The Vibrio parahaemolyticus ToxRS Regulator Is Required for Stress Tolerance and Colonization in a Novel Orogastric Streptomycin-Induced Adult Murine Model

Abstract

ABSTRACTVibrio parahaemolyticus, a marine bacterium, is the causative agent of gastroenteritis associated with the consumption of seafood. It contains a homologue of thetoxRSoperon that inV. choleraeis the key regulator of virulence gene expression. We examined a nonpolar mutation intoxRSto determine the role of these genes inV. parahaemolyticusRIMD2210633, an O3:K6 isolate, and showed that compared to the wild type, ΔtoxRSwas significantly more sensitive to acid, bile salts, and sodium dodecyl sulfate stresses. We demonstrated that ToxRS is a positive regulator ofompUexpression, and that the complementation of ΔtoxRSwithompUrestores stress tolerance. Furthermore, we showed that ToxRS also regulates type III secretion system genes in chromosome I via the regulation of theleuOhomologue VP0350. We examined the effect of ΔtoxRS in vivousing a new orogastric adult murine model of colonization. We demonstrated that streptomycin-treated adult C57BL/6 mice experienced prolonged intestinal colonization along the entire intestinal tract by the streptomycin-resistantV. parahaemolyticus. In contrast, no colonization occurred in non-streptomycin-treated mice. A competition assay between the ΔtoxRSand wild-typeV. parahaemolyticusstrains marked with the β-galactosidase genelacZdemonstrated that the ΔtoxRSstrain was defective in colonization compared to the wild-type strain. This defect was rescued by ectopically expressingompU. Thus, the defect in stress tolerance and colonization in ΔtoxRSis solely due to OmpU. To our knowledge, the orogastric adult murine model reported here is the first showing sustained intestinal colonization byV. parahaemolyticus.