1887

Abstract

Biofilm formation in is a tightly controlled process requiring the expression of adhesive curli fibres and certain polysaccharides such as cellulose. The transcriptional regulator CsgD is central to biofilm formation, controlling the expression of the curli structural and export proteins and the diguanylate cyclase , which indirectly activates cellulose production. CsgD itself is highly regulated by two sigma factors (RpoS and RpoD), multiple DNA-binding proteins, small regulatory RNAs and several GGDEF/EAL proteins acting through c-di-GMP. One such transcription factor MlrA binds the promoter to enhance the RpoS-dependent transcription of . Bacteriophage, often carrying the gene, utilize an insertion site in the proximal coding region of serotype O157 : H7 strains, and the loss of function would be expected to be the major factor contributing to poor curli and biofilm expression in that serotype. Using a bank of 55 strains of serotype O157 : H7, we investigated the consequences of bacteriophage insertion. Although curli/biofilm expression was restored in many of the prophage-bearing strains by a wild-type copy of on a multi-copy plasmid, more than half of the strains showed only partial or no complementation. Moreover, the two strains carrying an intact were found to be deficient in biofilm formation. However, RpoS mutations that attenuated or inactivated RpoS-dependent functions such as biofilm formation were found in >70 % of the strains, including the two strains with an intact . We conclude that bacteriophage interruption of and RpoS mutations provide major obstacles limiting curli expression and biofilm formation in most serotype O157 : H7 strains.

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2013-08-01
2024-11-12
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