Mutation of the invF gene encoding a Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) activator increases expression of the SPI2 gene, sseA

In Salmonella enterica, many genes encoded within Salmonella pathogenicity islands (SPI) 1 and 2 are required to cause a range of diseases in a variety of hosts. The SPI1-encoded regulator HilD activates both the SPI1 and 2 genes at different times during growth in Luria-Bertani (LB) media. In this study, the expression levels of hilD during growth in LB were investigated. The data suggest that hilD expression is induced in the early stationary phase and decreases in the late stationary phase, when sseA, an SPI2 gene, is maximally expressed. However, HilD could act as an activator of sseA expression in the late stationary phase despite being present at low levels. SseA expression was investigated in SPI1 regulator mutant strains, hilA, hilD and invF mutants. As expected, hilD mutation decreased sseA expression. However, we found that invF mutation caused a 1.5-fold increase in sseA expression in not only LB but also M9 minimal media, which is thought to resemble an intracellular environment. InvF overexpression restored sseA expression to wild-type levels in an invF mutant but did not cause an additional reduction in sseA expression. These results suggest that SPI1 controls SPI2 expression either positively or negatively.