- Volume 145, Issue 6, 1999

Isolates of the Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex (MAC) have long been known to segregate into transparent, opaque and rough colony morphotypes that differ from each other in clinically important parameters including drug susceptibility and virulence. Here the authors report additional morphotypic variation that occurs on two levels: interspecific (between M. avium and M. intracellulare) and intraspecific (within individual M. avium isolates). Clinical isolates of M. avium grown on Congo red (CR) plates formed red, pink or mixed (red and white) opaque colonies, while M. intracellulare isolates formed purely white opaque colonies. A quantitative CR binding assay showed that this interspecific differential applies to transparent as well as opaque colony variants; however, it was less pronounced among laboratory reference strains than among recent clinical isolates. Opaque colonies of M. avium isolates with ‘mixed’ phenotypes segregated into stable opaque red and white variants with shared IS1245 banding patterns (intraspecific segregation). White segregants of M. avium were more flocculent and significantly more resistant to ciprofloxacin and rifamycin drugs than were red segregants. Thus, cultivation on CR agar revealed a previously unknown multi-drug resistant colony morphotype of M. avium.

This study examined alteration of specific virulence traits associated with phenotypic changes seen when a low-passage disease-associated and well maintained parent strain of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans was compared to a laboratory-grown spontaneous variant/mutant. Clinical isolates of A. actinomycetemcomitans recovered from periodontitis patients typically grow as rough, adherent colonies on primary culture but undergo transformation to smooth, non-adherent colonies following repeated passage in vitro. The relationship of these phenotypic changes to the virulence of the organism or to the processes that underlie this transformation are not understood. A fresh clinical isolate, designated strain CU1000, was obtained from the first molar site of a patient with classical signs of localized juvenile periodontitis and used as the parent strain to study virulence-related phenotypes. Following several passages of CU1000 on selective agar, a spontaneous variant that demonstrated smooth, opaque, non-adherent colonies was isolated and designated strain CU1060. This study compared the properties of these two strains with respect to colony morphology, autoaggregation, surface appendages, adherence to saliva-coated hydroxyapatite (SHA), LPS chemotype and activity, induction of fibroblast proteinase activity and antigenic properties. CU1000 demonstrated rough, raised, star-positive colonies which upon electron microscopic examination revealed the presence of large, flexible, bundled fibrils. In addition, CU1000 showed adherence to SHA, several unique protein antigens and elevated endotoxin and fibroblast proteinase activity. CU1060, on the other hand, showed minimal adherence to SHA and fewer reactive proteins compared to the fresh clinical isolates. This strain formed smooth, opaque colonies on agar, showed minimal fibril formation and limited endotoxin and fibroblast-proteinase-inducing activity. These findings demonstrate that clinical isolates of A. actinomycetemcomitans undergo significant virulence-reducing phenotypic alterations during in vitro passage and support the need to study this organism in its clinical form.

The leading cause of mortality in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) is respiratoy failure due in large part to chronic lung infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains that undergo mucoid conversion, display a biofilm mode of growth in vivo and resist the infiltration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), which release free oxygen radicals such as H2O2. The mucoid phenotype among the strains infecting CF patients indicates overproduction of a linear polysaccharide called alginate. To mimic the inflammatory environment of the CF lung, P. aeruginosa PAO1, a typical non-mucoid strain, was grown in a biofilm. This was treated with low levels of H2O2, as if released by the PMNs, and the formation of mucoid variants was observed. These mucoid variants had mutations in mucA, which encodes an anti-σ factor; this leads to the deregulation of an alternative σ factor (σ22, AlgT or AlgU) required for expression of the alginate biosynthetic operon. All of the mucoid variants tested showed the same mutation, the mucA22 allele, a common allele seen in CF isolates. The mucoid mucA22 variants, when compared to the smooth parent strain PA01, produced 2--6-fold higher levels of alginate|ii) exhibited no detectable differences in growth rate|iii) showed an unaltered LPS profile|iv) were ~72% reduced in the amount of inducible-β-lactamase and (v) secreted little no LasA protease and only showed 44% elastase activity. A characteristic ~54 kDa protein associated with alginate overproducing strains was identified as AlgE (Alg76) by N-terminal sequence analysis. Thus, the common phenotype of the mucoid variants, which included a genetically engineered mucA22 mutant, suggested that the only mutation incurred as a result of H2O2 treatment was in mucA. When a P. aeruginosa biofilm was repeatedly expose to activated PMNs in vitro, mucoid variants were also observed, mimicking in vivo observations. Thus, PMNs and their oxygen by-products may cause P. aeruginosa to undergo the typical adaptation to the intractable mu- coid form in the CF lung. These findings indicate that gene activation in bacteria by toxic oxygen radicals, similar to that found in plants and mammalian cells, may serve as a defence mechanism for the bacteria. This suggests that mucoid conversion is a response to oxygen radical exposure and that this response is mechanism of defence by the bacteria. This is the first report to show that PMNs and their oxygen radicals can cause this phenotypic and genotypic change which is so typical of the intractable form of P. aeruginosa in the CF lung. These findings may provide a basis for the development of anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory therapy for the early stages of infection in CF patients

The authors have identified a fourth flagellin gene in a 21850 bp region of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1 chromosome containing at least 20 genes concerned with flagellar structure, assembly and function. Three flagellin genes, flaA, flaB and flaC, orientated rightward, are positioned in a tandem array at the right end, with the fourth, substantially larger gene, flaD, in the opposite orientation, at the left end. Between these lie four apparent operons, two transcribed in each direction (motA, flhB leftward; flgF, flgB rightward) from a divergent position approx 7·5 kb from the left end. This unifies the previously published motA, flgB and flaABC sequences into a single region, also containing the homologues of flhB, flgF and flil. Site-specific mutagenesis of flil results in a non-flagellate phenotype, while a Tn5-induced flhB mutant possesses abnormal flagella. Mutagenesis and protein profiling demonstrate that all four flagellins contribute to flagellar structure: FlaA is the major protein, FlaB and FlaC are present in lesser amounts, and FlaD is a minor component. FlaA has anomolous elctrophoretic mobility, possibly due to glycosylation.