Dataset Information

Stochastic and Differential Activation of ?B and PrfA in Listeria monocytogenes at the Single Cell Level under Different Environmental Stress Conditions.

ABSTRACT: During host infection, the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes must sense and respond to rapidly changing environmental conditions. Two transcriptional regulators, the alternative sigma factor B (?B) and the Positive Regulatory Factor A (PrfA), are key contributors to the transcriptomic responses that enable bacterial survival in the host gastrointestinal tract and invasion of host duodenal cells. Increases in temperature and osmolarity induce activity of these proteins; such conditions may be encountered in food matrices as well as within the host gastrointestinal tract. Differences in PrfA and ?B activity between individual cells might affect the fate of a cell during host invasion, therefore, we hypothesized that PrfA and ?B activities differ among individual cells under heat and salt stress. We used fluorescent reporter fusions to determine the relative proportions of cells with active ?B or PrfA following exposure to 45°C heat or 4% NaCl. Activities of both PrfA and ?B were induced stochastically, with fluorescence levels ranging from below detection to high among individual cells. The proportion of cells with active PrfA was significantly higher than the proportion with active ?B under all tested conditions; under some conditions, nearly all cells had active PrfA. Our findings further support the growing body of evidence illustrating the stochastic nature of bacterial gene expression under conditions that are relevant for host invasion via food-borne, oral infection.

SUBMITTER: Guldimann C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5349113 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Stochastic and Differential Activation of σB and PrfA in Listeria monocytogenes at the Single Cell Level under Different Environmental Stress Conditions.

Guldimann Claudia C Guariglia-Oropeza Veronica V Harrand Sophia S Kent David D Boor Kathryn J KJ Wiedmann Martin M

Frontiers in microbiology 20170314

During host infection, the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes must sense and respond to rapidly changing environmental conditions. Two transcriptional regulators, the alternative sigma factor B (σB) and the Positive Regulatory Factor A (PrfA), are key contributors to the transcriptomic responses that enable bacterial survival in the host gastrointestinal tract and invasion of host duodenal cells. Increases in temperature and osmolarity induce activity of these proteins; ...[more]

PMID: 28352251

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Project description:Listeria monocytogenes is well known to survive and grow under several stress conditions, including salt stress, which is important for growth in certain foods as well as for host infection. To characterize the contributions, to salt stress response, of transcriptional regulators important for stress response and virulence (i.e., σ(B) and PrfA), we analyzed three L. monocytogenes parent strains and isogenic mutants (ΔsigB, ΔprfA, and ΔsigBΔprfA), representing different serotypes and lineages, for their ability to grow, at 25°C, in BHI with 1.9 M NaCl. With regard to growth rate, only the lineage IV strain presented a significant difference between the parent strain and both of its respective mutants lacking prfA (ΔprfA and ΔsigBΔprfA). Conversely, the lineage I and II parent strains showed significantly shorter lag phase in comparison to their respective ΔsigB mutant strains. Intestinal epithelial cell invasion assay and hemolytic activity assays showed a significant role for σ(B) in the former and for PrfA in the latter. To explore the mechanism that may contribute to the extended lag phase in the ΔsigB mutant strain and survival and growth of the parent strain upon salt shock, whole genome transcription profiling was performed to compare transcript levels between the lineage I, serotype 1/2b, parent strain and its isogenic ΔsigB mutant after 30 min of lag phase growth at 25°C in the presence of 1.9M NaCl (salt shock) without aeration. Microarray data showed significantly higher transcript levels for 173 genes in the parent strain as compared to the ΔsigB strain. Overall, 102 of the 173 σ(B) up-regulated genes had been identified in previous studies, indicating that 71 genes were newly identified as being up-regulated by σ(B) in this study. We hypothesize that, among these genes newly identified as σ(B) up-regulated, four genes (lmo2174, lmo0530, lmo0527 and lmo0529) may play a major role in response to salt stress. Lmo2174 contains domains that facilitate sensing and producing a transduction signal in the form of cyclic di-GMP, which may activate the enzymes Lmo0527, Lmo0529 and Lmo0530, which encode proteins similar to those responsible for synthesis of exopolysaccharides that may protect the cell by changing the cell wall structure during salt stress. Overall, our data showed that σ(B), but not PrfA, contributes to growth under salt stress. Moreover, we show that the σ(B) regulon of a L. monocytogenes lineage I strain challenged with salt shock includes salt stress-specific as well as previously unidentified σ(B) up-regulated genes.

