A fructose/H+ symporter controlled by a LacI-type regulator promotes survival of pandemic Vibrio cholerae in seawater

Nature Communications

Wendi Li¹  Xingmei Liu¹  Ruiying Liu¹  Bin Liu¹  Jialin Wu¹  Yutao Liu¹  Lu Feng¹  Qian Wang¹  Xiaoyu Zheng¹  Xi Guo¹  Tingting Xu²  Lei Wang³ 

[1] The Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, P. R. China;TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, TEDA, Tianjin, P. R. China;Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Tianjin, P.R. China;The Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, P. R. China;TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, TEDA, Tianjin, P. R. China;Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Tianjin, P.R. China;Shenzhen Institute of Respiratory Diseases, Second Clinical Medical College (Shenzhen People’s Hospital), Jinan University, Shenzhen, P. R. China;The Key Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology and Technology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, P. R. China;TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, TEDA, Tianjin, P. R. China;Tianjin Key Laboratory of Microbial Functional Genomics, Tianjin, P.R. China;State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Nankai University, Tianjin, P. R. China;

DOI  :  10.1038/s41467-021-24971-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

The bacterium Vibrio cholerae can colonize the human intestine and cause cholera, but spends much of its life cycle in seawater. The pathogen must adapt to substantial environmental changes when moving between seawater and the human intestine, including different availability of carbon sources such as fructose. Here, we use in vitro experiments as well as mouse intestinal colonization assays to study the mechanisms used by pandemic V. cholerae to adapt to these environmental changes. We show that a LacI-type regulator (FruI) and a fructose/H+ symporter (FruT) are important for fructose uptake at low fructose concentrations, as those found in seawater. FruT is downregulated by FruI, which is upregulated when O2 concentrations are low (as in the intestine) by ArcAB, a two-component system known to respond to changes in oxygen levels. As a result, the bacteria predominantly use FruT for fructose uptake under seawater conditions (low fructose, high O2), and use a known fructose phosphotransferase system (PTS, Fpr) for fructose uptake under conditions found in the intestine. PTS activity leads to reduced levels of intracellular cAMP, which in turn upregulate virulence genes. Our results indicate that the FruT/FruI system may be important for survival of pandemic V. cholerae in seawater.

【 授权许可】

CC BY