High-Affinity Chemotaxis to Histamine Mediated by the TlpQ Chemoreceptor of the Human Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Abstract

Genome analyses indicate that many bacteria possess an elevated number of chemoreceptors, suggesting that these species are able to perform chemotaxis to a wide variety of compounds. The scientific community is now only beginning to explore this diversity and to elucidate the corresponding physiological relevance. The discovery of histamine chemotaxis in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa provides insight into tactic movements that occur within the host. Since histamine is released in response to bacterial pathogens, histamine chemotaxis may permit bacterial migration and accumulation at infection sites, potentially modulating, in turn, quorum-sensing-mediated processes and the expression of virulence genes. As a consequence, the modulation of histamine chemotaxis by signal analogues may result in alterations of the bacterial virulence. As the first report of bacterial histamine chemotaxis, this study lays the foundation for the exploration of the physiological relevance of histamine chemotaxis and its role in pathogenicity.