Cooperation and Cheating through a Secreted Aminopeptidase in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa RpoS Response.

ABSTRACT: The global stress response controlled by the alternative sigma factor RpoS protects enteric bacteria from a variety of environmental stressors. The role of RpoS in other, nonenteric bacteria, such as the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is less well understood. Here, we employed experimental social evolution to reveal that cooperative behavior via secreted public goods is an important function in the RpoS response of P. aeruginosa Using whole-genome sequencing, we identified rpoS loss-of-function mutants among isolates evolved in a protein growth medium that requires extracellular proteolysis. We found that rpoS mutants comprise up to 25% of the evolved population and that they behave as social cheaters, with low fitness in isolation but high fitne

SUBMITTER: Robinson T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7078477 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature