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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2009, p. 1223-1228, Vol. 75, No. 5
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.02015-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
The Plant Phenolic Compound p-Coumaric Acid Represses Gene Expression in the Dickeya dadantii Type III Secretion System
,
Yan Li,1,2,
Quan Peng,1,
Dija Selimi,3
Qi Wang,2
Amy O. Charkowski,3
Xin Chen,4 and
Ching-Hong Yang1*
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53211,1
Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agronomy & Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100094, China,2
Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706,3
Department of Chemistry, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 277084
Received 26 August 2008/
Accepted 16 December 2008

ABSTRACT
The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a major virulence factor
in many gram-negative bacterial pathogens. This secretion system
translocates effectors directly into the cytosol of eukaryotic
host cells, where the effector proteins facilitate bacterial
pathogenesis by interfering with host cell signal transduction
and other cellular processes. Plants defend themselves against
bacterial pathogens by recognizing either the type 3 effectors
or their actions and initiating a cascade of defense responses
that often results in programmed cell death of the plant cell
being attacked. Here we show that a plant phenolic compound,
p-coumaric acid (PCA), represses the expression of T3SS genes
of the plant pathogen
Dickeya dadantii, suggesting that plants
can also defend against bacterial pathogens by manipulating
the expression of the T3SS. PCA repressed the expression of
T3SS regulatory genes through the HrpX/Y two-component system,
a core regulator of the T3SS, rather than through the global
regulator GacS/A, which indirectly regulates the T3SS. A further
analysis of several PCA analogs suggests that the
para positioning
of the hydroxyl group in the phenyl ring and the double bond
of PCA may be important for its biological activity.

INTRODUCTION
The enterobacterial plant pathogen
Dickeya dadantii (formerly
named
Erwinia chrysanthemi) causes soft-rot, wilt, and blight
diseases on a wide range of plant species (
6). The family
Enterobacteriaceae includes several other genera of plant pathogens, such as
Erwinia, Pantoea, and
Pectobacterium, and important animal pathogens,
such as
Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., and
Yersinia spp.
Most of the enterobacterial pathogens, including
D. dadantii,
encode at least one type III secretion system (T3SS) (
12), which
is a protein secretion system capable of translocating virulence
proteins directly into host cells (
4,
13). Many bacterial species
use a two-component system (TCS) to sense their environment
and regulate genes in response to environmental changes. At
least two TCSs regulate the
D. dadantii 3937 T3SS, including
the global regulatory system GacS/A and a TCS encoded by genes
in the center of the T3SS gene cluster, HrpX/Y. In the GacS/A-
rsmB-RsmA-HrpL
regulatory pathway, GacS/A upregulates
hrpL mRNA by upregulating
rsmB and thereby inactivating RsmA, which would otherwise promote
the degradation of
hrpL mRNA (
1,
22) (Fig.
1). GacS/A also induces
the production of pectate lyases in
D. dadantii 3937 (
22). In
the HrpX/Y-HrpS-HrpL regulatory pathway, the TCS HrpX/HrpY activates
hrpS, which encodes an enhancer protein (Fig.
1) (
25). HrpS
interacts with a
54 RNA polymerase holoenzyme and initiates
the transcription of
hrpL. HrpL is an alternative sigma factor
that is required for the expression of genes encoding the T3SS
effectors and structural components such as the units of the
needle, the needle extension, and the translocon.
The T3SS is an attractive target for development of antimicrobial
compounds since it is present mainly in pathogenic gram-negative
bacteria and is often required for virulence by these species
(
5,
18). We recently discovered that the phenolic compounds
trans-cinnamic acid (TCA) and
o-coumaric acid (OCA) induce the
expression of
D. dadantii T3SS genes
hrpA and
hrpN through the
rsmB-RsmA pathway (
21). To identify potential T3SS repressors,
analogs and isomers of TCA and OCA were screened for effects
on
D. dadantii 3937
hrpA expression. An isomer of OCA,
p-coumaric
acid (PCA), that repressed the expression of T3SS genes of
D. dadantii 3937 is identified in this study. Based on the chemical
structures and inhibitory effect of PCA and several analogs
of PCA on T3SS gene expression, the structure-activity relationship
(SAR) and potential active sites of PCA are identified. To our
knowledge, no mechanism for SAR studies on the inhibitory activity
of small molecules against T3SS gene expression has ever been
reported. Finally, the regulators responsible for the repression
of T3SS gene expression by PCA are elucidated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Bacterial strains, plasmids, and chemicals.
The bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study are listed
in Table
1.
D. dadantii was grown in Luria-Bertani or T3SS-inducing
minimal medium (MM) at 28°C (
23). Ampicillin at 100 µg/ml
was used in this work. Chemical structures of OCA, PCA, TCA,
and related phenolic compounds used in this study are shown
in Fig.
2.
Flow cytometry analysis.
Promoter activity of
hrpA, hrpL, hrpN, and
hrpS was determined
in a FACSCalibur flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, CA) as described
previously (
14). The bacterial cells carrying the promoter reporter
plasmid were grown in Luria-Bertani broth at 28°C overnight
and transferred to appropriate media.
qRT-PCR analysis.
Total RNA from the bacterial cells was isolated by using the Tri reagent method (Sigma, MO) and treated with Turbo DNA-free DNase kits (Ambion, TX). The cDNA levels of target genes in different samples were quantified by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) using Real Master Mix (Eppendorf, Westbury, NY) as described previously (14). qRT-PCR data were analyzed with the Relative Expression Software Tool as described previously (15), with rplU as an endogenous control for data analysis (9).
Western blot analysis.
Wild-type D. dadantii 3937 was grown at 28°C in MM or MM supplemented with different amounts of PCA for 24 h. Proteins were fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and analyzed by Western blotting. Polyclonal immunoglobulin Y antibody against HrpN prepared from chicken was used as the probe and was preabsorbed with E. coli DH5
and a HrpN mutant. An Immuno-Star AP chemiluminescent substrate (Bio-Rad, CA) was used to detect an anti-chicken secondary antibody (GeneTex, TX).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Screening for T3SS inhibitor.
To identify potential T3SS repressors, 29 analogs and isomers
of TCA and OCA were screened for effects on
D. dadantii 3937
hrpA expression (Table
2 and Fig.
2).
hrpA encodes the T3SS
pilus required for protein translocation into plant cells, and
this gene is the first in a multigene operon that encodes T3SS
structural and secreted proteins. A reporter plasmid, phrpA,
which contains a transcriptional fusion of the
hrpA promoter
controlling expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) was
used to measure the effects of the OCA and TCA analogs and isomers
on T3SS gene expression (
22). Expression of T3SS genes of phytobacteria
is induced in T3SS-inducing MM, which is considered to mimic
plant apoplastic conditions, such as a low level of nutrients
(
7,
14,
17,
19). Bacterial cells containing phrpA were grown
in the T3SS-inducing MM supplemented with 100 µM of each
compound. GFP intensity, which is a measure of
hrpA promoter
activity, was assayed by flow cytometry. Among the OCA/TCA analogs
screened, PCA (Fig.
2, compound 4) showed the strongest inhibition
on T3SS gene expression (Table
2).
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[in this window]
[in a new window]
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TABLE 2. Expression of D. dadantii 3937 hrpA in MM and MM supplemented with different isomers and analogs of OCA and TCA
|
SAR of phenolic compound analogs.
OCA (Fig.
2, compound 6) and
meta-coumaric acid (MCA) (compound
5) induced
hrpA expression (Table
2). PCA, OCA, and MCA are
regioisomers, differing only in the position of the hydroxyl
group in the phenyl ring (Fig.
2). Two derivatives of PCA,
trans-2,4-dihydroxycinnamic
acid (compound 2) and
trans-3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid (compound
3), with an additional hydroxyl group in the
ortho and
meta positions of the phenyl ring, respectively, had reduced inhibitory
activity against
hrpA expression in comparison to PCA. These
results indicated that the
para positioning of the hydroxyl
group in the phenyl ring is important for the biological activity
of PCA. Similarly, chloro-, methyl-, and methoxycinnamic acids
demonstrated the same activity pattern, with the
para isomers
trans-4-chlorocinnamic acid (compound 23),
trans-4-methylcinnamic
acid (compound 20), and
trans-4-methoxycinnamic acid (compound
17) inhibiting
hrpA expression but not the
ortho isomers (compounds
21, 18, and 15) and the
meta isomers (compounds 22, 19, and
16) (Table
2). However, when the hydroxyl group in PCA is replaced
by a carboxyl, mercapto, amino, nitro, or formyl group, the
resulting cinnamic acid derivatives,
trans-4-carboxycinnamic
acid (compound 25),
trans-4-mercaptocinnamic acid (compound
26),
trans-4-aminocinnamic acid (compound 27),
trans-4-nitrocinnamic
acid (28), and
trans-4-formylcinnamic acid (compound 29), respectively,
exhibited a reduced inhibitory effect on
hrpA (Table
2).
Along with the position of the hydroxyl group in the phenyl ring, the double bond in PCA is essential for its inhibitory activity. For example, if the double bond is reduced, the resulting 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionic acid (compound 7) did not inhibit hrpA expression. Replacing the carboxylic acid group with an amide or methyl ester did not change the activity of TCA (compound 1) to induce T3SS gene expression, as both methyl trans-cinnamate (compound 30) and trans-cinnamamide (compound 31) demonstrated strong inducing activity. Finally, trans-3-indoleacrylic acid (compound 12) had an inhibitory effect on hrpA expression at 12 h of bacterial growth but not at 24 h (Table 2). However, when other heterocyclic rings, such as pyridine, imidazole, and thiophene, are introduced in the same position, the resulting acrylic acids, trans-3-(3-pyridyl)acrylic acid (compound 13), trans-3-(4-imidazolyl)acrylic acid (compound 14), and trans-3-(2-thienyl)acrylic acid (compound 11), respectively, did not have any inhibitory activity.
Inhibitory effect of PCA on T3SS gene expression.
To confirm the inhibitory effect of PCA on the D. dadantii T3SS, the expression of additional T3SS genes was examined. hrpN encodes a T3SS harpin, and hrpN promoter activity was reduced in MM supplemented with 100 µM PCA in comparison to that in unamended MM (Table 3). The promoter of a conserved ATPase gene, mrp, was used as a reference gene (14). Similar levels of mrp expression were observed in D. dadantii 3937(pmrp) when the bacterial cells were grown in MM or MM supplemented with 100 µM PCA, thus showing that the effect of PCA was specific to the T3SS (Table 3).
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[in this window]
[in a new window]
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TABLE 3. Expression of T3SS genes hrpA, hrpN, hrpS, and hrpL of D. dadantii 3937 in MM and MM supplemented with 100 µM PCA
|
The effect of PCA on T3SS gene transcription was directly measured
by qRT-PCR. Compared to that in
D. dadantii 3937 grown in unamended
MM, there was significantly less
hrpA, hrpN, and T3SS effector
dspE mRNA in cells grown in MM supplemented with 100 µM
PCA (Fig.
3). Since PCA represses the expression of several
T3SS genes such as
hrpN, we examined the effect of PCA on HrpN
protein production. Less HrpN was detected in protein extracts
from
D. dadantii 3937 grown in MM supplemented with 100 µM
PCA than in those from the strain grown in MM supplemented with
10 µM PCA (Fig.
4).
To determine if the repression of T3SS gene expression by PCA
was due to toxicity or nutritional status of the phenolic compound,
different concentrations of PCA were used to supplement MM to
measure the effect of PCA on
hrpA expression and bacterial growth.
Compared to that for growth in unamended MM, the average GFP
fluorescence intensity of
D. dadantii 3937(phrpA) cells was
reduced more than fourfold when 50 or 100 µM of PCA was
added to the medium (Fig.
5). The addition of PCA at concentrations
of 1, 5, and 10 µM did not result in a substantial reduction
of GFP fluorescence intensity for
D. dadantii 3937. No inhibition
or promotion of bacterial growth was observed when PCA was added
to MM (Fig.
5).
PCA inhibits T3SS through the HrpX/Y-HrpS-HrpL pathway.
