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The broadly conserved regulator PhoP links pathogen virulence and membrane potential in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: PhoP is considered a virulence regulator despite being conserved in both pathogenic and non-pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae. While Escherichia coli strains represent non-pathogenic commensal isolates and numerous virulent pathotypes, the PhoP virulence regulator has only been studied in commensal E.?coli. To better understand how conserved transcription factors contribute to virulence, we characterized PhoP in pathogenic E.?coli. Deletion of phoP significantly attenuated E.?coli during extraintestinal infection. This was not surprising since we demonstrated that PhoP differentially regulated the transcription of >?600 genes. In addition to survival at acidic pH and resistance to polymyxin, PhoP was required for repression of motility and oxygen-independent changes in the expression of primary dehydrogenase and terminal reductase respiratory chain components. All phenotypes have in common a reliance on an energized membrane. Thus, we hypothesized that PhoP mediates these effects by regulating genes encoding proteins that generate proton motive force. Indeed, bacteria lacking PhoP exhibited a hyperpolarized membrane and dissipation of the transmembrane electrochemical gradient increased susceptibility of the phoP mutant to acidic pH, while inhibiting respiratory generation of the proton gradient restored resistance to antimicrobial peptides independent of lipopolysaccharide modification. These findings demonstrate a connection between PhoP, virulence and the energized state of the membrane.

SUBMITTER: Alteri CJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3188958 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The broadly conserved regulator PhoP links pathogen virulence and membrane potential in Escherichia coli.

Alteri Christopher J CJ Lindner Jonathon R JR Reiss Daniel J DJ Smith Sara N SN Mobley Harry L T HL

Molecular microbiology 20110902 1

PhoP is considered a virulence regulator despite being conserved in both pathogenic and non-pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae. While Escherichia coli strains represent non-pathogenic commensal isolates and numerous virulent pathotypes, the PhoP virulence regulator has only been studied in commensal E. coli. To better understand how conserved transcription factors contribute to virulence, we characterized PhoP in pathogenic E. coli. Deletion of phoP significantly attenuated E. coli during extraintest ...[more]

PMID: 21854465

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Project description:UNLABELLED:The increasing antibiotic resistance of pathogenic Escherichia coli species and the absence of a pan-protective vaccine pose major health concerns. We recently identified, by subtractive reverse vaccinology, nine Escherichia coli antigens that protect mice from sepsis. In this study, we characterized one of them, ECOK1_0290, named FdeC (factor adherence E. coli) for its ability to mediate E. coli adhesion to mammalian cells and extracellular matrix. This adhesive propensity was consistent with the X-ray structure of one of the FdeC domains that shows a striking structural homology to Yersinia pseudotuberculosis invasin and enteropathogenic E. coli intimin. Confocal imaging analysis revealed that expression of FdeC on the bacterial surface is triggered by interaction of E. coli with host cells. This phenotype was also observed in bladder tissue sections derived from mice infected with an extraintestinal strain. Indeed, we observed that FdeC contributes to colonization of the bladder and kidney, with the wild-type strain outcompeting the fdeC mutant in cochallenge experiments. Finally, intranasal mucosal immunization with recombinant FdeC significantly reduced kidney colonization in mice challenged transurethrally with uropathogenic E. coli, supporting a role for FdeC in urinary tract infections. IMPORTANCE:Pathogenic Escherichia coli strains are involved in a diverse spectrum of diseases, including intestinal and extraintestinal infections (urinary tract infections and sepsis). The absence of a broadly protective vaccine against all these E. coli strains is a major problem for modern society due to high costs to health care systems. Here, we describe the structural and functional properties of a recently reported protective antigen, named FdeC, and elucidated its putative role during extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli infection by using both in vitro and in vivo infection models. The conservation of FdeC among strains of different E. coli pathotypes highlights its potential as a component of a broadly protective vaccine against extraintestinal and intestinal E. coli infections.

Project description:A hallmark feature of Mycobacterium tuberculosis pathogenesis lies in the ability of the pathogen to survive within macrophages under a stressful environment. Thus, coordinated regulation of stress proteins is critically important for an effective adaptive response of M. tuberculosis, the failure of which results in elevated immune recognition of the tubercle bacilli with reduced survival during chronic infections. Here, we show that virulence regulator PhoP impacts the global regulation of heat shock proteins, which protect M. tuberculosis against stress generated by macrophages during infection. Our results identify that in addition to classical DNA-protein interactions, newly discovered protein-protein interactions control complex mechanisms of expression of heat shock proteins, an essential pathogenic determinant of M. tuberculosis While the C-terminal domain of PhoP binds to its target promoters, the N-terminal domain of the regulator interacts with the C-terminal end of the heat shock repressors. Remarkably, our findings delineate a regulatory pathway which involves three major transcription factors, PhoP, HspR, and HrcA, that control in vivo recruitment of the regulators within the target genes and regulate stress-specific expression of heat shock proteins via protein-protein interactions. The results have implications on the mechanism of regulation of PhoP-dependent stress response in M. tuberculosisIMPORTANCE The regulation of heat shock proteins which protect M. tuberculosis against stress generated by macrophages during infection is poorly understood. In this study, we show that PhoP, a virulence regulator of the tubercle bacilli, controls heat shock-responsive genes, an essential pathogenic determinant of M. tuberculosis Our results unravel that in addition to classical DNA-protein interactions, complex mechanisms of regulation of heat shock-responsive genes occur through multiple protein-protein interactions. Together, these findings delineate a fundamental regulatory pathway where transcription factors PhoP, HspR, and HrcA interact with each other to control stress-specific expression of heat shock proteins.

Dataset Information

The broadly conserved regulator PhoP links pathogen virulence and membrane potential in Escherichia coli.

Publications

The broadly conserved regulator PhoP links pathogen virulence and membrane potential in Escherichia coli.

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