Environmental Calcium Initiates a Feed-Forward Signaling Circuit That Regulates Biofilm Formation and Rugosity in Vibrio vulnificus

MBio
Daniel M ChodurDean A Rowe-Magnus

Abstract

Poor clinical outcomes (disfigurement, amputation, and death) and significant economic losses in the aquaculture industry can be attributed to the potent opportunistic human pathogen Vibrio vulnificusV. vulnificus, as well as the bivalves (oysters) it naturally colonizes, is indigenous to estuaries and human-inhabited coastal regions and must endure constantly changing environmental conditions as freshwater and seawater enter, mix, and exit the water column. Elevated cellular c-di-GMP levels trigger biofilm formation, but relatively little is known regarding the environmental signals that initiate this response. Here, we show that calcium is a primary environmental signal that specifically increases intracellular c-di-GMP concentrations, which in turn triggers expression of the brp extracellular polysaccharide that enhances biofilm formation. A transposon screen for the loss of calcium-induced P brpA expression revealed CysD, an enzyme in the sulfate assimilation pathway. Targeted disruption of the pathway indicated that the production of a specific metabolic intermediate, 3'-phosphoadenosine 5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS), was required for calcium-induced P brpA expression and that PAPS was separately required for development of t...Continue Reading

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
reverse transcription-PCR
RNA-seq
PCR

Software Mentioned

ImageJ
Geneious
Comstat
SP
R

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