QseC regulates chemotaxis, biofilm formation, motility, and virulence in Aeromonas veronii TH0426

Aeromonas veronii is an important fish and human pathogen that causes significant economic losses in aquaculture. The two-component system QseBC has been shown to regulate virulence in various pathogens, but its functional role in A. veronii is unclear. In this study, we constructed in-frame deletion mutants of qseC in A. veronii TH0426 and complemented strains to determine the effects on pathogenesis-related phenotypes and global gene expression. Deletion of qseC did not significantly impact growth curves or colony morphology compared to wild-type A. veronii TH0426. However, the ΔqseC mutant displayed impaired swimming motility, with flagella staining and TEM images showing severe flagella detachment compared to intact flagella in wild-type cells. Crystal violet assays and confocal microscopy revealed that deletion of qseC significantly increased biofilm formation in A. veronii, with the ΔqseC mutant forming 2.07 times more biofilm than wild-type. Altered structural parameters indicative of increased heterogeneity were observed in the ΔqseC biofilm compared to wild-type using ISA analysis. Furthermore, the ΔqseC mutant showed enhanced adhesion to and invasion of epithelioma papulosum cyprini (EPC) cells in vitro. Using a zebrafish infection model, the ΔqseC mutant exhibited attenuated virulence with an 8.5-fold increase in LD50 value compared to wild-type A. veronii TH0426. Bacterial load enumeration in the blood, liver, spleen, and kidney of ΔqseC-infected carp over a 48-h period revealed significantly reduced bacterial counts compared to wild-type. In vivo competition assays indicated the ΔqseC mutant had reduced fitness in carp tissues compared to wild-type A. veronii. RNA sequencing revealed 2364 differentially expressed genes in the ΔqseC mutant compared to wild-type strain TH0426. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis indicated these genes were involved in chemotaxis, flagellar assembly, biofilm formation, protein secretion, and other pathways. Overall, this study demonstrates that QseC plays a vital regulatory role in controlling chemotaxis, flagellar motility, biofilm formation and virulence in the fish and human pathogen A. veronii.