Hfq Deletion Mutant Research Articles

The RNA chaperone Hfq regulates expression of fimbrial-related genes and virulence ofSalmonella entericaserovar Enteritidis

Salmonella Enteritidis is an intracellular pathogen that causes enteritis and systemic disease in humans and other animals. The RNA chaperone protein Hfq mediates the binding of small noncoding RNAs to target mRNA and assists in post-transcriptional gene regulation in bacteria. In this study, we constructed an hfq deletion mutant in S.Enteritidis SE50336 and analyzed the expression of major fimbrial subunits sefA, bcfA, fimA, safA, stbA, sthA, csgA, csgD, and pegA using quantitative real-time PCR. The gene expression of sefA increased about 14-fold in the hfq mutant, as compared with its expression in the wild-type strain. The expression of fimA and pegA did not change significantly, while the expression of the other fimbrial genes was significantly down-regulated in the hfq mutant. The ability of SE50336Δhfq adhering to Caco-2 cells was also reduced as compared with wild-type adherence. The virulence of the hfq mutant was significantly reduced in a 1-day-old chicken model of S.Enteritidis disease, as determined by quantifying the lethal dose 50% of the bacterial strains. We conclude that Hfq critically contributes to S.Enteritidis virulence, likely partially affected by regulating fimbrial gene expression.

The stationary phase sigma factor, RpoS, regulates the production of a carbapenem antibiotic, a bioactive prodigiosin and virulence in the enterobacterial pathogen Serratia sp. ATCC 39006

Serratia sp. ATCC 39006 (S39006) is a Gram-negative bacterium that is virulent in plant (potato) and invertebrate animal (Caenorhabditis elegans) models. It produces two secondary metabolite antibiotics, a prodigiosin and a carbapenem, and the exoenzymes pectate lyase and cellulase. We showed previously that deletion of the RNA chaperone Hfq abolished antibiotic production and attenuated virulence in both animal and plant hosts. Hfq and dependent small RNAs (sRNAs) are known to regulate the post-transcriptional expression of rpoS, which encodes σ(S), the stationary phase sigma factor subunit of RNA polymerase. An S39006 hfq deletion mutant showed decreased transcript levels of rpoS. Therefore, in this study we investigated whether the phenotypes regulated by Hfq were mediated through its control of rpoS. Whereas loss of Hfq abolished prodigiosin and carbapenem production and attenuated virulence in both C. elegans and potato, characterization of an S39006 rpoS mutant showed unexpectedly elevated prodigiosin and carbapenem production. Furthermore, the rpoS mutant exhibited attenuated animal pathogenesis, but not plant pathogenesis. Additionally, a homologue of the Hfq-dependent sRNA, RprA, was identified and shown to regulate prodigiosin production in a manner consistent with its role in positively regulating translation of rpoS mRNA. Combined, these results demonstrate that Hfq regulation of secondary metabolism and plant pathogenesis is independent of RpoS and establishes RpoS and RprA as regulators of antibiotic production.

Roles of Hfq in the stress adaptation and virulence in fish pathogen Vibrio alginolyticus and its potential application as a target for live attenuated vaccine

Vibrio alginolyticus has brought about severe economic damage to the mariculture industry by causing vibriosis in various fish species in South China. The virulent determinants of this bacterium have not been well characterized except the exotoxin alkaline serine protease, Asp. In addition, the mechanism of virulence regulation in V. alginolyticus remains largely unknown apart from a Vibrio harveyi-like quorum sensing (QS) system which is established to manipulate the expression of various virulence-related genes. Hfq, an sRNA chaperone, is an important post-transcriptional regulator in a variety of bacteria. Here, the roles of Hfq were characterized in regulating the stress resistance and pathogenesis in V. alginolyticus. We demonstrated that the hfq deletion mutant became more sensitive to several environmental stresses, including osmotic stress, ethanol, temperature shift, and iron starvation. The deletion of hfq abrogated the motility and biofilm formation in this bacterium. Hfq negatively regulated the expression of main virulence factor, Asp, through QS system. The results also indicated that Hfq modulated the survival and multiplication of V. alginolyticus in fish. Hfq thus appears to be a new pleiotropic regulator of pathogenesis in V. alginolyticus. Moreover, high immunoprotective rate was achieved with a single dose of injection or immersion vaccination with live hfq mutant, suggesting the mutant's merits as a valuable vaccine candidate against V. alginolyticus.

Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Lacking hfq Gene Confers Protective Immunity against Murine Typhoid

Salmonella enterica is an important enteric pathogen and its various serovars are involved in causing both systemic and intestinal diseases in humans and domestic animals. The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella leading to increased morbidity and mortality has further complicated its management. Live attenuated vaccines have been proven superior over killed or subunit vaccines due to their ability to induce protective immunity. Of the various strategies used for the generation of live attenuated vaccine strains, focus has gradually shifted towards manipulation of virulence regulator genes. Hfq is a RNA chaperon which mediates the binding of small RNAs to the mRNA and assists in post-transcriptional gene regulation in bacteria. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the Salmonella Typhimurium Δhfq strain as a candidate for live oral vaccine in murine model of typhoid fever. Salmonella hfq deletion mutant is highly attenuated in cell culture and animal model implying a significant role of Hfq in bacterial virulence. Oral immunization with the Salmonella hfq deletion mutant efficiently protects mice against subsequent oral challenge with virulent strain of Salmonella Typhimurium. Moreover, protection was induced upon both multiple as well as single dose of immunizations. The vaccine strain appears to be safe for use in pregnant mice and the protection is mediated by the increase in the number of CD4+ T lymphocytes upon vaccination. The levels of serum IgG and secretory-IgA in intestinal washes specific to lipopolysaccharide and outer membrane protein were significantly increased upon vaccination. Furthermore, hfq deletion mutant showed enhanced antigen presentation by dendritic cells compared to the wild type strain. Taken together, the studies in murine immunization model suggest that the Salmonella hfq deletion mutant can be a novel live oral vaccine candidate.

Identification and functional characterization of small non-coding RNAs in Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae

BackgroundSmall non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are regarded as important regulators in prokaryotes and play essential roles in diverse cellular processes. Xanthomonas oryzae pathovar oryzae (Xoo) is an important plant pathogenic bacterium which causes serious bacterial blight of rice. However, little is known about the number, genomic distribution and biological functions of sRNAs in Xoo.ResultsHere, we performed a systematic screen to identify sRNAs in the Xoo strain PXO99. A total of 850 putative non-coding RNA sequences originated from intergenic and gene antisense regions were identified by cloning, of which 63 were also identified as sRNA candidates by computational prediction, thus were considered as Xoo sRNA candidates. Northern blot hybridization confirmed the size and expression of 6 sRNA candidates and other 2 cloned small RNA sequences, which were then added to the sRNA candidate list. We further examined the expression profiles of the eight sRNAs in an hfq deletion mutant and found that two of them showed drastically decreased expression levels, and another exhibited an Hfq-dependent transcript processing pattern. Deletion mutants were obtained for seven of the Northern confirmed sRNAs, but none of them exhibited obvious phenotypes. Comparison of the proteomic differences between three of the ΔsRNA mutants and the wild-type strain by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) analysis showed that these sRNAs are involved in multiple physiological and biochemical processes.ConclusionsWe experimentally verified eight sRNAs in a genome-wide screen and uncovered three Hfq-dependent sRNAs in Xoo. Proteomics analysis revealed Xoo sRNAs may take part in various metabolic processes. Taken together, this work represents the first comprehensive screen and functional analysis of sRNAs in rice pathogenic bacteria and facilitates future studies on sRNA-mediated regulatory networks in this important phytopathogen.

Hfq regulates anti-oxidative ability in Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Hfq plays a fundamental role in bacterial cell physiology. It can stimulate or repress the expression of certain target genes, and there is a possibility that Hfq regulates the oxidative stress response. However, how Hfq functions that in Vibrio parahaemolyticus remains speculative. In this paper, we explain the functions Hfq plays in V. parahaemolyticus in the gene expression of superoxide dismutase gene and catalase gene, comparing the hfq deletion mutant strain to the parental strain. The results show that the hfq deletion mutant V. parahaemolyticus has a stronger ability to resist H(2)O(2). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities in the hfq deletion mutant were remarkably higher than in the parental strain. Genetic experiments indicated that the gene expression of sod and kat was up-regulated in the mutant strain. These results indicate that Hfq down-regulates CAT and SOD activity, and Hfq is associated with the oxidative stress response.

Hfq negatively regulates type III secretion in EHEC and several other pathogens

Hfq is a conserved RNA-binding protein that regulates diverse cellular processes through post-transcriptional control of gene expression, often by functioning as a chaperone for regulatory sRNAs. Here, we explored the role of Hfq in enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC), a group of non-invasive intestinal pathogens. EHEC virulence is dependent on a Type III secretion system encoded in the LEE pathogenicity island. The abundance of transcripts for all 41 LEE genes and more than half of confirmed non-LEE-encoded T3 effectors were elevated in an EHEC hfq deletion mutant. Thus, Hfq promotes co-ordinated expression of the LEE-encoded T3S apparatus and both LEE- and non-LEE-encoded effectors. Increased transcript levels led to the formation of functional secretion complexes capable of secreting high quantities of effectors into the supernatant. The increase in LEE-derived transcripts and proteins was dependent on Ler, the LEE-encoded transcriptional activator, and the ler transcript appears to be a direct target of Hfq-mediated negative regulation. Finally, we found that Hfq contributes to the negative regulation of T3SSs in several other pathogens, suggesting that Hfq, potentially along with species-specific sRNAs, underlies a common means to prevent unfettered expression of T3SSs.

