Temporal tuning of switch-like virulence expression resolves environmental uncertainty through phenotypic heterogeneity.

ABSTRACT: Gene regulatory networks often evolve in the face of environmental uncertainty, as stimuli are rarely precise and uniform enough to make all or nothing responses advantageous. Virulence gene regulation in intracellular bacterial pathogens is shaped by unique selective pressures to resolve this uncertainty, as host environments are dynamic, hostile, and heterogeneous. Here, we investigate the regulation of Salmonella Pathogenicity Island 2 (SPI-2), a set of genes required for intracellular replication of the enteric pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium (STm), to evaluate whether it has evolved the capacity to tune transcriptional responses to intracellular-like environments. Using live-cell reporters and smFISH in in vitro inducing environments, we identify bimodal expressio

SUBMITTER: Spratt M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12236675 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature