QseA regulation of virulence factors in EHEC

Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) colonizes the large intestine and causes attaching and effacing lesions (AE). Most of the genes involved in the formation of AE lesions are encoded within a chromosomal pathogenicity island termed the Locus of Enterocyte Effacement (LEE). The LysR-like transcriptional factor QseA regulates the LEE by binding directly to the regulatory region of ler. Here, we performed transcriptome analyses comparing WT EHEC and the isogenic qseA mutant in order to elucidate the extent of QseA’s role in gene regulation in EHEC. The following results compare genes that were up-regulated and down-regulated ! 2-fold in the qseA mutant strain compared to the WT strain. At mid-exponential growth, 222 genes were up-regulated and 1874 were downregulated. At late-exponential growth, a total of 55 genes were up-regulated and 605 genes were down-regulated. During mid-exponential growth, QseA represses its own transcription, whereas during late-logarithmic growth, QseA activates expression of the LEE genes as well as non-LEE encoded effector proteins. During both growth phases, several genes carried in O-islands, were activated by QseA, whereas genes involved in cell metabolism were repressed. We also performed electrophoretic mobility shift assays, competition experiments, and DNAseI footprints, and the results suggested that QseA directly binds both the ler proximal and distal promoters, its own promoter, as well as promoters of genes encoded in EHEC-specific O-islands. Additionally, we mapped the transcriptional start site of qseA, leading to the identification of two promoter sequences. Taken together, these results indicate that QseA acts as a global regulator in EHEC, coordinating expression of virulence genes. Design of the study was to make the knockout of the qseA gene and compare the transcriptional response to that and the wild type.