RflM mediates target specificity of the RcsCDB phosphorelay system for transcriptional repression of flagellar synthesis in Salmonella enterica

SPI-1 virulence gene expression modulates motility of Salmonella Typhimurium in a proton motive force- and adhesins-dependent manner

Both the bacterial flagellum and the evolutionary related injectisome encoded on the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) play crucial roles during the infection cycle of Salmonella species. The interplay of both is highlighted by the complex cross-regulation that includes transcriptional control of the flagellar master regulatory operon flhDC by HilD, the master regulator of SPI-1 gene expression. Contrary to the HilD-dependent activation of flagellar gene expression, we report here that activation of HilD resulted in a dramatic loss of motility, which was dependent on the presence of SPI-1. Single cell analyses revealed that HilD-activation triggers a SPI-1-dependent induction of the stringent response and a substantial decrease in proton motive force (PMF), while flagellation remains unaffected. We further found that HilD activation enhances the adhesion of Salmonella to epithelial cells. A transcriptome analysis revealed a simultaneous upregulation of several adhesin systems, which, when overproduced, phenocopied the HilD-induced motility defect. We propose a model where the SPI-1-dependent depletion of the PMF and the upregulation of adhesins upon HilD-activation enable flagellated Salmonella to rapidly modulate their motility during infection, thereby enabling efficient adhesion to host cells and delivery of effector proteins.

Dual Regulatory Role Exerted by Cyclic Dimeric GMP To Control FsnR-Mediated Bacterial Swimming

Bacterial motility has great medical and ecological significance because of its essential role in bacterial survival and pathogenesis. Cyclic dimeric GMP (c-di-GMP), a second messenger in bacteria, is the predominant regulator of flagellar synthesis and motility and possesses turnover mechanisms that have been thoroughly investigated. Therefore, much attention has been focused on identifying the upstream stimulatory signals and downstream modules that respond to altered c-di-GMP levels. Here, we systematically analyzed c-di-GMP cyclases and phosphodiesterases in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia to screen for motility regulators. Of these enzymes, we identified and characterized a new phosphodiesterase named SisP, which was found to facilitate bacterial swimming upon stimulation with ferrous iron. SisP-mediated degradation of c-di-GMP leads to FsnR-dependent transcription of flagellar genes. Remarkably, c-di-GMP controls FsnR via two independent mechanisms: by direct binding and indirectly by modulating its phosphorylation state. In this study, we deciphered a novel "one stone, two birds" regulatory strategy of c-di-GMP and uncovered the signal that stimulates c-di-GMP hydrolysis. Facilitation of bacterial swimming motility by ferrous iron might contribute to the higher risk of bacterial infection in acutely ill patients. IMPORTANCE Stenotrophomonas maltophilia has become a great threat to human health because of the high mortality of infected patients. Swimming motility plays a crucial role in regulating bacterial virulence and adaptation. However, limited progress has been made in cyclic dimeric GMP (c-di-GMP) controlling swimming motility of S. maltophilia. Here, we characterized c-di-GMP turnover enzymes encoded by S. maltophilia and dissected the regulatory details of a phosphodiesterase named SisP. We demonstrated that SisP degrades c-di-GMP to fully activate FsnR through directly releasing FsnR from the FsnR-c-di-GMP complex and indirectly increasing its phosphorylation level. This finding uncovered a quantitative, rather than an on-off, regulatory manner employed by c-di-GMP to regulate activities of its effectors. Identification of the specific activation of SisP by ferrous iron proposes SisP as a putative drug-target for controlling bacterial infection and ferrous iron at the wounds or cuts as a putative factor contributing to the higher risk of bacterial infection.

Regulation of gene expression by non-phosphorylated response regulators

Two-component systems (TCSs) are a prominent sensory system in bacteria. A prototypical TCS comprises a membrane-bound sensor histidine kinase (HK) responsible for sensing the signal and a cytoplasmic response regulator (RR) that controls target gene expression. Signal binding activates a phosphotransfer cascade from the HK to the RR. As a result, the phosphorylated RR undergoes a conformational change that leads to activation of the response. Growing experimental evidence indicates that unphosphorylated RRs may also have regulatory functions, and thus, the classical view that the RR is only active when it is phosphorylated needs to be revisited. In this review, we highlight the most recent findings showing that RRs in the non-phosphorylated state control critical bacterial processes that range from secretion of factors to the host, antibiotic resistance, iron transport, stress response, and cell-wall metabolism to biofilm development.

