scholarly journals Genomic determinants of speciation and spread of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro Chiner-Oms ◽  
Leonor Sánchez-Busó ◽  
Jukka Corander ◽  
Sebastien Gagneux ◽  
Simon Harris ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBACKGROUNDModels on how bacterial lineages differentiate increase our understanding on early bacterial speciation events and about the genetic loci involved. Here, we analyze the population genomics events leading to the emergence of the tuberculosis pathogen.RESULTSThe emergence is characterized by a combination of recombination events involving core pathogenesis functions and purifying selection on early diverging loci. We identify the phoR gene, the sensor kinase of a two-component system involved in virulence, as a key functional player subject to pervasive positive selection after the divergence of the MTBC from its ancestor. Previous evidence showed that phoR mutations played a central role in the adaptation of the pathogen to different host species. Now we show that phoR have been under selection during the early spread of human tuberculosis, during later expansions and in on-going transmission events.CONCLUSIONSOur results show that linking pathogen evolution across evolutionary and epidemiological timescales point to past and present virulence determinants.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. eaaw3307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Á. Chiner-Oms ◽  
L. Sánchez-Busó ◽  
J. Corander ◽  
S. Gagneux ◽  
S. R. Harris ◽  
...  

Models on how bacterial lineages differentiate increase our understanding of early bacterial speciation events and the genetic loci involved. Here, we analyze the population genomics events leading to the emergence of the tuberculosis pathogen. The emergence is characterized by a combination of recombination events involving core pathogenesis functions and purifying selection on early diverging loci. We identify the phoR gene, the sensor kinase of a two-component system involved in virulence, as a key functional player subject to pervasive positive selection after the divergence of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from its ancestor. Previous evidence showed that phoR mutations played a central role in the adaptation of the pathogen to different host species. Now, we show that phoR mutations have been under selection during the early spread of human tuberculosis, during later expansions, and in ongoing transmission events. Our results show that linking pathogen evolution across evolutionary and epidemiological time scales points to past and present virulence determinants.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (8) ◽  
pp. 3088-3098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Balakrishnan Venkatesh ◽  
Lavanya Babujee ◽  
Hui Liu ◽  
Pete Hedley ◽  
Takashi Fujikawa ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The PhoPQ two-component system regulates virulence factors in Erwinia chrysanthemi, a pectinolytic enterobacterium that causes soft rot in several plant species. We characterized the effect of a mutation in phoQ, the gene encoding the sensor kinase PhoQ of the PhoPQ two-component regulatory system, on the global transcriptional profile of E. chrysanthemi using cDNA microarrays and further confirmed our results by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis. Our results indicate that a mutation in phoQ affects transcription of at least 40 genes, even in the absence of inducing conditions. Enhanced expression of several genes involved in iron metabolism was observed in the mutant, including that of the acs operon that is involved in achromobactin biosynthesis and transport. This siderophore is required for full virulence of E. chrysanthemi, and its expression is governed by the global repressor protein Fur. Changes in gene expression were also observed for membrane transporters, stress-related genes, toxins, and transcriptional regulators. Our results indicate that the PhoPQ system governs the expression of several additional virulence factors and may also be involved in interactions with other regulatory systems.


2010 ◽  
Vol 192 (6) ◽  
pp. 1735-1739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela R. Peña-Sandoval ◽  
Dimitris Georgellis

ABSTRACT The Arc two-component system, comprising the ArcB sensor kinase and the ArcA response regulator, modulates the expression of numerous genes in response to the respiratory conditions of growth. ArcB is a tripartite histidine kinase whose activity is regulated by the oxidation of two cytosol-located redox-active cysteine residues that participate in intermolecular disulfide bond formation. Here we show that ArcB autophosphorylates through an intramolecular reaction which diverges from the usually envisaged intermolecular autophosphorylation of homodimeric histidine kinases.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. e115534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick D. Scheu ◽  
Philipp A. Steinmetz ◽  
Felix Dempwolff ◽  
Peter L. Graumann ◽  
Gottfried Unden

2008 ◽  
Vol 190 (7) ◽  
pp. 2360-2367 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Hamann ◽  
Petra Zimmann ◽  
Karlheinz Altendorf

ABSTRACT Stimulus perception by the KdpD/KdpE two-component system of Escherichia coli is still controversial with respect to the nature of the stimulus that is perceived by the sensor kinase KdpD. Limiting potassium concentrations in the medium or high osmolality leads to KdpD/KdpE signal transduction, resulting in kdpFABC expression. It has been hypothesized that changes in turgor are sensed by KdpD through alterations in the physical state of the cytoplasmic membrane. However, in this study the quantitative determination of expression levels of the kdpFABC operon revealed that the system responds very effectively to K+-limiting conditions in the medium but barely and to various degrees to salt and sugar stress. Since the current view of stimulus perception calls for mainly intracellular parameters, which might be sensed by KdpD, we set out to test the cytoplasmic concentrations of ATP, K+, Na+, glutamate, proline, glycine, trehalose, putrescine, and spermidine under K+-limiting conditions. As a first result, the determination of the cytoplasmic volume, which is a prerequisite for such measurements, revealed that a transient shrinkage of the cytoplasmic volume, which is indicative of a reduction in turgor, occurred only under osmotic upshift but not under K+-limiting conditions. Furthermore, the intracellular ATP concentration significantly increased under osmotic upshift, whereas only a slight increase occurred after a potassium downshift. Finally, the cytoplasmic K+ concentration rose severalfold only after an osmotic upshock. For the first time, these data indicate that stimulus perception by KdpD correlates neither with changes in the cytoplasmic volume nor with changes in the intracellular ATP or K+ concentration or those of the other solutes tested. In conclusion, we propose that a reduction in turgor cannot be the stimulus for KdpD.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 (8) ◽  
pp. 2780-2791 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simona Romagnoli ◽  
F. Robert Tabita

ABSTRACT A novel two-component system has been identified in the cbbI region of the nonsulfur purple photosynthetic bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris. Genes encoding this system, here designated cbbRRS, are juxtaposed between the divergently transcribed transcription activator gene, cbbR, and the form I ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) genes, cbbLS. The three genes of the cbbRRS system represent a variation of the well-known two-component signal transduction systems, as there are a transmembrane hybrid sensor kinase and two response regulators, with no apparent DNA binding domain associated with any of the three proteins encoded by these genes. In this study, we showed that the membrane-bound full-length kinase undergoes autophosphorylation and transfers phosphate to both response regulators. A soluble, truncated version of the kinase was subsequently prepared and found to catalyze phosphorylation of response regulator 1 but not response regulator 2, implying that conformational changes and/or sequence-specific regions of the kinase are important for discriminating between the two response regulators. Analyses indicated that a complex network of control of gene expression must occur, with CbbR required for the expression of the cbbLS genes but dispensable for the synthesis of form II RubisCO (encoded by cbbM). The CbbRRS proteins specifically affected the activity and accumulation of form I RubisCO (CbbLS), as revealed by analyses of nonpolar, unmarked gene deletions. A tentative model of regulation suggested that changes in the phosphotransfer activity of the sensor kinase, possibly in response to a redox metabolic signal, cause modulation of the activity and synthesis of form I RubisCO.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (3) ◽  
pp. 1105-1113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-Mei Jiang ◽  
Michael J. Cieslewicz ◽  
Dennis L. Kasper ◽  
Michael R. Wessels

ABSTRACT Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is frequently carried in the gastrointestinal or genitourinary tract as a commensal organism, yet it has the potential to cause life-threatening infection in newborn infants, pregnant women, and individuals with chronic illness. Regulation of virulence factor expression may affect whether GBS behaves as an asymptomatic colonizer or an invasive pathogen, but little is known about how such factors are controlled in GBS. We now report the characterization of a GBS locus that encodes a two-component regulatory system similar to CsrRS (or CovRS) in Streptococcus pyogenes. Inactivation of csrR, encoding the putative response regulator, in two unrelated wild-type strains of GBS resulted in a marked increase in production of beta-hemolysin/cytolysin and a striking decrease in production of CAMP factor, an unrelated cytolytic toxin. Quantitative RNA hybridization experiments revealed that these two phenotypes were associated with a marked increase and decrease in expression of the corresponding genes, cylE and cfb, respectively. The CsrR mutant strains also displayed increased expression of scpB encoding C5a peptidase. Similar, but less marked, changes in gene expression were observed in CsrS (putative sensor component) mutants, evidence that CsrR and CsrS constitute a functional two-component system. Experimental infection studies in mice demonstrated reduced virulence of both CsrR and CsrS mutant strains relative to the wild type. Together, these results indicate that CsrRS regulates expression of multiple GBS virulence determinants and is likely to play an important role in GBS pathogenesis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John T. Loh ◽  
Miranda V. Shum ◽  
Scott D.R. Jossart ◽  
Anne M. Campbell ◽  
Neha Sawhney ◽  
...  

Helicobacter pylori encounters a wide range of pH within the human stomach. In a comparison of H. pylori cultured in vitro under neutral or acidic conditions, about 15% of genes are differentially expressed, and corresponding changes are detectable for many of the encoded proteins. The ArsRS two-component system (TCS), comprised of the sensor kinase ArsS and its cognate response regulator ArsR, has an important role in mediating pH-responsive changes in H. pylori gene expression. In this study, we sought to delineate the pH-responsive ArsRS regulon and further define the role of ArsR in pH-responsive gene expression. We compared H. pylori strains containing an intact ArsRS system with an arsS null mutant or strains containing site-specific mutations of a conserved aspartate residue (D52) in ArsR, which is phosphorylated in response to signals relayed by the cognate sensor kinase ArsS. We identified 178 genes that were pH-responsive in strains containing an intact ArsRS system but not in ΔarsS or arsR mutants. These constituents of the pH-responsive ArsRS regulon include genes involved in acid acclimatization (ureAB, amidases), oxidative stress responses (katA, sodB), transcriptional regulation related to iron or nickel homeostasis (fur, nikR), and genes encoding outer membrane proteins [including sabA, alpA, alpB, hopD (labA), and horA]. When comparing H. pylori strains containing an intact ArsRS TCS with arsRS mutants, each cultured at neutral pH, relatively few genes are differentially expressed. Collectively, these data suggest that ArsRS-mediated gene regulation has an important role in H. pylori adaptation to changing pH conditions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shouji Yamamoto ◽  
Jiro Mitobe ◽  
Takahiko Ishikawa ◽  
Sun Nyunt Wai ◽  
Makoto Ohnishi ◽  
...  

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