Microbiology
Abstract
Authors
Philipp C. Rittershaus, Talar B. Kechichian, Jeremy C. Allegood, Alfred H. Merrill, Mirko Hennig, Chiara Luberto, Maurizio Del Poeta
Abstract
The study of regulatory networks in human pathogens such as Cryptococcus neoformans provides insights into host-pathogen interactions that may allow for correlation of gene expression patterns with clinical outcomes. In the present study, deletion of the cryptococcal copper-dependent transcription factor 1 (Cuf1) led to defects in growth and virulence factor expression in low copper conditions. In mouse models, cuf1Δ strains exhibited reduced dissemination to the brain, but no change in lung growth, suggesting copper is limiting in neurologic infections. To examine this further, a biologic probe of available copper was constructed using the cryptococcal CUF1-dependent copper transporter, CTR4. Fungal cells demonstrated high CTR4 expression levels after phagocytosis by macrophage-like J774.16 cells and during infection of mouse brains, but not lungs, consistent with limited copper availability during neurologic infection. This was extended to human brain infections by demonstrating CTR4 expression during C. neoformans infection of an AIDS patient. Moreover, high CTR4 expression by cryptococcal strains from 24 solid organ transplant patients was associated with dissemination to the CNS. Our results suggest that copper acquisition plays a central role in fungal pathogenesis during neurologic infection and that measurement of stable traits such as CTR4 expression may be useful for risk stratification of individuals with cryptococcosis.
Authors
Scott R. Waterman, Moshe Hacham, Guowu Hu, Xudong Zhu, Yoon-Dong Park, Soowan Shin, John Panepinto, Tibor Valyi-Nagy, Craig Beam, Shahid Husain, Nina Singh, Peter R. Williamson
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an important cause of opportunistic infections in humans, delivers bacterial cytotoxins by type III secretion directly into the host cell cytoplasm, resulting in disruption of host cell signaling and host innate immunity. However, little is known about the fate of the toxins themselves following injection into the host cytosol. Here, we show by both in vitro and in vivo studies that the host ubiquitin ligase Cbl-b interacts with the type III–secreted effector exotoxin T (ExoT) and plays a key role in vivo in limiting bacterial dissemination mediated by ExoT. We demonstrate that, following polyubiquitination, ExoT undergoes regulated proteasomal degradation in the host cell cytosol. ExoT interacts with the E3 ubiquitin ligase Cbl-b and Crk, the substrate for the ExoT ADP ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) domain. The efficiency of degradation is dependent upon the activity of the ADPRT domain. In mouse models of acute pneumonia and systemic infection, Cbl-b is specifically required to limit the dissemination of ExoT-producing bacteria whereas c-Cbl plays no detectable role. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first identification of a mammalian gene product that is specifically required for in vivo resistance to disease mediated by a type III–secreted effector.
Authors
Priya Balachandran, Leonard Dragone, Lynne Garrity-Ryan, Armando Lemus, Arthur Weiss, Joanne Engel
Abstract
Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) is a major cause of infantile diarrhea, but the pathophysiology underlying associated diarrhea is poorly understood. We examined the role of the luminal membrane Cl–/OH– exchange process in EPEC pathogenesis using in vitro and in vivo models. Cl–/OH– exchange activity was measured as OH– gradient–driven 36Cl– uptake. EPEC infection (60 minutes–3 hours) inhibited apical Cl–/OH– exchange activity in human intestinal Caco-2 and T84 cells. This effect was dependent upon the bacterial type III secretory system (TTSS) and involved secreted effector molecules EspG and EspG2, known to disrupt the host microtubular network. The microtubule-disrupting agent colchicine (100 μM, 3 hours) also inhibited 36Cl– uptake. The plasma membrane expression of major apical anion exchanger DRA (SLC26A3) was considerably reduced in EPEC-infected cells, corresponding with decreased Cl–/OH– exchange activity. Confocal microscopic studies showed that EPEC infection caused a marked redistribution of DRA from the apical membrane to intracellular compartments. Interestingly, infection of cells with an EPEC mutant deficient in espG significantly attenuated the decrease in surface expression of DRA protein as compared with treatment with wild-type EPEC. EPEC infection in vivo (1 day) also caused marked redistribution of surface DRA protein in the mouse colon. Our data demonstrate that EspG and EspG2 play an important role in contributing to EPEC infection–associated inhibition of luminal membrane chloride transport via modulation of surface DRA expression.
