The global regulators ArcA and CytR collaboratively modulate Vibrio cholerae motility

Vibrio cholerae, a Gram-negative bacterium, is highly motile owing to the presence of a single polar flagellum. The global anaerobiosis response regulator, ArcA regulates the expression of virulence factors and enhance biofilm formation in V. cholerae. However, the function of ArcA for the motility of V. cholerae is yet to be elucidated. CytR, which represses nucleoside uptake and catabolism, is known to play a chief role in V. cholerae pathogenesis and flagellar synthesis but the mechanism that CytR influences motility is unclear.

In this study, we found that the ΔarcA mutant strain exhibited higher motility than the WT strain due to ArcA directly repressed flrA expression. We further discovered that CytR directly enhanced fliK expression, which explained why the ΔcytR mutant strain was retarded in motility. On the other hand, cytR was a direct ArcA target and cytR expression was directly repressed by ArcA. As expected, cytR expression was down-regulated.

Overall, ArcA plays a critical role in V. cholerae motility by regulating flrA expression directly and fliK indirectly in the manner of cytR.