Structure-based analyses of Salmonella RcsB variants unravel new features of the Rcs regulon

RcsB is a transcriptional regulator that controls expression of numerous genes in enteric bacteria. RcsB accomplishes this role alone or in combination with auxiliary transcriptional factors independently or dependently of phosphorylation. To understand the mechanisms by which RcsB regulates such large number of genes, we performed structural studies as well as in vitro and in vivo functional studies with different RcsB variants. Our structural data reveal that RcsB binds promoters of target genes such as rprA and flhDC in a dimeric active conformation. In this state, the RcsB homodimer docks the DNA-binding domains into the major groove of the DNA, facilitating an initial weak read-out of the target sequence. Interestingly, comparative structural analyses also show that DNA binding may stabilize an active conformation in unphosphorylated RcsB. Furthermore, RNAseq performed in strains expressing wild-type or several RcsB variants provided new insights into the contribution of phosphorylation to gene regulation and assign a potential role of RcsB in controlling iron metabolism. Finally, we delimited the RcsB box for homodimeric active binding to DNA as the sequence TN(G/A)GAN4TC(T/C)NA. This RcsB box was found in promoter, intergenic and intragenic regions, facilitating both increased or decreased gene transcription.

HilE is required for synergistic activation of SPI-1 gene expression in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium

BACKGROUND

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is an intestinal pathogen capable of infecting a wide range of animals. It initiates infection by invading intestinal epithelial cells using a type III secretion system encoded within Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1). The SPI-1 genes are regulated by multiple interacting transcription factors. The master regulator is HilD. HilE represses SPI-1 gene expression by binding HilD and preventing it from activating its target promoters. Previous work found that acetate and nutrients synergistically induce SPI-1 gene expression. In the present study, we investigated the role of HilE, nominally a repressor of SPI-1 gene expression, in mediating this response to acetate and nutrients.

RESULTS

HilE is necessary for activation of SPI-1 gene expression by acetate and nutrients. In mutants lacking hilE, acetate and nutrients no longer increase SPI-1 gene expression but rather repress it. This puzzling response is not due to the BarA/SirA two component system, which governs the response to acetate. To identify the mechanism, we profiled gene expression using RNAseq in the wild type and a ΔhilE mutant under different growth conditions. Analysis of these data suggested that the Rcs system, which regulates gene expression in response to envelope stress, is involved. Consistent with this hypothesis, acetate and nutrients were able to induce SPI-1 gene expression in mutants lacking hilE and the Rcs system.

CONCLUSIONS

While the exact mechanism is unknown, these results demonstrate the HilE, nominally a repressor of SPI-1 gene expression, can also function as an activator under the growth conditions investigated. Collectively, these results provide new insights regarding SPI-1 gene regulation and demonstrate that HilE is more complex than initially envisioned.

Downregulation of a novel flagellar synthesis regulator AsiR promotes intracellular replication and systemic pathogenicity of Salmonella typhimurium

The intracellular pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) exploits host macrophage as a crucial survival and replicative niche. To minimize host immune response stimulated by flagellin, the expression of flagellar genes is downregulated during S. Typhimurium growth within host macrophages. However, the underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. In this study, we show that STM14_1285 (named AsiR), a putative RpiR-family transcriptional regulator, which is downregulated within macrophages as previously reported and also confirmed here, positively regulates the expression of flagellar genes by directly binding to the promoter of flhDC. By generating an asiR mutant strain and a strain that persistently expresses asiR gene within macrophages, we confirmed that the downregulation of asiR contributes positively to S. Typhimurium replication in macrophages and systemic infection in mice, which could be attributed to decreased flagellar gene expression and therefore reduced flagellin-stimulated secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α. Furthermore, the acidic pH in macrophages is identified as a signal for the downregulation of asiR and therefore flagellar genes. Collectively, our results reveal a novel acidic pH signal-mediated regulatory pathway that is utilized by S. Typhimurium to promote intracellular replication and systemic pathogenesis by repressing flagellar gene expression.

