- Volume 159, Issue Pt_7, 2013
Volume 159, Issue Pt_7, 2013
- Microbial Pathogenicity
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Biotin sulfoxide reductase contributes to oxidative stress tolerance and virulence in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium
More LessOxidative stress converts sulfur residues of molecules like biotin and methionine into their oxidized forms. Here we show that the biotin sulfoxide reductase BisC of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) repairs both oxidized biotin and oxidized methionine. Exposure to H2O2 in vitro reduced survival of a S. Typhimurium ΔbisC mutant. Furthermore, replication of the ΔbisC mutant inside IFN-γ activated macrophages was reduced. In vitro tolerance of the mutant to H2O2 was restored by plasmids carrying either bisC or msrA; the latter encodes a methioinine sulfoxide reductase. In contrast, the proliferation defect inside IFN-γ activated macrophages was rescued by bisC but not by msrA. Thus growth of the ΔbisC mutant in IFN-γ activated macrophages required repair of oxidized biotin. Both the ΔbisC and a biotin auxotrophic (ΔbioB) mutant were attenuated in mice, suggesting that besides biotin biosynthesis, biotin repair was essential for virulence of S. Typhimurium in vivo. Attenuation of the ΔbisC mutant was more pronounced in 129 mice that produce a stronger oxidative response. These results show that BisC is essential for full virulence of Salmonella by contributing to the defence of S. Typhimurium against host-derived stress, and provides an attractive drug target since it is not present in mammals.
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MalF is essential for persistence of Mycoplasma gallisepticum in vivo
There is limited understanding of the molecular basis of virulence in the important avian pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum. To define genes that may be involved in colonization of chickens, a collection of mutants of the virulent Ap3AS strain of M. gallisepticum were generated by signature-tagged transposon mutagenesis. The collection included mutants with single insertions in the genes encoding the adhesin GapA and the cytadherence-related protein CrmA, and Western blotting confirmed that these mutants did not express these proteins. In two separate in vivo screenings, two GapA-deficient mutants (ST mutants 02-1 and 06-1) were occasionally recovered from birds, suggesting that GapA expression may not always be essential for persistence of strain Ap3AS. CrmA-deficient ST mutant 33-1 colonized birds poorly and had reduced virulence, indicating that CrmA was a significant virulence factor, but was not absolutely essential for colonization. ST mutant 04-1 contained a single transposon insertion in malF, a predicted ABC sugar transport permease, and could not be reisolated even when inoculated by itself into a group of birds, suggesting that expression of MalF was essential for persistence of M. galliseptium strain Ap3AS in infected birds.
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Mechanisms of intrinsic resistance to antimicrobial peptides of Edwardsiella ictaluri and its influence on fish gut inflammation and virulence
The genus Edwardsiella comprises a genetically distinct taxon related to other members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. It consists of bacteria differing strongly in their biochemical and physiological features, natural habitats, and pathogenic properties. Intrinsic resistance to cationic antimicrobial peptides (CAMPs) is a specific property of the genus Edwardsiella. In particular, Edwardsiella ictaluri, an important pathogen of the catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) aquaculture and the causative agent of a fatal systemic infection, is highly resistant to CAMPs. E. ictaluri mechanisms of resistance to CAMPs are unknown. We hypothesized that E. ictaluri lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plays a role in both virulence and resistance to CAMPs. The putative genes related to LPS oligo-polysaccharide (O-PS) synthesis were in-frame deleted. Individual deletions of wibT, gne and ugd eliminated synthesis of the O-PS, causing auto-agglutination, rough colonies, biofilm-like formation and motility defects. Deletion of ugd, the gene that encodes the UDP-glucose dehydrogenase enzyme responsible for synthesis of UDP-glucuronic acid, causes sensitivity to CAMPs, indicating that UDP-glucuronic acid and its derivatives are related to CAMP intrinsic resistance. E. ictaluri OP-S mutants showed different levels of attenuation, colonization of lymphoid tissues and immune protection in zebrafish (Danio rerio) and catfish. Orally inoculated catfish with O-PS mutant strains presented different degrees of gut inflammation and colonization of lymphoid tissues. Here we conclude that intrinsic resistance to CAMPs is mediated by Ugd enzyme, which has a pleiotropic effect in E. ictaluri influencing LPS synthesis, motility, agglutination, fish gut inflammation and virulence.
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Characterization of genes required for the pathogenicity of Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum Pcc21 in Chinese cabbage
Pectobacterium carotovorum subsp. carotovorum is a well-known plant pathogen that causes severe soft rot disease in various crops, resulting in considerable economic loss. To identify pathogenicity-related factors, Chinese cabbage was inoculated with 5314 transposon mutants of P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum Pcc21 derived using Tn5 transposon mutagenesis. A total of 35 reduced-virulence or avirulent mutants were isolated, and 14 loci were identified. The 14 loci could be functionally grouped into nutrient utilization (pyrD, purH, purD, leuA and serB), production of plant cell-wall-degrading enzymes (PCWDEs) (expI, expR and PCC21_023220), motility (flgA, fliA and flhB), biofilm formation (expI, expR and qseC), susceptibility to antibacterial plant chemicals (tolC) and unknown function (ECA2640). Among the 14 genes identified, qseC, tolC and PCC21_023220 are novel pathogenicity factors of P. carotovorum subsp. carotovorum involved in biofilm formation, phytochemical resistance and PCWDE production, respectively.