Authors
Ravinder K. Gill, Alip Borthakur, Kim Hodges, Jerrold R. Turner, Daniel R. Clayburgh, Seema Saksena, Ayesha Zaheer, Krishnamurthy Ramaswamy, Gail Hecht, Pradeep K. Dudeja
Abstract
Authors
Grace Soong, Amanda Muir, Marisa I. Gomez, Jonathan Waks, Bharat Reddy, Paul Planet, Pradeep K. Singh, Yukihiro Kanetko, Matthew C. Wolfgang, Yu-Shan Hsiao, Liang Tong, Alice Prince
Abstract
Increasing multidrug resistance in Enterococcus faecalis, a nosocomial opportunist and common cause of bacterial endocarditis, emphasizes the need for alternative therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy or immunoprophylaxis. In an earlier study, we demonstrated the presence of antibodies in E. faecalis endocarditis patient sera to recombinant forms of 9 E. faecalis cell wall–anchored proteins; of these, we have now characterized an in vivo–expressed locus of 3 genes and an associated sortase gene (encoding sortase C; SrtC). Here, using mutation analyses and complementation, we demonstrated that both the ebp (encoding endocarditis and biofilm-associated pili) operon and srtC are important for biofilm production of E. faecalis strain OG1RF. In addition, immunogold electron microscopy using antisera against EbpA–EbpC proteins as well as patient serum demonstrated that E. faecalis produces pleomorphic surface pili. Assembly of pili and their cell wall attachment appeared to occur via a mechanism of cross-linking of the Ebp proteins by the designated SrtC. Importantly, a nonpiliated, allelic replacement mutant was significantly attenuated in an endocarditis model. These biologically important surface pili, which are antigenic in humans during endocarditis and encoded by a ubiquitous E. faecalis operon, may be a useful immunotarget for studies aimed at prevention and/or treatment of this pathogen.
Authors
Sreedhar R. Nallapareddy, Kavindra V. Singh, Jouko Sillanpää, Danielle A. Garsin, Magnus Höök, Stanley L. Erlandsen, Barbara E. Murray
Abstract
Many respiratory pathogens, including Hemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, express neuraminidases that can cleave α2,3-linked sialic acids from glycoconjugates. As mucosal surfaces are heavily sialylated, neuraminidases have been thought to modify epithelial cells by exposing potential bacterial receptors. However, in contrast to neuraminidase produced by the influenza virus, a role for bacterial neuraminidase in pathogenesis has not yet been clearly established. We constructed a mutant of P. aeruginosa PAO1 by deleting the PA2794 neuraminidase locus (Δ2794) and tested its virulence and immunostimulatory capabilities in a mouse model of infection. Although fully virulent when introduced i.p., the Δ2794 mutant was unable to establish respiratory infection by i.n. inoculation. The inability to colonize the respiratory tract correlated with diminished production of biofilm, as assessed by scanning electron microscopy and in vitro assays. The importance of neuraminidase in biofilm production was further demonstrated by showing that viral neuraminidase inhibitors in clinical use blocked P. aeruginosa biofilm production in vitro as well. The P. aeruginosa neuraminidase has a key role in the initial stages of pulmonary infection by targeting bacterial glycoconjugates and contributing to the formation of biofilm. Inhibiting bacterial neuraminidases could provide a novel mechanism to prevent bacterial pneumonia.
