Role of ppGpp in Pseudomonas aeruginosa acute pulmonary infection and virulence regulation

Publication date: Available online 15 June 2016 Source:Microbiological Research Author(s): Xiaohui Xu, Hua Yu, Di Zhang, Junzhi Xiong, Jing Qiu, Rong Xin, Xiaomei He, Halei Sheng, Wenqiang Cai, Lu Jiang, Kebin Zhang, Xiaomei Hu During infection, bacteria might generate adaptive responses to facilitate their survival and colonization in the host environment. The alarmone guanosine 5′-triphosphate-3′-diphosphate (ppGpp), the levels of which are regulated by the RelA and SpoT enzymes, plays a critical role in mediating bacterial adaptive responses and virulence. However, the mechanism by which ppGpp regulates virulence-associated traits in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is poorly understood. To investigate the regulatory role of ppGpp, the ppGpp-deficient strain ΔRS (relA and spoT gene double mutant) and the complemented strain ΔRS++ (complemented with relA and spoT genes) were constructed. Herein, we reported that the ΔRS strain showed decreased cytotoxicity towards A549 human alveolar adenocarcinoma cell lines and led to reduced mortality, lung edema and inflammatory cell infiltration in a mouse model of acute pneumonia compared to wild-type PAO1 and the complemented strain ΔRS++ . Subsequent analyses demonstrated that the ΔRS strain displayed reduced T3SS expression, decreased levels of elastase activity, pyocyanin, pyoverdin and alginate, and inhibited swarming and biofilm formation compared to PAO1 and the complemented strain ΔRS++ . In additi...
Source: Microbiological Research - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research