1. Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
  2. Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Acidic pH and divalent cation sensing by PhoQ are dispensable for systemic salmonellae virulence

  1. Kevin G Hicks
  2. Scott Delbecq
  3. Enea Sancho-Vaello
  4. Marie-Pierre Blanc
  5. Katja K Dove
  6. Lynne R Prost
  7. Margaret E Daley
  8. Kornelius Zeth
  9. Rachel E Klevit
  10. Samuel I Miller  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Washington Medical School, United States
  2. Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Spain
  3. University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States
  4. University of San Diego, United States
  5. Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Germany
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06792
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Cite this article
  1. Kevin G Hicks
  2. Scott Delbecq
  3. Enea Sancho-Vaello
  4. Marie-Pierre Blanc
  5. Katja K Dove
  6. Lynne R Prost
  7. Margaret E Daley
  8. Kornelius Zeth
  9. Rachel E Klevit
  10. Samuel I Miller
(2015)
Acidic pH and divalent cation sensing by PhoQ are dispensable for systemic salmonellae virulence
eLife 4:e06792.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06792
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Abstract

Salmonellae PhoQ is a histidine kinase with a periplasmic sensor domain (PD) that promotes virulence by detecting the macrophage phagosome. PhoQ activity is repressed by divalent cations and induced in environments of acidic pH, limited divalent cations, and cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMP). Previously, it was unclear which signals are sensed by salmonellae to promote PhoQ-mediated virulence. We defined conformational changes produced in the PhoQ PD on exposure to acidic pH that indicate structural flexibility is induced in α-helices 4 and 5, suggesting this region contributes to pH sensing. Therefore, we engineered a disulfide bond between W104C and A128C in the PhoQ PD that restrains conformational flexibility in α-helices 4 and 5. PhoQW104C-A128C is responsive to CAMP, but is inhibited for activation by acidic pH and divalent cation limitation. phoQW104C-A128C Salmonella enterica Typhimurium are virulent in mice, indicating that acidic pH and divalent cation sensing by PhoQ are dispensable for virulence.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Kevin G Hicks

    Department of Microbiology, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Scott Delbecq

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Enea Sancho-Vaello

    Unidad de Biofísica, Centro Mixto Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Bizkaia, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Marie-Pierre Blanc

    Department of Microbiology, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Katja K Dove

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Lynne R Prost

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  7. Margaret E Daley

    Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of San Diego, San Diego, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  8. Kornelius Zeth

    Department of Protein Evolution, Max-Planck-Institut für Entwicklungsbiologie, Tübingen, Germany
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  9. Rachel E Klevit

    Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  10. Samuel I Miller

    Department of Microbiology, University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, United States
    For correspondence
    millersi@uw.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocol (2982-02) of the University of Washington.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Feng Shao, National Institute of Biological Sciences, China

Publication history

  1. Received: February 1, 2015
  2. Accepted: May 22, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: May 23, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: June 19, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2015, Hicks et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Kevin G Hicks
  2. Scott Delbecq
  3. Enea Sancho-Vaello
  4. Marie-Pierre Blanc
  5. Katja K Dove
  6. Lynne R Prost
  7. Margaret E Daley
  8. Kornelius Zeth
  9. Rachel E Klevit
  10. Samuel I Miller
(2015)
Acidic pH and divalent cation sensing by PhoQ are dispensable for systemic salmonellae virulence
eLife 4:e06792.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06792

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