Lactate-Induced Dispersal of Neisseria meningitidis Microcolonies Is Mediated by Changes in Cell Density and Pilus Retraction and Is Influenced by Temperature Change

Neisseria meningitidis is the etiologic agent of meningococcal meningitis and sepsis. Initial colonization of meningococci in the upper respiratory tract epithelium is crucial for disease development. The colonization occurs in several steps and expression of type IV pili (Tfp) is essential for both attachment and microcolony formation of encapsulated bacteria. Previously, we have shown that host-derived lactate induces synchronized dispersal of meningococcal microcolonies. In this study, we demonstrated that lactate-induced dispersal is dependent on bacterial concentration but not on the quorum-sensing system autoinducer-2 or the two-component systems NarP/NarQ, PilR/PilS, NtrY/NtrX, and MisR/MisS. Further, there were no changes in expression of genes related to assembly, elongation, retraction, and modification of Tfp throughout the time course of lactate induction. By using pilT and pptB mutants, however, we found that lactate-induced dispersal was dependent on PilT retraction but not on phosphoglycerol modification of Tfp even though the PptB activity was important for preventing reaggregation postdispersal. Furthermore, protein synthesis was required for lactate-induced dispersal. Finally, we found that at a lower temperature, lactate-induced dispersal was delayed and unsynchronized, and bacteria reformed microcolonies. We conclude that lactate-induced microcolony dispersal is dependent on bacterial concentration, PilT-dependent Tfp retraction, and protein synthesis and is influenced by environmental temperature.