Identification of a Putative Sensor Protein Involved in Regulation of Vesicle Production by a Hypervesiculating Bacterium,Shewanella vesiculosaHM13

Abstract

AbstractBacteria secrete and utilize nanoparticles, called extracellular membrane vesicles (EMVs), for survival in their growing environments. Therefore, the amount and components of EMVs should be tuned in response to the environment. However, how bacteria regulate vesiculation in response to the extracellular environment remains largely unknown. In this study, we identified a putative sensor protein, HM1275, involved in the induction of vesicle production in a hypervesiculating Gram-negative bacterium,Shewanella vesiculosaHM13. This protein was predicted to possess typical sensing and signaling domains of sensor proteins, such as methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins. Comparison of vesicle production between thehm1275-disrupted mutant and the parent strain revealed that HM1275 is involved in lysine-induced hypervesiculation. Moreover, HM1275 has sequence similarity to a biofilm dispersion protein, BdlA, ofPseudomonas aeruginosaPAO1, andhm1275disruption increased the amount of biofilm. Thus, this study showed that the induction of vesicle production and suppression of biofilm formation in response to lysine concentration are under the control of the same putative sensor protein.