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Berthold A, Lloyd VK. Changes in the Transcriptome and Long Non-Coding RNAs but Not the Methylome Occur in Human Cells Exposed to Borrelia burgdorferi. Genes (Basel) 2024; 15:1010. [PMID: 39202370 PMCID: PMC11353914 DOI: 10.3390/genes15081010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2024] [Revised: 07/25/2024] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 09/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Lyme disease, caused by infection with members of the Lyme borreliosis group of Borrelia spirochete bacteria, is increasing in frequency and distribution worldwide. Epigenetic interactions between the mammalian host, tick, and bacterial pathogen are poorly understood. In this study, high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) allowed for the in vitro study of the transcriptome, non-coding RNAs, and methylome in human host cells in response to Borrelia burgdorferi infection. We tested the effect of the Borrelia burgdorferi strain B31 on a human primary cell line (HUVEC) and an immortalized cell line (HEK-293) for 72 h, a long-duration time that might allow for epigenetic responses in the exposed human host cells. Differential gene expression was detected in both cell models in response to B. burgdorferi. More differentially expressed genes were found in HUVECs compared to HEK-293 cells. Borrelia burgdorferi exposure significantly induced genes in the interferon, in addition to cytokine and other immune response signaling in HUVECs. In HEK-293 cells, pre-NOTCH processing in Golgi was significantly downregulated in Borrelia-exposed cells. Other significantly altered gene expressions were found in genes involved in the extracellular matrix. No significant global methylation changes were detected in HUVECs or HEK-293 cells exposed to B. burgdorferi; however, two long non-coding RNAs and a pseudogene were deregulated in response to B. burgdorferi in HUVECs, suggesting that other epigenetic mechanisms may be initiated by infection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Vett K. Lloyd
- Department of Biology, Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB E4L 1G7, Canada;
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Kumaresan V, Ingle TM, Kilgore N, Zhang G, Hermann BP, Seshu J. Cellular and transcriptome signatures unveiled by single-cell RNA-Seq following ex vivo infection of murine splenocytes with Borrelia burgdorferi. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1296580. [PMID: 38149246 PMCID: PMC10749944 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1296580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 11/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Lyme disease, the most common tick-borne infectious disease in the US, is caused by a spirochetal pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). Distinct host responses are observed in susceptible and resistant strains of inbred of mice following infection with Bb reflecting a subset of inflammatory responses observed in human Lyme disease. The advent of post-genomic methodologies and genomic data sets enables dissecting the host responses to advance therapeutic options for limiting the pathogen transmission and/or treatment of Lyme disease. Methods In this study, we used single-cell RNA-Seq analysis in conjunction with mouse genomics exploiting GFP-expressing Bb to sort GFP+ splenocytes and GFP- bystander cells to uncover novel molecular and cellular signatures that contribute to early stages of immune responses against Bb. Results These data decoded the heterogeneity of splenic neutrophils, macrophages, NK cells, B cells, and T cells in C3H/HeN mice in response to Bb infection. Increased mRNA abundance of apoptosis-related genes was observed in neutrophils and macrophages clustered from GFP+ splenocytes. Moreover, complement-mediated phagocytosis-related genes such as C1q and Ficolin were elevated in an inflammatory macrophage subset, suggesting upregulation of these genes during the interaction of macrophages with Bb-infected neutrophils. In addition, the role of DUSP1 in regulating the expression of Casp3 and pro-inflammatory cytokines Cxcl1, Cxcl2, Il1b, and Ccl5 in Bb-infected neutrophils were identified. Discussion These findings serve as a growing catalog of cell phenotypes/biomarkers among murine splenocytes that can be exploited for limiting spirochetal burden to limit the transmission of the agent of Lyme disease to humans via reservoir hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Venkatesh Kumaresan
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
| | - Taylor MacMackin Ingle
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
| | - Nathan Kilgore
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
| | - Guoquan Zhang
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
| | - Brian P. Hermann
- Department of Neuroscience, Developmental and Regenerative Biology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
| | - Janakiram Seshu
- Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
- South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States
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Sze CW, Zhang K, Lynch MJ, Iyer R, Crane BR, Schwartz I, Li C. A chemosensory-like histidine kinase is dispensable for chemotaxis in vitro but regulates the virulence of Borrelia burgdorferi through modulating the stability of RpoS. PLoS Pathog 2023; 19:e1011752. [PMID: 38011206 PMCID: PMC10703414 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011752] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2023] [Revised: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/29/2023] Open
Abstract
As an enzootic pathogen, the Lyme disease bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi possesses multiple copies of chemotaxis proteins, including two chemotaxis histidine kinases (CHK), CheA1 and CheA2. Our previous study showed that CheA2 is a genuine CHK that is required for chemotaxis; however, the role of CheA1 remains mysterious. This report first compares the structural features that differentiate CheA1 and CheA2 and then provides evidence to show that CheA1 is an atypical CHK that controls the virulence of B. burgdorferi through modulating the stability of RpoS, a key transcriptional regulator of the spirochete. First, microscopic analyses using green-fluorescence-protein (GFP) tags reveal that CheA1 has a unique and dynamic cellular localization. Second, loss-of-function studies indicate that CheA1 is not required for chemotaxis in vitro despite sharing a high sequence and structural similarity to its counterparts from other bacteria. Third, mouse infection studies using needle inoculations show that a deletion mutant of CheA1 (cheA1mut) is able to establish systemic infection in immune-deficient mice but fails to do so in immune-competent mice albeit the mutant can survive at the inoculation site for up to 28 days. Tick and mouse infection studies further demonstrate that CheA1 is dispensable for tick colonization and acquisition but essential for tick transmission. Lastly, mechanistic studies combining immunoblotting, protein turnover, mutagenesis, and RNA-seq analyses reveal that depletion of CheA1 affects RpoS stability, leading to reduced expression of several RpoS-regulated virulence factors (i.e., OspC, BBK32, and DbpA), likely due to dysregulated clpX and lon protease expression. Bulk RNA-seq analysis of infected mouse skin tissues further show that cheA1mut fails to elicit mouse tnf-α, il-10, il-1β, and ccl2 expression, four important cytokines for Lyme disease development and B. burgdorferi transmigration. Collectively, these results reveal a unique role and regulatory mechanism of CheA1 in modulating virulence factor expression and add new insights into understanding the regulatory network of B. burgdorferi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ching Wooen Sze
- Department of Oral Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Kai Zhang
- Department of Oral Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Michael J. Lynch
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Radha Iyer
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, United States of America
| | - Brian R. Crane
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Ira Schwartz
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, United States of America
| | - Chunhao Li
- Department of Oral Craniofacial Molecular Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States of America
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A systems biology approach to better understand human tick-borne diseases. Trends Parasitol 2023; 39:53-69. [PMID: 36400674 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2022.10.006] [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: 08/11/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 10/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) are a growing global health concern. Despite extensive studies, ill-defined tick-associated pathologies remain with unknown aetiologies. Human immunological responses after tick bite, and inter-individual variations of immune-response phenotypes, are not well characterised. Current reductive experimental methodologies limit our understanding of more complex tick-associated illness, which results from the interactions between the host, tick, and microbes. An unbiased, systems-level integration of clinical metadata and biological host data - obtained via transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics - offers to drive the data-informed generation of testable hypotheses in TBDs. Advanced computational tools have rendered meaningful analysis of such large data sets feasible. This review highlights the advantages of integrative system biology approaches as essential for understanding the complex pathobiology of TBDs.
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Tkáčová Z, Bhide K, Mochnáčová E, Petroušková P, Hruškovicová J, Kulkarni A, Bhide M. Comprehensive Mapping of the Cell Response to Borrelia bavariensis in the Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells in vitro Using RNA-Seq. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:760627. [PMID: 34819924 PMCID: PMC8606740 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.760627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 10/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Borrelia bavariensis can invade the central nervous system (CNS) by crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB). It is predicted that B. bavariensis evokes numerous signaling cascades in the human brain microvascular endothelial cells (hBMECs) and exploits them to traverse across the BBB. The complete picture of signaling events in hBMECs induced by B. bavariensis remains uncovered. Using RNA sequencing, we mapped 11,398 genes and identified 295 differentially expressed genes (DEGs, 251 upregulated genes and 44 downregulated genes) in B. bavariensis challenged hBMECs. The results obtained from RNA-seq were validated with qPCR. Gene ontology analysis revealed the participation of DEGs in a number of biological processes like cell communication, organization of the extracellular matrix, vesicle-mediated transport, cell response triggered by pattern recognition receptors, antigen processing via MHC class I, cellular stress, metabolism, signal transduction, etc. The expression of several non-protein coding genes was also evoked. In this manuscript, we discuss in detail the correlation between several signaling cascades elicited and the translocation of BBB by B. bavariensis. The data revealed here may contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms employed by B. bavariensis to cross the BBB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zuzana Tkáčová
- Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Kosice, Slovakia
| | - Katarína Bhide
- Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Kosice, Slovakia
| | - Evelina Mochnáčová
- Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Kosice, Slovakia
| | - Patrícia Petroušková
- Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Kosice, Slovakia
| | - Jana Hruškovicová
- Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Kosice, Slovakia
| | - Amod Kulkarni
- Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Kosice, Slovakia.,Institute of Neuroimmunology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Mangesh Bhide
- Laboratory of Biomedical Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy, Kosice, Slovakia.,Institute of Neuroimmunology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
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Tan X, Petri B, DeVinney R, Jenne CN, Chaconas G. The Lyme disease spirochete can hijack the host immune system for extravasation from the microvasculature. Mol Microbiol 2021; 116:498-515. [PMID: 33891779 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.14728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2021] [Revised: 04/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Lyme disease is the most common tick-transmitted disease in the northern hemisphere and is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and related Borrelia species. The constellation of symptoms attributable to this malady results from vascular dissemination of B. burgdorferi throughout the body to invade various tissue types. However, little is known about the mechanism by which the spirochetes can breach the blood vessel wall to reach distant tissues. We have studied this process by direct observation of spirochetes in the microvasculature of living mice using multi-laser spinning-disk intravital microscopy. Our results show that in our experimental system, instead of phagocytizing B. burgdorferi, host neutrophils are involved in the production of specific cytokines that activate the endothelium and potentiate B. burgdorferi escape into the surrounding tissue. Spirochete escape is not induced by paracellular permeability and appears to occur via a transcellular pathway. Neutrophil repurposing to promote bacterial extravasation represents a new and innovative pathogenic strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi Tan
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Björn Petri
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Rebekah DeVinney
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Craig N Jenne
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - George Chaconas
- Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.,Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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