More than half of all women will experience a urinary tract infection (UTI) in their lifetime with most cases caused by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). Bacterial motility enhances UPEC pathogenicity, resulting in more severe disease outcomes including kidney infection. Surprisingly, the connection between motility and iron limitation is mostly unexplored, despite the lack of free iron available in the host. Therefore, we sought to explore the potential connection between iron restriction and regulation of motility in UPEC. We cultured E. coli CFT073, a prototypical UPEC strain, in media containing an iron chelator. Under iron limitation, CFT073 had elevated fliC (flagella) promoter activity, driving motility on the leading edge of the colony. Furthermore, this iron-specific response was repressed by the addition of exogenous iron. We confirmed increased flagella expression in CFT073 by measuring fliC transcript, FliC protein, and surface-expressed flagella under iron-limited conditions. To define the regulatory mechanism, we constructed single knockouts of eight master regulators. The iron-regulated response was lost in crp, arcA, and fis mutants. Thus, we focused on the five genes regulated by all three transcription factors. Of the five genes knocked out, the iron-regulated motility response was most strongly dysregulated in an lpdA mutant, which also resulted in significantly lowered fitness in the murine model of ascending UTI. Collectively, we demonstrated that iron-mediated motility in CFT073 is regulated by lpdA , which contributes to the understanding of how uropathogens differentially regulate motility mechanisms in the iron-restricted host.
Importance: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are ubiquitous and responsible for over five billion dollars in associated health care costs annually. Both iron acquisition and motility are highly studied virulence factors associated with uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC), the main causative agent of uncomplicated UTI. This work is innovative by providing mechanistic insight into the synergistic relationship between these two critical virulence properties. Here, we demonstrate that iron limitation has pleiotropic effects with consequences that extend beyond metabolism, and impact other virulence mechanisms. Indeed, targeting iron acquisition as a therapy may lead to an undesirable enhancement of UPEC pathogenesis through increased motility. It is vital to understand the full breadth of UPEC pathogenesis to adequately respond to this common infection, especially with the increase of antibiotic resistant pathogens.