Network-based analysis of virulence factors for uncovering Aeromonas veronii pathogenesis

BMC Microbiology

Dan Wang¹  Yanqiong Tang²  Zhu Liu²  Hong Li²  Xiang Ma²  Ziding Zhang³ 

[1] Key Laboratory for Sustainable Utilization of Tropical Bioresource, College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Haikou, China;School of Life Sciences, Hainan University, Haikou, China;State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, College of Biological Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China;

关键词: Aeromonas veronii;    Protein-protein interaction network;    Virulence factor;    Pathogenesis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12866-021-02261-8

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAeromonas veronii is a bacterial pathogen in aquaculture, which produces virulence factors to enable it colonize and evade host immune defense. Given that experimental verification of virulence factors is time-consuming and laborious, few virulence factors have been characterized. Moreover, most studies have only focused on single virulence factors, resulting in biased interpretation of the pathogenesis of A. veronii.ResultsIn this study, a PPI network at genome-wide scale for A. veronii was first constructed followed by prediction and mapping of virulence factors on the network. When topological characteristics were analyzed, the virulence factors had higher degree and betweenness centrality than other proteins in the network. In particular, the virulence factors tended to interact with each other and were enriched in two network modules. One of the modules mainly consisted of histidine kinases, response regulators, diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterases, which play important roles in two-component regulatory systems and the synthesis and degradation of cyclic-diGMP. Construction of the interspecies PPI network between A. veronii and its host Oreochromis niloticus revealed that the virulence factors interacted with homologous proteins in the host. Finally, the structures and interacting sites of the virulence factors during interaction with host proteins were predicted.ConclusionsThe findings here indicate that the virulence factors probably regulate the virulence of A. veronii by involving in signal transduction pathway and manipulate host biological processes by mimicking and binding competitively to host proteins. Our results give more insight into the pathogenesis of A. veronii and provides important information for designing targeted antibacterial drugs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY