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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2007, p. 4964-4968, Vol. 189, No. 13
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00310-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Diffusible Signal Factor-Dependent Cell-Cell Signaling and Virulence in the Nosocomial Pathogen Stenotrophomonas maltophilia{triangledown}

Yvonne Fouhy,1 Karl Scanlon,1,{dagger} Katherine Schouest,2 Charles Spillane,2 Lisa Crossman,3 Matthew B. Avison,4 Robert P. Ryan,1 and J. Maxwell Dow1*

BIOMERIT Research Centre, Department of Microbiology, BioSciences Institute, National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland,1 Department of Biochemistry, BioSciences Institute, National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland,2 Pathogen Sequencing Unit, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, United Kingdom,3 University of Bristol, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, United Kingdom4

Received 2 March 2007/ Accepted 17 April 2007


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ABSTRACT
 
The genome of Stenotrophomonas maltophilia encodes a cell-cell signaling system that is highly related to the diffusible signal factor (DSF)-dependent system of the phytopathogen Xanthomonas campestris. Here we show that in S. maltophilia, DSF signaling controls factors contributing to the virulence and antibiotic resistance of this important nosocomial pathogen.


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TEXT
 
Stenotrophomonas maltophilia is a gram-negative bacterium that is widespread in the environment and that has become important in the last 15 years as an emerging opportunistic pathogen associated with nosocomial colonization and infection (9, 23, 36). S. maltophilia is frequently isolated from clinical specimens and is implicated in catheter-related bacteremia and septicemia, urinary and respiratory tract infections, and endocarditis (9, 23, 36). Infections occur in cystic fibrosis and burn patients and are common in individuals with impaired defenses who are susceptible to opportunistic infections. The treatment of S. maltophilia infections is problematic, as isolates are resistant to many clinically useful antibiotics. A number of laboratories have begun to address the molecular bases for the broad antibiotic resistance and for virulence in S. maltophilia (14, 25, 29, 31, 34, 48). Cell-cell signaling is known to regulate diverse functions that contribute to the virulence and persistence of bacterial pathogens of both animals and plants (43, 45). However cell-cell signaling systems in S. maltophilia have not yet been described, and their role (if any) in regulation of these properties has therefore not been tested.

S. maltophilia is related to plant pathogens in the bacterial genera Xanthomonas and Xylella (26). In Xanthomonas campestris, cell-cell signaling mediated by the diffusible signal molecule diffusible signal factor (DSF) controls virulence factor synthesis and virulence to plants (3). DSF has been characterized as cis-11-methyl-2-dodecenoic acid (44). DSF synthesis is fully dependent on RpfF, which has some amino acid sequence similarity to enoyl coenzyme A hydratases and is partially dependent on RpfB, a long-chain fatty acyl coenzyme A ligase (3). DSF perception involves a two-component regulatory system, comprising the complex sensor RpfC and response regulator RpfG (37). The rpfG and rpfC genes are transcribed as the rpfGHC operon, although RpfH has no apparent role in signaling. A similar signaling system involving DSF or a DSF-like molecule occurs in Xylella fastidiosa (6, 27, 35). These Rpf/DSF signaling systems control interactions of Xanthomonas spp. with plants (4, 20, 28, 41), the interaction of Xylella with both its plant host and insect vector (27), the production of extracellular enzyme virulence factors and antibiotic resistance mechanisms in Xanthomonas (3, 15, 37, 40), and the formation of biofilms and adhesion in both genera (7, 11, 27). The relatedness of S. maltophilia to these plant pathogens prompted us to examine this organism for the presence and role of a DSF-dependent signaling system.

Evidence for the occurrence of the DSF signaling system in S. maltophilia was provided by both bioinformatic and experimental studies of the clinical isolate K279a (Table 1). The genome sequence of this organism (http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/S_maltophilia/) was interrogated with the RpfF amino acid sequence of X. campestris by using tBLASTn (1), and a DNA sequence of approximately 8 kb (to include flanking genes) was analyzed using FramePlot (21). This indicated the presence of an rpfBFCG gene cluster, related to that found in X. campestris (Fig. 1). In BLASTP comparisons, the S. maltophilia proteins showed very high amino acid sequence similarity to their homologues in X. campestris; E values were all lower than 10–127. The percentage of identical amino acids ranged from 65% (RpfC) to 85% (RpfG), and the percentage of similar amino acids ranged from 77% (RpfC) to 93% (RpfG). No homologue of rpfH was found in S. maltophilia (Fig. 1).


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  		TABLE 1. Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study


Figure 1
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  		FIG. 1. Physical map of the part of the rpf gene cluster from rpfB to rpfG in Xanthomonas campestris and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia K279a. The organization of ORFs predicted by sequence analysis together with predicted directions of transcription are indicated by the broad arrows. The positions of the experimentally determined transcriptional start sites in X. campestris (37) together with the predicted transcripts are shown as single arrows. The sequence data for S. maltophilia were produced by the S. maltophilia K279a Sequencing Group at the Sanger Institute and can be obtained from http://www.sanger.ac.uk/Projects/S_maltophilia/).

DSF can be assayed by measuring the restoration of endoglucanase activity to the X. campestris rpfF mutant strain 8523 by extracts from culture supernatants (Table 1) (3). Using this bioassay, DSF activity was detected in culture supernatants of S. maltophilia K279a (Fig. 2A). Furthermore, the rpfF gene from S. maltophilia K279a when introduced into the rpfF mutant of X. campestris directed DSF production and concomitantly restored the synthesis of the extracellular enzymes endoglucanase and protease (Fig. 2B). For these experiments, the rpfF gene with its promoter was amplified by PCR using the primers RPFFCOMF (5'-GGATCCGGGTCTTTTTATTGCCGGAAC-3') and RPFFCOMR (5'-AAGGCTTTCAATGGTGATGGTGGTGGTCCGGGTCGCCATTGC-3') and the DNA fragment cloned into the TOPO vector (Table 1). The rpfF gene was excised as a BamHI-HindIII fragment and ligated into pLAFR3 (39) cut with the same enzymes. This resulting construct was introduced into X. campestris by triparental mating.


Figure 2
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  		FIG. 2. (A) DSF activity in culture supernatants of strains of S. maltophilia K279a and X. campestris. Extracts were assayed using a Xanthomonas bioassay in which restoration of endoglucanase activity to an rpfF mutant is measured (3). Error bars indicate standard deviations. (B) Introduction of the rpfF gene from S. maltophilia K279a restores the synthesis of protease to the rpfF mutant of X. campestris. Enzyme activity was assessed by zones of clearing produced after growth of bacteria on skim milk agar plates. Left panel, protease production in wild-type X. campestris (Xcc 8004) and the rpfF mutant (Xcc {Delta}rpfF). Right panel, protease production by X. campestris {Delta}rpfF carrying the S. maltophilia rpfF gene cloned in pLAFR3. The vector alone had a small effect.

To assess the role of DSF signaling in S. maltophilia K279a, the rpfF gene was inactivated by directed insertion of a suicide vector. An internal fragment of the rpfF gene was amplified using the primers PEX18RPFF-F (5'-TGACATCGTCGACGACTACCAGC-3') and PEX18RPFF-R (5'-GGCTTTCCTTGATCACCTGT-3') and was cloned into the TOPO (Invitrogen) vector (Table 1). This fragment was excised with EcoRI and ligated into the suicide plasmid pEX18Tc. This construct was introduced into S. maltophilia K279a by triparental mating. The mating mixture was plated on NYGA medium containing tetracycline (125 µg ml–1) to select for mutants. Candidate strains were analyzed by colony PCR using the primers Con-F (5'-TTGCGTATTGGGCGCTCTTCC-3') and Con-R (5'-ACGATGATCGGCCTGTCGCT-3') to confirm disruption of the rpfF gene by the suicide vector. As expected, disruption of rpfF in S. maltophilia K279a led to a loss of DSF synthesis as assayed using the X. campestris rpfF mutant reporter strain 8523(Fig. 2A).

The disruption of DSF signaling had pleiotropic effects in S. maltophilia K279a. The rpfF mutant had severely reduced motility (Fig. 3A), reduced levels of extracellular protease (Fig. 3B), and altered lipopolysaccharide (LPS) profiles (Fig. 3C) and formed aggregates when grown in L medium (Fig. 3d). Mutation of rpfF also led to reduced tolerance to a range of antibiotics and heavy metals (Table 2), as measured by growth of bacteria on agar plates supplemented with these agents at a range of concentrations. Effects on aggregative behavior were further tested by examination of microcolony formation in artificial sputum medium (ASM+ medium), which has been developed to mimic growth of bacteria (in particular Pseudomonas aeruginosa) in the cystic fibrosis lung (38). Under these growth conditions, the wild-type S. maltophilia formed microcolonies, although the rpfF mutant did not (Fig. 4).


