Changes in proteome of the Δhfq strain derived from Francisella tularensis LVS correspond with its attenuated phenotype. Issue 21 (22nd September 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lenco, Juraj; Tambor, Vojtech; Link, Marek; Klimentova, Jana; Dresler, Jiri; Peterek, Miroslav; Charbit, Alain; Stulik, Jiri
• Is Part Of: Proteomics. Volume 14:Issue 21/22(2014)
• Page Start: 2400
• Page End: 2409
• Publication Date: 2014-09-22
• Subjects: Proteins -- Separation -- Periodicals; Bioinformatics -- Periodicals; Proteomics -- Periodicals; Genomes -- Periodicals; Molecular genetics -- Periodicals; 572.605
• DOI: 10.1002/pmic.201400198
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1615-9853

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>The posttranscriptional regulatory protein Hfq was shown to be an important determinant of the stress resistance and full virulence in the dangerous human pathogen <italic>Francisella tularensis</italic>. Transcriptomics brought rather limited clues to the precise contribution of Hfq in virulence. To reveal the molecular basis of the attenuation caused by <italic>hfq</italic> inactivation, we employed iTRAQ in the present study and compared proteomes of the parent and isogenic <italic>Δhfq</italic> strains. We show that Hfq modulates the level of 76 proteins. Most of them show decreased abundance in the ∆<italic>hfq</italic> mutant, thereby indicating that Hfq widely acts rather as a positive regulator of <italic>Francisella</italic> gene expression. Several key <italic>Francisella</italic> virulence factors including those encoded within the <italic>Francisella</italic> pathogenicity island were found among the downregulated proteins, which is in a good agreement with the attenuated phenotype of the <italic>Δhfq</italic> strain. To further validate the iTRAQ exploratory findings, we subsequently performed targeted LC‐SRM analysis of selected proteins. This accurate quantification method corroborated the trends found in the iTRAQ data.</p> </abstract>