Loss of O -linked protein glycosylation in Burkholderia cenocepacia impairs biofilm formation and siderophore production via alteration of quorum sensing regulation

-linked protein glycosylation is a conserved feature of the genus. For , the addition of the trisaccharide β-Gal-(1,3)-α-GalNAc-(1,3)-β-GalNAc to membrane exported proteins is required for virulence and resistance to environmental stress. However, the underlying causes of the defects observed in the absence of glycosylation are unclear. This study demonstrates that the global proteome undergoes dramatic changes consistent with alterations in global transcriptional regulation in the absence of glycosylation. Using luciferase reporter assays and DNA cross-linking analysis, we confirm the repression of the master quorum sensing regulon CepR/I in response to the loss of glycosylation, which leads to the abolition of biofilm formation, defects in siderophore production, and reduced virulence. The abundance of most of the known glycosylated proteins did not significantly change in the glycosylation-defective mutants except for BCAL1086 and BCAL2974, which were found in reduced amount, suggesting they could be degraded. However, the loss of these two proteins was not responsible for driving the proteomic alterations, as well as for reduced virulence and siderophore production. Together, our results show that loss of glycosylation in results in a global cell reprogramming via alteration of the CepR/I regulon, which cannot be explained by the abundance changes in known glycoproteins.