The H-NS homologues MvaT and MvaU repress CRISPR-Cas in <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i>

CRISPR-Cas is an adaptive immune system of bacteria and archaea that protects against foreign genetic elements. In <i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Salmonella</i>, CRISPR-Cas is inhibited by the conserved global repressor the histone-like nucleoid structuring protein (H-NS), which blocks the expression of AT-rich horizontally acquired genes. While the opportunistic pathogen <i>Pseudomonas aeruginosa</i> harbours two partially redundant H-NS homologues, MvaT and MvaU, their role in CRISPR-Cas regulation in this bacterium remains unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that in the absence of both MvaT and MvaU, CRISPR-Cas activity increases more than tenfold, as measured by a reduction in the transformation efficiency of a CRISPR-targeted plasmid. Importantly, we find that in the absence of MvaT and MvaU, Cas proteins are already produced at low cell density prior to the onset of quorum sensing-mediated activation of CRISPR-Cas, which occurs at high cell density. Moreover, the ∆<i>mvaT</i> ∆<i>mvaU</i> mutant has a significantly reduced growth rate, known to independently increase CRISPR-Cas activity. In addition to regulating CRISPR-Cas, the absence of MvaT and MvaU affects phage-host interactions, including enhancing the adsorption of the LPS-binding phage JBD44, highlighting their broader role in coordinating bacterial defence mechanisms.This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'The ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems'.