ArticlePLoS pathogens2009
Caenorhabditis elegans semi-automated liquid screen reveals a specialized role for the chemotaxis gene cheB2 in Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 97 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trigger Factor inJournal of bacteriology · 2026Article
- Navigating bacterial motility through chemotaxis: from molecular mechanisms to physiological perspectives.Folia microbiologica · 2025Review
- Interplay between chemotaxis, quorum sensing, and metabolism regulates Escherichia coli-Salmonella Typhimurium interactions in vivo.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Swarm Autonomy: From Agent Functionalization to Machine Intelligence.Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) · 2025Review
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa breaches respiratory epithelia through goblet cell invasion in a microtissue model.Nature microbiology · 2024Article
- Origins of symbiosis: shared mechanisms underlying microbial pathogenesis, commensalism and mutualism of plants and animals.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2023Review
- Acquisition of Type I methyltransferase via horizontal gene transfer increases the drug resistance ofMicrobial genomics · 2023Article
- Metal Messengers: Communication in the Bacterial World through Transition-Metal-Sensing Two-Component Systems.Biochemistry · 2023Review
- Bacterial chemotaxis in human diseases.Trends in microbiology · 2023Review
- The ColR/S two-component system is a conserved determinant of host association across Pseudomonas species.The ISME journal · 2023Article
- The Cellular Abundance of Chemoreceptors, Chemosensory Signaling Proteins, Sensor Histidine Kinases, and Solute Binding Proteins ofInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- The Aer2 chemoreceptor from Vibrio vulnificus is a tri-PAS-heme oxygen sensor.Molecular microbiology · 2023Article
- New Roles for HAMP Domains: the Tri-HAMP Region of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Aer2 Controls Receptor Signaling and Cellular Localization.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- Article
- Leptospira interrogans Aer2: an Unusual Membrane-Bound PAS-Heme Oxygen Sensor.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- Flagella, Chemotaxis and Surface Sensing.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2022Article
- Multiple functions of flagellar motility and chemotaxis in bacterial physiology.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2021Review
- Histamine: A Bacterial Signal Molecule.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Ubiquitin-related processes and innate immunity in C. elegans.Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS · 2021Review
- ThePathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen that causes infections in a variety of animal and plant hosts. Caenorhabditis elegans is a simple model with which one can identify bacterial virulence genes. Previous studies with C. elegans have shown that depending on the growth medium, P. aeruginosa provokes different pathologies: slow or fast killing, lethal paralysis and red death. In this study, we developed a high-throughput semi-automated liquid-based assay such that an entire genome can readily be scanned for virulence genes in a short time period. We screened a 2,200-member STM mutant library generated in a cystic fibrosis airway P. aeruginosa isolate, TBCF10839. Twelve mutants were isolated each showing at least 70% attenuation in C. elegans killing. The selected mutants had insertions in regulatory genes, such as a histidine kinase sensor of two-component systems and a member of the AraC family, or in genes involved in adherence or chemotaxis. One mutant had an insertion in a cheB gene homologue, encoding a methylesterase involved in chemotaxis (CheB2). The cheB2 mutant was tested in a murine lung infection model and found to have a highly attenuated virulence. The cheB2 gene is part of the chemotactic gene cluster II, which was shown to be required for an optimal mobility in vitro. In P. aeruginosa, the main player in chemotaxis and mobility is the chemotactic gene cluster I, including cheB1. We show that, in contrast to the cheB2 mutant, a cheB1 mutant is not attenuated for virulence in C. elegans whereas in vitro motility and chemotaxis are severely impaired. We conclude that the virulence defect of the cheB2 mutant is not linked with a global motility defect but that instead the cheB2 gene is involved in a specific chemotactic response, which takes place during infection and is required for P. aeruginosa pathogenicity.
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