The Characterization of Two-Component System PmrA/PmrB in Cronobacter sakazakii

Jingjing Hua; Xiangyin Jia; Liang Zhang; Yanyan Li

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.00903

The Characterization of Two-Component System PmrA/PmrB in Cronobacter sakazakii

Front Microbiol. 2020 Jun 17:11:903. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00903. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Jingjing Hua¹, Xiangyin Jia², Liang Zhang¹, Yanyan Li³

Affiliations

¹ National Engineering Laboratory for Cereal Fermentation Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Structural Biology of Zhejiang Province, School of Life Sciences, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China.

Abstract

Cronobacter sakazakii is an opportunistic Gram-negative pathogen that could cause meningitis and necrotizing enterocolitis. Several Gram-negative bacteria use the PmrA/PmrB system to sense and adapt to environmental change by resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides of host immune systems. The PmrA/PmrB two-component system regulates several genes to modify LPS structure in the bacterial outer membrane. The role of PmrA/PmrB of C. sakazakii has been studied within the current study. The results suggest that PmrA/PmrB plays a crucial role in modifying LPS structure, cationic antimicrobial peptide susceptibility, cell membrane permeability and hydrophobicity, and invading macrophage.

Keywords: Cronobacter sakazakii; LPS; PmrA/PmrB two-component system; lipid A; polymyxin B.