The RcsCDB signaling system and swarming motility in Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium: dual regulation of flagellar and SPI-2 virulence genes

The Rcs phosphorelay is a multicomponent signaling system that positively regulates colanic acid synthesis and negatively regulates motility and virulence. We have exploited a spontaneously isolated mutant, IgaA(T191P), that is nearly maximally activated for the Rcs system to identify a vast set of genes that respond to the stimulation, and we report new regulatory properties of this signaling system in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Microarray data show that the Rcs system normally functions as a positive regulator of SPI-2 and other genes important for the growth of Salmonella in macrophages, although when highly activated the system completely represses the SPI-1/SPI-2 virulence, flagellar, and fimbrial biogenesis pathways. The auxiliary protein RcsA, which works with RcsB to positively regulate colanic acid and other target genes, not only stimulates but also antagonizes the positive regulation of many genes in the igaA mutant. We show that RcsB represses motility through the RcsB box in the promoter region of the master operon flhDC and that RcsA is not required for this regulation. Curiously, RcsB selectively stimulates expression of the flagellar type 3 secretion genes fliPQR; an RcsAB box located downstream of fliR influences this regulation. We show that excess colanic acid impairs swimming and inhibits swarming motility, consistent with the inverse regulation of the two pathways by the Rcs system.