Since strong inhibition of
hrpA expression by PCA in
D. dadantii 3937 was observed, the mechanism of PCA regulation of the T3SS
pathway was investigated. To determine whether PCA affects T3SS
gene expression through the Gac-Rsm regulatory pathway,
rsmB mRNA levels were quantified by qRT-PCR. No significant difference
in the level of
rsmB mRNA between
D. dadantii 3937 cells grown
in MM and cells grown in MM supplemented with 100 µM PCA
was observed (Fig.
3). Thus, repression of T3SS expression by
PCA does not occur through the Gac-Rsm pathway. PCA supplementation
did not affect
D. dadantii 3937 pectate lyase production, providing
further support that PCA does not affect the GacS/A system (data
not shown).
To determine if PCA represses T3SS gene expression through the HrpX/Y-HrpS-HrpL pathway, the promoter activities of hrpS and hrpL were examined and found to be reduced in MM supplemented with 100 µM PCA in comparison to those in unamended MM (Table 3). The expression of hrpS and hrpL was also confirmed by qRT-PCR. Our result showed that, compared with those for D. dadantii 3937 grown in MM, significantly smaller amounts of hrpS (relative expression ratio, 0.223; P < 0.001) and hrpL (relative expression ratio, 0.039; (P < 0.001) mRNA were present (Fig. 3). These results demonstrate that PCA inhibits expression of T3SS genes through the HrpX/Y-HrpS-HrpL regulatory pathway.
Phenylpropanoids are a group of secondary metabolites produced by plants from L-phenylalanine. Although the end products vary among plant species, the initial reactions of the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway are conserved (2). These multiple-branch pathways can all be derived from initial steps of the following pathways. (i) TCA is produced by a deamination of L-phenylalanine by phenylalanine ammonia-lyase. (ii) Cinnamic acid 4-hydroxylase catalyzes the addition of the hydroxyl group at the para position of the phenyl ring of TCA, producing PCA. (iii) The carboxyl group of PCA is activated by formation of a thioester bond with coenzyme A (CoA), a process catalyzed by 4-coumarate:CoA ligase, which gives rise to a variety of secondary compounds such as flavonoids, isoflavonoids, stilbenes, and lignin (see Fig. S1 in the supplemental material) (10, 20). Isoflavonoids and stilbenes are phytoalexins which are induced in response to microbial attack and are able to inhibit the growth of pathogens (8), while lignin is a major component of the plant cell wall and provides mechanical strength and impermeability to plant tissues (8). In addition, TCA is an important intermediate in the pathway for salicylic acid biosynthesis involved in the disease resistance of plants (16). In salicylic acid biosynthesis, TCA is converted to OCA through ortho hydroxylation, followed by β-oxidation to produce salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is a plant signaling molecule that triggers basal resistance locally and systemically acquired resistance against a broad spectrum of pathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes (3).
It is intriguing to see intermediates in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis either induce or repress the expression of T3SS genes of D. dadantii 3937. Based on the chemical structures and inhibitory effect of PCA and analogs of PCA on T3SS, the SAR and potential active sites of PCA are revealed (Table 2 and Fig. 2). Given the similarity of the T3SS regulatory systems among many plant and animal pathogens, the effects of plant phenolic compounds on D. dadantii 3937 unveiled here provide a new direction for development of novel antimicrobial reagents for agriculture.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is dedicated to Noel T. Keen.
We thank Nicole Perna of the University of Wisconsin for providing access to the annotated D. dadantii genome sequences (https://asap.ahabs.wisc.edu/asap/ASAP1.htm) and M. L. P. Collin and M. J. McBride for critical discussions and reading of the manuscript.
This project is supported by grants from the State Scholarship Fund of the China Scholarship Council awarded to Yan Li, the National Science Foundation (award no. EF-0332163), the Research Growth Initiative of the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, and a National Research Initiative of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, grant number 2006-35319-17396.

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI 53211. Phone: (414) 229-6331. Fax: (414) 229-3926. E-mail:
chyang{at}uwm.edu 
Published ahead of print on 29 December 2008. 
Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/. 
Yan Li and Quan Peng contributed equally in this work. 

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, March 2009, p. 1223-1228, Vol. 75, No. 5
0099-2240/09/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/AEM.02015-08
Copyright © 2009, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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