Tools to map target genes of bacterial two-component system response regulators

Studies on bacterial physiology are incomplete without knowledge of the signalling and regulatory systems that a bacterium uses to sense and respond to its environment. Two-component systems (TCSs) are among the most prevalent bacterial signalling systems, and they control essential and secondary physiological processes; however, even in model organisms, we lack a complete understanding of the signals sensed, the phosphotransfer partners and the functions regulated by these systems. In this review, we discuss several tools to map the genes targeted by transcriptionally acting TCSs. Many of these tools have been used for studying individual TCSs across diverse species, but systematic approaches to delineate entire signalling networks have been very few. Since genome sequences and high-throughput technologies are now readily available, the methods presented here can be applied to characterize the entire DNA-binding TCS signalling network in any bacterial species and are especially useful for non-model environmental bacteria.

The phosphorelay BarA/SirA activates the non-cognate regulator RcsB in Salmonella enterica

To survive an environmental stress, organisms must detect the stress and mount an appropriate response. One way that bacteria do so is by phosphorelay systems that respond to a stress by activating a regulator that modifies gene expression. To ensure an appropriate response, a given regulator is typically activated solely by its cognate phosphorelay protein(s). However, we now report that the regulator RcsB is activated by both cognate and non-cognate phosphorelay proteins, depending on the condition experienced by the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The RcsC and RcsD proteins form a phosphorelay that activates their cognate regulator RcsB in response to outer membrane stress and cell wall perturbations, conditions Salmonella experiences during infection. Surprisingly, the non-cognate phosphorelay protein BarA activates RcsB during logarithmic growth in Luria-Bertani medium in three ways. That is, BarA’s cognate regulator SirA promotes transcription of the rcsDB operon; the SirA-dependent regulatory RNAs CsrB and CsrC further increase RcsB-activated gene transcription; and BarA activates RcsB independently of the RcsC, RcsD, and SirA proteins. Activation of a regulator by multiple sensors broadens the spectrum of environments in which a set of genes is expressed without evolving binding sites for different regulators at each of these genes.

The phosphorelay is a form of signal transduction used by organisms in all three domains of life. Typically, a phosphorelay consists of sensor proteins that respond to specific signals by activating a cognate regulatory protein that alters gene expression. Phosphorelays exhibit specificity towards their cognate regulators, thereby ensuring that any changes in gene expression help an organism cope with the experienced stress (and not with an unrelated stress). However, we now report that the regulator RcsB is activated by both cognate and non-cognate phosphorelay proteins in the bacterium Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. The phosphorelay proteins RcsC and RcsD activate RcsB upon cell envelope perturbations, whereas the non-cognate phosphorelay protein BarA activates RcsB during rapid growth in Luria-Bertani medium. Our findings establish that BarA controls gene expression via both its cognate regulator SirA and the non-cognate regulator RcsB. In addition, they demonstrate that RcsB controls gene expression in response to multiple signals detected by the RcsC, RcsD, and BarA proteins.

Stochastic transcriptional pulses orchestrate flagellar biosynthesis in Escherichia coli

The classic picture of flagellum biosynthesis in Escherichia coli, inferred from population measurements, depicts a deterministic program where promoters are sequentially up-regulated and are maintained steadily active throughout exponential growth. However, complex regulatory dynamics at the single-cell level can be masked by bulk measurements. Here, we discover that in individual E. coli cells, flagellar promoters are stochastically activated in pulses. These pulses are coordinated within specific classes of promoters and comprise "on" and "off" states, each of which can span multiple generations. We demonstrate that in this pulsing program, the regulatory logic of flagellar assembly dictates which promoters skip pulses. Surprisingly, pulses do not require specific transcriptional or translational regulation of the flagellar master regulator, FlhDC, but instead appears to be essentially governed by an autonomous posttranslational circuit. Our results suggest that even topologically simple transcriptional networks can generate unexpectedly rich temporal dynamics and phenotypic heterogeneities.

