Dissecting the Salmonella response to copper

MARTÍN ESPARIZ (FIRST AUTHOR); SUSANA K. CHECA (FIRST AUTHOR); MARÍA E. PÉREZ AUDERO; LUCAS B. PONTEL; FERNANDO C. SONCINI

MICROBIOLOGY-UK

Society for General Microbiology

Lugar: England; Año: 2007 vol. 153 p. 2989 - 2997

1350-0872

Calification SCImago-Q1, IF (2013) 2.835. IMPORTANTE: Trabajo publicado en Microbiology-UK publicado por la "Society for General Microbiology" ISSNs: 1350-0872 (Print); 1465-2080 (Online). IMPORTANTE: Los dos primeros autores (Martin E. Espariz y Susana K. Checa) contribuyeron en partes iguales a este trabajo, por lo que comparten la primera autoría. Intracellular copper homeostasis in bacteria is maintained as the result of a complex ensemble of cellular processes that in Escherichia coli involved the coordinated action of two systems, cue and cus. In contrast, the pathogenic bacterium Salmonella harbors only the cue regulon, including copA, which is shown here to be transcriptionally controlled by CueR. Mutant strains in the CueR-regulated genes were constructed to characterize the response of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to high concentrations of extra cellular copper under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions.Unlike its counterpart in E. coli, inactivation of cuiD displays the most severe phenotype and is also required for Cu-tolerance under anaerobic conditions. Deletion of copA has a mild effect in aerobiosis, but strongly impairs survival in the absence of oxygen. In a ∆copA strain, a second Salmonella-specific P-type ATPase named GolT can substitute the Cu-transporter, diminishing the effect of its deletion. The overall results highlight the importance of the cue system for controlling intracellular copper stress. The observed differences between Salmonella and E. coli in handling copper excess may contribute to understand the distinct capability of these related pathogenic bacteria to survive outside the host.