In this study, we cloned and sequenced a virulence-associated gene (vacB) from a clinical isolate SSU of Aeromonas hydrophila. We identified this gene based on our recently annotated genome sequence of the environmental isolate ATCC 7966 T of A. hydrophila and the vacB gene of Shigella flexneri. The A. hydrophila VacB protein contained 798 amino acid residues, had a molecular mass of 90.5 kDa, and exhibited an exoribonuclease (RNase R) activity. The RNase R of A. hydrophila was a cold-shock protein and was required for bacterial growth at low temperature. The vacB isogenic mutant, which we developed by homologous recombination using marker exchange mutagenesis, was unable to grow at 4°C. In contrast, the wild-type (WT) A. hydrophila exhibited significant growth at this low temperature. Importantly, the vacB mutant was not defective in growth at 37°C. The vacB mutant also exhibited reduced motility, and these growth and motility phenotype defects were restored after complementation of the vacB mutant. The A. hydrophila RNase R-lacking strain was found to be less virulent in a mouse lethality model (70% survival) when given by the intraperitoneal route at as two 50% lethal doses (LD 50 ). On the other hand, the WT and complemented strains of A. hydrophila caused 80 to 90% of the mice to succumb to infection at the same LD 50 dose. Overall, this is the first report demonstrating the role of RNase R in modulating the expression of A. hydrophila virulence.A human diarrheal isolate SSU of Aeromonas hydrophila possesses various pathogenic mechanisms that contribute to the overall virulence of this bacterium in the host. Most importantly, our laboratory has described type II, type III, and type VI secretion system effector proteins that are involved in the disease state (gastroenteritis or septicemia) in animal models (11,15,17,21,32,(44)(45)(46)48). However, to better understand the full virulence potential of any pathogen, it is important to identify new pathogenic factors and/or mechanisms that could be involved in their virulence. This is crucial since the expression of different virulence genes could be contributing factors leading to disease depending upon the anatomical niche where the organisms colonize and the environment in those regions which dictates the differential expression of genes (18).Studies by Tobe et al. (50) identified a novel chromosomal gene, vacB, which was required for the production of S. flexneri virulence factors (e.g., IpaB, IpaC, IpaD, and VirG) from the large plasmid (230 kb) of this microorganism. More recently, it was shown that the vacB gene in S. flexneri and Escherichia coli strains encoded the 3Ј-5Ј exoribonuclease RNase R (10). The deduced size of VacB (virulence-associated) protein is approximately 92 kDa, and it is located at 95 min on the E. coli chromosome, a position consistent with the earlier mapping studies of the gene encoding RNase R (10). These investigators provided evidence that RNase R has an essential cell function, in addition to its role in bacterial virulence, an...

The present study deals with the binding and cleavage by EcoRII endonuclease of concatemer DNA duplexes containing EcoRII recognition sites (formula; see text) in which dT is replaced by dU or 5-bromodeoxyuridine, or 5'-terminal dC in the dT-containing strand is methylated at position 5. The enzyme molecule is found to interact with the methyl group of the dT residue of the DNA recognition site and to be at least in proximity to the H5 atom of the 5'-terminal dC residue in dT-containing strand of this site. Modification of any of these positions exerts an equal effects on the cleavage of both DNA strands. Endonuclease EcoRII was found to bind the substrate specifically. At the same time modification of the bases in recognized sequence may result in the formation of unproductive, though stable, enzyme-substrate complexes.

Aeromonas hydrophila is both a human and animal pathogen, and the cytotoxic enterotoxin (Act) is a crucial virulence factor of this bacterium because of its associated hemolytic, cytotoxic, and enterotoxic activities. Previously, to define the role of some regulatory genes in modulating Act production, we showed that deletion of a glucose-inhibited division gene (gidA) encoding tRNA methylase reduced Act levels, while overproduction of DNA adenine methyltransferase (Dam) led to a concomitant increase in Act-associated biological activities of a diarrheal isolate SSU of A. hydrophila. Importantly, there are multiple GATC binding sites for Dam within an upstream sequence of the gidA gene and one such target site in the act gene upstream region. We showed the dam gene to be essential for the viability of A. hydrophila SSU, and, therefore, to better understand the interaction of the encoding genes, Dam and GidA, in act gene regulation, we constructed a gidA in-frame deletion mutant of Escherichia coli GM28 (dam+) and GM33 (Δdam) strains. We then tested the expressional activity of the act and gidA genes by using a promoterless pGlow-TOPO vector containing a reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP). Our data indicated that in GidA+ strains of E. coli, constitutive methylation of the GATC site(s) by Dam negatively regulated act and gidA gene expression as measured by GFP production. However, in the ΔgidA strains, irrespective of the presence or absence of constitutively active Dam, we did not observe any alteration in the expression of the act gene signifying the role of GidA in positively regulating Act production. To determine the exact mechanism of how Dam and GidA influence Act, a real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) assay was performed. The analysis indicated an increase in gidA and act gene expression in the A. hydrophila Dam-overproducing strain, and these data matched with Act production in the E. coli GM28 strain. Thus, the extent of DNA methylation caused by constitutive versus overproduction of Dam, as well as possible conformation of DNA influence the expression of act and gidA genes in A. hydrophila SSU. Our results indicate that the act gene is under the control of both Dam and GidA modification methylases, and Dam regulates Act production via GidA.

The genes for restriction-modification system EcoRII have been cloned from plasmid N3 DNA using RSF2124 as a vector plasmid. The hybrid plasmids designated pFK321 and pFK322 contained a 5.8 megadaltons EcoRI--fragment derived from N3 DNA including the genes for restriction-modification system EcoRII and a gene for resistance to sulfanilamide.

No abstract