Phenotypic impacts and genetic regulation characteristics of the DNA adenine methylase gene (dam) in Salmonella Typhimurium biofilm forms

Abstract

In this study, transcriptional level gene expression changes in biofilm forms of Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 14028 and its dam mutant were investigated by performing RNAseq analysis. As a result of these analyzes, a total of 233 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the dam mutant, of which 145 genes were downregulated and 88 genes were upregulated compared to the wild type. According to data from miRNA sequence analysis, of 13 miRNAs differentially expressed in dam mutant, 9 miRNAs were downregulated and 4 miRNAs were upregulated. These data provide the first evidence that the dam gene is a global regulator of biofilm formation in Salmonella. In addition, phenotypic analyses revealed that bacterial swimming and swarming motility and cellulose production were highly inhibited in the dam mutant. It was determined that bacterial adhesion in Caco-2 and HEp-2 cell lines was significantly reduced in dam mutant. At the end of 90 min, the adhesion rate of wild type strain was 43.3% in Caco-2 cell line, while this rate was 14.9% in dam mutant. In the HEp-2 cell line, while 45.5% adherence was observed in the wild-type strain, this rate decreased to 15.3% in the dam mutant.