Roles of the Hcp family proteins in the pathogenicity of Salmonella typhimurium 14028s

ABSTRACT

The type VI secretion system (T6SS) is a new secretion system that is widely distributed among Gram-negative bacteria. The core component hemolysin-coregulated protein (Hcp) can be used as both its structural protein and secretory protein or chaperone protein. Studies on Hcp are important to elucidate the overall virulence mechanism of T6SS. Salmonella typhimurium is an important foodborne pathogen. There are three copies of hcp genes identified in S. Typhimurium 14028s. This study aimed to characterize the functions of the three Hcp family proteins and to elucidate the interactions among them. The hcp gene deletion mutants were constructed by λ Red-based recombination system. Effects of hcp mutation on the pathogenicity of 14028s were studied by bacterial competition assays, Dictyostelium discoideum assays and mouse model. The three Hcp family proteins were found to play different roles. Hcp1 can affect the transcription of rpoS and type 2 flagellar gene and influence the motility of 14028s. It is also involved in the intracellular survival of 14028s in Dictyostelium discoideum; Hcp2 is involved in the early proliferative capacity of 14028s in mice and can prevent its excessive proliferation; Hcp3 did not show direct functions in these assays. Hcp1 can interact with Hcp2 and Hcp3. Deletion of one hcp gene can result in a transcription level variation in the other two hcp genes. Our findings elucidated the functions of the three Hcp family proteins in S.Typhimurium and illustrated that there are interactions between different Hcp proteins. This study will be helpful to fully understand how T6SS actions in an organism.

KEYWORDS:

• Salmonella typhimurium
• type VI secretion system(T6SS)
• hemolysin-coregulatory protein (Hcp)
• virulence
• flagella

Authors’ contributions

QHZ and LL conceived and designed research. PW conducted experiments. RQL and JFD contributed new reagents or analytical tools. PW performed the experiments and analyzed the data. QHZ and PW wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by grants of National Natural Science Foundation of China to QHZ [NSFC 81572041].