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Raghunandanan S, Zhang K, Zhang Y, Sze CW, Priya R, Luo Y, Lynch MJ, Crane BR, Li C, Yang XF. MCP5, a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein regulated by both the Hk1-Rrp1 and Rrp2-RpoN-RpoS pathways, is required for the immune evasion of Borrelia burgdorferi. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.10.598185. [PMID: 38915556 PMCID: PMC11195095 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.10.598185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/26/2024]
Abstract
Borrelia (or Borreliella) burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, is a motile and invasive zoonotic pathogen, adept at navigating between its arthropod vector and mammalian host. While motility and chemotaxis are well established as essential for its enzootic cycle, the function of methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs) in the infectious cycle of B. burgdorferi remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrate that MCP5, one of the most abundant MCPs in B. burgdorferi, is differentially expressed in response to environmental signals as well as at different stages of the pathogen's enzootic cycle. Specifically, the expression of mcp5 is regulated by the Hk1-Rrp1 and Rrp2-RpoN-RpoS pathways, which are critical for the spirochete's colonization of the tick vector and mammalian host, respectively. Infection experiments with an mcp5 mutant revealed that spirochetes lacking MCP5 could not establish infections in either C3H/HeN mice or Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) mice, which are defective in adaptive immunity, indicating the essential role of MCP5 in mammalian infection. However, the mcp5 mutant could establish infection and disseminate in NOD SCID Gamma (NSG) mice, which are deficient in both adaptive and most innate immune responses, suggesting a crucial role of MCP5 in evading host innate immunity. In the tick vector, the mcp5 mutants survived feeding but failed to transmit to mice, highlighting the importance of MCP5 in transmission. Our findings reveal that MCP5, regulated by the Rrp1 and Rrp2 pathways, is critical for the establishment of infection in mammalian hosts by evading host innate immunity and is important for the transmission of spirochetes from ticks to mammalian hosts, underscoring its potential as a target for intervention strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sajith Raghunandanan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202
| | - Kai Zhang
- Department of Oral Craniofacial Molecular Biology, School of Dentistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23298
| | - Yan Zhang
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202
- Wenzhou Key Laboratory of Sanitary Microbiology, Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China, 325035
| | - Ching Wooen Sze
- Department of Oral Craniofacial Molecular Biology, School of Dentistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23298
| | - Raj Priya
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202
| | - Yongliang Luo
- Wenzhou Key Laboratory of Sanitary Microbiology, Key Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, Ministry of Education, School of Laboratory Medicine and Life Sciences, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China, 325035
| | - Michael J Lynch
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Brian R Crane
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
| | - Chunhao Li
- Department of Oral Craniofacial Molecular Biology, School of Dentistry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 23298
| | - X. Frank Yang
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202
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Gupta N, Kumar A, Verma VK. Strategies adopted by gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori for a mature biofilm formation: Antimicrobial peptides as a visionary treatment. Microbiol Res 2023; 273:127417. [PMID: 37267815 DOI: 10.1016/j.micres.2023.127417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 05/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/21/2023] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Enormous efforts in recent past two decades to eradicate the pathogen that has been prevalent in half of the world's population have been problematic. The biofilm formed by Helicobacter pylori provides resistance towards innate immune cells, various combinatorial antibiotics, and human antimicrobial peptides, despite the fact that these all are potent enough to eradicate it in vitro. Biofilm provides the opportunity to secrete various virulence factors that strengthen the interaction between host and pathogen helping in evading the innate immune system and ultimately leading to persistence. To our knowledge, this review is the first of its kind to explain briefly the journey of H. pylori starting with the chemotaxis, the mechanism for selecting the site for colonization, the stress faced by the pathogen, and various adaptations to evade these stress conditions by forming biofilm and the morphological changes acquired by the pathogen in mature biofilm. Furthermore, we have explained the human GI tract antimicrobial peptides and the reason behind the failure of these AMPs, and how encapsulation of Pexiganan-A(MSI-78A) in a chitosan microsphere increases the efficiency of eradication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nidhi Gupta
- Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Marg, New Delhi 110021, India.
| | - Atul Kumar
- Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Marg, New Delhi 110021, India
| | - Vijay Kumar Verma
- Department of Microbiology, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez Marg, New Delhi 110021, India.
