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Involvement of the R cs regulon in the persistence of S almonella T yphimurium in tomatoes
Author(s) -
Marvasi Massimiliano,
de Moraes Marcos H.,
SalasGonzalez Isai,
Porwollik Steffen,
Farias Marcelo,
McClelland Michael,
Teplitski Max
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
environmental microbiology reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.229
H-Index - 69
ISSN - 1758-2229
DOI - 10.1111/1758-2229.12457
Subject(s) - regulon , salmonella , biology , protein data bank (rcsb pdb) , mutant , persistence (discontinuity) , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , gene , genetics , biochemistry , geotechnical engineering , engineering
Summary It is becoming clear that human enteric pathogens, like Salmonella , can efficiently colonize vegetative and reproductive organs of plants. Even though the bacterium's ability to proliferate within plant tissues has been linked to outbreaks of salmonellosis, little is known about regulatory and physiological adaptations of Salmonella , or other human pathogens, to their persistence in plants. A screen of Salmonella deletion mutants in tomatoes identified rcsA and rcsB genes as those under positive selection. In tomato fruits, populations of Salmonella rcsB mutants were as much as 100‐fold lower than those of the wild type. In the follow‐up experiments, competitive fitness of rcsA and rcsB mutants was strongly reduced in tomatoes. Bioinformatics predictions identified a putative Salmonella RcsAB binding box (TTMGGAWWAABCTYA) and revealed an extensive putative RcsAB regulon, of which many members were differentially fit within tomatoes.