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PmrA–PmrB‐regulated genes necessary for 4‐aminoarabinose lipid A modification and polymyxin resistance
Author(s) -
Gunn John S.,
Lim Kheng B.,
Krueger Jackie,
Kim Kevin,
Guo Lin,
Hackett Murray,
Miller Samuel I.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2958.1998.00757.x
Subject(s) - operon , lipid a , polymyxin , biology , gene , antimicrobial peptides , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , regulon , antimicrobial , bacterial outer membrane , genetics , bacteria , regulation of gene expression , escherichia coli
Antimicrobial peptides are distributed throughout the animal kingdom and are a key component of innate immunity. Salmonella typhimurium regulates mechanisms of resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides through the two‐component systems PhoP–PhoQ and PmrA–PmrB. Polymyxin resistance is encoded by the PmrA–PmrB regulon, whose products modify the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) core and lipid A regions with ethanolamine and add aminoarabinose to the 4′ phosphate of lipid A. Two PmrA–PmrB‐regulated S . typhimurium loci ( pmrE and pmrF ) have been identified that are necessary for resistance to polymyxin and for the addition of aminoarabinose to lipid A. One locus, pmrE , contains a single gene previously identified as pagA (or ugd ) that is predicted to encode a UDP‐glucose dehydrogenase. The second locus, pmrF , is the second gene of a putative operon predicted to encode seven proteins, some with similarity to glycosyltransferases and other complex carbohydrate biosynthetic enzymes. Genes immediately flanking this putative operon are also regulated by PmrA–PmrB and/or have been associated with S . typhimurium polymyxin resistance. This work represents the first identification of non‐regulatory genes necessary for modification of lipid A and subsequent antimicrobial peptide resistance, and provides support for the hypothesis that lipid A aminoarabinose modification promotes resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides.