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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2009, p. 4582-4593, Vol. 191, No. 14
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00154-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

RsmC of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora Negatively Controls Motility, Extracellular Protein Production, and Virulence by Binding FlhD and Modulating Transcriptional Activity of the Master Regulator, FlhDC{triangledown}

Asita Chatterjee,* Yaya Cui, and Arun K. Chatterjee

Division of Plant Sciences, 108 Waters Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211

Received 4 February 2009/ Accepted 9 May 2009

RsmC and FlhDC are global regulators controlling extracellular proteins/enzymes, rsmB RNA, motility, and virulence of Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora. FlhDC, the master regulator of flagellar genes, controls these traits by positively regulating gacA, fliA, and rsmC and negatively regulating hexA. RsmC, on the other hand, is a negative regulator of extracellular proteins/enzymes, motility, and virulence since the deficiency of RsmC in FlhDC+ strain results in overproduction of extracellular proteins/enzymes, hypermotility, and hypervirulence. These phenotypes are abolished in an RsmC– FlhDC– double mutant. We show that RsmC interferes with FlhDC action. Indeed, the expression of all three targets (i.e., gacA, rsmC, and fliA) positively regulated in E. carotovora subsp. carotovora by FlhDC is inhibited by RsmC. RsmC also partly relieves the inhibition of hexA expression by FlhDC. The results of yeast two-hybrid analysis revealed that RsmC binds FlhD and FlhDC, but not FlhC. We propose that binding of RsmC with FlhD/FlhDC interferes with its regulatory functions and that RsmC acts as an anti-FlhD4FlhC2 factor. We document here for the first time that RsmC interferes with activation of fliA and motility in several members of the Enterobacteriaceae family. The extent of E. carotovora subsp. carotovora RsmC-mediated inhibition of FlhDC-dependent expression of fliA and motility varies depending upon enterobacterial species. The data presented here support the idea that differences in structural features in enterobacterial FlhD are responsible for differential susceptibility to E. carotovora subsp. carotovora RsmC action.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Plant Sciences, 108 Waters Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. Phone: (573) 882-1892. Fax: (573) 882-1467. E-mail: chatterjeeas{at}missouri.edu

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 15 May 2009.

Journal of Bacteriology, July 2009, p. 4582-4593, Vol. 191, No. 14
0021-9193/09/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00154-09
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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