Trehalose-6-phosphate-mediated phenotypic change in Acinetobacter baumannii

Josephine Joy Hubloher, Sabine Zeidler, Pedro Lamosa, Helena Santos, Beate Averhoff, Volker Müller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The stress protectant trehalose is synthesized in Acinetobacter baumannii from UPD-glucose and glucose-6-phosphase via the OtsA/OtsB pathway. Previous studies proved that deletion of otsB led to a decreased virulence, the inability to grow at 45°C and a slight reduction of growth at high salinities indicating that trehalose is the cause of these phenotypes. We have questioned this conclusion by producing ∆otsA and ∆otsBA mutants and studying their phenotypes. Only deletion of otsB, but not deletion of otsA or otsBA, led to growth impairments at high salt and high temperature. The intracellular concentrations of trehalose and trehalose-6-phosphate were measured by NMR or enzymatic assay. Interestingly, none of the mutants accumulated trehalose any more but the ∆otsB mutant with its defect in trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase activity accumulated trehalose-6-phosphate. Moreover, expression of otsA in a ∆otsB background under conditions where trehalose synthesis is not induced led to growth inhibition and the accumulation of trehalose-6-phosphate. Our results demonstrate that trehalose-6-phosphate affects multiple physiological activities in A. baumannii ATCC 19606.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5156-5166
Number of pages11
JournalEnvironmental Microbiology
Volume22
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020

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