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Sana TG, Lomas R, Gimenez MR, Laubier A, Soscia C, Chauvet C, Conesa A, Voulhoux R, Ize B, Bleves S. Differential Modulation of Quorum Sensing Signaling through QslA in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains PAO1 and PA14. J Bacteriol 2019; 201:e00362-19. [PMID: 31405911 PMCID: PMC6779463 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00362-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Two clinical isolates of the opportunist pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa named PAO1 and PA14 are commonly studied in research laboratories. Despite the isolates being closely related, PA14 exhibits increased virulence compared to that of PAO1 in various models. To determine which players are responsible for the hypervirulence phenotype of the PA14 strain, we elected a transcriptomic approach through RNA sequencing. We found 2,029 genes that are differentially expressed between the two strains, including several genes that are involved with or regulated by quorum sensing (QS), known to control most of the virulence factors in P. aeruginosa Among them, we chose to focus our study on QslA, an antiactivator of QS whose expression was barely detectable in the PA14 strain according our data. We hypothesized that lack of expression of qslA in PA14 could be responsible for higher QS expression in the PA14 strain, possibly explaining its hypervirulence phenotype. After confirming that QslA protein was highly produced in PAO1 but not in the PA14 strain, we obtained evidence showing that a PAO1 deletion strain of qslA has faster QS gene expression kinetics than PA14. Moreover, known virulence factors activated by QS, such as (i) pyocyanin production, (ii) H2-T6SS (type VI secretion system) gene expression, and (iii) Xcp-T2SS (type II secretion system) machinery production and secretion, were all lower in PAO1 than in PA14, due to higher qslA expression. However, biofilm formation and cytotoxicity toward macrophages, although increased in PA14 compared to PAO1, were independent of QslA control. Together, our findings implicated differential qslA expression as a major determinant of virulence factor expression in P. aeruginosa strains PAO1 and PA14.IMPORTANCEPseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for acute nosocomial infections and chronic pulmonary infections. P. aeruginosa strain PA14 is known to be hypervirulent in different hosts. Despite several studies in the field, the underlining molecular mechanisms sustaining this phenotype remain enigmatic. Here we provide evidence that the PA14 strain has faster quorum sensing (QS) kinetics than the PAO1 strain, due to the lack of QslA expression, an antiactivator of QS. QS is a major regulator of virulence factors in P. aeruginosa; therefore, we propose that the hypervirulent phenotype of the PA14 strain is, at least partially, due to the lack of QslA expression. This mechanism could be of great importance, as it could be conserved among other P. aeruginosa isolates.
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Affiliation(s)
- T G Sana
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - R Lomas
- Genomics of Gene Expression Laboratory, Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe, Valencia, Spain
| | - M R Gimenez
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - A Laubier
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - C Soscia
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - C Chauvet
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - A Conesa
- Microbiology and Cell Science, IFAS, Genetics Insitute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - R Voulhoux
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - B Ize
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
| | - S Bleves
- Laboratoire d'Ingénierie des Systèmes Macromoléculaires-UMR7255, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, Aix-Marseille University and CNRS, Marseille, France
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López-Goñi I, Giner-Lamia J, Álvarez-Ordoñez A, Benitez-Páez A, Claessen D, Cortesao M, de Toro M, García-Ruano D, Granato ET, Kovács ÁT, Romalde JL, Sana TG, Sánchez-Angulo M, Sangari FJ, Smits WK, Sturm T, Thomassin JL, Valdehuesa KNG, Zapotoczna M. #EUROmicroMOOC: using Twitter to share trends in Microbiology worldwide. FEMS Microbiol Lett 2019; 366:5521206. [DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fnz141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2019] [Accepted: 06/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Twitter is one of the most popular social media networks that, in recent years, has been increasingly used by researchers as a platform to share science and discuss ongoing work. Despite its popularity, Twitter is not commonly used as a medium to teach science. Here, we summarize the results of #EUROmicroMOOC: the first worldwide Microbiology Massive Open Online Course taught in English using Twitter. Content analytics indicated that more than 3 million users saw posts with the hashtag #EUROmicroMOOC, which resulted in over 42 million Twitter impressions worldwide. These analyses demonstrate that free Microbiology MOOCs shared on Twitter are valuable educational tools that reach broad audiences throughout the world. We also describe our experience teaching an entire Microbiology course using Twitter and provide recommendations when using social media to communicate science to a broad audience.
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Affiliation(s)
- I López-Goñi
- Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Universidad de Navarra, E-31080 Pamplona, Spain
| | - J Giner-Lamia
- Centro de Biotecnología y Genómica de Plantas (CBGP, UPM-INIA), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), Campus Montegancedo-UPM, E-28223 Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid,Spain
- Departamento de Biotecnología-Biología Vegetal, ETSIAAB, UPM, Ciudad Universitaria, E-28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - A Álvarez-Ordoñez
- Departamento de Higiene y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, Universidad de León, E-24071 León, Spain
| | - Alfonso Benitez-Páez
- Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology IATA-CSIC. C/Catedràtic Agustín Escardino Benlloch, 7, E-46980 Paterna-Valencia, Spain
| | - D Claessen
- Intitute of Biology, Leiden University, NL-2333 Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - M Cortesao
- German Aerospace Center (DLR), D-51147 Cologne, Germany
| | - M de Toro
- Fundacion Rioja Salud, E-26006 Logroño, Spain
| | - D García-Ruano
- Institute of Functional Biology and Genomics, USAL–CSIC, University of Salamanca, E-37002 Salamanca, Spain
| | - E T Granato
- Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, OX1 3SZ Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Á T Kovács
- DTU Bioengineering, Bacterial Interactions and Evolution group,1 Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
| | - J L Romalde
- Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, CIBUS-Facultad de Biología, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
| | - T G Sana
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - M Sánchez-Angulo
- Departamento de Producción Vegetal y Microbiología, University of Miguel Hernández, E-03202 Elche, Spain
| | - F J Sangari
- Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología de Cantabria (IBBTEC) CSIC-University of Cantabria and Department of Molecular Biology, University of Cantabria, E-39011 Santander, Spain
| | - W K Smits
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Leiden University Medical Center, NL-2300 RC Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - T Sturm
- Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA 95003, USA
| | - J L Thomassin
- Biochemistry of Macromolecular Interactions Unit, Department of Structural Biology and Chemistry, Institut Pasteur, 28 rue du Dr. Roux, Paris F-75724 France
| | - K N G Valdehuesa
- Department of Energy Science and Technology, Myongji University, 03674 South Korea
| | - M Zapotoczna
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland
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