Activation of ChvG-ChvI regulon by cell wall stress confers resistance to β-lactam antibiotics and initiates surface spreading in Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

ABSTRACT: A core component of nearly all bacteria, the cell wall is an ideal target for broad spectrum antibiotics. Many bacteria have evolved strategies to sense and respond to antibiotics targeting cell wall synthesis, especially in the soil where antibiotic-producing bacteria compete with one another. Here we show that cell wall stress caused by both chemical and genetic inhibition of the essential, bifunctional penicillin-binding protein PBP1a prevents microcolony formation and activates the canonical host-invasion two-component system ChvG-ChvI in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Using RNA-seq, we show that depletion of PBP1a for 6 hours results in a downregulation in transcription of flagellum-dependent motility genes and an upregulation in transcription of type VI secretion and succinoglycan biosyn

SUBMITTER: Williams MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9731437 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature