The chemoreceptor McpA mediates aerotaxis and redox taxis in Salmonella Typhimurium
- 1Washington State University
Abstract
Redox environments in nature are shaped by reactive oxygen species (ROS), oxygen, and metal ion chemistry, and exert profound effects on bacterial physiology and survival. In some pathogens, bacterial chemosensory zinc-binding (CZB) proteins mediate responses to inflammatory ROS that may contribute to pathogenesis, but their functions in the many environmental bacteria that also possess them remain unclear. Reports of attraction to hypochlorous acid (HOCl), repulsion from hydroperoxides (ROOH) and other ROS, and responsiveness to exogenous zinc have left unresolved whether CZBs distinguish individual effectors or reflect an underlying sensory logic. Here, using time-resolved video microscopy to directly visualize swimming and taxis behaviors, we show that the CZB-containing receptor McpA in Salmonella Typhimurium mediates attraction to O2 and biologically relevant concentrations of HOCl, H2O2, and organic hydroperoxides, three types of oxidants generated through the neutrophil oxidative burst. This identifies the CZB domain as a previously unrecognized sensory architecture for aerotaxis, distinct from, and possibly more widespread, than the FAD-dependent Aer and heme-dependent HemAT and Aer2 families. Although Zn2+ itself is not redox-active, we show that McpA-dependent taxis is controlled by Zn2+ availability and that exogenous OZn2 and ROS promote the formation of insoluble zinc precipitates, which may generate Zn2+ gradients sensed through the CZB domain. We propose these findings are consistent with a model in which CZBs use soluble, bioavailable Zn2+ as a secondary messenger for highly sensitive navigation of environmental redox landscapes.
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BibTeX
@misc{franco2026chemoreceptor,
title = {{The chemoreceptor McpA mediates aerotaxis and redox taxis in Salmonella Typhimurium}},
author = {K. Franco and K. Cooper and C. H. Shin and O. Steele-Mortimer and A. Baylink},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.64898/2026.07.03.735341},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.03.735341v2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The chemoreceptor McpA mediates aerotaxis and redox taxis in Salmonella Typhimurium
AU - K. Franco
AU - K. Cooper
AU - C. H. Shin
AU - O. Steele-Mortimer
AU - A. Baylink
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/03
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.07.03.735341
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.03.735341v2
AB - Redox environments in nature are shaped by reactive oxygen species (ROS), oxygen, and metal ion chemistry, and exert profound effects on bacterial physiology and survival. In some pathogens, bacterial chemosensory zinc-binding (CZB) proteins mediate responses to inflammatory ROS that may contribute to pathogenesis, but their functions in the many environmental bacteria that also possess them remain unclear. Reports of attraction to hypochlorous acid (HOCl), repulsion from hydroperoxides (ROOH) and other ROS, and responsiveness to exogenous zinc have left unresolved whether CZBs distinguish individual effectors or reflect an underlying sensory logic. Here, using time-resolved video microscopy to directly visualize swimming and taxis behaviors, we show that the CZB-containing receptor McpA in Salmonella Typhimurium mediates attraction to O2 and biologically relevant concentrations of HOCl, H2O2, and organic hydroperoxides, three types of oxidants generated through the neutrophil oxidative burst. This identifies the CZB domain as a previously unrecognized sensory architecture for aerotaxis, distinct from, and possibly more widespread, than the FAD-dependent Aer and heme-dependent HemAT and Aer2 families. Although Zn2+ itself is not redox-active, we show that McpA-dependent taxis is controlled by Zn2+ availability and that exogenous OZn2 and ROS promote the formation of insoluble zinc precipitates, which may generate Zn2+ gradients sensed through the CZB domain. We propose these findings are consistent with a model in which CZBs use soluble, bioavailable Zn2+ as a secondary messenger for highly sensitive navigation of environmental redox landscapes.
ER -