Dataset Information

Role of the Helicobacter hepaticus flagellar sigma factor FliA in gene regulation and murine colonization.

ABSTRACT: The enterohepatic Helicobacter species Helicobacter hepaticus colonizes the murine intestinal and hepatobiliary tract and is associated with chronic intestinal inflammation, gall stone formation, hepatitis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus far, the role of H. hepaticus motility and flagella in intestinal colonization is unknown. In other, closely related bacteria, late flagellar genes are mainly regulated by the sigma factor FliA (sigma(28)). We investigated the function of the H. hepaticus FliA in gene regulation, flagellar biosynthesis, motility, and murine colonization. Competitive microarray analysis of the wild type versus an isogenic fliA mutant revealed that 11 genes were significantly more highly expressed in wild-type bacteria and 2 genes were significantly more highly expressed in the fliA mutant. Most of these were flagellar genes, but four novel FliA-regulated genes of unknown function were identified. H. hepaticus possesses two identical copies of the gene encoding the FliA-dependent major flagellin subunit FlaA (open reading frames HH1364 and HH1653). We characterized the phenotypes of mutants in which fliA or one or both copies of the flaA gene were knocked out. flaA_1 flaA_2 double mutants and fliA mutants did not synthesize detectable amounts of FlaA and possessed severely truncated flagella. Also, both mutants were nonmotile and unable to colonize mice. Mutants with either flaA gene knocked out produced flagella morphologically similar to those of wild-type bacteria and expressed FlaA and FlaB. flaA_1 mutants which had flagella but displayed reduced motility did not colonize mice, indicating that motility is required for intestinal colonization by H. hepaticus and that the presence of flagella alone is not sufficient.

SUBMITTER: Sterzenbach T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2566010 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Role of the Helicobacter hepaticus flagellar sigma factor FliA in gene regulation and murine colonization.

Sterzenbach Torsten T Bartonickova Lucie L Behrens Wiebke W Brenneke Birgit B Schulze Jessika J Kops Friederike F Chin Elaine Y EY Katzowitsch Elena E Schauer David B DB Fox James G JG Suerbaum Sebastian S Josenhans Christine C

Journal of bacteriology 20080808 19

The enterohepatic Helicobacter species Helicobacter hepaticus colonizes the murine intestinal and hepatobiliary tract and is associated with chronic intestinal inflammation, gall stone formation, hepatitis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Thus far, the role of H. hepaticus motility and flagella in intestinal colonization is unknown. In other, closely related bacteria, late flagellar genes are mainly regulated by the sigma factor FliA (sigma(28)). We investigated the function of the H. hepaticus Fl ...[more]

PMID: 18689480

Similar Datasets

Project description:UnlabelledFlagellar biogenesis in Helicobacter pylori is regulated by a transcriptional hierarchy governed by three sigma factors, RpoD (σ(80)), RpoN (σ(54)), and FliA (σ(28)), that temporally coordinates gene expression with the assembly of the flagellum. Previous studies showed that loss of flagellar protein export apparatus components inhibits transcription of flagellar genes. The FlgS/FlgR two-component system activates transcription of RpoN-dependent genes though an unknown mechanism. To understand better the extent to which flagellar gene regulation is coupled to flagellar assembly, we disrupted flagellar biogenesis at various points and determined how these mutations affected transcription of RpoN-dependent (flaB and flgE) and FliA-dependent (flaA) genes. The MS ring (encoded by fliF) is one of the earliest flagellar structures assembled. Deletion of fliF resulted in the elimination of RpoN-dependent transcripts and an ∼4-fold decrease in flaA transcript levels. FliH is a cytoplasmic protein that functions with the C ring protein FliN to shuttle substrates to the export apparatus. Deletions of fliH and genes encoding C ring components (fliM and fliY) decreased transcript levels of flaB and flgE but had little or no effect on transcript levels of flaA. Transcript levels of flaB and flgE were elevated in mutants where genes encoding rod proteins (fliE and flgBC) were deleted, while transcript levels of flaA was reduced ∼2-fold in both mutants. We propose that FlgS responds to an assembly checkpoint associated with the export apparatus and that FliH and one or more C ring component assist FlgS in engaging this flagellar structure.ImportanceThe mechanisms used by bacteria to couple transcription of flagellar genes with assembly of the flagellum are poorly understood. The results from this study identified components of the H. pylori flagellar basal body that either positively or negatively affect expression of RpoN-dependent flagellar genes. Some of these basal body proteins may interact directly with regulatory proteins that control transcription of the H. pylori RpoN regulon, a hypothesis that can be tested by examining protein-protein interactions in vitro.

