Biology (Jun 2024)

The Impact of Vp-Porin, an Outer Membrane Protein, on the Biological Characteristics and Virulence of Vibrio Parahaemolyticus

  • Jinyuan Che,
  • Qitong Fang,
  • Shaojie Hu,
  • Binghong Liu,
  • Lei Wang,
  • Xiu Fang,
  • Lekang Li,
  • Tuyan Luo,
  • Baolong Bao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/biology13070485
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 7
p. 485

Abstract

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Porins are crucial proteins located in the outer membrane that directly influence antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and virulence in bacteria. In this study, a porin gene (Vp-porin) was cloned in V. parahaemolyticus, and the function of Vp-Porin in biological characteristics and virulence was investigated. The results of sequence analysis showed that Vp-Porin is highly conserved in Vibrio spp., and the predicted 3D structure showed it could form a 20-strand transmembrane β-barrel domian. Membrane permeabilization provides evidence that the membrane integrity of ∆Vp-porin was damaged and the sensitivity to tetracycline, polymyxin B, rifampicin and cephalothin of ∆Vp-porin obviously increased. In addition, loss of Vp-porin damaged motility due to downregulated flagellar synthesis. In addition, ∆Vp-porin exhibited attenuated cytotoxicity to Tetrahymena. The relative survival rate of Tetrahymena infection with ∆Vp-porin was 86%, which is much higher than that with WT (49%). Taken together, the results of this study indicate that Vp-Porin in V. parahaemolyticus plays various roles in biological characteristics in membrane integrity, antimicrobial resistance and motility and contributes to virulence.

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