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FucP mediates fucose to regulate T3SS in Edwardsiella piscicida and promotes intestinal colonization in Tilapia

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Abstract

Edwardsiella piscicida (E. piscicida) is a common pathogen in freshwater and marine environments and an important intestinal pathogen of fish. Fucose large presence in the intestines could possibly regulate relevant genes to promote bacterial infectivity. In this study, the wild-type E. piscicida and the fucP gene-deleted strain ΔfucP were used to identify its virulence-regulating pathway and colonization. The results showed that the gene transcription levels of key FusKR and type III secretion system (T3SS) in E. piscicida were upregulated by different concentrations of fucose. Both the wild-type and the ΔfucP strain grew faster with 30 mM fucose added than that without fucose added. In addition, the penetration of the wild-type E. piscicida with fucose added was significantly stronger than that of both ΔfucP with fucose and the wild-type E. piscicida without fucose. Meanwhile, the gene transcription levels of T3SS-related genes eseB, eseC, eseD, eseE, and eseG in E. piscicida were significantly downregulated after the fucP gene mutant. Finally, tilapia infected with the wild-type strain showed a significant increase in the E. piscicida colonization compared to those infected with the mutant strain. All results indicate that FucP of E. piscicida mediated fucose to promote the growth, motility, and intestinal colonization in tilapia.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Shannon Whitehead at the Harding University and Caroline Whitehead at the Auburn University for performing manuscript editing.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(2019YFD0900101), the earmarked fund for the Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System in Shandong Province (No. SDAIT-14-07), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2019MC031), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31402325), and funds of the Shandong “Double Tops” Program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Biotechnology and Disease Control and Prevention & Shandong Provincial Engineering Technology Research Center of Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, 271018, People’s Republic of China

    Tingqi Ye, Cuimin Mu, Guangchen Pan, Jiakang Chen & Xuepeng Wang

  2. Laboratory for Marine Fisheries Science and Food Production Processes, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, Qingdao, 272000, People’s Republic of China

    Jiayan Wu & Xuepeng Wang

  3. Zhejiang Mariculture Research Institute, Wenzhou, 325005, People’s Republic of China

    Jiayan Wu

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  1. Tingqi Ye
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  2. Jiayan Wu
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  3. Cuimin Mu
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  4. Guangchen Pan
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  5. Jiakang Chen
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Correspondence to Xuepeng Wang.

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Ethical approval

The Animal Ethics Committee of the Shandong Agricultural University has approved this study.

Originality-significance statement

It is the first time to testify that 30-mM L-fucose upregulates the transcription of T3SS genes by activating the FucP and FusKR system, thereby promoting the intestinal colonization of E. piscicida in tilapia.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Handling Editor: Gavin Burnell

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Jiayan Wu and Cuimin Mu are co-first authors.

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Ye, T., Wu, J., Mu, C. et al. FucP mediates fucose to regulate T3SS in Edwardsiella piscicida and promotes intestinal colonization in Tilapia. Aquacult Int 29, 1233–1243 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-021-00688-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-021-00688-4

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