AUTHOR=Méndez Andrea A. E. , Mendoza Julián I. , Echarren María Laura , Terán Ignacio , Checa Susana K. , Soncini Fernando C. 

TITLE=Evolution of Copper Homeostasis and Virulence in Salmonella

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2022.823176

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2022.823176

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p><italic>Salmonella enterica</italic> sv. Typhimurium modulates the expression of factors essential for virulence, contributing to its survival against the surge of copper (Cu) in the <italic>Salmonella</italic>-containing vacuole. This bactericidal host innate immune component primarily targets the bacterial envelope, where most cuproproteins are localized. While in most enteric species periplasmic Cu homeostasis is maintained by the CusR/CusS-controlled CusCFBA efflux system encoded in the <italic>cus</italic> locus, we noticed that these genes were lost from the <italic>Salmonella</italic>-core genome. At the same time, <italic>Salmonella</italic> acquired <italic>cueP</italic>, coding for a periplasmic Cu chaperone. As <italic>cus</italic>, <italic>cueP</italic> was shown to be essential for bacterial survival in a copper-rich environment under anaerobiosis, suggesting that it can functionally substitute the CusCFBA system. In the present study, the whole <italic>Escherichia coli cus</italic> locus was reintroduced to the chromosome of the <italic>Salmonella</italic> wild-type or the Δ<italic>cueP</italic> strain. While the integrated <italic>cus</italic> locus did not affect Cu resistance under aerobic conditions, it increases Cu tolerance under anaerobiosis, irrespective of the presence or absence of <italic>cueP</italic>. In contrast to the Cus system, CueP expression is higher at high copper concentrations and persisted over time, suggesting separate functions. Finally, we observed that, regardless of the presence or absence of <italic>cus</italic>, a mutant deleted of <italic>cueP</italic> shows a deficiency in replication inside macrophages compared to the wild-type strain. Our results demonstrate that CueP and CusCFBA exert redundant functions for metal resistance, but not for intracellular survival, and therefore for the virulence of this pathogen.</p>