ClpV3 affects pathogenicity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

ClpV3 is a cytoplasmic AAA+ ATPase protein and is an essential component of H3-T6SS in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Here, we report that an H3-T6SS deletion mutant PAO1(ΔclpV3) significantly affected the virulence-related phenotypes including pyocyanin production, biofilm formation, proteolytic activity and motilities. Most interestingly, the expression of T3SS genes was markedly affected, indicating a strong link between H3-T6SS and T3SS. RNA-Sequencing was performed to globally identify the genes differentially expressed when H3-T6SS was inactivated and the results obtained could be well correlated to the observed phenotypes. Gene expression was compared between wild-type P. aeruginosa PAO1 and clpV3 deletion mutant.