<i>Bacillus cereus</i> Decreases NHE and CLO Exotoxin Synthesis to Maintain Appropriate Proteome Dynamics During Growth at Low Temperature

• Main Authors: Catherine Duport, Ludivine Rousset, Béatrice Alpha-Bazin, Jean Armengaud
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
• Series: Toxins
• Subjects: <i>Bacillus cereus</i>; shotgun proteomics; exotoxins; low-temperature
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/12/10/645

Cellular proteomes and exoproteomes are dynamic, allowing pathogens to respond to environmental conditions to sustain growth and virulence. <i>Bacillus cereus</i> is an important food-borne pathogen causing intoxication via emetic toxin and/or multiple protein exotoxins. Here, we compared the dynamics of the cellular proteome and exoproteome of emetic <i>B. cereus</i> cells grown at low (16 °C) and high (30 °C) temperature. Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)-based shotgun proteomics analysis identified 2063 cellular proteins and 900 extracellular proteins. Hierarchical clustering following principal component analysis indicated that in <i>B. cereus</i> the abundance of a subset of these proteins—including cold-stress responders, and exotoxins non-hemolytic enterotoxin (NHE) and hemolysin I (cereolysin O (CLO))—decreased at low temperature, and that this subset governs the dynamics of the cellular proteome. NHE, and to a lesser extent CLO, also contributed significantly to exoproteome dynamics; with decreased abundances in the low-temperature exoproteome, especially in late growth stages. Our data therefore indicate that <i>B. cereus</i> may reduce its production of secreted protein toxins to maintain appropriate proteome dynamics, perhaps using catabolite repression to conserve energy for growth in cold-stress conditions, at the expense of virulence.