Abstract
The oxygenation of unsaturated fatty acids by dioxygenases occurs in all kingdoms of life and produces physiologically important lipids called oxylipins. The biological roles of oxylipins have been extensively studied in animals, plants, algae and fungi, but remain largely unidentified in prokaryotes. The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa displays a diol synthase activity that transforms several monounsaturated fatty acids into mono- and di-hydroxylated derivatives. Here we show that oxylipins derived from this activity inhibit flagellum-driven motility and upregulate type IV pilus-dependent twitching motility of P. aeruginosa. Consequently, these oxylipins promote bacterial organization in microcolonies, increasing the ability of P. aeruginosa to form biofilms in vitro and in vivo (in Drosophila flies). We also demonstrate that oxylipins produced by P. aeruginosa promote virulence in Drosophila flies and lettuce. Our study thus uncovers a role for prokaryotic oxylipins in the physiology and pathogenicity of bacteria.
Highlights
The oxygenation of unsaturated fatty acids by dioxygenases occurs in all kingdoms of life and produces physiologically important lipids called oxylipins
To gain a relative measure of the extent of the attenuation caused by the disruption of the diol synthase activity when the virulence is tested by the pricking method, we evaluated in parallel the virulence of a mutant with a transposon inserted in PA2077 and other transposon mutants of genes encoding well-known virulence factors of P. aeruginosa
Bacterial biofilms are widely recognized to play an important role in pathogenesis during bacterial infections[23]
Summary
The oxygenation of unsaturated fatty acids by dioxygenases occurs in all kingdoms of life and produces physiologically important lipids called oxylipins. We show that oxylipins derived from this activity inhibit flagellum-driven motility and upregulate type IV pilus-dependent twitching motility of P. aeruginosa. These oxylipins promote bacterial organization in microcolonies, increasing the ability of P. aeruginosa to form biofilms in vitro and in vivo (in Drosophila flies). Given the biological relevance of oxylipins in other taxonomical groups, we hypothesized that oxylipins derived from bacterial metabolism may have an important physiological meaning To address this issue, we explored the role of the diol synthase-derived oxylipins in this important opportunistic pathogen. We found that oxylipins inhibit flagellum-driven swimming and swarming motilities but upregulate type IV pilus-dependent twitching motility of P. aeruginosa These compounds promote this bacterium’s ability to form biofilms in vitro and in vivo (in the Drosophila fly model). We demonstrate that oxylipins produced by P. aeruginosa promote its virulence in Drosophila flies and lettuce
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