Project description:The global regulator, H-NS, controls genes related to stress response, biofilm formation, and virulence expression by recognizing the curved DNA and silences gene transcription acquired from lateral gene transfer. Here, we rewired H-NS to control biofilm formation using protein engineering. One H-NS variant, H-NS K57N was obtained to reduce biofilm formation 10-fold compared to H-NS wild-type. Whole-transcriptome analysis (BW25113 hha hns / pCA24N-hns K57N vs. BW25113 hha hns / pCA24N-hns) revealed that H-NS K57N represses biofilm formation through the interactinon with other nucleoid proteins, Cnu and StpA. Remarkably, H-NS K57N enhanced the excision of defective prophage Rac while H-NS wild-type represses it, and H-NS controlled only Rac excision among E. coli prophages. These results imply that the repression of Rac excision is one of the silencing manner for foreign genes by H-NS. Also, the prophage excision not only led to the change of biofilm formation but also resulted in cell lysis through the expression of toxin protein HokD with reduced viability, which are important for cell physiology in response to the change of environmental conditions. Hence, H-NS regulatory system may be evolved easily with specialized functions in terms of biofilm formation, prophage control, and cell lysis. For the whole transcriptome study of BW25113 hha hns / pCA24N-hns K57N versus BW25113 hha hns / pCA24N-hns, cells were grown in 250 mL LB containing 1 mM IPTG for 7 h with 10 g of glass wool (Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y.) in 1 L Erlenmeyer flasks to form a robust biofilm. Biofilm cells were obtained by rinsing and sonicating the glass wool in sterile 0.85% NaCl solution at 0Â°C, and RNALater bufferÂ® (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) was added for RNA stabilization and protection during the RNA preparation steps. Total RNA was isolated from biofilm cells. The E. coli GeneChip Genome 2.0 array (Affymetrix, Lot# 4059655) containing 10,208 probe sets for four E. coli strains (MG1655, CFT073, O157:H7-Sakai, and O157:H7-EDL933) was used for DNA microarray. cDNA synthesis, fragmentation, and hybridizations were performed.

Project description:We have shown the quorum-sensing signals acylhomoserine lactones (AHLs), autoinducer-2 (AI-2), and indole influence the biofilm formation of Escherichia coli. Here, we investigate how the environment, i.e., temperature, affects indole and AI-2 signaling in E. coli. We show in biofilms that indole addition leads to more extensive differential gene expression at 30ï°C (186 genes) than at 37ï°C (59 genes), that indole reduces biofilm formation (without affecting growth) more significantly at 25ï°C and 30ï°C than at 37ï°C, and that the effect is associated with the quorum-sensing protein SdiA. The addition of indole at 30ï°C compared to 37ï°C most significantly repressed genes involved in uridine monophosphate (UMP) biosynthesis (carAB, pyrLBI, pyrC, pyrD, pyrF, and upp) and uracil transport (uraA). These uracil-related genes are also repressed at 30ï°C by SdiA, which confirms SdiA is involved in indole signaling. Also, compared to 37ï°C, indole more significantly decreased flagella-related qseB, flhD, and fliA promoter activity, enhanced antibiotic resistance, and inhibited cell division at 30ï°C. In contrast to indole and SdiA, the addition of (S)-4,5-dihydroxy-2,3-pentanedione (the AI-2 precursor) leads to more extensive differential gene expression at 37ï°C (63 genes) than at 30ï°C (11 genes), and, rather than repressing UMP synthesis genes, AI-2 induces them at 37ï°C (but not at 30ï°C). Also, the addition of AI-2 induces the transcription of virulence genes in enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 at 37oC but not at 30oC. Hence, cell signals cause diverse responses at different temperatures, and indole- and AI-2-based signaling are intertwined. Experiment Overall Design: We performed seven sets of microarray experiments in LB medium (Table 2): (i) biofilm cells of the BW25113 wild-type strain grown for 7 h at 30Â°C vs. 37Â°C to determine the effect of temperature on E. coli biofilm formation (initial absorbance of 0.05), (ii) biofilm cells of the tnaA mutant grown for 7 h with 1 mM indole vs. no indole at 30Â°C to determine the effect of temperature on indole signaling in E. coli (initial absorbance of 0.05), (iii) biofilm cells of the tnaA mutant grown for 7 h with 1 mM indole vs. no indole at 37Â°C to determine the effect of temperature on indole signaling in E. coli, (iv) suspension cells of the wild-type strain vs. the sdiA mutant at an absorbance of 4.0 at 600 nm at 30Â°C (since production of indole takes place primarily in the stationary phase) to discern the genes that SdiA controls (initial absorbance of 0.05), (v) biofilm cells of the sdiA mutant grown for 7 h with 1 mM indole vs. no indole at 30Â°C to determine gene expression in response to indole in the absence of SdiA, (vi) suspension cells of the luxS mutant with 100 micro M AI-2 vs. no AI-2 at 30Â°C for 3 h to determine the effect of temperature on AI-2 signaling in E. coli (initial absorbance of 0.5), and (vii) suspension cells of the luxS mutant with 100 micro M AI-2 vs. no AI-2 at 37Â°C for 3 h to determine the effect of temperature on AI-2 signaling in E. coli. Ten g of glass wool (Corning Glass Works, Corning, N.Y.) was used to form large amounts of biofilms (Ren et al., 2004a) in 250 mL LB in 1 L Erlenmeyer shake flasks. RNA was isolated from the suspension and biofilm cells as described previously (Ren et al., 2004b).

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Escherichia coli

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