Perspective: Adhesion Mediated Signal Transduction in Bacterial Pathogens.

Sudha Moorthy,Eric Klein,Julia Keklak

doi:10.3390/pathogens5010023

Abstract

During the infection process, pathogenic bacteria undergo large-scale transcriptional changes to promote virulence and increase intrahost survival. While much of this reprogramming occurs in response to changes in chemical environment, such as nutrient availability and pH, there is increasing evidence that adhesion to host-tissue can also trigger signal transduction pathways resulting in differential gene expression. Determining the molecular mechanisms of adhesion-mediated signaling requires disentangling the contributions of chemical and mechanical stimuli. Here we highlight recent work demonstrating that surface attachment drives a transcriptional response in bacterial pathogens, including uropathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli), and discuss the complexity of experimental design when dissecting the specific role of adhesion-mediated signaling during infection.

Highlights

Advances in transcriptomics have provided a wealth of information regarding changes in bacterial gene expression during infection
Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) adapt to intrahost survival by upregulating metal transport genes [1] and the oxidative stress response [2]. It remains unclear what triggers this variety of transcriptional responses; the intrahost environment provides changes in oxygenation, nutrient availability, and presents a number of ligands for bacterial adhesion
In E. coli, it has been demonstrated that adhesion to abiotic surfaces can induce expression of envelope-stress genes via the Cpx two-component system [3]; the nature of the signal for adhesion-mediated

Summary

Introduction

Advances in transcriptomics have provided a wealth of information regarding changes in bacterial gene expression during infection. It remains unclear what triggers this variety of transcriptional responses; the intrahost environment provides changes in oxygenation, nutrient availability, and presents a number of ligands for bacterial adhesion. In E. coli, it has been demonstrated that adhesion to abiotic surfaces can induce expression of envelope-stress genes via the Cpx two-component system [3]; the nature of the signal for adhesion-mediated. One of the major challenges in advancing the field of bacterial mechanical signaling is properly deconvolving the roles of chemical and mechanical environments in signal transduction during infection In this perspectives article, we will examine the reports of adhesion signaling in UPEC; Pathogens 2016, 5, 23; doi:10.3390/pathogens5010023 www.mdpi.com/journal/pathogens.

Adhesion

Adhesion-Mediated Bacterial Signaling in UPEC