Article of Significant Interest Selected from This Issue by the Editors

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa Two-Component Regulator AlgR Directly Activates rsmA Expression in a Phosphorylation-Independent Manner

AlgR and RsmA are both important regulators of Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence. Stacey et al. (e00048-17) determined that AlgR binds a recently discovered promoter in a phosphorylation-independent manner, increasing RsmA levels. Interestingly, RsmA activity in mucA mutant strains was increased due to AlgR activation, as demonstrated using two known RsmA targets, hcnA and tssA1. This group is the first to report RsmA activity in mucA mutant strains. Therefore, another facet of AlgR regulation can be through activation of the posttranscriptional regulator RsmA. Altogether, these studies link the alginate regulatory system and the RsmA regulatory network.