New Evolutionary Insights into RpoA: A Novel Quorum Sensing Reprograming Factor in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Quorum-sensing (QS) coordinates the expression of virulence factors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen known for causing severe infections in immunocompromised patients. QS has a master regulator, the lasR gene, but in clinical settings, P. aeruginosa isolates have been found that are QS-active but LasR-null. In this study, we developed an experimental evolutionary approach to identify additional QS-reprogramming determinants. We began the study with a LasR-null mutant with an extra copy of mexT, a transcriptional regulator gene that is known to be able to reprogram QS in laboratory LasR-null strains. In this strain, spontaneous single mexT mutations are expected to have no or little phenotypic consequences. Using this novel method, which we have named “targeted gene duplication followed by mutant screening”, we identified QS-active revertants with mutations in genes other than mexT. One QS-active revertant had a point mutation in rpoA, a gene encoding the α-subunit of RNA polymerase. QS activation in this mutant was found to be associated with the downregulated expression of mexEF-oprN efflux pump genes. Our study therefore uncovers a new functional role for RpoA in regulating QS activity. Our results indicate that a RpoA-dependent regulatory circuit controlling the expression of the mexEF-oprN operon is critical for QS-reprogramming. In conclusion, our study reports on the identification of non-MexT proteins associated with QS-reprogramming in a laboratory strain, shedding light on possible QS activation mechanisms in clinical P. aeruginosa isolates.