Review
Special Issue: Infection Biology in the Age of the Microbiome
Plastic Circuits: Regulatory Flexibility in Fine Tuning Pathogen Success

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2020.01.002Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Bacteria encode hundreds of conserved transcription factors that are routinely repurposed to regulate horizontally acquired virulence genes in bacterial pathogens.

  • These transcription factors are often nonessential for growth but can be adapted to regulate genes essential for virulence.

  • Global approaches to map DNA-binding proteins reveal details of direct regulatory reactions that occur in vivo and, combined with gene expression studies, can decipher complete transcription factor regulons.

  • Regulatory rewiring occurs not only between species encoding orthologous genes but also within species, creating very personalised circuits of regulation that benefit individual pathogenic lifestyles.

Bacterial pathogens employ diverse fitness and virulence mechanisms to gain an advantage in competitive niches. These lifestyle-specific traits require integration into the regulatory network of the cell and are often controlled by pre-existing transcription factors. In this review, we highlight recent advances that have been made in characterizing this regulatory flexibility in prominent members of the Enterobacteriaceae. We focus on the direct global interactions between transcription factors and their target genes in pathogenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella revealed using chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with next-generation sequencing. Furthermore, the implications and advantages of such regulatory adaptations in benefiting distinct pathogenic lifestyles are discussed.

Keywords

regulation
gene expression
pathogen
virulence
ChIP-seq
transcription factor

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