Formation of phenotypic lineages in Salmonella enterica by a pleiotropic fimbrial switch

The std locus of Salmonella enterica, an operon acquired by horizontal transfer, encodes fimbriae that permit adhesion to epithelial cells in the large intestine. Expression of the std operon is bistable, yielding a major subpopulation of StdOFF cells (99.7%) and a minor subpopulation of StdON cells...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS genetics 2018-09, Vol.14 (9), p.e1007677-e1007677
Main Authors: García-Pastor, Lucía, Sánchez-Romero, María Antonia, Gutiérrez, Gabriel, Puerta-Fernández, Elena, Casadesús, Josep
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Biology and Life Sciences
DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism
Fimbriae Proteins - genetics
Fimbriae Proteins - metabolism
Fimbriae, Bacterial - genetics
Fimbriae, Bacterial - metabolism
Flow Cytometry
Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial
Gene Transfer, Horizontal
Health aspects
Intestines
Medicine and Health Sciences
Operon - genetics
Phenotype
Salmonella
Salmonella enterica - genetics
Single-Cell Analysis
Transcription (Genetics)
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Summary:The std locus of Salmonella enterica, an operon acquired by horizontal transfer, encodes fimbriae that permit adhesion to epithelial cells in the large intestine. Expression of the std operon is bistable, yielding a major subpopulation of StdOFF cells (99.7%) and a minor subpopulation of StdON cells (0.3%). In addition to fimbrial proteins, the std operon encodes two proteins, StdE and StdF, that have DNA binding capacity and control transcription of loci involved in flagellar synthesis, chemotaxis, virulence, conjugal transfer, biofilm formation, and other cellular functions. As a consequence of StdEF pleiotropic transcriptional control, StdON and StdOFF subpopulations may differ not only in the presence or absence of Std fimbriae but also in additional phenotypic traits. Separation of StdOFF and StdON lineages by cell sorting confirms the occurrence of lineage-specific features. Formation of StdOFF and StdON lineages may thus be viewed as a rudimentary bacterial differentiation program.
ISSN:1553-7404
1553-7390
1553-7404
DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.1007677