Global Systems-Level Analysis of Hfq and SmpB Deletion Mutants in Salmonella: Implications for Virulence and Global Protein Translation

Using sample-matched transcriptomics and proteomics measurements it is now possible to begin to understand the impact of post-transcriptional regulatory programs in Enterobacteria. In bacteria post-transcriptional regulation is mediated by relatively few identified RNA-binding protein factors including CsrA, Hfq and SmpB. A mutation in any one of these three genes, csrA, hfq, and smpB, in Salmonella is attenuated for mouse virulence and unable to survive in macrophages. CsrA has a clearly defined specificity based on binding to a specific mRNA sequence to inhibit translation. However, the proteins regulated by Hfq and SmpB are not as clearly defined. Previous work identified proteins regulated by hfq using purification of the RNA-protein complex with direct sequencing of the bound RNAs and found binding to a surprisingly large number of transcripts. In this report we have used global proteomics to directly identify proteins regulated by Hfq or SmpB by comparing protein abundance in the parent and isogenic hfq or smpB mutant. From these same samples we also prepared RNA for microarray analysis to determine if alteration of protein expression was mediated post-transcriptionally. Samples were analyzed from bacteria grown under four different conditions; two laboratory conditions and two that are thought to mimic the intracellular environment. We show that mutants of hfq and smpB directly or indirectly modulate at least 20% and 4% of all possible Salmonella proteins, respectively, with limited correlation between transcription and protein expression. These proteins represent a broad spectrum of Salmonella proteins required for many biological processes including host cell invasion, motility, central metabolism, LPS biosynthesis, two-component regulatory systems, and fatty acid metabolism. Our results represent one of the first global analyses of post-transcriptional regulons in any organism and suggest that regulation at the translational level is widespread and plays an important role in virulence regulation and environmental adaptation for Salmonella.

Hfq regulates the expression of the thermostable direct hemolysin gene in Vibrio parahaemolyticus

BackgroundThe hfq gene is conserved in a wide variety of bacteria and Hfq is involved in many cellular functions such as stress responses and the regulation of gene expression. It has also been reported that Hfq is involved in bacterial pathogenicity. However, it is not clear whether Hfq regulates virulence in Vibrio parahaemolyticus. To evaluate this, we investigated the effect of Hfq on the expression of virulence-associated genes including thermostable direct hemolysin (TDH), which is considered to be an important virulence factor in V. parahaemolyticus, using an hfq deletion mutant.ResultsThe production of TDH in the hfq deletion mutant was much higher than in the parental strain. Quantification of tdh promoter activity and mRNA demonstrated that transcription of the tdh gene was up-regulated in the mutant strain. The hfq-complemented strain had a normal (parental) amount of tdh expression. The transcriptional activity of tdhA was particularly increased in the mutant strain. These results indicate that Hfq is closely associated with the expression level of the tdh gene. Interestingly, other genes involved in the pathogenicity of V. parahaemolyticus, such as VP1680, vopC, and vopT, were also up-regulated in the mutant strain.ConclusionHfq regulates the expression of virulence-associated factors such as TDH and may be involved in the pathogenicity of V. parahaemolyticus.

Impact of the RNA chaperone Hfq on the fitness and virulence potential of uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

Hfq is a bacterial RNA chaperone involved in the posttranscriptional regulation of many stress-inducible genes via small noncoding RNAs. Here, we show that Hfq is critical for the uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolate UTI89 to effectively colonize the bladder and kidneys in a murine urinary tract infection model system. The disruption of hfq did not affect bacterial adherence to or invasion of host cells but did limit the development of intracellular microcolonies by UTI89 within the terminally differentiated epithelial cells that line the lumen of the bladder. In vitro, the hfq mutant was significantly impaired in its abilities to handle the antibacterial cationic peptide polymyxin B and reactive nitrogen and oxygen radicals and to grow in acidic medium (pH 5.0). Relative to the wild-type strain, the hfq mutant also had a substantially reduced migration rate on motility agar and was less prone to form biofilms. Hfq activities are known to impact the regulation of both the stationary-phase sigma factor RpoS (sigma(S)) and the envelope stress response sigma factor RpoE (sigma(E)). Although we saw similarities among hfq, rpoS, and rpoE deletion mutants in our assays, the rpoE and hfq mutants were phenotypically the most alike. Cumulatively, our data indicate that Hfq likely affects UPEC virulence-related phenotypes primarily by modulating membrane homeostasis and envelope stress response pathways.