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The Hcp-like protein HilE inhibits homodimerization and DNA binding of the virulence-associated transcriptional regulator HilD in Salmonella.

ABSTRACT: HilD is an AraC-like transcriptional regulator that plays a central role in Salmonella virulence. HilD controls the expression of the genes within the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) and of several genes located outside SPI-1, which are mainly required for Salmonella invasion of host cells. The expression, amount, and activity of HilD are tightly controlled by the activities of several factors. The HilE protein represses the expression of the SPI-1 genes through its interaction with HilD; however, the mechanism by which HilE affects HilD is unknown. In this study, we used genetic and biochemical assays revealing how HilE controls the transcriptional activity of HilD. We found that HilD needs to assemble in homodimers to induce expression of its target genes. Our results further indicated that HilE individually interacts with each the central and the C-terminal HilD regions, mediating dimerization and DNA binding, respectively. We also observed that these interactions consistently inhibit HilD dimerization and DNA binding. Interestingly, a computational analysis revealed that HilE shares sequence and structural similarities with Hcp proteins, which act as structural components of type 6 secretion systems in Gram-negative bacteria. In conclusion, our results uncover the molecular mechanism by which the Hcp-like protein HilE controls dimerization and DNA binding of the virulence-promoting transcriptional regulator HilD. Our findings may indicate that HilE's activity represents a functional adaptation during the evolution of Salmonella pathogenicity.

SUBMITTER: Paredes-Amaya CC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5925794 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The Hcp-like protein HilE inhibits homodimerization and DNA binding of the virulence-associated transcriptional regulator HilD in Salmonella.

Paredes-Amaya Claudia C CC Valdés-García Gilberto G Juárez-González Víctor R VR Rudiño-Piñera Enrique E Bustamante Víctor H VH

The Journal of biological chemistry 20180313 17

HilD is an AraC-like transcriptional regulator that plays a central role in Salmonella virulence. HilD controls the expression of the genes within the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) and of several genes located outside SPI-1, which are mainly required for Salmonella invasion of host cells. The expression, amount, and activity of HilD are tightly controlled by the activities of several factors. The HilE protein represses the expression of the SPI-1 genes through it ...[more]

PMID: 29535187

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Project description:The Salmonella type three secretion system (T3SS), encoded in the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) locus, mediates the invasion of the host intestinal epithelium. SPI1 expression is dependent upon three AraC-like regulators: HilD, HilC, and RtsA. These regulators act in a complex feed-forward loop to activate each other and hilA, which encodes the activator of the T3SS structural genes. HilD has been shown to be the major integration point of most signals known to activate the expression of the SPI1 T3SS, acting as a switch to control induction of the system. HilE is a negative regulator that acts upon HilD. Here we provide genetic and biochemical data showing that HilE specifically binds to HilD but not to HilC or RtsA. This protein-protein interaction blocks the ability of HilD to bind DNA as shown by both an in vivo reporter system and an in vitro gel shift assay. HilE does not affect HilD dimerization, nor does it control the stability of the HilD protein. We also investigated the role of HilE during the infection of mice using competition assays. Although deletion of hilE does not confer a phenotype, the hilE mutation does suppress the invasion defect conferred by loss of FliZ, which acts as a positive signal controlling HilD protein activity. Together, these data suggest that HilE functions to restrict low-level HilD activity, preventing premature activation of SPI1 until positive inputs reach a threshold required to fully induce the system.IMPORTANCESalmonella is a leading cause of gastrointestinal and systemic disease throughout the world. The SPI1 T3SS is required for Salmonella to induce inflammatory diarrhea and to gain access to underlying tissue. A complex regulatory network controls expression of SPI1 in response to numerous physiological inputs. Most of these signals impinge primarily on HilD translation or activity. The system is triggered when HilD activity crosses a threshold that allows efficient activation of its own promoter. This threshold is set by HilE, which binds to HilD to prevent the inevitable minor fluctuations in HilD activity from inappropriately activating the system. The circuit also serves as a paradigm for systems that must integrate numerous environmental parameters to control regulatory output.

Dataset Information

The Hcp-like protein HilE inhibits homodimerization and DNA binding of the virulence-associated transcriptional regulator HilD in Salmonella.

Publications

The Hcp-like protein HilE inhibits homodimerization and DNA binding of the virulence-associated transcriptional regulator HilD in <i>Salmonella</i>.

Similar Datasets

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