The pathogenicity island encoded PvrSR/RcsCB regulatory network controls biofilm formation and dispersal in Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14
Author(s)
Mikkelsen, Helga
Hui, Kailyn
Barraud, Nicolas
Filloux, Alain
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm formation is linked to persistent infections in humans. Biofilm formation is facilitated by extracellular appendages, some of which are assembled by the Chaperone Usher Pathway (Cup). The cupD gene cluster is located on the PAPI‐1 pathogenicity island of strain PA14 and has probably been acquired together with four genes encoding two‐component signal transduction proteins. We have previously showed that the RcsB response regulator activates expression of the cupD genes, which leads to the production of CupD fimbriae and increased attachment. Here we show that RcsB activity is tightly modulated by two sensors, RcsC and PvrS. While PvrS acts as a kinase that enhances RcsB activity, RcsC has a dual function, first as a phosphorelay, and second as a phosphatase. We found that, under certain growth conditions, overexpression of RcsB readily induces biofilm dispersal. Microarray analysis shows that RcsB positively controls expression of pvrR that encodes the phosphodiesterase required for this dispersal process. Finally, in addition to the PAPI‐1 encoded cupD genes, RcsB controls several genes on the core genome, some of which encode orphan response regulators. We thus discovered that RcsB is central to a large regulatory network that fine‐tunes the switch between biofilm formation and dispersal.
Date Issued
2013-08-01
Date Acceptance
2013-06-03
Citation
Molecular Microbiology, 2013, 89 (3), pp.450-463
ISSN
0950-382X
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
450
End Page
463
Journal / Book Title
Molecular Microbiology
Volume
89
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2013 The Authors. Molecular Microbiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sponsor
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000322332800004&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Grant Number
BB/F019645/1
BB/I019871/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Microbiology
SIGNAL-TRANSDUCTION SYSTEM
CHAPERONE-USHER PATHWAY
BURKHOLDERIA-CENOCEPACIA
ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANCE
ESCHERICHIA-COLI
RCS PHOSPHORELAY
VIRULENCE GENES
DI-GMP
EXPRESSION
PILUS
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2013-06-28