Dataset Information

Intrinsic plasmids influence MicF-mediated translational repression of ompF in Yersinia pestis.

ABSTRACT: Yersinia pestis, which is the causative agent of plague, has acquired exceptional pathogenicity potential during its evolution from Y. pseudotuberculosis. Two laterally acquired plasmids, namely, pMT1 and pPCP1, are specific to Y. pestis and are critical for pathogenesis and flea transmission. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) commonly function as regulators of gene expression in bacteria. MicF, is a paradigmatic sRNA that acts as a post-transcriptional repressor through imperfect base pairing with the 5'-UTR of its target mRNA, ompF, in Escherichia coli. The high sequence conservation and minor variation in the RNA duplex of MicF-ompF has been reported in Yersinia. In this study, we utilized super-folder GFP reporter gene fusion to validate the post-transcriptional MicF-mediated regulation of target mRNA ompF in Y. pestis. Unexpectedly, upon MicF overexpression, the slightly upregulated expression of OmpF were found in the wild-type strain, which contradicted the previously established model. Interestingly, the translational repression of ompF target fusions was restored in the intrinsic plasmids-cured Y. pestis strain, suggesting intrinsic plasmids influence the MicF-mediated translational repression of ompF in Y. pestis. Further examination showed that plasmid pPCP1 is likely the main contributor to the abolishment of MicF-mediated translational repression of endogenous or plasmid-borne ompF. It represents that the possible roles of intrinsic plasmids should be considered upon investigating sRNA-mediated gene regulation, at least in Y. pestis, even if the exact mechanism is not fully understood.

SUBMITTER: Liu Z

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4543863 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Intrinsic plasmids influence MicF-mediated translational repression of ompF in Yersinia pestis.

Liu Zizhong Z Wang Haili H Wang Hongduo H Wang Jing J Bi Yujing Y Wang Xiaoyi X Yang Ruifu R Han Yanping Y

Frontiers in microbiology 20150821

Yersinia pestis, which is the causative agent of plague, has acquired exceptional pathogenicity potential during its evolution from Y. pseudotuberculosis. Two laterally acquired plasmids, namely, pMT1 and pPCP1, are specific to Y. pestis and are critical for pathogenesis and flea transmission. Small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) commonly function as regulators of gene expression in bacteria. MicF, is a paradigmatic sRNA that acts as a post-transcriptional repressor through imperfect base pairing with ...[more]

PMID: 26347736

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Project description:The plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, forms a biofilm-mediated blockage in the flea foregut that enhances its transmission by fleabite. Biofilm formation is positively controlled by cyclic di-GMP (c-di-GMP), which is synthesized by the diguanylate cyclases (DGC), HmsD and HmsT. While HmsD primarily promotes biofilm-mediated blockage of fleas, HmsT plays a more minor role in this process. HmsD is a component of the HmsCDE tripartite signaling system. HmsC and HmsE posttranslationally inhibit or activate HmsD, respectively. HmsT-dependent c-di-GMP levels and biofilm formation are positively regulated by the RNA-binding protein CsrA. In this study we determined whether CsrA positively regulates HmsD-dependent biofilm formation through interactions with the hmsE mRNA. Gel mobility shift assays determined that CsrA binds specifically to the hmsE transcript. RNase T1 footprint assays identified a single CsrA binding site and CsrA-induced structural changes in the hmsE leader region. Translational activation of the hmsE mRNA was confirmed in vivo using plasmid-encoded inducible translational fusion reporters and by HmsE protein expression studies. Furthermore, mutation of the CsrA binding site in the hmsE transcript significantly reduced HmsD-dependent biofilm formation. These results suggest that CsrA binding leads to structural changes in the hmsE mRNA that enhance its translation to enable increased HmsD-dependent biofilm formation. Given the requisite function of HmsD in biofilm-mediated flea blockage, this CsrA-dependent increase in HmsD activity underscores that complex and conditionally defined modulation of c-di-GMP synthesis within the flea gut is required for Y. pestis transmission. IMPORTANCE Mutations enhancing c-di-GMP biosynthesis drove the evolution of Y. pestis to flea-borne transmissibility. c-di-GMP-dependent biofilm-mediated blockage of the flea foregut enables regurgitative transmission of Y. pestis by fleabite. The Y. pestis diguanylate cyclases (DGC), HmsT and HmsD, which synthesize c-di-GMP, play significant roles in transmission. Several regulatory proteins involved in environmental sensing, as well as signal transduction and response regulation, tightly control DGC function. An example is CsrA, a global posttranscriptional regulator that modulates carbon metabolism and biofilm formation. CsrA integrates alternative carbon usage metabolism cues to activate c-di-GMP biosynthesis through HmsT. Here, we demonstrated that CsrA additionally activates hmsE translation to promote c-di-GMP biosynthesis through HmsD. This emphasizes that a highly evolved regulatory network controls c-di-GMP synthesis and Y. pestis transmission.

Project description:BACKGROUND: Whole genome sequencing allowed the development of a number of high resolution sequence based typing tools for Yersinia (Y.) pestis. The application of these methods on isolates from most known foci worldwide and in particular from China and the Former Soviet Union has dramatically improved our understanding of the population structure of this species. In the current view, Y. pestis including the non or moderate human pathogen Y. pestis subspecies microtus emerged from Yersinia pseudotuberculosis about 2,600 to 28,600 years ago in central Asia. The majority of central Asia natural foci have been investigated. However these investigations included only few strains from Mongolia. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Prokaryotic Repeats (CRISPR) analysis and Multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) with 25 loci was performed on 100 Y. pestis strains, isolated from 37 sampling areas in Mongolia. The resulting data were compared with previously published data from more than 500 plague strains, 130 of which had also been previously genotyped by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis. The comparison revealed six main clusters including the three microtus biovars Ulegeica, Altaica, and Xilingolensis. The largest cluster comprises 78 isolates, with unique and new genotypes seen so far in Mongolia only. Typing of selected isolates by key SNPs was used to robustly assign the corresponding clusters to previously defined SNP branches. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We show that Mongolia hosts the most recent microtus clade (Ulegeica). Interestingly no representatives of the ancestral Y. pestis subspecies pestis nodes previously identified in North-western China were identified in this study. This observation suggests that the subsequent evolution steps within Y. pestis pestis did not occur in Mongolia. Rather, Mongolia was most likely re-colonized by more recent clades coming back from China contemporary of the black death pandemic, or more recently in the past 600 years.

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Dataset Information

Intrinsic plasmids influence MicF-mediated translational repression of ompF in Yersinia pestis.

Publications

Intrinsic plasmids influence MicF-mediated translational repression of ompF in Yersinia pestis.

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