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Comparative Bioinformatics and Experimental Analysis of the Intergenic Regulatory Regions of Bacillus cereus hbl and nhe Enterotoxin Operons and the Impact of CodY on Virulence Heterogeneity

Overview of attention for article published in Frontiers in Microbiology, May 2016
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Title
Comparative Bioinformatics and Experimental Analysis of the Intergenic Regulatory Regions of Bacillus cereus hbl and nhe Enterotoxin Operons and the Impact of CodY on Virulence Heterogeneity
Published in
Frontiers in Microbiology, May 2016
DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2016.00768
Pubmed ID
Authors

Maria-Elisabeth Böhm, Viktoria M. Krey, Nadja Jeßberger, Elrike Frenzel, Siegfried Scherer

Abstract

Bacillus cereus is a food contaminant with greatly varying enteropathogenic potential. Almost all known strains harbor the genes for at least one of the three enterotoxins Nhe, Hbl, and CytK. While some strains show no cytotoxicity, others have caused outbreaks, in rare cases even with lethal outcome. The reason for these differences in cytotoxicity is unknown. To gain insight into the origin of enterotoxin expression heterogeneity in different strains, the architecture and role of 5' intergenic regions (5' IGRs) upstream of the nhe and hbl operons was investigated. In silico comparison of 142 strains of all seven phylogenetic groups of B. cereus sensu lato proved the presence of long 5' IGRs upstream of the nheABC and hblCDAB operons, which harbor recognition sites for several transcriptional regulators, including the virulence regulator PlcR, redox regulators ResD and Fnr, the nutrient-sensitive regulator CodY as well as the master regulator for biofilm formation SinR. By determining transcription start sites, unusually long 5' untranslated regions (5' UTRs) upstream of the nhe and hbl start codons were identified, which are not present upstream of cytK-1 and cytK-2. Promoter fusions lacking various parts of the nhe and hbl 5' UTR in B. cereus INRA C3 showed that the entire 331 bp 5' UTR of nhe is necessary for full promoter activity, while the presence of the complete 606 bp hbl 5' UTR lowers promoter activity. Repression was caused by a 268 bp sequence directly upstream of the hbl transcription start. Luciferase activity of reporter strains containing nhe and hbl 5' IGR lux fusions provided evidence that toxin gene transcription is upregulated by the depletion of free amino acids. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that the branched-chain amino acid sensing regulator CodY binds to both nhe and hbl 5' UTR downstream of the promoter, potentially acting as a nutrient-responsive roadblock repressor of toxin gene transcription. PlcR binding sites are highly conserved among all B. cereus sensu lato strains, indicating that this regulator does not significantly contribute to the heterogeneity in virulence potentials. The CodY recognition sites are far less conserved, perhaps conferring varying strengths of CodY binding, which might modulate toxin synthesis in a strain-specific manner.

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Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 34 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 34 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 9 26%
Researcher 5 15%
Student > Master 4 12%
Student > Bachelor 4 12%
Unspecified 1 3%
Other 2 6%
Unknown 9 26%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 8 24%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 7 21%
Immunology and Microbiology 3 9%
Medicine and Dentistry 2 6%
Environmental Science 1 3%
Other 2 6%
Unknown 11 32%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 03 June 2016.
All research outputs
#18,459,684
of 22,873,031 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Microbiology
#19,380
of 24,892 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#250,528
of 334,086 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Microbiology
#414
of 563 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,873,031 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 11th percentile – i.e., 11% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 24,892 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.3. This one is in the 9th percentile – i.e., 9% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 563 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 15th percentile – i.e., 15% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.