A novel insight on signal transduction mechanism of RcsCDB system in Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 4;8(9):e72527. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072527. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

The RcsCDB system of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is implicated in the control of capsule and flagella synthesis. The hybrid sensor RcsC, the phosphotransferase RcsD and the RcsB regulator, constitute the main components of the RcsCDB system. The proposed Rcs signaling cascade involves the autophosphorylation of RcsC and the transfer of the phosphate group to RcsB, mediated by RcsD. We previously reported that the overexpression of rcsB repress the transcription of rcsD by an autoregulation mechanism. Moreover, we demonstrated that during the rcsD repression, the RcsB-dependent flagellar modulation remained active. These results suggest that the Rcs phosphorelay mechanism occurs even in the absence of RcsD. In this work, we established the existence of two alternative phosphorelay pathways driving activation of this system. We demonstrated that RcsC and RcsD can act as histidine kinase proteins which, after autophosphorylated, are able to independently transfer the phosphate to RcsB. Our results suggest that these pathways could be activated by different environmental signals, leading different levels of RcsB-phosphorylated to produce a differential gene modulation. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the complexity and importance of the Rcs system activation, where more than one phosphate flow pathway increases the possibilities to exert gene regulation for a quick environmental changes response.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
  • Phosphorylation
  • Salmonella typhimurium / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / physiology

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants PIP 2518 from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (www.conicet.gov.ar) and Consejo de Investigaciones de la Universidad Nacional de Tucumán 26/D439 (www.ct.unt.edu.ar/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.