Pseudomonas aeruginosa nfuA: Gene regulation and its physiological roles in sustaining growth under stress and anaerobic conditions and maintaining bacterial virulence

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 9;13(8):e0202151. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202151. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

The role of the nfuA gene encoding an iron-sulfur ([Fe-S]) cluster-delivery protein in the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa was investigated. The analysis of nfuA expression under various stress conditions showed that superoxide generators, a thiol-depleting agent and CuCl2 highly induced nfuA expression. The expression of nfuA was regulated by a global [2Fe-2S] cluster containing the transcription regulator IscR. Increased expression of nfuA in the ΔiscR mutant under uninduced conditions suggests that IscR acts as a transcriptional repressor. In vitro experiments revealed that IscR directly bound to a sequence homologous to the Escherichia coli Type-I IscR-binding motifs on a putative nfuA promoter that overlapped the -35 element. Binding of IscR prevented RNA polymerase from binding to the nfuA promoter, leading to repression of the nfuA transcription. Physiologically, deletion of nfuA reduced the bacterial ability to cope with oxidative stress, iron deprivation conditions and attenuated virulence in the Caenorhabditis elegans infection model. Site-directed mutagenesis analysis revealed that the conserved CXXC motif of the Nfu-type scaffold protein domain at the N-terminus was required for the NfuA functions in conferring the stress resistance phenotype. Furthermore, anaerobic growth of the ΔnfuA mutant in the presence of nitrate was drastically retarded. This phenotype was associated with a reduction in the [Fe-S] cluster containing nitrate reductase enzyme activity. However, NfuA was not required for the maturation of [Fe-S]-containing proteins such as aconitase, succinate dehydrogenase, SoxR and IscR. Taken together, our results indicate that NfuA functions in [Fe-S] cluster delivery to selected target proteins that link to many physiological processes such as anaerobic growth, bacterial virulence and stress responses in P. aeruginosa.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cysteine / chemistry
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial*
  • Iron-Sulfur Proteins / genetics
  • Iron-Sulfur Proteins / physiology*
  • Mutagenesis, Site-Directed
  • Oxidants / chemistry
  • Phenotype
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / genetics
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa / physiology*
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Stress, Physiological
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Iron-Sulfur Proteins
  • Oxidants
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Transcription Factors
  • Cysteine

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Chulabhorn Research Institute (http://www.cri.or.th/en/index.php), Mahidol University (https://www.mahidol.ac.th) and Center of Excellence on Environmental Health and Toxicology, Ministry of Education, Thailand (http://www.eht.sc.mahidol.ac.th). A.R. was supported by the grants from the Center for Emerging Bacterial Infections (EBI) and the Central Instrument Facility (CIF grant) of Faculty of Science, the Mahidol University (http://science.mahidol.ac.th) and the joint funding of the Office of the Higher Education Commission and the Thailand Research Fund (MRG5980047), Thailand (https://www.trf.or.th). K.S. was supported by the Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Scholarship (PHD/0047/2557) from Thailand Research Fund (http://rgj.trf.or.th/eng/rgje11.asp). P.V. was supported by the grant from Chulabhorn Graduate Institute (https://www.cgi.ac.th). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.