Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8423453 | Microbiological Research | 2016 | 33 Pages |
Abstract
(p)ppGpp-mediated stringent response is one of the main adaption mechanism in bacteria, and the ability to adapt to environment is linked to the pathogenesis of bacterial pathogens. In the zoonotic pathogen Streptococcus suis, there are two (p)ppGpp synthetases, RelA and RelQ. To investigate the regulatory functions of (p)ppGpp/(p)ppGpp synthetases on the pathogenesis of S. suis, the phenotypes of the [(p)ppGpp0] mutant ÎrelAÎrelQ and its parental strain were compared. Light and electron microscopy observation showed that the mutant strain had a longer chain-length than its parental strain. Disruption of relA and relQ led to decreased adhesive and invasive ability to HEp-2 cells, and increased sensitivity to the blood killing and phagocytosis. Mouse infection experiments showed that the mutant strain was attenuated and easier to be cleaned up in vivo. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis indicated that the expressions of virulence related genes involving in morphology and virulence were down-regulated in the mutant strain. Our study demonstrated that the (p)ppGpp synthetases or (p)ppGpp can regulate the pathogenesis of this important zoonotic pathogen.
Related Topics
Life Sciences
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Biotechnology
Authors
Jiawen Zhu, Tengfei Zhang, Zhipeng Su, Lu Li, Dong Wang, Ran Xiao, Muye Teng, Meifang Tan, Rui Zhou,