Abrogation of the twin arginine transport system in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium leads to colonization defects during infection. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • TatC (STM3975) is a highly conserved component of the Twin Arginine Transport (Tat) systems that is required for transport of folded proteins across the inner membrane in gram-negative bacteria. We previously identified a tatC mutant as defective in competitive infections with wild type ATCC14028 during systemic infection of Salmonella-susceptible BALB/c mice. Here we confirm these results and show that the tatC mutant is internalized poorly by cultured J774-A.1 mouse macrophages a phenotype that may be related to the systemic infection defect. This mutant is also defective for short-term intestinal and systemic colonization after oral infection of BALB/c mice and is shed in reduced numbers in feces from orally infected Salmonella-resistant (CBA/J) mice. We show that the tatC mutant is highly sensitive to bile acids perhaps resulting in the defect in intestinal infection that we observe. Finally, the tatC mutant has an unusual combination of motility phenotypes in Salmonella; it is severely defective for swimming motility but is able to swarm well. The tatC mutant has a lower amount of flagellin on the bacterial surface during swimming motility but normal levels under swarming conditions.

published proceedings

  • PLoS One

author list (cited authors)

  • Reynolds, M. M., Bogomolnaya, L., Guo, J., Aldrich, L., Bokhari, D., Santiviago, C. A., McClelland, M., & Andrews-Polymenis, H.

citation count

  • 24

complete list of authors

  • Reynolds, M Megan||Bogomolnaya, Lydia||Guo, Jinbai||Aldrich, Lindsay||Bokhari, Danial||Santiviago, Carlos A||McClelland, Michael||Andrews-Polymenis, Helene

editor list (cited editors)

  • Hensel, M.

publication date

  • January 2011