Competitive behaviours in Serratia marcescens are coordinately regulated by a lifestyle switch frequently inactivated in the clinical environment
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ABSTRACT: Opportunistic bacterial pathogens require effective mechanisms to compete with other bacteria and to switch between host and environment-adapted states. The Type VI secretion system (T6SS) occurs widely in Gram-negative bacteria and mediates efficient killing of neighbouring competitors. Here we describe the distribution of T6SSs across the genus Serratia and report the unexpected discovery that a highly-conserved antibacterial T6SS is differentially active between closely-related clinical isolates of Serratia marcescens. By combining genomic and experimental approaches, we identified a genus-core two-component system which controls T6SS activity and is subject to very frequent inactivating mutations, exclusively in clinically-derived isolates of S. marcescens. This regulatory system controls a number of lifestyle-related traits at transcriptional and post-translational levels, including T6SS activity, antibiotic production, motility and adhesion. Our data support a model whereby this system represents a conserved, modular switch from sessile to pioneering and aggressive behaviour, which is subject to strong selection pressure in the clinical environment.
ORGANISM(S): Serratia marcescens
PROVIDER: GSE273522 | GEO | 2025/01/29
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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