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Scientific article
Open access
English

Escherichia coli BarA-UvrY regulates the pks island and kills Staphylococci via the genotoxin colibactin during interspecies competition

Published inPLOS pathogens, vol. 18, no. 9, e1010766
Publication date2022-09
First online date2022-09-06
Abstract

Wound infections are often polymicrobial in nature, biofilm associated and therefore tolerant to antibiotic therapy, and associated with delayed healing. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus are among the most frequently cultured pathogens from wound infections. However, little is known about the frequency or consequence of E. coli and S. aureus polymicrobial interactions during wound infections. Here we show that E. coli kills Staphylococci, including S. aureus, both in vitro and in a mouse excisional wound model via the genotoxin, colibactin. Colibactin biosynthesis is encoded by the pks locus, which we identified in nearly 30% of human E. coli wound infection isolates. While it is not clear how colibactin is released from E. coli or how it penetrates target cells, we found that the colibactin intermediate N-myristoyl-D-Asn (NMDA) disrupts the S. aureus membrane. We also show that the BarA-UvrY two component system (TCS) senses the environment created during E. coli and S. aureus mixed species interaction, leading to upregulation of pks island genes. Further, we show that BarA-UvrY acts via the carbon storage global regulatory (Csr) system to control pks expression. Together, our data demonstrate the role of colibactin in interspecies competition and show that it is regulated by BarA-UvrY TCS during interspecies competition.

eng
Keywords
  • Animals
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / metabolism
  • Carbon / metabolism
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism
  • Escherichia coli Infections / microbiology
  • Escherichia coli Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Membrane Proteins / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mutagens / metabolism
  • N-Methylaspartate / metabolism
  • Peptides
  • Phosphotransferases / genetics
  • Polyketides / metabolism
  • Staphylococcus / metabolism
  • Staphylococcus aureus / genetics
  • Staphylococcus aureus / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Wound Infection / microbiology
Citation (ISO format)
WONG, Jun Jie et al. Escherichia coli BarA-UvrY regulates the pks island and kills Staphylococci via the genotoxin colibactin during interspecies competition. In: PLOS pathogens, 2022, vol. 18, n° 9, p. e1010766. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010766
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Article (Published version)
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Identifiers
ISSN of the journal1553-7366
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Creation10/24/2022 8:49:00 AM
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