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Potassium and sodium transporters of Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulate virulence to barley

  • Applied Microbial and Cell Physiology
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Abstract

We investigated the role of three uncharacterized cation transporters of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 as virulence factors for barley: PA1207, PA5021, and PA2647. PAO1 displayed reduced barley virulence with inactivated PA1207, PA5021, and PA2647 as well as with one known Na+/H+ antiporter, PA1820. Using the Escherichia coli LB2003 mutant lacking three K+ uptake systems, the expression of the PA5021 gene repressed LB2003 growth with low K+, but the strain acquired tolerance to high K+. In contrast, the expression of the PA1207 gene enhanced growth of LB2003 with low K+ but repressed its growth with high K+; therefore, the PA5021 protein exports K+, while the PA1207 protein imports K+. The PA5021 mutant of P. aeruginosa also showed impaired growth at 400 mM KCl and at 400 mM NaCl; therefore, the PA5021 protein may also export Na+. The loss of the PA5021 protein also decreased production of the virulence factor pyocyanin; corroborating this result, pyocyanin production decreased in wild-type PAO1 under high salinity. Whole-genome transcriptome analysis showed that PAO1 induced more genes in barley upon infection compared to the PA5021 mutant. Additionally, PAO1 infection induced water stress-related genes in barley, which suggests that barley may undergo water deficit upon infection by this pathogen.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by NIH (5R01EB003872-05), by ARO (W911NF-06-1-0408), and by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (postdoctoral fellowship for AU). We are grateful for the P. aeruginosa transposon mutants provided by Dr. Robert E. W. Hancock and Dr. Colin Manoil, for the E. coli LB2003 mutant provided by Dr. Bakker, and for the E. coli KNabc mutant provided by Dr. Kuroda.

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  1. Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 220 Jack E. Brown Building, College Station, TX, 77843-3122, USA

    Akihiro Ueda & Thomas K. Wood

  2. Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, 220 Jack E. Brown Building, College Station, TX, 77843-3258, USA

    Thomas K. Wood

  3. Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 220 Jack E. Brown Building, College Station, TX, 77843-3136, USA

    Thomas K. Wood

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  1. Akihiro Ueda
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Ueda, A., Wood, T.K. Potassium and sodium transporters of Pseudomonas aeruginosa regulate virulence to barley. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 79, 843–858 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1483-5

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