An essential role of a ferritin-like protein in acid stress tolerance of Listeria monocytogenes.

Milecka, Dorota; Samluk, Anna; Wasiak, Katarzyna; Krawczyk-Balska, Agata

The expression of ten genes of Listeria monocytogenes previously identified as penicillin G-inducible was transcriptionally analyzed in the presence of 0.5 M KCl, pH 5.0 and 42 °C. This study revealed that all the genes are upregulated by osmotic stress, seven by acid stress and four by temperature stress conditions. The contribution of a gene encoding a ferritin-like protein ( fri), a two-component phosphate-response regulator ( phoP) and an AraC/XylS family transcription regulator ( axyR) to temperature, acid and osmotic stress tolerance was further examined by analysis of nonpolar deletion mutants. This revealed that a lack of PhoP or AxyR does not affect the ability to grow under the tested stress conditions. However, the Δ fri strain showed slightly delayed growth under osmotic and clearly impaired growth under acid stress conditions, indicating an important role of the ferritin-like protein in acid stress tolerance.

LISTERIA monocytogenes; PROTEIN analysis; BIOCOMPATIBILITY; GENETIC transcription; DELETION mutation

Archives of Microbiology, 2015, Vol 197, Issue 2, p347

0302-8933

Academic Journal

10.1007/s00203-014-1053-4