Project description:Legionella oakridgensis causes Legionnaires' disease but is known to be less virulent than Legionella pneumophilaL. oakridgensis is one of the Legionella species that is nonflagellated. The genes of the flagellar regulon are absent, except those encoding the alternative sigma-28 factor (FliA) and its anti-sigma-28 factor (FlgM). Similar to L. oakridgensis, Legionella adelaidensis and Legionella londiniensis, located in the same phylogenetic clade, have no flagellar regulon, although both are positive for fliA and flgM Here, we investigated the role and function of both genes to better understand the role of FliA, the positive regulator of flagellin expression, in nonflagellated strains. We demonstrated that the FliA gene of L. oakridgensis encodes a functional sigma-28 factor that enables the transcription start from the sigma-28-dependent promoter site. The investigations have shown that FliA is necessary for full fitness of L. oakridgensis Interestingly, expression of FliA-dependent genes depends on the growth phase and temperature, as already shown for L. pneumophila strains that are flagellated. In addition, we demonstrated that FlgM is a negative regulator of FliA-dependent gene expression. FlgM seems to be degraded in a growth-phase- and temperature-dependent manner, instead of being exported into the medium as reported for most bacteria. The degradation of FlgM leads to an increase of FliA activity.IMPORTANCE A less virulent Legionella species, L. oakridgensis, causes Legionnaires' disease and is known to not have flagella, even though L. oakridgensis has the regulator of flagellin expression (FliA). This protein has been shown to be involved in the expression of virulence factors. Thus, the strain was chosen for use in this investigation to search for FliA target genes and to identify putative virulence factors of L. oakridgensis One of the five major target genes of FliA identified here encodes the anti-FliA sigma factor FlgM. Interestingly, in contrast to most homologs in other bacteria, FlgM in L. oakridgensis seems not to be transported from the cell so that FliA gets activated. In L. oakridgensis, FlgM seems to be degraded by protease activities.

Project description:Helicobacter hepaticus, which induces chronic hepatitis and typhlocolitis in susceptible mouse strains, produces a cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) consisting of CdtA, CdtB, and CdtC. A cdtB-deficient H. hepaticus isogenic mutant (HhcdtBm7) was generated and characterized for colonization parameters in four intestinal regions (jejunum, ileum, cecum, and colon) of outbred Swiss Webster (SW) mice. Inactivation of the cdtB gene abolished the ability of HhcdtBm7 to colonize female mice at both 8 and 16 weeks postinfection (wpi), whereas HhcdtBm7 colonized all of four intestinal regions of three of five males at 8 wpi and then was eliminated by 16 wpi. Wild-type (WT) H. hepaticus was detected in the corresponding intestinal regions of both male and female mice at 8 and 16 wpi; however, colonization levels of WT H. hepaticus in the cecum and colon of male mice were approximately 1,000-fold higher than in females (P < 0.0079) at 16 wpi. Infection with WT H. hepaticus, but not HhcdtBm7, at 8 wpi was associated with significantly increased mRNA level of ileal and cecal gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) in females (P < 0.016 and 0.031 between WT H. hepaticus-infected and sham-dosed females, respectively). In contrast, the mRNA levels of IFN-gamma were significantly higher in the colon (P < 0.0079) and trended to be higher in the cecum (P < 0.15) in the HhcdtBm7-colonized male mice versus the sham-dosed controls at 8 wpi. In addition, mRNA levels of ileal IFN-gamma were significantly higher in the control females than males at 8 wpi (P < 0.016). There were significantly higher Th1-associated immunoglobulin G2a (IgG2a), Th2-associated IgG1 and mucosal IgA (P < 0.002, 0.002, 0.002, respectively) responses in the mice infected with WT H. hepaticus when compared to HhcdtBm7 at 16 wpi. Colonic interleukin-10 (IL-10) expressions at 16 wpi were significantly lower in both female and male mice colonized by WT H. hepaticus or in males transiently colonized through 8 wpi by HhcdtBm7 versus control mice (P < 0.0159). These lines of evidence indicate that (i) H. hepaticus CDT plays a crucial role in the persistent colonization of H. hepaticus in SW mice; (ii) SW female mice are more resistant to H. hepaticus colonization than male mice; (iii) there was persistent colonization of WT H. hepaticus in cecum, colon, and jejunum but only transient colonization of H. hepaticus in the ileum of female mice; (iv) H. hepaticus colonization was associated with down-regulation of colonic IL-10 production.

Dataset Information

Role of the Helicobacter hepaticus flagellar sigma factor FliA in gene regulation and murine colonization.

Publications

Role of the Helicobacter hepaticus flagellar sigma factor FliA in gene regulation and murine colonization.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets