Project description:Comparative proteomics to identify the proteins secreted by T6SS1 and T6SS2 of Vibrio coralliilyticus strains BAA-450, OCN008, and OCN014.
Project description:The bacterial pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus infects a variety of marine organisms globally and causes early onset of disease in multiple coral species. The etiology of coral disease and relative pathogenicity of V. coralliilyticus strains is well-documented, but the mechanisms of V. coralliilyticus coral colonization, virulence factor production, and interactions with coral microbiome are understudied. Many virulence factors responsible for pathogenic behaviors are controlled through a density-dependent, bacterial communication system called quorum sensing (QS). In other Vibrio species, behaviors like bioluminescence, biofilm formation, toxin secretion, and protease production are controlled via the master quorum sensing transcriptional regulator called LuxR/HapR. Comparative genomics indicated that V. coralliilyticus genomes share high sequence identity for most of the QS signaling and regulatory components identified in other Vibrio species. Here, we characterize active components of the V. coralliilyticus QS system and identify the VcpR (LuxR/HapR homolog) regulons in two strains with distinct infection etiologies. We show that VcpR transcription is dependent on signaling by autoinducer AI-2, whereas we were unable to detect production of acyl-homoserine lactone autoinducers. The VcpR regulator controls expression of >200 genes in both the type strain BAA-450 and isolate OCN008, including two genes encoding proteases (VcpA and VcpB) known to impact coral infection. In both isolates, VcpR activates the expression of Type VI Secretion System genes from both systems 1 and 2, which results in interbacterial competition and killing of prey bacteria. We conclude that the QS system in V. coralliilyticus is active and controls expression of genes involved in relevant bacterial behaviors that may influence coral infection.
Project description:Members of the Vibrionaceae family are often found associated with chitin-containing organisms and they are thought to play a major role in chitin degradation. The purpose of the present study was to determine how chitin affected the transcriptome and metabolome of two bioactive Vibrionaceae strains, Vibrio corallilyticus and Photobacterium galatheae. We focused on chitin degradation genes and secondary metabolites based on the assumption that these molecules in nature confer an advantage to the producer. Growth on chitin caused up-regulation of genes related to chitin metabolism and of genes potentially involved in host colonization and/or infection. The expression of genes involved in secondary metabolism was also significantly affected by growth on chitin, in one case being thirty-four folds upregulated. This was reflected in the metabolome, where the antibiotics andrimid and holomycin were produced in higher amounts on chitin. Interestingly, in cultures of P. galatheae grown on chitin we detected high amounts of the biogenic amine phenylethylamine. Overall, these results suggest that both V. coralliilyticus and P. galatheae have a specific lifestyle for growth on chitin, and that the secondary metabolites they produce are likely to play a crucial role during chitin colonization.