4.4 Article

Competence-Associated Peptide BriC Alters Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Streptococcus pneumoniae

期刊

MSPHERE
卷 6, 期 3, 页码 -

出版社

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/mSphere.00145-21

关键词

Streptococcus pneumoniae; fatty acid biosynthesis; membrane phospholipid composition; biofilms; cell-cell communication; competence

资金

  1. NIGMS [GM034496]
  2. American Lebanese Associated Charities
  3. NIAID [R01 AI139077-01A1]
  4. Eberly Family Trust
  5. Glen de Vries Fellowship

向作者/读者索取更多资源

The balance of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids affects membrane homeostasis in Streptococcus pneumoniae, with the cell-cell communication peptide BriC playing a role in this regulation. The control of fatty acid biosynthesis pathways and factors influencing this balance are important for bacterial host adaptation.
Membrane lipid homeostasis is required for bacteria to survive in a spectrum of host environments. This homeostasis is achieved by regulation of fatty acid chain length and of the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids. In the pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, fatty acid biosynthesis is carried out by a cluster of fatty acid biosynthesis (fab) genes (FASII locus) whose expression is controlled by the FabT repressor. Encoded immediately downstream of the FASII locus is BriC, a competence-induced, cell-cell communication peptide that promotes biofilm development as well as nasopharyngeal colonization in a murine model of pneumococcal carriage. Here, we demonstrate that briC is cotranscribed with genes of the fab gene cluster and that a reduction of briC levels, caused by decoupling its transcription from fab gene cluster, negatively affects biofilm development. BriC elevates fabT transcription, which is predicted to alter the balance of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids produced by the pathway. We find that briC inactivation results in a decreased production of unsaturated fatty acids. This affects the membrane properties by decreasing the abundance of di-unsaturated phosphatidylglycerol molecular species. We propose that the link between BriC, FabT, and phospholipid composition contributes to the ability of S. pneumoniae to alter membrane homeostasis in response to the production of a quorum-sensing peptide. IMPORTANCE Adaptation of bacteria to their host environment is a key component of colonization and pathogenesis. As an essential component of bacterial membranes, fatty acid composition contributes to host adaptation. Similarly, cell-cell communication, which enables population level responses, also contributes to host adaptation. While much is known about the pathways that control the biosynthesis of fatty acids, many questions remain regarding regulation of these pathways and consequently the factors that affect the balance between unsaturated and saturated fatty acids. We find that BriC, a cell-cell communication peptide implicated in biofilm regulation and colonization, both is influenced by a fatty acid biosynthesis pathway and affects

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.4
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据