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Koveal D, Rosen PC, Meyer DJ, Díaz-García CM, Wang Y, Cai LH, Chou PJ, Weitz DA, Yellen G. A high-throughput multiparameter screen for accelerated development and optimization of soluble genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2919. [PMID: 35614105 PMCID: PMC9133083 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30685-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 05/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Genetically encoded fluorescent biosensors are powerful tools used to track chemical processes in intact biological systems. However, the development and optimization of biosensors remains a challenging and labor-intensive process, primarily due to technical limitations of methods for screening candidate biosensors. Here we describe a screening modality that combines droplet microfluidics and automated fluorescence imaging to provide an order of magnitude increase in screening throughput. Moreover, unlike current techniques that are limited to screening for a single biosensor feature at a time (e.g. brightness), our method enables evaluation of multiple features (e.g. contrast, affinity, specificity) in parallel. Because biosensor features can covary, this capability is essential for rapid optimization. We use this system to generate a high-performance biosensor for lactate that can be used to quantify intracellular lactate concentrations. This biosensor, named LiLac, constitutes a significant advance in metabolite sensing and demonstrates the power of our screening approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorothy Koveal
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Paul C Rosen
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Dylan J Meyer
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Carlos Manlio Díaz-García
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Yongcheng Wang
- Department of Physics and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Liangzhu Laboratory, Zhejiang University Medical Center, 1369 West Wenyi Road, Hangzhou, 311121, China
| | - Li-Heng Cai
- Department of Physics and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Peter J Chou
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - David A Weitz
- Department of Physics and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Gary Yellen
- Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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The dCache Chemoreceptor TlpA of Helicobacter pylori Binds Multiple Attractant and Antagonistic Ligands via Distinct Sites. mBio 2021; 12:e0181921. [PMID: 34340539 PMCID: PMC8406319 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.01819-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The Helicobacter pylori chemoreceptor TlpA plays a role in dampening host inflammation during chronic stomach colonization. TlpA has a periplasmic dCache_1 domain, a structure that is capable of sensing many ligands; however, the only characterized TlpA signals are arginine, bicarbonate, and acid. To increase our understanding of TlpA’s sensing profile, we screened for diverse TlpA ligands using ligand binding arrays. TlpA bound seven ligands with affinities in the low- to middle-micromolar ranges. Three of these ligands, arginine, fumarate, and cysteine, were TlpA-dependent chemoattractants, while the others elicited no response. Molecular docking experiments, site-directed point mutants, and competition surface plasmon resonance binding assays suggested that TlpA binds ligands via both the membrane-distal and -proximal dCache_1 binding pockets. Surprisingly, one of the nonactive ligands, glucosamine, acted as a chemotaxis antagonist, preventing the chemotaxis response to chemoattractant ligands, and acted to block the binding of ligands irrespective of whether they bound the membrane-distal or -proximal dCache_1 subdomains. In total, these results suggest that TlpA senses multiple attractant ligands as well as antagonist ones, an emerging theme in chemotaxis systems.
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Robinson CD, Sweeney EG, Ngo J, Ma E, Perkins A, Smith TJ, Fernandez NL, Waters CM, Remington SJ, Bohannan BJM, Guillemin K. Host-emitted amino acid cues regulate bacterial chemokinesis to enhance colonization. Cell Host Microbe 2021; 29:1221-1234.e8. [PMID: 34233153 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 06/04/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Animal microbiomes are assembled predominantly from environmental microbes, yet the mechanisms by which individual symbionts regulate their transmission into hosts remain underexplored. By tracking the experimental evolution of Aeromonas veronii in gnotobiotic zebrafish, we identify bacterial traits promoting host colonization. Multiple independently evolved isolates with increased immigration harbored mutations in a gene we named sensor of proline diguanylate cyclase enzyme (SpdE) based on structural, biochemical, and phenotypic evidence that SpdE encodes an amino-acid-sensing diguanylate cyclase. SpdE detects free proline and to a lesser extent valine and isoleucine, resulting in reduced production of intracellular c-di-GMP, a second messenger controlling bacterial motility. Indeed, SpdE binding to amino acids increased bacterial motility and host colonization. Hosts serve as sources of SpdE-detected amino acids, with levels varying based on microbial colonization status. Our work demonstrates that bacteria use chemically regulated motility, or chemokinesis, to sense host-emitted cues that trigger active immigration into hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emily G Sweeney
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Julia Ngo
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Emily Ma
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Arden Perkins
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - T Jarrod Smith
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA
| | - Nicolas L Fernandez
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Christopher M Waters
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | | | | | - Karen Guillemin
- Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403, USA; Humans and the Microbiome Program, CIFAR, Toronto, ON, Canada.
