Jasper Gomez (@jasgomez.bsky.social)

A cyclic di-GMP phosphodiesterase in the VSP-2 island of Vibrio cholerae is regulated by zinc and quorum sensing | mBio Vibrio cholerae colonizes estuarine environments and human hosts, where it transitions between motile and sessile states using the second messenger cyclic di-GMP (cdG). cdG levels change in response to a variety of signals and are controlled by the activity of diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterase (PDEs), enzymes that make and degrade cdG. In this work, we show that Zn2+ and the cell density regulator HapR repress ZpdA, the PDE present in the Vibrio seventh pandemic 2 island, at the level of transcription, and that Zn2+ unexpectedly alters the PDE activity of ZpdA protein itself. Our study highlights the role of metal availability as an important signaling cue that controls V. cholerae biology. https://share.google/JaOJv48OAhH4WWyfs