Summary Efforts to battle anti-microbial resistance (AMR) are generally focused on developing novel antibiotics. However, history shows that resistance arises regardless of the nature or potency of new drugs. Here, we propose and provide evidence for an alternate strategy to resolve this problem: inhibiting evolution. We determined that the DNA translocase Mfd is an “evolvability factor” that promotes mutagenesis and is required for rapid resistance development to all antibiotics tested, across highly divergent bacterial species. Importantly, hypermutator alleles that accelerate AMR development did not arise without Mfd, at least during evolution of trimethoprim resistance. We also show that Mfd’s role in AMR development depends on its interactions with the RNA polymerase subunit RpoB and the nucleotide excision repair protein UvrA. Our findings suggest that AMR development can be inhibited through inactivation of evolvability factors (potentially with “anti-evolution” drugs), and in particular Mfd, providing an unexplored route towards battling the AMR crisis.

The facultative human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of the severe secretory diarrheal disease cholera, persists in its aquatic reservoirs in biofilms during interepidemic periods. Biofilm is a likely form in which clinically relevant V. cholerae is taken up by humans, providing an infective dose. Thus, a better understanding of biofilm formation of V. cholerae is relevant for the ecology and epidemiology of cholera as well as a target to control the disease. Most previous studies have investigated static biofilms of V. cholerae and elucidated structural prerequisites like flagella, pili and a biofilm matrix including extracellular DNA, numerous matrix proteins and exopolysaccharide, as well as the involvement of regulatory pathways like two-component systems, quorum sensing and c-di-GMP signaling. However, aquatic environments are more likely to reflect an open, dynamic system. Hence, we used a biofilm system with constant medium flow and a temporal controlled reporter-system of transcription to identify genes induced during dynamic biofilm formation. We identified genes known or predicted to be involved in c-di-GMP signaling, motility and chemotaxis, metabolism, and transport. Subsequent phenotypic characterization of mutants with independent mutations in candidate dynamic biofilm-induced genes revealed novel insights into the physiology of static and dynamic biofilm conditions. The results of this study also reinforce the hypotheses that distinct differences in regulatory mechanisms governing biofilm development are present under dynamic conditions compared to static conditions.

BackgroundThe second messenger cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) plays a central role in bacterial adaptation to extracellular stimuli, controlling processes such as motility, biofilm development, cell development and, in some pathogens, virulence. The intracellular level of c-di-GMP is controlled by the complementary activities of diguanylate cyclases containing a GGDEF domain and two classes of c-di-GMP phosphodiesterases containing an EAL or HD-GYP hydrolytic domain. Compared to the GGDEF and EAL domains, the functions of HD-GYP domain family proteins are poorly characterized. The human diarrheal pathogen Vibrio cholerae encodes nine putative HD-GYP domain proteins. To determine the contributions of HD-GYP domain proteins to c-di-GMP signaling in V. cholerae, we systematically analyzed the enzymatic functionality of each protein and their involvement in processes known to be regulated by c-di-GMP: motility, biofilm development and virulence.ResultsComplementary in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that four HD-GYP domain proteins are active c-di-GMP phosphodiesterases: VC1295, VC1348, VCA0210 and VCA0681. Mutation of individual HD-GYP domain genes, as well as combinatorial mutations of multiple HD-GYP domain genes, had no effect on motility or biofilm formation of V. cholerae under the conditions tested. Furthermore, no single HD-GYP domain gene affected intestinal colonization by V. cholerae in an infant mouse model. However, inactivation of multiple HD-GYP domain genes, including the four encoding functional phosphodiesterases, significantly attenuated colonization.ConclusionsThese results indicate that the HD-GYP family of c-di-GMP phosphodiesterases impacts signaling by this second messenger during infection. Altogether, this work greatly furthers the understanding of this important family of c-di-GMP metabolic enzymes and demonstrates a role for HD-GYP domain proteins in the virulence of V. cholerae.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12866-014-0272-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundThe nucleotide second messengers cAMP and c-di-GMP allow many bacteria, including the human intestinal pathogen Vibrio cholerae, to respond to environmental stimuli with appropriate physiological adaptations. In response to limitation of specific carbohydrates, cAMP and its receptor CRP control the transcription of genes important for nutrient acquisition and utilization; c-di-GMP controls the transition between motile and sessile lifestyles often, but not exclusively, through transcriptional mechanisms. In this study, we investigated the convergence of cAMP and c-di-GMP signaling pathways in regulating the expression of gbpA. GbpA is a colonization factor that participates in the attachment of V. cholerae to N-acetylglucosamine-containing surfaces in its native aquatic environment and the host intestinal tract.ResultsWe show that c-di-GMP inhibits gbpA activation in a fashion independent of the known transcription factors that directly sense c-di-GMP. Interestingly, inhibition of gbpA activation by c-di-GMP only occurs during growth on non-PTS dependent nutrient sources. Consistent with this result, we show that CRP binds to the gbpA promoter in a cAMP-dependent manner in vitro and drives transcription of gbpA in vivo. The interplay between cAMP and c-di-GMP does not broadly impact the CRP-cAMP regulon, but occurs more specifically at the gbpA promoter.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that c-di-GMP directly interferes with the interaction of CRP-cAMP and the gbpA promoter via an unidentified regulator. The use of two distinct second messenger signaling mechanisms to regulate gbpA transcription may allow V. cholerae to finely modulate GbpA production, and therefore colonization of aquatic and host surfaces, in response to discrete environmental stimuli.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12866-015-0506-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In many bacterial species, including the aquatic bacterium and human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, the second messenger cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP) modulates processes such as biofilm formation, motility, and virulence factor production. By interacting with various effectors, c-di-GMP regulates gene expression or protein function. One type of c-di-GMP receptor is the class I riboswitch, representatives of which have been shown to bind c-di-GMP in vitro. Herein, we examined the in vitro and in vivo function of the putative class I riboswitch in Vibrio cholerae, Vc1, which lies upstream of the gene encoding GbpA, a colonization factor that contributes to attachment of V. cholerae to environmental and host surfaces containing N-acetylglucosamine moieties. We provide evidence that Vc1 RNA interacts directly with c-di-GMP in vitro, and that nucleotides conserved among this class of riboswitch are important for binding. Yet the mutation of these conserved residues individually in the V. cholerae chromosome inconsistently affects the expression of gbpA and production of the GbpA protein. By isolating the regulatory function of Vc1, we show that the Vc1 element positively regulates downstream gene expression in response to c-di-GMP. Together these data suggest that the Vc1 element responds to c-di-GMP in vivo. Positive regulation of gbpA expression by c-di-GMP via Vc1 may influence the ability of V. cholerae to associate with chitin in the aquatic environment and the host intestinal environment.