Identification and Functional Characterization of the Novel Edwardsiella tarda Effector EseJ
Edwardsiella tardais a Gram-negative enteric pathogen that causes hemorrhagic septicemia in fish and gastro- and extraintestinal infections in humans. The type III secretion system (T3SS) ofE. tardahas been identified as a key virulence factor that contributes to pathogenesis in fish. However, little is known about the associated effectors translocated by this T3SS. In this study, by comparing the profile of secreted proteins of the wild-type PPD130/91 and its T3SS ATPase ΔesaNmutant, we identified a new effector by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. This effector consists of 1,359 amino acids, sharing high sequence similarity with Orf29/30 ofE. tardastrain EIB202, and is renamed EseJ. The secretion and translocation of EseJ depend on the T3SS. A ΔeseJmutant strain adheres to epithelioma papillosum of carp (EPC) cells 3 to 5 times more extensively than the wild-type strain does. EseJ inhibits bacterial adhesion to EPC cells from within bacterial cells. Importantly, the ΔeseJmutant strain does not replicate efficiently in EPC cells and fails to replicate in J774A.1 macrophages. In infected J774A.1 macrophages, the ΔeseJmutant elicits higher production of reactive oxygen species than wild-typeE. tarda. The replication defect is consistent with the attenuation of the ΔeseJmutant in the blue gourami fish model: the 50% lethal dose (LD50) of the ΔeseJmutant is 2.34 times greater than that of the wild type, and the ΔeseJmutant is less competitive than the wild type in mixed infection. Thus, EseJ represents a novel effector that contributes to virulence by reducing bacterial adhesion to EPC cells and facilitating intracellular bacterial replication.