Fig. 2: PlzR inhibits T4P assembly, resulting in reduced motility and disturbed phage adsorption.

A Motility assays for P. aeruginosa PAO1 cells harboring the plzR gene in the mini-tn7T transposon (PAO1::plzR) that shows a clear reduction upon 1 mM IPTG induction, which was not the case for the empty control (PAO1::E). Data are presented as mean values ± SD, p values were calculated using the Student’s t-test (two-sided, n = 5 colonies). Source data are provided as a Source Data file. B Graphic representation of the length of the T4P displayed on the surface of P. aeruginosa cells with fluorescently labeled PilA, observed by fluorescence microscopy. For each condition, three biological replicates of 50 cells were analyzed for 30 s. No pili were observed on P. aeruginosa PAO1 cells harboring the plzR gene in the mini-tn7T transposon (PAO1::plzR) after induction with 1 mM IPTG, in contrast to the PAO1 strain (PAO1), the plzR deletion mutant (PAO1ΔplzR) and the empty control strain (PAO1::E) upon induction with 1 mM IPTG. The boxes represent the median and 25%/75% quartiles of the distributions of all measured pili for each sample. Source data are provided as a Source Data file. C Adsorption assay of phage YuA on the P. aeruginosa PAO1 plzR deletion mutant harboring the mini-tn7T transposon with inserted plzR gene (PAO1ΔplzR::plzR) or empty counterpart (PAO1ΔplzR::E). The number of free phages in solution on time point 20 min compared to 0 min post-infection is displayed as % free phages. This number did not decrease in the strain expressing plzR compared to the cell-free control solution (LB), in contrast to the induced empty control PAO1 strain, indicating that no phage adsorption occurred upon plzR expression. Data are presented as mean values ± SD, p values were calculated using the Student’s t-test (two-sided, n = 3 independent experiments). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.