Host acid signal controls flagella biogenesis through CadC-YdiV axis.

Upon entering host cells, quickly turns off flagella biogenesis to avoid recognition by the host immune system. However, it is not clear which host signal(s) senses to initiate flagellum control. Here, we demonstrate that the acid signal can suppress flagella synthesis and motility of , and this occurs after the transcription of master flagellar gene and depends on the anti-FlhDC factor YdiV. YdiV expression is activated after acid treatment. A global screen with promoter DNA and total protein from acid-treated revealed a novel regulator of YdiV, the acid-related transcription factor CadC. Further studies showed that CadC, the DNA binding domain of CadC, directly binds to a 33 nt region of the promoter with a 0.2 μM K affinity. Furthermore, CadC could separate H-NS- promoter DNA complex to form CadC-DNA complex at a low concentration. Structural simulation and mutagenesis assays revealed that H43 and W106 of CadC are essential for promoter binding. No acid-induced flagellum control phenotype was observed in mutant or mutant strains, suggesting that flagellum control during acid adaption is dependent on CadC and YdiV. The intracellular survival ability of mutant strain decreased significantly compared with WT strain while the flagellin expression could not be effectively controlled in the mutant strain when surviving within host cells. Together, our results demonstrated that acid stress acts as an important host signal to trigger flagellum control through the CadC-YdiV-FlhDC axis, allowing to sense a hostile environment and regulate flagellar synthesis during infection.