Evolutionary trade-off between heat shock resistance, growth at high temperature, and virulence expression in Salmonella Typhimurium

Berdejo, Daniel (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Mortier, Julien ; Cambré, Alexander ; Sobota, Malgorzata ; Van Eyken, Ronald ; Kim, Tom Dongmin ; Vanoirbeek, Kristof ; García Gonzalo, Diego (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Pagán, Rafael (Universidad de Zaragoza) ; Diard, Médéric ; Aertsen, Abram

Resumen: Understanding the evolutionary dynamics of foodborne pathogens throughout our food production chain is of utmost importance. In this study, we reveal that Salmonella Typhimurium can readily and reproducibly acquire vastly increased heat shock resistance upon repeated exposure to heat shock. Counterintuitively, this boost in heat shock resistance was invariantly acquired through loss-of-function mutations in the dnaJ gene, encoding a heat shock protein that acts as a molecular co-chaperone of DnaK and enables its role in protein folding and disaggregation. As a trade-off, however, the acquisition of heat shock resistance inevitably led to attenuated growth at 37°C and higher temperatures. Interestingly, loss of DnaJ also downregulated the activity of the master virulence regulator HilD, thereby lowering the fraction of virulence-expressing cells within the population and attenuating virulence in mice. By connecting heat shock resistance evolution to attenuation of HilD activity, our results confirm the complex interplay between stress resistance and virulence in Salmonella Typhimurium.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1128/mbio.03105-23

Año: 2024

Publicado en: MBIO 15, 3 (2024), 03105-23 [14 pp.]
ISSN: 2161-2129

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCINN/FPU15-02703
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/PID2021-123404NB-I00

Tipo y forma: Article (Published version)

Área (Departamento): Área Nutrición Bromatología (Dpto. Produc.Animal Cienc.Ali.)
Área (Departamento): Área Tecnología de Alimentos (Dpto. Produc.Animal Cienc.Ali.)