Journal
JOURNAL OF BACTERIOLOGY
Volume 194, Issue 12, Pages 3241-3249Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/JB.00016-12
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Funding
- Alberta Glycomics Centre
- Agencia Nacional de Promocion Cientifica y Tecnologica (ANPCyT)
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnologicas (CONICET), Argentina
- Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR)
- Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR)
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Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) have been identified in a wide range of bacteria, yet little is known of their biogenesis. It has been proposed that OMVs can act as long-range toxin delivery vectors and as a novel stress response. We have found that the formation of OMVs in the Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen Serratia marcescens is thermoregulated, with a significant amount of OMVs produced at 22 or 30 degrees C and negligible quantities formed at 37 degrees C under laboratory conditions. Inactivation of the synthesis of the enterobacterial common antigen (ECA) resulted in a hypervesiculation phenotype, supporting the hypothesis that OMVs are produced in response to stress. We demonstrate that the phenotype can be reversed to wild-type (WT) levels upon the loss of the Rcs phosphorelay response regulator RcsB, but not RcsA, suggesting a role for the Rcs phosphorelay in the production of OMVs. MS fingerprinting of the OMVs provided evidence of cargo selection within wild-type cells, suggesting a possible role for Serratia OMVs in toxin delivery. In addition, OMV-associated cargo proved toxic upon injection into the haemocoel of Galleria mellonella larvae. These experiments demonstrate that OMVs are the result of a regulated process in Serratia and suggest that OMVs could play a role in virulence.
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