title: The two-component sensor kinase KinB acts as a non-canonical switch between acute and chronic infection.
abstract: P. aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that occupies diverse environmental niches and is capable of causing a range of infections in humans. This versatility suggests that it has sophisticated mechanisms to sense and respond to the surrounding microenvironment. Two-component sensors are commonly used by bacteria to sense and respond to environmental stimuli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa has one of the largest sets of two-component sensors known in bacteria. We took advantage of a non-redundant transposon library and a recently characterized vertebrate model host, Danio rerio, that is amenable to higher throughput analysis than mammalian models, to systematically test the role of 60 two-component sensors that are required for P. aeruginosa virulence in acute infection. We found that the sensor kinase KinB is required for acute infection in zebrafish embryos and regulates a number of virulence related phenotypes in a manner independent of its kinase activity and its known response regulator, AlgB. Thus, the regulation of virulence by KinB highlights the increasing recognition of non-canonical two-component signaling mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Nikhilesh S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Chand
authors.forename: Deborah T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Hung
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011552:Pseudomonas Infections / Q000382:microbiology*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014774:Virulence; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C072862:AlgB protein, Pseudomonas; D011494:Protein Kinases