title: Vibrio cholerae represses polysaccharide synthesis to promote motility in mucosa.
abstract: The viscoelastic mucus layer of gastrointestinal tracts is a host defense barrier that a successful enteric pathogen, such as Vibrio cholerae, must circumvent. V. cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, is able to penetrate the mucosa and colonize the epithelial surface of the small intestine. In this study, we found that mucin, the major component of mucus, promoted V. cholerae movement on semisolid medium and in liquid medium. A genome-wide screen revealed that Vibrio polysaccharide (VPS) production was inversely correlated with mucin-enhanced motility. Mucin adhesion assays indicated that VPS bound to mucin. Moreover, we found that vps expression was reduced upon exposure to mucin. In an infant mouse colonization model, mutants that overexpressed VPS colonized less effectively than wild-type strains in more distal intestinal regions. These results suggest that V. cholerae is able to sense mucosal signals and modulate vps expression accordingly so as to promote fast motion in mucus, thus allowing for rapid spread throughout the intestines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Yuning
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Shengyan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Karl-Gustav
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Rueggeberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Frank X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Zengtao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Hangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Biao
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kan
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA junzhu@mail.med.upenn.edu.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002771:Cholera / Q000382:microbiology; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D051379:Mice; D009068:Movement; D009077:Mucins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D011485:Protein Binding; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014734:Vibrio cholerae / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009077:Mucins; D011135:Polysaccharides, Bacterial