An ompR-envZ Two-Component System Ortholog Regulates Phase Variation, Osmotic Tolerance, Motility, and Virulence in Acinetobacter baumannii Strain AB5075.

ABSTRACT: Recently, a novel phase-variable colony opacity phenotype was discovered in Acinetobacter baumannii strain AB5075, where colonies interconvert between opaque and translucent variants. Opaque colonies become mottled or sectored after 24 h of growth due to translucent variants arising within the colony. This easily distinguishable opaque-colony phenotype was used to screen for random transposon insertions that increased the frequency of sectoring at a time point when wild-type colonies were uniformly opaque. A colony was identified that contained multiple papillae of translucent variants, and the insertion in this mutant mapped to an ortholog of the two-component system response regulator ompR Subsequent investigation of in-frame deletions of ompR and the sensor kinase envZ (located adjacent

SUBMITTER: Tipton KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5237114 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature