Characterization of the oxyR mutant in the intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila

ABSTRACT: The intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila (Lp) is a strict aerobe, surviving and replicating in environments where it frequently encounters reactive oxygen species, such as the nutrient-poor water environment and inside host cells. In many proteobacteria, the oxidative stress response is regulated by the LysR-type regulator OxyR; however, the role played by the OxyR homologue in Lp is still unclear. Therefore, we undertook the characterisation of the phenotypes associated with the deletion of OxyR in Lp. OxyR is dispensable for growth in rich broth, in amoeba and in human cultured macrophages, and for the survival of Lp in water. Nevertheless, the mutant was found to be more sensitive to hydrogen peroxide than the wild-type when grown to post-exponential phase, but not when grown to exponential phase. Moreover, the mutant is defective in forming isolated colonies on charcoal yeast extract (CYE) agar plates, but supplementation with anti-ROS molecules, such as pyruvate, α-ketoglutarate and catalase, rescued this defect. Further characterisation of this phenotype using a transcriptional reporter fusion and microarray analysis revealed that the deletion mutant is not defective for the expression of known anti-ROS genes which suggests that the growth defect on agar plates and the higher susceptibility to hydrogen peroxide are due to a broad change in the transcriptional response. Furthermore, the growth defect is suppressed when the mutant is grown on CYE plates made with agarose, suggesting that a compound present in typical agar is toxic for the oxyR mutant.

ORGANISM(S): Legionella pneumophila subsp. pneumophila str. Philadelphia 1

PROVIDER: GSE87029 | GEO | 2021/07/20

REPOSITORIES: GEO