luxS contributes to intramacrophage survival of Streptococcus agalactiae by positively affecting the expression of fruRKI operon

Abstract

The LuxS quorum sensing system is a widespread system employed by many bacteria for cell-to-cell communication. The luxS gene has been demonstrated to play a crucial role in intramacrophage survival of piscine Streptococcus agalactiae, but the underlying mechanism remains largely unknown. In this study, transcriptome analysis, followed by the luxS gene deletion and subsequent functional studies, confirmed that impaired bacterial survival inside macrophages due to the inactivation of luxS was associated with reduced transcription of the fruRKI operon, encoding the fructose-specific phosphotransferase system. Further, luxS was determined not to enhance the transcription of fruRKI operon by binding its promoter, but to upregulate the expression of this operon via affecting the binding ability of catabolite control protein A (CcpA) to the catabolite responsive element (cre) in the promoter of fruRKI. Collectively, our study identifies a novel and previously unappreciated role for luxS in bacterial intracellular survival, which may give a more thorough understanding of the immune evasion mechanism in S. agalactiae.