Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) is a globally recognized foodborne pathogen that affects both
animals and humans. Endoribonucleases mediate RNA processing and degradation in the adaptation of bacteria to environmental
changes and have been linked to the pathogenicity of S. Typhimurium. Not much is known about the specific regulatory
mechanisms of these enzymes in S. Typhimurium, particularly in the context of environmental adaptation. Thus, this
study carried out a comparative transcriptomic analysis of wild-type S. Typhimurium SL1344 and its mutant (Δrnc), which
lacks the rnc gene encoding RNase III, thereby elucidating the detailed regulatory characteristics that can be attributed to the
rnc gene. Global gene expression analysis revealed that the Δrnc strain exhibited 410 upregulated and 301 downregulated
genes (fold-change > 1.5 and p < 0.05), as compared to the wild-type strain. Subsequent bioinformatics analysis indicated
that these differentially expressed genes are involved in various physiological functions, in both the wild-type and Δrnc
strains. This study provides evidence for the critical role of RNase III as a general positive regulator of flagellar-associated
genes and its involvement in the pathogenicity of S. Typhimurium.
A grey pink colored bacterium, strain t3-1-3T, was isolated
from the air at the foot of the Xiangshan Mountain in Beijing,
China. The cells are aerobic, Gram-stain-negative, non-sporeforming,
motile and coccoid-rod shaped (0.9–1.2 × 1.9–2.1
μm). Strain t3-1-3T was catalase-positive and oxidase-negative
and this strain grew at 4–42°C (optimum 28°C), a pH
of 4.0–9.0 (optimum pH 7.0) and under 0–2% (w/v) NaCl
(optimum 0–1% NaCl). A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S
rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain t3-1-3T was closely
related to Azohydromonas riparia UCM-11T (97.4% similarity),
followed by Azohydromonas australica G1-2T (96.8%)
and Azohydromonas ureilytica UCM-80T (96.7%). The genome
of strain t3-1-3T contains 6,895 predicted protein-encoding
genes, 8 rRNA genes, 62 tRNA genes and one sRNA
gene, as well as five potential biosynthetic gene clusters, including
clusters of genes coding for non-ribosomal peptide
synthetase (NRPS), bacteriocin and arylpolyene and two clusters
of genes for terpene. The predominant cellular fatty acids
(> 10.0% of the total) in strain t3-1-3T were summed feature
3 (C16:1ω7c and/or C16:1ω6c, 37.8%), summed feature 8
(C18:1ω7c and/or C18:1ω6c, 29.7%) and C16:0 (17.3%). Strain
t3-1-3T contained ubiquinone-8 (Q-8) as the predominant
respiratory quinone. The polar lipids of strain t3-1-3T comprised
phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE), phosphatidyl glycerol
(PG), diphosphatidyl glycerol (DPG), an unidentified
glycolipid (GL), an unidentified aminophospholipid (APL),
two unidentified phospholipid (PL1-2) and five unidentified
lipid (L1-5). The DNA G + C content of the type strain
is 70.3%. The broader range of growth temperature, assimilation
of malic acid and trisodium citrate, presence of C18:3ω6c
and an unidentified glycolipid and absence of C12:0 2-OH and
C16:0iso differentiate strain t3-1-3T from related species. Based
on the taxonomic data presented in this study, we suggest
that strain t3-1-3T represents a novel species within the genus
Azohydromonas, for which the name Azohydromonas
aeria sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Azohydromonas
aeria is t3-1-3T (= CFCC 13393T = LMG 30135T).