Project description:BackgroundTranscriptional regulation by alternative sigma (σ) factors represents an important mechanism that allows bacteria to rapidly regulate transcript and protein levels in response to changing environmental conditions. While the role of the alternative σ factor σB has been comparatively well characterized in L. monocytogenes, our understanding of the roles of the three other L. monocytogenes alternative σ factors is still limited. In this study, we employed a quantitative proteomics approach using Isobaric Tags for Relative and Absolute Quantitation (iTRAQ) to characterize the L. monocytogenes σL, σH, and σC protein regulons. Proteomic comparisons used a quadruple alternative σ factor mutant strain (ΔBCHL) and strains expressing a single alternative σ factor (i.e., σL, σH, and σC; strains ΔBCH, ΔBCL, and ΔBHL) to eliminate potential redundancies between σ factors.ResultsAmong the three alternative σ factors studied here, σH provides positive regulation for the largest number of proteins, consistent with previous transcriptomic studies, while σL appears to contribute to negative regulation of a number of proteins. σC was found to regulate a small number of proteins in L. monocytogenes grown to stationary phase at 37°C. Proteins identified as being regulated by multiple alternative σ factors include MptA, which is a component of a PTS system with a potential role in regulation of PrfA activity.ConclusionsThis study provides initial insights into global regulation of protein production by the L. monocytogenes alternative σ factors σL, σH, and σC. While, among these σ factors, σH appears to positively regulate the largest number of proteins, we also identified PTS systems that appear to be co-regulated by multiple alternative σ factors. Future studies should not only explore potential roles of alternative σ factors in activating a "cascade" of PTS systems that potentially regulate PrfA, but also may want to explore the σL and σC regulons under different environmental conditions to identify conditions where these σ factors may regulate larger numbers of proteins or genes.

Project description:Listeria monocytogenes is able to efficiently utilize glycerol as a carbon source. In a defined minimal medium, the growth rate (during balanced growth) in the presence of glycerol is similar to that in the presence of glucose or cellobiose. Comparative transcriptome analyses of L. monocytogenes showed high-level transcriptional upregulation of the genes known to be involved in glycerol uptake and metabolism (glpFK and glpD) in the presence of glycerol (compared to that in the presence of glucose and/or cellobiose). Levels of expression of the genes encoding a second putative glycerol uptake facilitator (GlpF(2)) and a second putative glycerol kinase (GlpK(2)) were less enhanced under these conditions. GlpK(1) but not GlpK(2) was essential for glycerol catabolism in L. monocytogenes under extracellular conditions, while the loss of GlpK(1) affected replication in Caco-2 cells less than did the loss of GlpK(2) and GlpD. Additional genes whose transcription levels were higher in the presence of glycerol than in the presence of glucose and cellobiose included those for two dihydroxyacetone (Dha) kinases and many genes that are under carbon catabolite repression control. Transcriptional downregulation in the presence of glycerol (compared to those in the presence glucose and cellobiose) was observed for several genes and operons that are positively regulated by glucose, including genes involved in glycolysis, N metabolism, and the biosynthesis of branched-chain amino acids. The highest level of transcriptional upregulation was observed for all PrfA-dependent genes during early and late logarithmic growth in glycerol. Under these conditions, a low level of HPr-Ser-P and a high level of HPr-His-P were present in the cells, suggesting that all enzyme IIA (EIIA) (or EIIB) components of the phosphotransferase system (PTS) permeases expressed will be phosphorylated. These and other data suggest that the phosphorylation state of PTS permeases correlates with PrfA activity.

Dataset Information

Stochastic and Differential Activation of ?B and PrfA in Listeria monocytogenes at the Single Cell Level under Different Environmental Stress Conditions.

Publications

Stochastic and Differential Activation of σ<sup>B</sup> and PrfA in <i>Listeria monocytogenes</i> at the Single Cell Level under Different Environmental Stress Conditions.

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