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Abstract
Bacteria that colonize animals must overcome, or coexist, with the reactive oxygen species products of inflammation, a front-line defense of innate immunity. Among these is the neutrophilic oxidant bleach, hypochlorous acid (HOCl), a potent antimicrobial that plays a primary role in killing bacteria through nonspecific oxidation of proteins, lipids, and DNA. Here, we report that in response to increasing HOCl levels, Escherichia coli regulates biofilm production via activation of the diguanylate cyclase DgcZ. We identify the mechanism of DgcZ sensing of HOCl to be direct oxidation of its regulatory chemoreceptor zinc-binding (CZB) domain. Dissection of CZB signal transduction reveals that oxidation of the conserved zinc-binding cysteine controls CZB Zn2+ occupancy, which in turn regulates the catalysis of c-di-GMP by the associated GGDEF domain. We find DgcZ-dependent biofilm formation and HOCl sensing to be regulated in vivo by the conserved zinc-coordinating cysteine. Additionally, point mutants that mimic oxidized CZB states increase total biofilm. A survey of bacterial genomes reveals that many pathogenic bacteria that manipulate host inflammation as part of their colonization strategy possess CZB-regulated diguanylate cyclases and chemoreceptors. Our findings suggest that CZB domains are zinc-sensitive regulators that allow host-associated bacteria to perceive host inflammation through reactivity with HOCl.
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Hida A, Oku S, Miura M, Matsuda H, Tajima T, Kato J. Characterization of methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs) for amino acids in plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium Pseudomonas protegens CHA0 and enhancement of amino acid chemotaxis by MCP genes overexpression. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 2020; 84:1948-1957. [PMID: 32538292 DOI: 10.1080/09168451.2020.1780112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
Pseudomonas protegens CHA0, known as plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium, showed positive chemotactic responses toward proteinaceous L-amino acids. Genomic analysis revealed that P. protegens CHA0 possesses four putative chemoreceptors for amino acids (designated CtaA, CtaB, CtaC, and CtaD, respectively). Pseudomonas aeruginosa PCT2, a mutant defective in chemotaxis to amino acids, harboring a plasmid containing each of ctaA, ctaB, ctaC, and ctaD showed chemotactic responses to 20, 4, 4, and 11 types of amino acids, respectively. To enhance chemotaxis toward amino acids, we introduced the plasmids containing ctaA, ctaB, ctaC, or ctaD into P. protegens CHA0. By overexpression of the genes, we succeeded in enhancing chemotaxis toward more than half of the tested ligands. However, unexpectedly, the P. protegens CHA0 transformants showed unchanged or decreased responses to some amino acids when compared to wild-type CHA0. We speculate that alternation of expression of a chemoreceptor may affect the abundance of other chemoreceptors. ABBREVIATIONS cDNA: complementary DNA; LBD: ligand-binding domain; MCP: methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein; PDC: PhoQ/DcuS/CitA; PGPR: plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria; qRT-PCR: quantitative reverse transcription PCR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akiko Hida
- Program of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University , Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Shota Oku
- Global Career Design Center, Hiroshima University , Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Manami Miura
- Program of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University , Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Hiroki Matsuda
- Program of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University , Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Takahisa Tajima
- Program of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University , Hiroshima, Japan
| | - Junichi Kato
- Program of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University , Hiroshima, Japan
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