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Ruiqing Ma and Qiyao Wang
East China University of Science and Technology, China
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Microbio and Biotech Rept
Horizontal acquired genes play important roles in bacterial chromosome evolution and they are typically grouped together in blocks termed genomic islands. Transposon Insertion Sequencing (TIS) is a powerful high-throughput genetic technology that facilitates exploration of conditionally essential genes. Using this technique, a horizontal acquired gene named enrR was identified in Edwardsiella piscicida, which is one of the chief infectious threats for farm-raised fish. The mutant of enrR can decrease the expression of whole T3SS and T6SS gene islands, thereby attenuate its virulence in host. With comprehensive analysis of its function by ChIPseq and RNA-seq, we discovered an interesting phenomenon that the working areas of protein EnrR in genome are closed to GIs (genomic islands) and EnrR can repress their expression by binding to their nearby regions. We finally identified EnrR as a nucleoid associated protein with non-specific DNA binding ability and DNA aggregation ability in vitro and its binding ability with DNA is dependent on the length of DNA fragments. As a horizontal transfer regulator, EnrR can also enhance virulence in Salmonella. Our study discovered a universal significant horizontal-transferred virulence activator, which deepens our understanding for bacterial virulence evolution.
Ruiqing Ma is a PhD student of East China University of Science and Technology focusing on marine pathogenic microorganism. He devotes to identify new virulence regulator using sequencing technology including TIS, ChIP-seq and RNA-seq, which is used for developing new attenuated live vaccine. His project is focused on Edwardsiella piscicida that is a bane for aquaculture industry.
E-mail: rqma2014@126.com
