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Vol. 180, Issue 13, 3410-3420, July 1, 1998
The V Antigen of Yersinia pestis
Regulates Yop Vectorial Targeting as Well as Yop Secretion through
Effects on YopB and LcrG
Matthew L.
Nilles,
Kenneth A.
Fields, and
Susan C.
Straley
Department of Microbiology and Immunology,
Chandler Medical Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington,
Kentucky 40536-0084
Yersinia pestis expresses a set of secreted proteins
called Yops and the bifunctional LcrV, which has both regulatory and antihost functions. Yops and LcrV expression and the activity of the
type III mechanism for their secretion are coordinately regulated by
environmental signals such as Ca2+ concentration and
eukaryotic cell contact. In vitro, Yops and LcrV are secreted into the
culture medium in the absence of Ca2+ as part of the
low-Ca2+ response (LCR). The LCR is induced in a tissue
culture model by contact with eukaryotic cells that results in Yop
translocation into cells and subsequent cytotoxicity. The secretion
mechanism is believed to indirectly regulate expression of
lcrV and yop operons by controlling the
intracellular concentration of a secreted negative regulator. LcrG, a
secretion-regulatory protein, is thought to block secretion of Yops and
LcrV, possibly at the inner face of the inner membrane. A recent model
proposes that when the LCR is induced, the increased expression of LcrV
yields an excess of LcrV relative to LcrG, and this is sufficient for
LcrV to bind LcrG and unblock secretion. To test this LcrG titration
model, LcrG and LcrV were expressed alone or together in a newly
constructed lcrG deletion strain, a
lcrG2
mutant, of Y. pestis that produces low levels of LcrV and
constitutively expresses and secretes Yops. Overexpression of LcrG in
this mutant background was able to block secretion and depress
expression of Yops in the presence of Ca2+ and to
dramatically decrease Yop expression and secretion in growth medium
lacking Ca2+. Overexpression of both LcrG and LcrV in the
lcrG2 strain restored wild-type levels of Yop expression
and Ca2+ control of Yop secretion. Surprisingly, when HeLa
cells were infected with the
lcrG2 strain, no
cytotoxicity was apparent and translocation of Yops was abolished. This
correlated with an altered distribution of YopB as measured by
accessibility to trypsin. These effects were not due to the absence of
LcrG, because they were alleviated by restoration of LcrV expression
and secretion alone. LcrV itself was found to enter HeLa cells in a
nonpolarized manner. These studies supported the LcrG titration model
of LcrV's regulatory effect at the level of Yop secretion and revealed
a further role of LcrV in the deployment of YopB, which in turn is
essential for the vectorial translocation of Yops into eukaryotic cells.
Copyright © 1998 by American Society for Microbiology
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