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Infection and Immunity, November 2008, p. 4833-4841, Vol. 76, No. 11
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00630-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

PapX, a P Fimbrial Operon-Encoded Inhibitor of Motility in Uropathogenic Escherichia coli{triangledown}

Amy N. Simms and Harry L. T. Mobley*

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Received 22 May 2008/ Returned for modification 2 July 2008/ Accepted 6 August 2008

Motility and adherence are two integral aspects of bacterial pathogenesis. Adherence, often mediated by fimbriae, permits bacteria to attach to host cells and establish infection, whereas flagellum-driven motility allows bacteria to disseminate to sites more advantageous for colonization. Both fimbriae and flagella have been proven important for virulence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). Reciprocal regulation is one mechanism by which bacteria may reconcile the contradictory actions of adherence and motility. PapX, a P fimbrial gene product of UPEC strain CFT073, is a functional homolog of MrpJ of Proteus mirabilis; ectopic expression of papX in P. mirabilis reduces motility. To define the connection between P fimbria expression and motility in UPEC, the role of papX in the regulation of motility of strain CFT073 was examined. Overexpression of papX decreased motility of CFT073, which correlated with both a significant reduction in flagellin protein synthesized and flagella assembled on the cell surface. Conversely, an increase in motility and flagellin production was seen in an isogenic papX deletion mutant of CFT073. Microarray and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis indicated that repression of motility of CFT073 by PapX appears to occur at the transcriptional level; expression of many motility-associated genes, including flhDC, the master regulator of motility, is decreased when papX is overexpressed. Transcription of motility genes is increased in the papX mutant compared to wild type. Electrophoretic mobility gel shift analysis revealed that PapX binds to the flhD promoter. We conclude that synthesis of P fimbriae regulates flagellum synthesis to repress motility via PapX.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, 5641 Medical Science Building II, 1150 West Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. Phone: (734) 764-1466. Fax: (734) 764-3562. E-mail: hmobley{at}umich.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 18 August 2008.

Editor: A. J. Bäumler

Infection and Immunity, November 2008, p. 4833-4841, Vol. 76, No. 11
0019-9567/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/IAI.00630-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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