H-NS-like proteins in Pseudomonas aeruginosa coordinately silence intragenic transcription

The H-NS-like proteins MvaT and MvaU act coordinately as global repressors in Pseudomonas aeruginosa by binding to AT-rich regions of the chromosome. Although cells can tolerate loss of either protein, identifying their combined regulatory effects has been challenging because the loss of both proteins is lethal due to induction of prophage Pf4 and subsequent superinfection of the cell. In other bacteria, H-NS promotes the cellular fitness by inhibiting intragenic transcription from AT-rich target regions, preventing them from sequestering RNA polymerase; however, it is not known whether MvaT and MvaU function similarly. Here, we utilize a parental strain that cannot be infected by Pf4 phage to define the collective MvaT and MvaU regulon and demonstrate that the combined loss of both MvaT and MvaU leads to increased intragenic transcription from loci directly controlled by these proteins. We further show that the loss of MvaT and MvaU leads to a striking redistribution of RNA polymerase containing σ⁷⁰ to genomic regions vacated by these proteins. Our findings suggest that the ability of H-NS-like proteins to repress intragenic transcription is a universal function of these proteins and point to a second mechanism by which MvaT and MvaU may contribute to the growth of P. aeruginosa.