Authors
Grace Soong, Amanda Muir, Marisa I. Gomez, Jonathan Waks, Bharat Reddy, Paul Planet, Pradeep K. Singh, Yukihiro Kanetko, Matthew C. Wolfgang, Yu-Shan Hsiao, Liang Tong, Alice Prince
Abstract
The fungal pathogen Candida albicans has a multilayered cell wall composed of an outer layer of proteins glycosylated with N- or O-linked mannosyl residues and an inner skeletal layer of β-glucans and chitin. We demonstrate that cytokine production by human mononuclear cells or murine macrophages was markedly reduced when stimulated by C. albicans mutants defective in mannosylation. Recognition of mannosyl residues was mediated by mannose receptor binding to N-linked mannosyl residues and by TLR4 binding to O-linked mannosyl residues. Residual cytokine production was mediated by recognition of β-glucan by the dectin-1/TLR2 receptor complex. C. albicans mutants with a cell wall defective in mannosyl residues were less virulent in experimental disseminated candidiasis and elicited reduced cytokine production in vivo. We concluded that recognition of C. albicans by monocytes/macrophages is mediated by 3 recognition systems of differing importance, each of which senses specific layers of the C. albicans cell wall.
Authors
Mihai G. Netea, Neil A.R. Gow, Carol A. Munro, Steven Bates, Claire Collins, Gerben Ferwerda, Richard P. Hobson, Gwyneth Bertram, H. Bleddyn Hughes, Trees Jansen, Liesbeth Jacobs, Ed T. Buurman, Karlijn Gijzen, David L. Williams, Ruurd Torensma, Alistair McKinnon, Donna M. MacCallum, Frank C. Odds, Jos W.M. Van der Meer, Alistair J.P. Brown, Bart Jan Kullberg
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that fine structural modifications of Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell envelope lipids mediate host cell immune activation during infection. One such alteration in lipid structure is cis-cyclopropane modification of the mycolic acids on trehalose dimycolate (TDM) mediated by proximal cyclopropane synthase of α mycolates (pcaA), a proinflammatory lipid modification during early infection. Here we examine the pathogenetic role and immunomodulatory function of mycolic acid cyclopropane stereochemistry by characterizing an M. tuberculosis cyclopropane–mycolic acid synthase 2 (cmaA2) null mutant (ΔcmaA2) that lacks trans-cyclopropanation of mycolic acids. Although titers of WT and ΔcmaA2 organisms were identical during mouse infection, ΔcmaA2 bacteria were hypervirulent while inducing larger granulomas than WT M. tuberculosis. The hypervirulence of the ΔcmaA2 strain depended on host TNF-α and IFN-γ. Loss of trans-cyclopropanation enhanced M. tuberculosis–induced macrophage inflammatory responses, a phenotype that was transferable with petroleum ether extractable lipids. Finally, purified TDM lacking trans-cyclopropane rings was 5-fold more potent in stimulating macrophages. These results establish cmaA2-dependent trans-cyclopropanation of TDM as a suppressor of M. tuberculosis–induced inflammation and virulence. In addition, cyclopropane stereochemistries on mycolic acids interact directly with host cells to both positively and negatively influence host innate immune activation.
Authors
Vivek Rao, Feng Gao, Bing Chen, William R. Jacobs, Michael S. Glickman
Abstract
The pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans infects humans upon inhalation and causes the most common fungal meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised subjects worldwide. In the host, C. neoformans is found both intracellularly and extracellularly, but how these two components contribute to the development of the disease is largely unknown. Here we show that the glycosphingolipid glucosylceramide (GlcCer), which is present in C. neoformans, was essential for fungal growth in host extracellular environments, such as in alveolar spaces and in the bloodstream, which are characterized by a neutral/alkaline pH, but not in the host intracellular environment, such as in the phagolysosome of macrophages, which is characteristically acidic. Indeed, a C. neoformans mutant strain lacking GlcCer did not grow in vitro at a neutral/alkaline pH, yet it had no growth defect at an acidic pH. The mechanism by which GlcCer regulates alkali tolerance was by allowing the transition of C. neoformans through the cell cycle. This study establishes C. neoformans GlcCer as a key virulence factor of cryptococcal pathogenicity, with important implications for future development of new antifungal strategies.
Authors
Philipp C. Rittershaus, Talar B. Kechichian, Jeremy C. Allegood, Alfred H. Merrill, Mirko Hennig, Chiara Luberto, Maurizio Del Poeta
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Copyright © 2018 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)