Two-Component Signaling Systems Regulate Diverse Virulence-Associated Traits in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause problematic infections at different sites throughout the human body. encodes a large suite of over 60 two-component signaling systems that enable cells to rapidly sense and respond to external signals. Previous work has shown that some of these sensory systems contribute to pathogenesis, but the virulence-associated processes and phenotypic traits that each of these systems controls are still largely unclear. To aid investigations of these sensory systems, we have generated deletion strains for each of 64 genes encoding histidine kinases and one histidine phosphotransferase in PA14. We carried out initial phenotypic characterizations of this collection by assaying these mutants for over a dozen virulence-associated traits, and we found that each of these phenotypes is regulated by multiple sensory systems. Our work highlights the usefulness of this collection for further studies of two-component signaling systems and provides insight into how these systems may contribute to infection. can grow and survive under a wide range of conditions, including as a human pathogen. As such, must be able to sense and respond to diverse signals and cues in its environment. This sensory capability is endowed in part by the hundreds of two-component signaling proteins encoded in the genome, but the precise roles of each remain poorly defined. To facilitate systematic study of the signaling repertoire of PA14, we generated a library of deletion strains, each lacking one of the 64 histidine kinases. By subjecting these strains to a battery of phenotypic assays, we confirmed the functions of many and unveiled roles for dozens of previously uncharacterized histidine kinases in controlling various traits, many of which are associated with virulence. Thus, this work provides new insight into the functions of two-component signaling proteins and provides a resource for future investigations.