Genomic and biochemical contexts determine the physiological role of a horizontally acquired gene

ABSTRACT The horizontally acquired mgtC gene from Salmonella enterica confers on this bacterium the abilities to survive episodes of magnesium (Mg 2+ ) starvation and to replicate in mammalian macrophages. The former property allows bacteria to persist in the environment during Mg 2+ depletion, whereas the latter allows S. enterica to overcome self-limiting intestinal colonization and cause invasive systemic infection in susceptible mammalian hosts. Even though the biochemical function of MgtC is not completely understood, this protein is thought to function primarily by preventing the production of toxic levels of Mg 2+ -chelating adenosine triphosphate. In the current work, we investigated the physiological roles of mgtC homologs from an array of bacterial species by probing the processes controlled by this gene during replication in low-Mg 2+ medium and in macrophages. We determined that MgtC homologs that do not participate in Pi homeostasis during Mg 2+ starvation and do not promote intramacrophage replication in their resident species can partake in these processes when expressed in S. enterica . This indicates that the function of this protein is context dependent. Accordingly, we show that the physiological processes affected by S. enterica MgtC vary depending on whether the bacteria replicate in low-Mg 2+ medium or inside macrophages. While these results suggest that MgtC is a regulator, they also demonstrate that horizontally acquired genes can assume different roles, depending on the genome and the biochemical context into which they are inserted. IMPORTANCE The mgtC gene encodes an inner membrane protein that has been horizontally acquired by multiple bacterial species, including several mammalian pathogens. In Salmonella enterica , MgtC promotes replication in mammalian macrophages and allows this bacterium to survive cytoplasmic magnesium (Mg 2+ ) starvation. These phenotypes are thought to result from MgtC’s inhibition of Pi metabolism and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, which prevents the accumulation of toxic levels of Mg 2+ -chelating ATP and disrupts other physiological processes that depend strictly on Mg 2+ , such as ribosome assembly and translation. In the current study, we show that processes that are controlled by MgtC vary with the genetic and biochemical contexts in which this protein is expressed. While establishing a broader role for MgtC as a regulator, our findings illustrate how horizontally acquired regulatory genes can potentiate regulatory interactions, facilitating the evolution of new traits.