The major primer restriction product was 123 nt in length (Figure  1B), corresponding ACP-196 mouse to an adenine transcriptional

start site 53 nt upstream of the ATG start codon (Figure  1C). Since the sequence of hfq is well conserved in experimentally relevant strains, hfq https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Trichostatin-A.html deletion mutants were constructed in order to study the role of Hfq in H. influenzae. Deletion mutants of the hfq genes of H. influenzae nontypeable strains R2866 and 86-028NP were successfully constructed and confirmed by PCR (data not shown) and were designated HI2206 and HI2207 respectively. In vitro growth characteristics of H. influenzae hfq mutants In other bacterial species, Hfq plays a role in iron regulation and tolerance to various stressors, such as oxidative damage, high salt, and detergents [12, 20, 54, 55]. Since H. influenzae requires heme for aerobic growth, we conducted growth studies to investigate whether the deletion

of hfq impacted growth and heme source utilization. Direct comparisons were made between each wild type strain, and its NVP-LDE225 mouse ∆hfq mutant. The complement strain was also included when studying R2866 and its mutant. Several attempts were made to create a complement for the 86-028NP ∆hfq strain, HI2207, but were unsuccessful. Tested heme sources included free heme, hemoglobin, hemoglobin-haptoglobin and heme-hemopexin at various concentrations. The hfq mutants of both strains grew at a similar rate to the wild type strains in all growth conditions except under limiting concentrations of hemoglobin (Figure  2). Complementation of the ∆hfq mutation did not completely restore the wild type phenotype in R2866, but the complemented strain did grow significantly better than the ∆hfq strain. In vitro competition experiments were performed in nutrient rich and hemoglobin limiting conditions to determine if competition between the two strains would further inhibit Acyl CoA dehydrogenase the growth of the ∆hfq strain. No difference was observed between the two strains under either growth condition (data not shown).

These results suggest that Hfq may be required for H. influenzae to efficiently utilize certain nutrients from its environment in order to occupy specific niches within the host, as seen in other organisms [18, 56]. Previous studies have shown there are two proteins that are required for the uptake of heme from hemoglobin, the TonB-dependent Hgps and Hup proteins [27, 57]. However, the expression of these genes is unaffected by the deletion of hfq (data not shown). Further studies are needed to understand the potential role of Hfq in the utilization of heme from hemoglobin. Figure 2 Growth of nontypable H. influenzae strains R2866 and 86-028NP in vitro . (A-C) Growth of R2866 (circles), its isogenic ∆hfq mutant derivative (squares) and the complemented ∆hfq mutant (triangles). (D-F) Growth of 86-028NP (circles) and its isogenic ∆hfq mutant derivative (squares).