Identification and Characterization of VpsR and VpsT Binding Sites in Vibrio cholerae
ABSTRACTThe ability to form biofilms is critical for environmental survival and transmission ofVibrio cholerae, a facultative human pathogen responsible for the disease cholera. Biofilm formation is controlled by several transcriptional regulators and alternative sigma factors. In this study, we report that the two main positive regulators of biofilm formation, VpsR and VpsT, bind to nonoverlapping target sequences in the regulatory region ofvpsL in vitro. VpsR binds to a proximal site (the R1 box) as well as a distal site (the R2 box) with respect to the transcriptional start site identified upstream ofvpsL. The VpsT binding site (the T box) is located between the R1 and R2 boxes. While mutations in the T and R boxes resulted in a decrease invpsLexpression, deletion of the T and R2 boxes resulted in an increase invpsLexpression. Analysis of the role of H-NS invpsLexpression revealed that deletion ofhnsresulted in enhancedvpsLexpression. The level ofvpsLexpression was higher in anhns vpsTdouble mutant than in the parental strain but lower than that in anhnsmutant.In silicoanalysis of the regulatory regions of the VpsR and VpsT targets resulted in the identification of conserved recognition motifs for VpsR and VpsT and revealed that operons involved in biofilm formation andvpsTare coregulated by VpsR and VpsT. Furthermore, a comparative genomics analysis revealed substantial variability in the promoter region of thevpsTandvpsLgenes among extantV. choleraeisolates, suggesting that regulation of biofilm formation is under active selection.IMPORTANCEVibrio choleraecauses cholera and is a natural inhabitant of aquatic environments. One critical factor that is important for environmental survival and transmission ofV. choleraeis the microbe's ability to form biofilms, which are surface-associated communities encased in a matrix composed of the exopolysaccharide VPS (Vibriopolysaccharide), proteins, and nucleic acids. Two proteins, VpsR and VpsT, positively regulate VPS production and biofilm formation. We characterized the structural features of the promoter of thevpsLgene, determined the target sequences recognized by VpsT and VpsR, and analyzed their distribution and conservation patterns in multipleV. choleraeisolates. This work fills a fundamental gap in our understanding of the regulatory mechanisms employed by the master regulators VpsR and VpsT in controlling biofilm matrix production.