Two-component regulatory proteins function in bacteria as sensory and adaptive factors in response to a wide range of environmental stimuli. Some two-component systems, such as PhoP/PhoQ, control transcription of key virulence genes essential for survival in host cells in diverse intracellular bacterial pathogens, including Salmonella sp., Shigella sp. and Yersinia sp. In this study, we have disrupted the phoP gene from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which codes for a putative transcription regulator factor of the two-component system PhoP/PhoR. The phoP mutant strain exhibited impaired multiplication when cultured in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages. However, the mutation did not appear to affect survival of the organisms adversely inside macrophages. The mutant strain was also attenuated in vivo in a mouse infection model, with impaired growth observed in the lungs, livers and spleens. The results suggest that the phoP gene is required for intracellular growth of M. tuberculosis but is not essential for persistence of the bacilli.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2958.2001.02500.x

An essential role for phoP in Mycobacterium tuberculosis virulence.

One key aspect of S. aureus virulence lies in its ability to target the host cell membrane with a large number of membrane-damaging toxins and peptides. In this review, we describe the hemolysins, the bi-component leukocidins, which include the Panton Valentine Leukocidin, LukAB/GH, LukED and the cytolytic peptides (Phenol Soluble Modulins). While at first glance, all these factors might appear redundant, it is now clear that some of these factors play specific roles in certain S. aureus life stages and diseases or target specific cell types or species. Here, we present an update of the literature on toxins receptors and their cell type and species specificities. Furthermore, we review epidemiological studies and animal models illustrating a role of these membrane-damaging factors in various diseases. Finally, we emphasize the interplay of these factors with the host immune system and highlight all their non-lytic functions.

/pdf/staphylococcus-aureus-hemolysins-bi-component-leukocidins-2mqpbigo3d.pdf

Staphylococcus aureus hemolysins, bi-component leukocidins, and cytolytic peptides: a redundant arsenal of membrane-damaging virulence factors?

Microsatellites are tandemly repeated simple sequence DNA motifs widely prevalent in eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes. In pathogenic bacteria, instability of these hypermutable loci through slipped-strand mispairing mediates the high-frequency reversible switching of phenotype expression, i.e., phase variation. Phase-variable expression of NadA, an outer membrane protein and adhesin of the pathogen Neisseria meningitidis, is mediated by changes in the number of TAAA repeats located upstream of the core promoter of nadA. Here we report that loss or gain of TAAA repeats affects the binding of the transcriptional regulatory protein IHF to the nadA promoter. Thus, phase-variable transcription of nadA potentially incorporates interplay between stochastic (mutational) and prescriptive (classical) mechanisms of gene regulation.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/102/10/3800.full.pdf

Microsatellite instability regulates transcription factor binding and gene expression

The opportunistic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonizes airways of individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF) with resultant chronic destructive lung disease. P. aeruginosa adaptation to the CF airway includes biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance. Isolates from asymptomatic individuals in the first 3 years of life have unique characteristics, suggesting that adaptation occurs before clinical symptoms. One defined early adaptation is expression of a specific proinflammatory lipopolysaccharide (LPS) that is associated with antimicrobial peptide resistance. This CF-specific LPS is induced when P. aeruginosa is grown in medium that is limited for magnesium. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative proteomic approaches were used to define 1,331 P. aeruginosa proteins, of which 145 were differentially expressed on limitation of magnesium. Among proteins induced by low magnesium were enzymes essential for production of 2-heptyl 3-hydroxy 4-quinolone, the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS), which interacts with the homoserine lactone signaling pathway. Measurement of PQS in P. aeruginosa isolates from asymptomatic children with CF indicated that strains with increased synthesis of PQS are present during early colonization of CF patient airways.

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/100/5/2771.full.pdf

Quantitative proteomic analysis indicates increased synthesis of a quinolone by Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from cystic fibrosis airways

Two-component regulatory systems (TCSs) are a major mechanism by which bacteria sense and respond to changes in their environment. TCSs typically consist of two proteins that bring about major regulation of the cell genome through coordinated action mediated by phosphorylation. Environmental conditions that activate TCSs are numerous and diverse and include exposure to antibiotics as well as conditions inside a host. The resulting regulatory action often involves activation of antibiotic defenses and changes to cell physiology that increase antibiotic resistance. Examples of resistance mechanisms enacted by TCSs contained in this review span those found in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive species and include cell surface modifications, changes in cell permeability, increased biofilm formation, and upregulation of antibiotic-degrading enzymes.

/pdf/roles-of-two-component-regulatory-systems-in-antibiotic-s5b376irys.pdf

Roles of two-component regulatory systems in antibiotic resistance.

Two-component regulatory systems are important regulators of virulence genes in a number of bacteria. Genes encoding a two-component regulator system, with homology to the phoP/phoQ system in salmonella, were identified in the meningococcal genome. Allele replacement was used to generate a meningococcal knock-out mutant of the regulator component of this system, and its phenotype was examined. The mutant displayed many differences in protein profiles compared with wild type, consistent with it being a gene-regulatory mutation. Many of the growth characteristics of the mutant were similar to those of phoP mutants of salmonella: it was unable to grow at low concentrations of magnesium and was sensitive to defensins and other environmental stresses. Magnesium-regulated differences in protein expression were abrogated in the mutant, indicating that the meningococcal PhoP/PhoQ system may, as in salmonella, respond to changes in environmental magnesium levels. These results are consistent with the PhoP homologue playing a similar role in the meningococcus to PhoP in salmonella and suggest that it may similarly be involved in the regulation of virulence genes in response to environmental stimuli in the meningococcus. In support of this conclusion, we found the mutant grew was unable to grow in mouse serum and was attenuated in its ability to traverse through a layer of human epithelial cells. Identification of those genes regulated by the meningococcal PhoP may provide a route towards the identification of virulence genes in the meningococcus.

Generation and characterization of a PhoP homologue mutant of Neisseria meningitidis

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Generation and characterization of a PhoP homologue mutant of Neisseria meningitidis