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ClpP deletion causes attenuation of Salmonella Typhimurium virulence through mis-regulation of RpoS and indirect control of CsrA and the SPI genes
More LessSalmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium requires the type III secretion system encoded by Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI1) and controlled by the master regulator, HilA, to penetrate the intestinal epithelium. Numerous regulators affect virulence through influence on this system, including the proteolytic component ClpP, the stationary phase regulator RpoS and the carbon-storage regulator CsrA. However, the mechanism behind the ClpP regulation is not fully understood. To elucidate this we examined differentially expressed genes in a ΔclpP mutant compared with WT using global transcriptomic analysis. SPI1 and SPI4 virulence genes were significantly downregulated in the ΔclpP mutant, whereas several RpoS-dependent genes and the fliC gene encoding flagellin were upregulated. While the ΔclpP mutant was attenuated in cell invasion, this attenuation was not present in a ΔclpP/rpoS : : amp double mutant, suggesting the repression of invasion was directed through RpoS. The expression of the csrA virulence regulator was increased in the ΔclpP mutant and decreased in the rpoS : : amp and ΔclpP/rpoS : : amp mutants, indicating that ClpP affects the csrA expression level as well. Thus, this study suggests that ClpP affects SPI1 expression and thereby virulence indirectly through its regulation of both RpoS and CsrA.
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Genomic and expression analysis of the vanG-like gene cluster of Clostridium difficile
Primary antibiotic treatment of Clostridium difficile intestinal diseases requires metronidazole or vancomycin therapy. A cluster of genes homologous to enterococcal glycopeptides resistance vanG genes was found in the genome of C. difficile 630, although this strain remains sensitive to vancomycin. This vanG-like gene cluster was found to consist of five ORFs: the regulatory region consisting of vanR and vanS and the effector region consisting of vanG, vanXY and vanT. We found that 57 out of 83 C. difficile strains, representative of the main lineages of the species, harbour this vanG-like cluster. The cluster is expressed as an operon and, when present, is found at the same genomic location in all strains. The vanG, vanXY and vanT homologues in C. difficile 630 are co-transcribed and expressed to a low level throughout the growth phases in the absence of vancomycin. Conversely, the expression of these genes is strongly induced in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of vancomycin, indicating that the vanG-like operon is functional at the transcriptional level in C. difficile. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC-HPLC) and MS analysis of cytoplasmic peptidoglycan precursors of C. difficile 630 grown without vancomycin revealed the exclusive presence of a UDP-MurNAc-pentapeptide with an alanine at the C terminus. UDP-MurNAc-pentapeptide [d-Ala] was also the only peptidoglycan precursor detected in C. difficile grown in the presence of vancomycin, corroborating the lack of vancomycin resistance. Peptidoglycan structures of a vanG-like mutant strain and of a strain lacking the vanG-like cluster did not differ from the C. difficile 630 strain, indicating that the vanG-like cluster also has no impact on cell-wall composition.
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The two-component response regulator LiaR regulates cell wall stress responses, pili expression and virulence in group B Streptococcus
Group B Streptococcus (GBS) remains the leading cause of early onset sepsis among term infants. Evasion of innate immune defences is critical to neonatal GBS disease pathogenesis. Effectors of innate immunity, as well as numerous antibiotics, frequently target the peptidoglycan layer of the Gram-positive bacterial cell wall. The intramembrane-sensing histidine kinase (IM-HK) class of two-component regulatory systems has been identified as important to the Gram-positive response to cell wall stress. We have characterized the GBS homologue of LiaR, the response regulator component of the Lia system, to determine its role in GBS pathogenesis. LiaR is expressed as part of a three-gene operon (liaFSR) with a promoter located upstream of liaF. A LiaR deletion mutant is more susceptible to cell wall-active antibiotics (vancomycin and bacitracin) as well as antimicrobial peptides (polymixin B, colistin, and nisin) compared to isogenic wild-type GBS. LiaR mutant GBS are significantly attenuated in mouse models of both GBS sepsis and pneumonia. Transcriptional profiling with DNA microarray and Northern blot demonstrated that LiaR regulates expression of genes involved in microbial defence against host antimicrobial systems including genes functioning in cell wall synthesis, pili formation and cell membrane modification. We conclude that the LiaFSR system, the first member of the IM-HK regulatory systems to be studied in GBS, is involved in sensing perturbations in the integrity of the cell wall and activates a transcriptional response that is important to the pathogenesis of GBS infection.
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