The ToxT-dependent methyl-accepting chemoreceptors AcfB and TcpI contribute to Vibrio cholerae intestinal colonization.

Vibrio cholerae colonizes the human intestine and causes the acute diarrheal disease cholera. Flagellar-mediated chemotaxis contributes to intestinal colonization as well as infectivity. The virulence-regulatory protein ToxT activates transcription of the genes encoding the major virulence factors cholera toxin and toxin coregulated pilus. ToxT additionally activates transcription of two genes, tcpI and acfB, located within the Vibrio Pathogenicity Island predicted to encode methyl-accepting chemoreceptors. We show that disruption of either tcpI or acfB individually does not noticeably affect V. cholerae intestinal colonization within the infant mouse, but disruption of both tcpI and acfB leads to a decrease in intestinal colonization. These results suggest that TcpI and AcfB may have overlapping or redundant chemotactic functions that contribute to V. cholerae intestinal colonization.