Figure 3
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  		FIG. 3. Loss of DSF signaling through mutation of rpfF has a pleiotropic effect in S. maltophilia. The rpfF mutant shows reduced swimming motility in 0.1% Eiken agar (A), reduced production of extracellular protease (B), altered LPS as revealed by different mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of LPS extracted with hot phenol from the wild type (lanes1 and 3) and the rpfF mutant (lanes 2 and 4) and detected by silver staining (the bands of high mobility are probably lipid A attached to core oligosaccharides, whereas those with lower mobility have an additional O-antigen attachment) (C), and aggregation when grown in L medium, where the wild type grows in a dispersed fashion (D).


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  		TABLE 2. Influence of rpfF mutation on antibiotic and heavy metal tolerance of S. maltophilia K279a


Figure 4
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  		FIG. 4. DSF has a role in microcolony formation by S. maltophilia K279a. Bacteria were grown in ASM+ medium (30) in microtiter plates. (A) S. maltophilia K279a; (B) S. maltophilia K279a rpfF; (C) S. maltophilia K279a rpfF with added DSF; (D) Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (positive control).

The phenotypic effects of rpfF mutation in S. maltophilia could be reversed by addition of exogenous DSF. Addition of synthetic DSF from X. campestris (44) at 1 µM or extracts from wild-type S. maltophilia to cultures of the S. maltophilia rpfF mutant of an equivalent volume restored microcolony formation in ASM+ medium (Fig. 4). Addition of DSF to cultures of the rpfF mutant also allowed wild-type planktonic growth in L medium (data not shown), restored swimming motility (Fig. 5A), and restored the production of extracellular protease to wild-type levels (Fig. 5B).


Figure 5
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  		FIG. 5. (A) Addition of DSF to agar plates restores swimming motility to the S. maltophilia rpfF mutant. (B) Addition of DSF to cultures grown in NYG medium (42) restores protease production to the S. maltophilia rpfF mutant to wild-type levels. Addition of DSF to the wild type further increased protease production. Enzyme activity in culture supernatants grown to an optical density at 600 nm of 2.0 was assayed by development of a clear zone on skim milk agar plates.

The above findings demonstrated the influence of DSF signaling on LPS structure, protease synthesis, and aggregative behavior, which are functions that are known or suspected to be involved in S. maltophilia virulence (10, 13, 19, 25, 46). This prompted us to test the effect of rpfF mutation on S. maltophilia virulence using a nematode model (8, 22, 24). Wild-type S. maltophilia K279a killed almost all of the N2 Caenorhabditis elegans in the assay within 24 h (Table 3). As judged by measurements after 12 h, the killing effect was similar to that caused by P. aeruginosa PA14. In contrast the rpfF mutant of S. maltophilia K279a did not kill any nematodes after 12 h and produced relatively limited killing after 24 h. These findings suggest that DSF signaling contributes to the virulence of S. maltophilia.


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  		TABLE 3. Virulence of bacterial strains on Caenorhabditis elegans N2a

A number of other isolates of S. maltophilia and one of Stenotrophomonas rhizophila obtained from both clinical and environmental sources (Table 1) were surveyed for the presence of the rpfF gene by PCR and for the production of the DSF signal using the Xanthomonas bioassay. PCR analysis indicated the presence of the rpfF gene in all strains tested. DSF production was also detected in all strains of S. maltophilia with the exception of e-p20, although there was variation in the level, with some strains (c6 and e-p3) having little detectable activity (data not shown). Taken together, these findings indicate that DSF signaling is conserved in Stenotrophomonas isolates.

The work in this study suggests that DSF signaling in S. maltophilia has a role in the regulation of a number of functions that contribute to antibiotic resistance and to the virulence of this organism in a nematode model. Our findings thus add to a body of work that indicates a role for cell-cell signaling in the virulence of diverse bacterial pathogens. Interference with such signaling processes affords a rational approach to aid the treatment of bacterial infections (5, 16). However, one limitation of such an approach is that strain-dependent differences in the role of cell-cell signaling can occur. In this context, a study of DSF signaling and its role in a wider number of S. maltophilia isolates is warranted.


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 
The work in the BIOMERIT Research Centre is supported by a Principal Investigator Award from the Science Foundation of Ireland to J. M. Dow.


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FOOTNOTES
 
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: BIOMERIT Research Centre, Department of Microbiology, BioSciences Institute, National University of Ireland, Cork, Ireland. Phone: 353-21-4901316. Fax: 353-21-4275934. E-mail: m.dow{at}ucc.ie Back

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 27 April 2007. Back

{dagger} Present address: Ashtown Food Research Centre, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland. Back


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Journal of Bacteriology, July 2007, p. 4964-4968, Vol. 189, No. 13
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00310-07
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