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Role of the toxR Gene from Fish Pathogen Vibiro alginolyticus in the Physiology and Virulence

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Abstract

A mutant strain of Vibiro alginolyticus with an in-frame deletion of the toxR gene was constructed to reveal the role of ToxR in the physiology and virulence of V. alginolyticus. The statistical analysis showed no significant difference in the growth ability, swarming motility, activity of extracellular protease and the virulence by injection (the value of LD50) between the wild-type and the toxR mutant. However, the deletion of toxR could decrease the level of biofilm formation. The comparative proteomic analysis demonstrated the deletion mutation of toxR could up-regulate the expression of glutamine synthetase and levansucrase, and down-regulate the expression of 10 proteins such as OmpU, DnaK, etc. These results suggest that ToxR may be involved in the early stages of infection by influencing colonization of the bacteria on the surface of the intestine through enhancing the biofilm information of V. alginolyticus via modulating the expression of glutamine synthetize, levansucrase and OmpU.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31572656), Fishing Port Construction and Fishery Development Funds of Guangdong Province (Prevention of Fish Disease), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2015A030308020, 2017A030307033 and 2017A030313174), and High-level Talents Project of Sailing Plan in Guangdong Province (No. GDOU2017030501).

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  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Biology and Epidemiology for Aquatic Economic Animals and Key Laboratory of Control for Diseases of Aquatic Economic Animals of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, Fisheries College of Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, China

    Shuanghu Cai, Haiyan Cheng, Huanying Pang, Yishan Lu & Jichan Jian

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  1. Shuanghu Cai
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  2. Haiyan Cheng
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Correspondence to Shuanghu Cai.

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Cai, S., Cheng, H., Pang, H. et al. Role of the toxR Gene from Fish Pathogen Vibiro alginolyticus in the Physiology and Virulence. Indian J Microbiol 57, 477–484 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-017-0685-x

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