Multidrug Resistance Regulators MarA, SoxS, Rob, and RamA Repress Flagellar Gene Expression and Motility in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium

Production of flagella is costly and subject to global multilayered regulation, which is reflected in the hierarchical control of flagellar production in many bacterial species. For Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and its relatives, global regulation of flagellar production primarily occurs through the control of flhDC transcription and mRNA translation. In this study, the roles of the homologous multidrug resistance regulators MarA, SoxS, Rob, and RamA (constituting the mar-sox-rob regulon in S Typhimurium) in regulating flagellar gene expression were explored. Each of these regulators was found to inhibit flagellar gene expression, production of flagella, and motility. To different degrees, repression via these transcription factors occurred through direct interactions with the flhDC promoter, particularly for MarA and Rob. Additionally, SoxS repressed flagellar gene expression via a posttranscriptional pathway, reducing flhDC translation. The roles of these transcription factors in reducing motility in the presence of salicylic acid were also elucidated, adding a genetic regulatory element to the response of S Typhimurium to this well-characterized chemorepellent. Integration of flagellar gene expression into the mar-sox-rob regulon in S Typhimurium contrasts with findings for closely related species such as Escherichia coli, providing an example of plasticity in the mar-sox-rob regulon throughout the Enterobacteriaceae family.IMPORTANCE The mar-sox-rob regulon is a large and highly conserved stress response network in the Enterobacteriaceae family. Although it is well characterized in E. coli, the extent of this regulon in related species is unclear. Here, the control of costly flagellar gene expression is connected to the mar-sox-rob regulon of S Typhimurium, contrasting with the E. coli regulon model. These findings demonstrate the flexibility of the mar-sox-rob regulon to accommodate novel regulatory targets, and they provide evidence for its broader regulatory role within this family of diverse bacteria.

Flagellar regulation mediated by the Rcs pathway is required for virulence in the fish pathogen Yersinia ruckeri

The flagellum is a complex surface structure necessary for a number of activities including motility, chemotaxis, biofilm formation and host attachment. Flagellin, the primary structural protein making up the flagellum, is an abundant and potent activator of innate and adaptive immunity and therefore expression of flagellin during infection could be deleterious to the infection process due to flagellin-mediated host recognition. Here, we use quantitative RT-PCR to demonstrate that expression of the flagellin locus fliC is repressed during the course of infection and subsequently up-regulated upon host mortality in a motile strain of Yersinia ruckeri. The kinetics of fliC repression during the infection process is relatively slow as full repression occurs 7-days after the initiation of infection and after approximately 3-logs of bacterial growth in vivo. These results suggests that Y. ruckeri possesses a regulatory system capable of sensing host and modulating the expression of motility in response. Examination of the master flagellar operon (flhDC) promoter region for evidence of transcriptional regulation and regulatory binding sites revealed potential interaction with the Rcs pathway through an Rcs(A)B Box. Deletion of rcsB (ΔrcsB) by marker-exchange mutagenesis resulted in overproduction of flagellin and unregulated motility, showing that the Rcs pathway negatively regulates biosynthesis of the flagellar apparatus. Experimental challenge with ΔrcsB and ΔrcsBΔfliC1ΔfliC2 mutants revealed that mutation of the Rcs pathway results in virulence attenuation which is dependent on presence of the flagellin gene. These results suggest that the inappropriate expression of flagellin during infection triggers host recognition and thus immune stimulation resulting in attenuation of virulence. In addition, RNAseq analyses of the ΔrcsB mutant strain verified the role of this gene as a negative regulator of the flagellar motility system and identified several additional genes regulated by the Rcs pathway.

Conformational dynamism for DNA interaction in the Salmonella RcsB response regulator

The RcsCDB phosphorelay system controls an extremely large regulon in Enterobacteriaceae that involves processes such as biofilm formation, flagella production, synthesis of extracellular capsules and cell division. Therefore, fine-tuning of this system is essential for virulence in pathogenic microorganisms of this group. The final master effector of the RcsCDB system is the response regulator (RR) RcsB, which activates or represses multiple genes by binding to different promoter regions. This regulatory activity of RcsB can be done alone or in combination with additional transcriptional factors in phosphorylated or dephosphorylated states. The capacity of RcsB to interact with multiple promoters and partners, either dephosphorylated or phosphorylated, suggests an extremely conformational dynamism for this RR. To shed light on the activation mechanism of RcsB and its implication on promoter recognition, we solved the crystal structure of full-length RcsB from Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in the presence and absence of a phosphomimetic molecule BeF₃⁻. These two novel structures have guided an extensive site-directed mutagenesis study at the structural and functional level that confirms RcsB conformational plasticity and dynamism. Our data allowed us to propose a β5-T switch mechanism where phosphorylation is coupled to alternative DNA binding ways and which highlights the conformational dynamism of RcsB to be so pleiotropic.

