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The Twin-arginine translocation (Tat) system mediates secretion of folded proteins that in bacteria, plants and archaea are identified via an N-terminal signal peptide. Tat systems are associated with virulence in many bacterial pathogens and our previous studies revealed that Tat deficient Yersinia pseudotuberculosis was severely attenuated for virulence. Aiming to identify Tat-dependent pathways and phenotypes of relevance for in vivo infection, we analysed the global transcriptome of parental and ∆tatC mutant strains of Y. pseudotuberculosis during exponential and stationary growth at 26^oC and 37^oC. The most significant changes in the transcriptome of the ∆tatC mutant were seen at 26^oC during stationary phase growth and these included the altered expression of genes related to virulence, stress responses and metabolism. Subsequent phenotypic analysis based on these transcriptome changes revealed several novel Tat-dependent phenotypes including decreased YadA expression, impaired growth under iron-limiting and high copper conditions as well as acidic pH and SDS. Several functionally related Tat substrates were also verified to contribute to these phenotypes. Interestingly, the phenotypic defects observed in the Tat-deficient strain were generally more pronounced than in mutants lacking the Tat substrate predicted to contribute to that specific function. Altogether, this provides new insight into the impact of Tat deficiency on in vivo fitness and survival/replication of Y. pseudotuberculosis during infection.

The twin arginine translocation (Tat) system targets folded proteins across the inner membrane and is crucial for virulence in many important humanpathogenic bacteria. Tat has been shown to be required for the virulence of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, and we recently showed that the system is critical for different virulence-related stress responses as well as for iron uptake. In this study, we wanted to address the role of the Tat substrates in in vivo virulence. Therefore, 22 genes encoding potential Tat substrates were mutated, and each mutant was evaluated in a competitive oral infection of mice. Interestingly, a.sufI mutant was essentially as attenuated for virulence as the Tat-deficient strain. We also verified that SufI was Tat dependent for membrane/periplasmic localization in Y. pseudotuberculosis. In vivo bioluminescent imaging of orally infected mice revealed that both the.sufI and Delta tatC mutants were able to colonize the cecum and Peyer's patches (PPs) and could spread to the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs). Importantly, at this point, neither the Delta tatC mutant nor the Delta sufI mutant was able to spread systemically, and they were gradually cleared. Immunostaining of MLNs revealed that both the Delta tatC and Delta sufI mutants were unable to spread from the initial infection foci and appeared to be contained by neutrophils, while wild-type bacteria readily spread to establish multiple foci from day 3 postinfection. Our results show that SufI alone is required for the establishment of systemic infection and is the major cause of the attenuation of the Delta tatC mutant.