant library to investigate how the complex swarming adaptation process is regulated. A total of 233 P. aeruginosa PA14 transposon mutants were verified to have alterations in swarming motility. The swarming-associated genes functioned not only in flagellar or type IV pilus biosynthesis but also in processes as diverse as transport, secretion, and metabolism. Thirty-three swarming-deficient and two hyperswarming mutants had transposon insertions in transcriptional regulator genes, including genes encoding two-component sensors and response regulators; 27 of these insertions were newly identified. Of the 25 regulatory mutants whose swarming motility was highly impaired (79 to 97%), only 1 (a PA1458 mutant) had a major defect in swimming, suggesting that this regulator might influence flagellar synthesis or function. Twitching motility, which requires type IV pili, was strongly affected in only two regulatory mutants (pilH and PA2571 mutants) and was moderately affected in three other mutants (algR, ntrB, and nosR mutants). Microarray analyses were performed to compare the gene expression profile of a swarming-deficient PA3587 mutant to that of the wild-type PA14 strain under swarming conditions. PA3587 showed 63% homology to metR, which encodes a regulator of methionine biosynthesis in Escherichia coli. The observed dysregulation in the metR mutant of nine different genes required for swarming motility provided a possible explanation for the swarming-deficient phenotype of this mutant.


2010 ◽  
Vol 100 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongping Wang ◽  
Schuyler S. Korban ◽  
Youfu Zhao

Erwinia amylovora, the causal agent of fire blight, is considered to be a genetically homogeneous species based on physiological, biochemical, phylogenetic, and genetic analysis. However, E. amylovora strains exhibiting differential virulence are isolated from nature. The exopolysaccharide amylovoran and type III secretion system (T3SS) are two major yet separate virulence factors in E. amylovora. The objective of this study was to investigate whether there is a correlation between E. amylovora virulence and levels of virulence gene expression. Four wild-type strains (Ea1189, Ea273, Ea110, and CFBP1430), widely used in studies of E. amylovora pathogenesis, have been analyzed and compared. E. amylovora strains Ea273 and Ea110 elicited higher severity of disease symptoms than those of Ea1189 and CFBP1430 on apple cv. Golden Delicious and G16 apple root stock plants but not on susceptible Gala plants. In addition, Ea273 and Ea110 elicited severe hypersensitive responses within shorter periods of time at lower inoculum concentrations than those of Ea1189 and CFBP1430 on tobacco plants. Further molecular analyses have revealed that amylovoran production and expression of both amylovoran (amsG) and T3SS (dspE and hrpL) genes were significantly higher in Ea273 and Ea110 than those in Ea1189 and CFBP1430. Other phenotypes such as swarming motility in these four strains also differed significantly. These results indicate that E. amylovora strains of different origin can be divided into subgroups based on molecular signatures of virulence gene expression. Therefore, these molecular signatures may be used to differentiate E. amylovora strains, which may have taxonomical and evolutionary implications.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (19) ◽  
pp. 6789-6803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Belas ◽  
Rooge Suvanasuthi

ABSTRACT Proteus mirabilis is a urinary tract pathogen that differentiates from a short swimmer cell to an elongated, highly flagellated swarmer cell. Swarmer cell differentiation parallels an increased expression of several virulence factors, suggesting that both processes are controlled by the same signal. The molecular nature of this signal is not known but is hypothesized to involve the inhibition of flagellar rotation. In this study, data are presented supporting the idea that conditions inhibiting flagellar rotation induce swarmer cell differentiation and implicating a rotating flagellar filament as critical to the sensing mechanism. Mutations in three genes, fliL, fliF, and fliG, encoding components of the flagellar basal body, result in the inappropriate development of swarmer cells in noninducing liquid media or hyperelongated swarmer cells on agar media. The fliL mutation was studied in detail. FliL− mutants are nonmotile and fail to synthesize flagellin, while complementation of fliL restores wild-type cell elongation but not motility. Overexpression of fliL + in wild-type cells prevents swarmer cell differentiation and motility, a result also observed when P. mirabilis fliL + was expressed in Escherichia coli. These results suggest that FliL plays a role in swarmer cell differentiation and implicate FliL as critical to transduction of the signal inducing swarmer cell differentiation and virulence gene expression. In concert with this idea, defects in fliL up-regulate the expression of two virulence genes, zapA and hpmB. These results support the hypothesis that P. mirabilis ascertains its location in the environment or host by assessing the status of its flagellar motors, which in turn control swarmer cell gene expression.


2020 ◽  
Vol 139 ◽  
pp. 153-160
Author(s):  
S Peeralil ◽  
TC Joseph ◽  
V Murugadas ◽  
PG Akhilnath ◽  
VN Sreejith ◽  
...  

Luminescent Vibrio harveyi is common in sea and estuarine waters. It produces several virulence factors and negatively affects larval penaeid shrimp in hatcheries, resulting in severe economic losses to shrimp aquaculture. Although V. harveyi is an important pathogen of shrimp, its pathogenicity mechanisms have yet to be completely elucidated. In the present study, isolates of V. harveyi were isolated and characterized from diseased Penaeus monodon postlarvae from hatcheries in Kerala, India, from September to December 2016. All 23 tested isolates were positive for lipase, phospholipase, caseinase, gelatinase and chitinase activity, and 3 of the isolates (MFB32, MFB71 and MFB68) showed potential for significant biofilm formation. Based on the presence of virulence genes, the isolates of V. harveyi were grouped into 6 genotypes, predominated by vhpA+ flaB+ ser+ vhh1- luxR+ vopD- vcrD+ vscN-. One isolate from each genotype was randomly selected for in vivo virulence experiments, and the LD50 ranged from 1.7 ± 0.5 × 103 to 4.1 ± 0.1 × 105 CFU ml-1. The expression of genes during the infection in postlarvae was high in 2 of the isolates (MFB12 and MFB32), consistent with the result of the challenge test. However, in MFB19, even though all genes tested were present, their expression level was very low and likely contributed to its lack of virulence. Because of the significant variation in gene expression, the presence of virulence genes alone cannot be used as a marker for pathogenicity of V. harveyi.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahsa Farjad ◽  
Gilles Clément ◽  
Alban Launay ◽  
Roua Jeridi ◽  
Sylvie Jolivet ◽  
...  

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