The spermidine acetyltransferase SpeG regulates transcription of the small RNA rprA

Spermidine N-acetyltransferase (SpeG) acetylates and thus neutralizes toxic polyamines. Studies indicate that SpeG plays an important role in virulence and pathogenicity of many bacteria, which have evolved SpeG-dependent strategies to control polyamine concentrations and survive in their hosts. In Escherichia coli, the two-component response regulator RcsB is reported to be subject to N^ε-acetylation on several lysine residues, resulting in reduced DNA binding affinity and reduced transcription of the small RNA rprA; however, the physiological acetylation mechanism responsible for this behavior has not been fully determined. Here, we performed an acetyltransferase screen and found that SpeG inhibits rprA promoter activity in an acetylation-independent manner. Surface plasmon resonance analysis revealed that SpeG can physically interact with the DNA-binding carboxyl domain of RcsB. We hypothesize that SpeG interacts with the DNA-binding domain of RcsB and that this interaction might be responsible for SpeG-dependent inhibition of RcsB-dependent rprA transcription. This work provides a model for SpeG as a modulator of E. coli transcription through its ability to interact with the transcription factor RcsB. This is the first study to provide evidence that an enzyme involved in polyamine metabolism can influence the function of the global regulator RcsB, which integrates information concerning envelope stresses and central metabolic status to regulate diverse behaviors.

Regulation of Flagellum Biosynthesis in Response to Cell Envelope Stress in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium

Flagellum-driven motility of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium facilitates host colonization. However, the large extracellular flagellum is also a prime target for the immune system. As consequence, expression of flagella is bistable within a population of Salmonella, resulting in flagellated and nonflagellated subpopulations. This allows the bacteria to maximize fitness in hostile environments. The degenerate EAL domain protein RflP (formerly YdiV) is responsible for the bistable expression of flagella by directing the flagellar master regulatory complex FlhD₄C₂ with respect to proteolytic degradation. Information concerning the environmental cues controlling expression of rflP and thus about the bistable flagellar biosynthesis remains ambiguous. Here, we demonstrated that RflP responds to cell envelope stress and alterations of outer membrane integrity. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) truncation mutants of Salmonella Typhimurium exhibited increasing motility defects due to downregulation of flagellar gene expression. Transposon mutagenesis and genetic profiling revealed that σ²⁴ (RpoE) and Rcs phosphorelay-dependent cell envelope stress response systems sense modifications of the lipopolysaccaride, low pH, and activity of the complement system. This subsequently results in activation of RflP expression and degradation of FlhD₄C₂ via ClpXP. We speculate that the presence of diverse hostile environments inside the host might result in cell envelope damage and would thus trigger the repression of resource-costly and immunogenic flagellum biosynthesis via activation of the cell envelope stress response.

Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella Typhimurium sense and adapt to a multitude of changing and stressful environments during host infection. At the initial stage of gastrointestinal colonization, Salmonella uses flagellum-mediated motility to reach preferred sites of infection. However, the flagellum also constitutes a prime target for the host’s immune response. Accordingly, the pathogen needs to determine the spatiotemporal stage of infection and control flagellar biosynthesis in a robust manner. We found that Salmonella uses signals from cell envelope stress-sensing systems to turn off production of flagella. We speculate that downregulation of flagellum synthesis after cell envelope damage in hostile environments aids survival of Salmonella during late stages of infection and provides a means to escape recognition by the immune system.

Structural Basis for DNA Recognition by the Two-Component Response Regulator RcsB

RcsB is a highly conserved transcription regulator of the Rcs phosphorelay system, a complex two-component signal transduction system (N. Majdalani and S. Gottesman, Annu Rev Microbiol 59:379–405, 2005; A. J. Wolfe, Curr Opin Microbiol 13:204–209, 2010, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mib.2010.01.002; D. J. Clarke, Future Microbiol 5:1173–1184, 2010, https://doi.org/10.2217/fmb.10.83). RcsB plays an important role in virulence and pathogenicity in human hosts by regulating biofilm formation. RcsB can regulate transcription alone or together with its auxiliary transcription regulators by forming heterodimers. This complexity allows RcsB to regulate transcription of more than 600 bacterial genes in response to different stresses (D. Wang et al., Mol Plant Microbe Interact 25:6–17, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-08-11-0207). Despite increasing knowledge of RcsB importance, molecular mechanisms that drive the ability of RcsB to control transcription of a large number of genes remain unclear. Here, we present crystal structures of unphosphorylated RcsB in complex with the consensus DNA-binding sequence of 22-mer (DNA22) and 18-mer (DNA18) of the flhDC operon from Escherichia coli determined at 3.15- and 3.37-Å resolution, respectively. The results of our structural analysis combined with the results of in vitro binding assays provide valuable insights to the protein regulatory mechanism, demonstrate how RcsB recognizes target DNA sequences, and reveal a unique oligomeric state that allows RcsB to form homo- and heterodimers. This information will help us understand the complex mechanisms of transcriptional regulation by RcsB in bacteria.

