Journal article
OpnS, an Outer Membrane Porin of Xenorhabdus nematophila, Confers a Competitive Advantage for Growth in the Insect Host
Journal of bacteriology, Vol.191(17), pp.5471-5479
09/01/2009
DOI: 10.1128/JB.00148-09
PMCID: PMC2725620
PMID: 19465651
Abstract
The gammaproteobacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila engages in a mutualistic association with an entomopathogenic nematode and also functions as a pathogen toward different insect hosts. We studied the role of the growth-phase-regulated outer membrane protein OpnS in host interactions. OpnS was shown to be a 16-stranded beta-barrel porin. opnS was expressed during growth in insect hemolymph and expression was elevated as the cell density increased. When wild-type and opnS deletion strains were coinjected into insects, the wild-type strain was predominantly recovered from the insect cadaver. Similarly, an opnS-complemented strain outcompeted the Delta opnS strain. Coinjection of the wild-type and Delta opnS strains together with uncolonized nematodes into insects resulted in nematode progeny that were almost exclusively colonized with the wild-type strain. Likewise, nematode progeny recovered after coinjection of a mixture of nematodes carrying either the wild-type or Delta opnS strain were colonized by the wild-type strain. In addition, the Delta opnS strain displayed a competitive growth defect when grown together with the wild-type strain in insect hemolymph but not in defined culture medium. The Delta opnS strain displayed increased sensitivity to antimicrobial compounds, suggesting that deletion of OpnS affected the integrity of the outer membrane. These findings show that the OpnS porin confers a competitive advantage for the growth and/or the survival of X. nematophila in the insect host and provides a new model for studying the biological relevance of differential regulation of porins in a natural host environment.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- OpnS, an Outer Membrane Porin of Xenorhabdus nematophila, Confers a Competitive Advantage for Growth in the Insect Host
- Creators
- Ransome van der Hoeven - University of Wisconsin–MilwaukeeSteven Forst - University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of bacteriology, Vol.191(17), pp.5471-5479
- DOI
- 10.1128/JB.00148-09
- PMID
- 19465651
- PMCID
- PMC2725620
- NLM abbreviation
- J Bacteriol
- ISSN
- 0021-9193
- eISSN
- 1067-8832
- Publisher
- Amer Soc Microbiology
- Number of pages
- 9
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2009
- Academic Unit
- Dental Research; Periodontics
- Record Identifier
- 9984738101202771
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