5
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      Quorum Sensing Regulation of a Major Facilitator Superfamily Transporter Affects Multiple Streptococcal Virulence Factors.

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPMC
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Cell-cell signaling mediated by Rgg-family transcription factors and their cognate pheromones is conserved in Firmicutes, including all streptococci. In Streptococcus pyogenes, or group A strep (GAS), one of these systems, the Rgg2/3 quorum sensing (QS) system, has been shown to regulate phenotypes, including cellular aggregation and biofilm formation, lysozyme resistance, and macrophage immunosuppression. Here, we show the abundance of several secreted virulence factors (streptolysin O, SpyCEP, and M protein) decreases upon induction of QS. The main mechanism underlying the changes in protein levels appears to be transcriptional, occurs downstream of the QS circuit, and is dysregulated by the deletion of an Rgg2/3 QS-regulated major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter. Additionally, we identify this MFS transporter as the factor responsible for a previously observed increase in aminoglycoside sensitivity in QS-induced cells. IMPORTANCE The production of virulence factors is a tightly regulated process in bacterial pathogens. Efforts to elucidate the mechanisms by which genes are regulated may advance the understanding of factors influencing pathogen behavior or cellular physiology. This work finds expression of a major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter, which is governed by a quorum sensing (QS) system, impacts the expression of multiple virulence factors and accounts for QS-dependent antibiotic susceptibility. Although the mechanism underlying this effect is not clear, MFS orthologs with high sequence similarity from S. pneumoniae and S. porcinus were unable to substitute indicating substrate specificity of the GAS MFS gene. These findings demonstrate novel associations between expression of a transmembrane transporter and virulence factor expression and aminoglycoside transport.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          J Bacteriol
          Journal of bacteriology
          American Society for Microbiology
          1098-5530
          0021-9193
          Sep 20 2022
          : 204
          : 9
          Affiliations
          [1 ] Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
          [2 ] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
          Article
          10.1128/jb.00176-22
          9487453
          35938850
          40148ca3-beee-4cd9-b39d-44c15b66038d
          History

          SpyCEP,streptolysin O,major facilitator superfamily transporter,Streptococcus pyogenes,M protein

          Comments

          Comment on this article