RcsB is a well-studied two-component response regulator of the Rcs phosphorelay system, conserved within the family Enterobacteriaceae, which includes many pathogens. It is a global regulator, controlling more than 5% of bacterial genes associated with capsule biosynthesis, flagellar biogenesis, cell wall biosynthesis, antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation, and virulence in pathogens. Knowledge of RcsB structure represents a unique opportunity to explore mechanisms that regulate the Rcs phosphorelay system and its role in the family Enterobacteriaceae.

New Insights into the Non-orthodox Two Component Rcs Phosphorelay System

The Rcs phosphorelay system, a non-orthodox two-component regulatory system, integrates environmental signals, regulates gene expression, and alters the physiological behavior of members of the Enterobacteriaceae family of Gram-negative bacteria. Recent studies of Rcs system focused on protein interactions, functions, and the evolution of Rcs system components and its auxiliary regulatory proteins. Herein we review the latest advances on the Rcs system proteins, and discuss the roles that the Rcs system plays in the environmental adaptation of various Enterobacteriaceae species.

Involvement of Two-Component Signaling on Bacterial Motility and Biofilm Development

Two-component signaling is a specialized mechanism that bacteria use to respond to changes in their environment. Nonpathogenic strains of Escherichia coli K-12 harbor 30 histidine kinases and 32 response regulators, which form a network of regulation that integrates many other global regulators that do not follow the two-component signaling mechanism, as well as signals from central metabolism. The output of this network is a multitude of phenotypic changes in response to changes in the environment. Among these phenotypic changes, many two-component systems control motility and/or the formation of biofilm, sessile communities of bacteria that form on surfaces. Motility is the first reversible attachment phase of biofilm development, followed by a so-called swim or stick switch toward surface organelles that aid in the subsequent phases. In the mature biofilm, motility heterogeneity is generated by a combination of evolutionary and gene regulatory events.

Crystal structure of nonphosphorylated receiver domain of the stress response regulator RcsB from Escherichia coli

RcsB, the transcription-associated response regulator of the Rcs phosphorelay two-component signal transduction system, activates cell stress responses associated with desiccation, cell wall biosynthesis, cell division, virulence, biofilm formation, and antibiotic resistance in enteric bacterial pathogens. RcsB belongs to the FixJ/NarL family of transcriptional regulators, which are characterized by a highly conserved C-terminal DNA-binding domain. The N-terminal domain of RcsB belongs to the family of two-component receiver domains. This receiver domain contains the phosphoacceptor site and participates in RcsB dimer formation; it also contributes to dimer formation with other transcription factor partners. Here, we describe the crystal structure of the Escherichia coli RcsB receiver domain in its nonphosphorylated state. The structure reveals important molecular details of phosphorylation-independent dimerization of RcsB and has implication for the formation of heterodimers.

Involvement of the Rcs regulon in the persistence of Salmonella Typhimurium in tomatoes

It is becoming clear that human enteric pathogens, like Salmonella, can efficiently colonize vegetative and reproductive organs of plants. Even though the bacterium's ability to proliferate within plant tissues has been linked to outbreaks of salmonellosis, little is known about regulatory and physiological adaptations of Salmonella, or other human pathogens, to their persistence in plants. A screen of Salmonella deletion mutants in tomatoes identified rcsA and rcsB genes as those under positive selection. In tomato fruits, populations of Salmonella rcsB mutants were as much as 100-fold lower than those of the wild type. In the follow-up experiments, competitive fitness of rcsA and rcsB mutants was strongly reduced in tomatoes. Bioinformatics predictions identified a putative Salmonella RcsAB binding box (TTMGGAWWAABCTYA) and revealed an extensive putative RcsAB regulon, of which many members were differentially fit within tomatoes.