The Sbma locus is involved in the swarming motility and biofilm formation

NATALIA CORBALÁN; MARÍA FERNANDA POMARES; DE CRISTÓBAL, RICARDO E.; ADLER, CONRADO; DELGADO MÓNICA; PAULA VINCENT

Congreso; XLVI Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigaciones en Bioquímica y Biología molecular; 2010

SbmA protein is involved in the transport of MccB17, MccJ25, bleomycin and proline rich peptides into the E. coli cytoplasm. Although SbmA homologues were found in a variety of bacteria, the physiological role of this protein is unknown. The SbmA homologous BacA from Brucella abortus and Sinorhizobium meliloti is essential for the chronic infection of these pathogens. The swarming and biofilm formation are two important bacterial multicellular behaviors whereby the pathogen bacteria enhanced their chances of survival in competitive environments and infect the host. In this work we evaluated the possible importance of sbmA gene in biofilm formation and swarming motility. We observed that the sbmA absence produced a significant increase in both behaviors. On the other hand, we note that the mutation in the gene yaiw, which integrates an operon together sbmA , was not able to affect biofilm and swarming. Curiously, the inductor effect of the sbmA mutation was reverted when tolC or trpE mutation were added. Since in most pathogens the biofilm is often related to virulence, the capacity of sbmA Salmonella mutant to infect and replicate inside of macrophages was evaluate. The sbmA mutant showed an increased replication ability comparing with the wild-type after 48 hours. Taken together these results suggest an important physiological role of sbmA in the virulence phenotype.