AUTHOR=Li Xiaoyan , Tian Feng , Zhang Binghui , Zhang Lishan , Chen Xiaomeng , Lin Xiaoke , Wang Yuqian , Lin Xiangmin , Liu Yanling 

TITLE=Quantitative proteomics analysis reveals an important role of the transcriptional regulator UidR in the bacterial biofilm formation of Aeromonas hydrophila

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2024.1380747

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2024.1380747

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Bacterial biofilm is a well-known characteristic that plays important roles in diverse physiological functions, whereas the current intrinsic regulatory mechanism of its formation is still largely unknown. </p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In the present study, a label-free based quantitative proteomics technology was conducted to compare the differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between <italic>ΔuidR</italic> and the wild-type strain in the biofilm state.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The results showed that the deletion of gene uidR encoding a TetR transcriptional regulator significantly increased the biofilm formation in <italic>Aeromonas hydrophila</italic>. And there was a total of 220 DEPs, including 120 up-regulated proteins and 100 down-regulated proteins between <italic>ΔuidR</italic> and the wild-type strain based on the quantitative proteomics. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that <italic>uidR</italic> may affect bacterial biofilm formation by regulating some related proteins in glyoxylic acid and dicarboxylic acid pathway. The expressions of selected proteins involved in this pathway were further confirmed by q-PCR assay, and the results was in accordance with the quantitative proteomics data. Moreover, the deletion of four genes (<italic>AHA_3063, AHA_3062, AHA_4140</italic> and <italic>aceB</italic>) related to the glyoxylic acid and dicarboxylic acid pathway lead to a significant decrease in the biofilm formation. </p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>Thus, the results indicated that <italic>uidR</italic> involved in the regulatory of bacterial biofilm formation, and it may provide a potential target for the drug development and a new clue for the prevention of pathogenic <italic>A. hydrophila</italic> in the future. </p></sec>