Spermidine Is an Intercellular Signal Modulating T3SS Expression in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Qiqi Lin, Huishan Wang, Jiahui Huang, Zhiqing Liu, Qunyi Chen, Guohui Yu, Zeling Xu, Ping Chen, Zhibin Liang, Lian‐Hui Zhang
Abstract
Type III secretion system (T3SS) is one of the pivotal virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa responsible for evading phagocytosis, and secreting and translocating effectors into host cells. Previous studies underline the complicated and elaborate regulatory mechanisms of T3SS for the accurate, fast, and malicious pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa. Among these regulatory mechanisms, our previous study indicated that the spermidine from the host was vital to the host-pathogen interaction. However, the role of endogenous spermidine synthesized by P. aeruginosa on the regulation of T3SS expression is largely unknown. Here we reveal the role and regulatory network of endogenous spermidine synthesis in regulation of T3SS and bacterial virulence, showing that the spermidine is an important interspecies signal for modulating the virulence of P. aeruginosa through regulating T3SS expression.