Vibrio cholerae anaerobic induction of virulence gene expression is controlled by thiol-based switches of virulence regulator AphB.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial pathogens have evolved sophisticated signal transduction systems to coordinately control the expression of virulence determinants. For example, the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae is able to respond to host environmental signals by activating transcriptional regulatory cascades. The host signals that stimulate V. cholerae virulence gene expression, however, are still poorly understood. Previous proteomic studies indicated that the ambient oxygen concentration plays a role in V. cholerae virulence gene expression. In this study, we found that under oxygen-limiting conditions, an environment similar to the intestines, V. cholerae virulence genes are highly expressed. We show that anaerobiosis enhances dimerization and activity of AphB, a transcriptional activator that is required fo

SUBMITTER: Liu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3021084 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature