ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analyses of genomic regulators in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Regulatory networks including virulence-related transcriptional factors (TFs) determine bacterial pathogenicity in response to different environmental cues. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen of humans, recruits numerous TFs in quorum sensing (QS) system, type III secretion system (T3SS) and Type VI secretion system (T6SS) to mediate the pathogenicity. Although many virulence-related TFs have been illustrated individually, very little is known about their crosstalks and regulatory network. Here, based on chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) and transcriptome profiling (RNA-seq), we primarily focused on understanding the crosstalks of 20 virulence-related TFs, which led to construction of a virulence regulatory network named PAGnet (Pseudomonas aeruginosa Genomic integrated regulatory network), including 82 crosstalk targets. The PAGnet uncovered the intricate mechanism of virulence regulation and revealed master regulators in QS, T3SS and T6SS pathways. In particular, GacA and ExsA showed novel functions in QS and nitrogen metabolism. In addition, an online PAGnet platform was provided to analyze these TFs and more virulence factors. Taken together, the present study revealed the function-specific crosstalks of virulence regulatory network, which might provide new strategies for treating infections in P. aeruginosa in the future. Overall design: ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analyses of genomic regulators in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Please note that the processed data generated from both replicates is linked to the corresponding rep1 sample records.