Essential role of an adenylate cyclase in regulating Vibrio vulnificus virulence.
Vibrio vulnificus, a halophilic estuarine bacterium, causes a fatal septicemia and necrotizing wound infection. To investigate the role of cAMP in V. vulnificus virulence regulation, an in-frame deletion mutant of the cya gene encoding adenylate cyclase was constructed. The cya null mutation resulted in a pleiotropic change of virulence phenotypes. The production of hemolysin and protease, the motility, and the cytotoxicity were decreased by the cya mutation. The defects in the cya mutant were functionally complemented in trans by a plasmid carrying the wild type cya allele. The V. vulnificus cya mutant exhibited a 100-fold increase in LD50 to mice. The result indicates that cAMP plays an essential role in the global regulation of V. vulnificus virulence.
Kim
Young Ran
YR
Research Institute of Vibrio Infection and Genome Research Center for Enteropathogenic Bacteria, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju 501-746, South Korea.
Kim
Soo Young
SY
Kim
Choon Mee
CM
Lee
Shee Eun
SE
Rhee
Joon Haeng
JH
D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009154:Mutation; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013047:Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms; D041261:Vibrio vulnificus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000502:physiology; D014774:Virulence
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; C073845:hemolysin, Vibrio; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases