Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) cause millions of urinary tract infections each year in the United States. Type 1 pili are important for adherence of UPEC to uroepithelial cells in the human and murine urinary tracts where osmolality and pH vary. Previous work has shown that an acidic pH adversely affects the expression of type 1 pili. To determine if acid tolerance gene products may be regulating E. coli fim gene expression, a bank of K-12 strain acid tolerance gene mutants were screened using fimA-lux, fimB-lux, and fimE-lux fusions on single copy number plasmids. We have determined that a mutation in gadE increased transcription of all three fim genes, suggesting that GadE may be acting as a repressor in a low pH environment. Complementation of the gadE mutation restored fim gene transcription to wild-type levels. Moreover, mutations in gadX, gadW, crp, and cya also affected transcription of the three fim genes. To verify the role GadE plays in type 1 pilus expression, the NU149 gadE UPEC strain was tested. The gadE mutant had higher fimE gene transcript levels, a higher frequency of Phase-OFF positioning of fimS, and hemagglutination titres that were lower in strain NU149 gadE cultured in low pH medium as compared to the wild-type bacteria. The data demonstrate that UPEC fim genes are regulated directly or indirectly by the GadE protein and this could have some future bearing on the ability to prevent urinary tract infections by acidifying the urine and shutting off fim gene expression.
Keywords: GadE; acid tolerance; type 1 fimbriae; type 1 pili; uropathogenic Escherichia coli.