Novel pathways converge with quorum sensing to regulate plant and insect host-specific factors inErwinia carotovora
Authors: Vieira Filipe J. D. , Teixeira Luís , Xavier Karina B. 
Published: March 2023

Erwinia carotovora Ecc15is a vector-borne phytopathogen that relies on insects to be transmitted between plant hosts. To interact with its hosts, this bacterium depends on host-specific bacterial traits. Plant tissue maceration depends on production of plant cell wall degrading enzymes (PCWDE), while survival in the digestive tract of the insect requires theErwiniavirulence factor (evf). Evf expression is responsible for the cost ofEcc15infection inDrosophila melanogasterand overexpression is lethal to the insect host. Therefore, its expression must be well controlled. Expression ofevfand PCWDEs is co-regulated by quorum sensing via the transcriptional regulator Hor. Since virulence factors are often controlled by multiple signals, we asked which additional factors regulateevfexpression. Using a genetic screen, we identified the sensor histidine kinasearcBand a new TetR-like regulator (named herein aslvtR, afterLowVirulenceTranscriptionalRepressor), as novel regulators not only ofevf, but also ofpelA, which encodes a major PCWDE. We further demonstrate thatarcBandlvtRmutants have reduced plant tissue maceration and reduced development delay and lethality inDrosophila melanogaster, compared to wild-type bacteria. Thus showing the importance of these regulators in the establishment ofErwinia-host-vector interactions. We also found that ArcB and LvtR regulation converges on Hor, independently of quorum sensing, to co-regulate expression of both plant and insect bacterial interaction factors during plant infection. Taken together, our results reveal a novel regulatory hub that enablesEcc15to integrate quorum sensing responses and environmental cues to co-regulate traits required for infection of both the plant and the insect vector. Moreover, we show that ArcB regulation of bacteria-host interaction processes is conserved in other bacteria.

Author Summary

Vector-borne pathogens depend on continuous cycles of replication and transmission between hosts and vectors, requiring multiple factors to interact with each of the hosts. The expression of these multiple interaction factors can be very costly, so it is expected that regulation of virulence has been evolutionarily tuned to produce expressions patterns that minimize the cost of establishing the infection while maximizing transmission efficiency of the pathogen. Here, we investigate the tripartite interaction betweenEcc15, a plant and an insect, and show that quorum sensing, a widely conserved sensory regulatorarcBand a regulator of previously unknown function,lvtR, converge to simultaneously co-regulate the expression of bacterial factors required for these interactions. Gene expression regulation is channeled through the conserved regulator Hor, which serves as a molecular hub for the integration of these multiple signals. Our data suggest that integration of multiple signals to co-regulate plant and insect associated factors ensure fine-tune titration of gene expression and maximization of bacterial energetic resources.