Stochastic activation of a family of TetR type transcriptional regulators controls phenotypic heterogeneity in Acinetobacter baumannii.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic heterogeneity is an important mechanism for regulating bacterial virulence, where a single regulatory switch is typically activated to generate virulent and avirulent subpopulations. The opportunistic pathogen Acinetobacter baumannii can transition at high frequency between virulent opaque (VIR-O) and avirulent translucent subpopulations, distinguished by cells that form opaque or translucent colonies. We demonstrate that expression of 11 TetR-type transcriptional regulators (TTTRs) can drive cells from the VIR-O opaque subpopulation to cells that form translucent colonies. Remarkably, in a subpopulation of VIR-O cells, four of these TTTRs were stochastically activated in different combinations to drive cells to the translucent state. The resulting translucent subvariants

SUBMITTER: Perez-Varela M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9802203 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature