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Nutrient limitation and oxidative stress induce the promoter of acetate operon in Salmonella Typhimurium

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Abstract

Glyoxylate shunt is an important pathway for microorganisms to survive under multiple stresses. One of its enzymes, malate synthase (encoded by aceB gene), has been widely speculated for its contribution to both the pathogenesis and virulence of various microorganisms. We have previously demonstrated that malate synthase (MS) is required for the growth of Salmonella Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) under carbon starvation and survival under oxidative stress conditions. The aceB gene is encoded by the acetate operon in S. Typhimurium. We attempted to study the activity of acetate promoter under both the starvation and oxidative stress conditions in a heterologous system. The lac promoter of the pUC19 plasmid was substituted with the putative promoter sequence of the acetate operon of S. Typhimurium upstream to the lacZ gene and transformed the vector construct into E. coli NEBα cells. The transformed cells were subjected to the stress conditions mentioned above. We observed a fourfold increase in the β-galactosidase activity in these cells resulting from the upregulation of the lacZ gene in the stationary phase of cell growth (nutrient deprived) as compared to the mid-log phase. Following exposure of stationary phase cells to hypochlorite-induced oxidative stress, we further observed a 1.6-fold increase in β galactosidase activity. These data suggest the induction of promoter activity of the acetate operon under carbon starvation and oxidative stress conditions. Thus, these observations corroborate our previous findings regarding the upregulation of aceB expression under stressful environments.

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Acknowledgements

RS and SP acknowledge the fellowship support from ICMR and CSIR, India, respectively. The authors thank the Director, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute for providing the necessary facilities to conduct this study.

Funding

This piece of work was funded by the Department of Biotechnology, India (Grant No.: BT/PR13689/BRB/10/1399/2015) and NASF, ICAR, India (Grant No.: NFBSFARA/BS-3012/2012–13). The funding agency has no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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  1. Ratanti Sarkhel and Swagatika Priyadarsini have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ratanti Sarkhel, Swagatika Priyadarsini & Manish Mahawar

  2. Indian Council of Agricultural Research- National Research Centre on Camel, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India

    Swagatika Priyadarsini

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  1. Ratanti Sarkhel
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Contributions

RS and SP contributed equally to this study by performing the experiments, analyzing data, and writing and editing the manuscript. MM reviewed and edited the final draft and supervised the project. RS and SP: Conceptualization, methodology, writing, editing, and revision. MM performed conceptualization, fund acquisition, editing, and revision.

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Correspondence to Swagatika Priyadarsini or Manish Mahawar.

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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Communicated by Yusuf Akhter.

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Sarkhel, R., Priyadarsini, S. & Mahawar, M. Nutrient limitation and oxidative stress induce the promoter of acetate operon in Salmonella Typhimurium. Arch Microbiol 206, 126 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-024-03863-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-024-03863-2

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