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Inactivation of a novel response regulator is necessary for biofilm formation and host colonization by Vibrio fischeri.

ABSTRACT: The marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri uses a biofilm to promote colonization of its eukaryotic host Euprymna scolopes. This biofilm depends on the symbiosis polysaccharide (syp) locus, which is transcriptionally regulated by the RscS-SypG two-component regulatory system. An additional response regulator (RR), SypE, exerts both positive and negative control over biofilm formation. SypE is a novel RR protein, with its three putative domains arranged in a unique configuration: a central phosphorylation receiver (REC) domain flanked by two effector domains with putative enzymatic activities (serine kinase and serine phosphatase). To determine how SypE regulates biofilm formation and host colonization, we generated a library of SypE domain mutants. Our results indicate that the N-terminus inhibits biofilm formation, while the C-terminus plays a positive role. The phosphorylation state of SypE appears to regulate these opposing activities, as disruption of the putative site of phosphorylation results in a protein that constitutively inhibits biofilm formation. Furthermore, SypE restricts host colonization: (i) sypE mutants with constitutive inhibitory activity fail to efficiently initiate host colonization and (ii) loss of sypE partially alleviates the colonization defect of an rscS mutant. We conclude that SypE must be inactivated to promote symbiotic colonization by V. fischeri.

SUBMITTER: Morris AR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3222273 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Inactivation of a novel response regulator is necessary for biofilm formation and host colonization by Vibrio fischeri.

Morris Andrew R AR Darnell Cynthia L CL Visick Karen L KL

Molecular microbiology 20110830 1

The marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri uses a biofilm to promote colonization of its eukaryotic host Euprymna scolopes. This biofilm depends on the symbiosis polysaccharide (syp) locus, which is transcriptionally regulated by the RscS-SypG two-component regulatory system. An additional response regulator (RR), SypE, exerts both positive and negative control over biofilm formation. SypE is a novel RR protein, with its three putative domains arranged in a unique configuration: a central phosphorylat ...[more]

PMID: 21854462

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Project description:Biofilms, complex communities of microorganisms surrounded by a self-produced matrix, facilitate attachment and provide protection to bacteria. A natural model used to study biofilm formation is the symbiosis between Vibrio fischeri and its host, the Hawaiian bobtail squid, Euprymna scolopes Host-relevant biofilm formation is a tightly regulated process and is observed in vitro only with strains that have been genetically manipulated to overexpress or disrupt specific regulators, primarily two-component signaling (TCS) regulators. These regulators control biofilm formation by dictating the production of the symbiosis polysaccharide (Syp-PS), the major component of the biofilm matrix. Control occurs both at and below the level of transcription of the syp genes, which are responsible for Syp-PS production. Here, we probed the roles of the two known negative regulators of biofilm formation, BinK and SypE, by generating double mutants. We also mapped and evaluated a point mutation using natural transformation and linkage analysis. We examined traditional biofilm formation phenotypes and established a new assay for evaluating the start of biofilm formation in the form of microscopic aggregates in shaking liquid cultures, in the absence of the known biofilm-inducing signal calcium. We found that wrinkled colony formation is negatively controlled not only by BinK and SypE but also by SypF. SypF is both required for and inhibitory to biofilm formation. Together, these data reveal that these three regulators are sufficient to prevent wild-type V. fischeri from forming biofilms under these conditions.IMPORTANCE Bacterial biofilms promote attachment to a variety of surfaces and protect the constituent bacteria from environmental stresses, including antimicrobials. Understanding the mechanisms by which biofilms form will promote our ability to resolve them when they occur in the context of an infection. In this study, we found that Vibrio fischeri tightly controls biofilm formation using three negative regulators; the presence of a single one of these regulators was sufficient to prevent full biofilm development, while disruption of all three permitted robust biofilm formation. This work increases our understanding of the functions of specific regulators and demonstrates the substantial negative control that one benign microbe exerts over biofilm formation, potentially to ensure that it occurs only under the appropriate conditions.

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Inactivation of a novel response regulator is necessary for biofilm formation and host colonization by Vibrio fischeri.

Publications

Inactivation of a novel response regulator is necessary for biofilm formation and host colonization by Vibrio fischeri.

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