4.6 Article

Analysis of the role of the QseBC two-component sensory system in epinephrine-induced motility and intracellular replication of Burkholderia pseudomallei

Journal

PLOS ONE
Volume 18, Issue 2, Pages -

Publisher

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282098

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Burkholderia pseudomallei is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen that causes melioidosis, a severe invasive disease of humans. The stress-related catecholamine hormone epinephrine enhances motility of B. pseudomallei, transcription of flagellar genes and the production of flagellin.
Burkholderia pseudomallei is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen that causes melioidosis, a severe invasive disease of humans. We previously reported that the stress-related catecholamine hormone epinephrine enhances motility of B. pseudomallei, transcription of flagellar genes and the production of flagellin. It has been reported that the QseBC two-component sensory system regulates motility and virulence-associated genes in other Gram-negative bacteria in response to stress-related catecholamines, albeit disparities between studies exist. We constructed and whole-genome sequenced a mutant of B. pseudomallei with a deletion spanning the predicted qseBC homologues (bpsl0806 and bpsl0807). The Delta qseBC mutant exhibited significantly reduced swimming and swarming motility and reduced transcription of fliC. It also exhibited a defect in biofilm formation and net intracellular survival in J774A.1 murine macrophage-like cells. While epinephrine enhanced bacterial motility and fliC transcription, no further reduction in these phenotypes was observed with the Delta qseBC mutant in the presence of epinephrine. Plasmid-mediated expression of qseBC suppressed bacterial growth, complicating attempts to trans-complement mutant phenotypes. Our data support a role for QseBC in motility, biofilm formation and net intracellular survival of B. pseudomallei, but indicate that it is not essential for epinephrine-induced motility per se.

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