Gene expression analysis of Salmonella enterica Enteritidis Nal(R) and Salmonella enterica Kentucky 3795 exposed to HCl and acetic acid in rich medium

In the United States, serovar Kentucky has become one of the most frequently isolated Salmonella enterica serovars from chickens. The reasons for this prevalence are not well understood. Phenotypic comparisons of poultry Salmonella isolates belonging to various serovars demonstrated that serovar Kentucky isolates differed from those of most other serovars in their response to acid. Microarray and qPCR analyses were performed with aerated exponentially growing poultry isolates, Salmonella enterica serovar Kentucky 3795 and Enteritidis Nal(R), exposed for 10 min to tryptic soy broth (TSB) adjusted to pH 4.5 with HCl and to pH 5.5 with HCl or acetic acid. Data obtained by microarray analysis indicated that more genes were up- or down-regulated in strain Kentucky 3795 than in Enteritidis Nal(R) under acidic conditions. Acid exposure in general caused up-regulation of energy metabolism genes and down-regulation of protein synthesis genes, particularly of ribosomal protein genes. Both strains appear to similarly utilize the lysine-based pH homeostasis system, as up-regulation of cadB was observed under the acidic conditions. Expression of regulatory genes (rpoS, fur, phoPQ) known to be involved in the acid response showed similar trends in both isolates. Differences between Kentucky 3795 and Enteritidis Nal(R) were observed with respect to the expression of the hdeB-like locus SEN1493 (potentially encoding a chaperone important to acid response), and some differences in the expression of other genes such as those involved in citrate utilization and motility were noted. It appears that the early stages of the transcriptional response to acid by isolates Kentucky 3795 and Enteritidis Nal(R) are similar, but differences exist in the scope and in some facets of the response. Possibly, the quantitative differences observed might lead to differences in protein levels that could explain the observed differences in the acid phenotype of serovar Kentucky and other Salmonella serovars.