Intracellular glycosyl hydrolase PslG shapes bacterial cell fate, signaling, and the biofilm development of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Jingchao Zhang,
Huijun Wu,
Di Wang,
Lanxin Wang,
Yifan Cui,
Chenxi Zhang,
Kun Zhao,
Luyan Ma
Affiliations
Jingchao Zhang
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Huijun Wu
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Di Wang
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Lanxin Wang
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Yifan Cui
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Chenxi Zhang
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
Frontiers Science Center for Synthetic Biology and Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Biofilm formation is one of most important causes leading to persistent infections. Exopolysaccharides are usually a main component of biofilm matrix. Genes encoding glycosyl hydrolases are often found in gene clusters that are involved in the exopolysaccharide synthesis. It remains elusive about the functions of intracellular glycosyl hydrolase and why a polysaccharide synthesis gene cluster requires a glycosyl hydrolase-encoding gene. Here, we systematically studied the physiologically relevant role of intracellular PslG, a glycosyl hydrolase whose encoding gene is co-transcribed with 15 psl genes, which is responsible for the synthesis of exopolysaccharide PSL, a key biofilm matrix polysaccharide in opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We showed that lack of PslG or its hydrolytic activity in this opportunistic pathogen enhances the signaling function of PSL, changes the relative level of cyclic-di-GMP within daughter cells during cell division and shapes the localization of PSL on bacterial periphery, thus results in long chains of bacterial cells, fast-forming biofilm microcolonies. Our results reveal the important roles of intracellular PslG on the cell fate and biofilm development.
