Secreted and immunogenic proteins produced by the honeybee bacterial pathogen, Paenibacillus larvae

Aspartyl protease in the secretome of honey bee trypanosomatid parasite contributes to infection of bees

BACKGROUND

The exoproteome, which consists of both secreted proteins and those originating from cell surfaces and lysed cells, is a critical component of trypanosomatid parasites, facilitating interactions with host cells and gut microbiota. However, its specific roles in the insect hosts of these parasites remain poorly understood.

METHODS

We conducted a comprehensive characterization of the exoproteome in Lotmaria passim, a trypanosomatid parasite infecting honey bees, under culture conditions. We further investigated the functions of two conventionally secreted proteins, aspartyl protease (LpAsp) and chitinase (LpCht), as representative models to elucidate the role of the secretome in L. passim infection of honey bees.

RESULTS

Approximately 48% of L. passim exoproteome proteins were found to share homologs with those found in seven Leishmania spp., suggesting the existence of a core exoproteome with conserved functions in the Leishmaniinae lineage. Bioinformatics analyses suggested that the L. passim exoproteome may play a pivotal role in interactions with both the host and its microbiota. Notably, the deletion of genes encoding two secretome proteins revealed the important role of LpAsp, but not LpCht, in L. passim development under culture conditions and its efficiency in infecting the honey bee gut.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results highlight the exoproteome as a valuable resource for unraveling the mechanisms employed by trypanosomatid parasites to infect insect hosts by interacting with the gut environment.

Use of Dicranum polysetum extract against Paenibacillus larvae causing American Foulbrood under in vivo and in vitro conditions

Recent research shows that Dicranum species can be used to ameliorate the negative effects of honeybee bacterial diseases and that novel compounds isolated from these species may have the potential to treat bacterial diseases. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of Dicranum polysetum Sw. against American Foulbrood using toxicity and larval model. The effectiveness of D. polysetum Sw. ethanol extract in combating AFB was investigated in vitro and in vivo. This study is important in finding an alternative treatment or prophylactic method to prevent American Foulbrood disease in honey bee colonies. Spore and vegetative forms of Paenibacillus larvae PB31B with ethanol extract of D. polysetum were tested on 2040 honey bee larvae under controlled conditions. Total phenolic and flavonoid contents of D. polysetum ethanol extracts were determined as 80.72 mg/GAE(Gallic acid equivalent) and 303.20 µg/mL, respectively. DPPH(2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging percent inhibition value was calculated as 4.32%. In Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) and Lymantria dispar (LD652) cell lines, the cytotoxic activities of D. polysetum extract were below 20% at 50 µg/mL. The extract was shown to considerably decrease infection in the larvae, and the infection was clinically halted when the extract was administered during the first 24 h after spore contamination. The fact that the extract contains potent antimicrobial/antioxidant activity does not reduce larval viability and live weight, and does not interact with royal jelly is a promising development, particularly regarding its use to treat early-stage AFB infection.

Hexanic extract of Achyrocline satureioides: antimicrobial activity and in vitro inhibitory effect on mechanisms related to the pathogenicity of Paenibacillus larvae

INTRODUCTION

Paenibacillus larvae is a spore-forming bacillus, the most important bacterial pathogen of honeybee larvae and the causative agent of American foulbrood (AFB). Control measures are limited and represent a challenge for both beekeepers and researchers. For this reason, many studies focus on the search for alternative treatments based on natural products.

AIM

The objective of this study was to determine the antimicrobial activity of the hexanic extract (HE) of Achyrocline satureioides on P. larvae and the inhibitory activity on some mechanisms related to pathogenicity.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of the HE was determined by the broth microdilution technique and the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) by the microdrop technique. Swimming and swarming motility was evaluated in plates with 0.3 and 0.5% agar, respectively. Biofilm formation was evaluated and quantified by the Congo red and crystal violet method. The protease activity was evaluated by the qualitative technique on skim milk agar plates.

RESULTS

It was determined that the MIC of the HE on four strains of P. larvae ranged between 0.3 and 9.37 µg/ml and the MBC between 1.17 and 150 µg/ml. On the other hand, sub-inhibitory concentrations of the HE were able to decrease swimming motility, biofilm formation and the proteases production of P. larvae.

Proteinase pattern of honeybee prepupae from healthy and American Foulbrood infected bees investigated by zymography

American foulbrood disease (AFB) is the main devastating disease that affects honeybees' brood, caused by Paenibacillus larvae. The trend of the research on AFB has addressed the mechanisms by which P. larvae bacteria kill honeybee larvae. Since prepupae could react to the infection of AFB by increasing protease synthesis, the aim of this work was to compare protease activity in worker prepupae belonging to healthy colonies and to colonies affected by AFB. This investigation was performed by zymography. In gel, proteolytic activity was observed in prepupae extracts belonging only to the healthy colonies. In the prepupae extracts, 2D zimography followed by protein identification by MS allowed to detect Trypsin-1 and Chymotrypsin-1, which were not observed in diseased specimens. Further investigations are needed to clarify the involvement of these proteinases in the immune response of honeybee larvae and the mechanisms by which P. larvae inhibits protease production in its host.

Characterization of Paenibacillus larvae bacteriophages and their genomic relationships to firmicute bacteriophages

Background

Paenibacillus larvae is a Firmicute bacterium that causes American Foulbrood, a lethal disease in honeybees and is a major source of global agricultural losses. Although P. larvae phages were isolated prior to 2013, no full genome sequences of P. larvae bacteriophages were published or analyzed. This report includes an in-depth analysis of the structure, genomes, and relatedness of P. larvae myoviruses Abouo, Davis, Emery, Jimmer1, Jimmer2, and siphovirus phiIBB_Pl23 to each other and to other known phages.

Results

P. larvae phages Abouo, Davies, Emery, Jimmer1, and Jimmer2 are myoviruses with ~50 kbp genomes. The six P. larvae phages form three distinct groups by dotplot analysis. An annotated linear genome map of these six phages displays important identifiable genes and demonstrates the relationship between phages. Sixty phage assembly or structural protein genes and 133 regulatory or other non-structural protein genes were identifiable among the six P. larvae phages. Jimmer1, Jimmer2, and Davies formed stable lysogens resistant to superinfection by genetically similar phages. The correlation between tape measure protein gene length and phage tail length allowed identification of co-isolated phages Emery and Abouo in electron micrographs. A Phamerator database was assembled with the P. larvae phage genomes and 107 genomes of Firmicute-infecting phages, including 71 Bacillus phages. Phamerator identified conserved domains in 1,501 of 6,181 phamilies (only 24.3%) encoded by genes in the database and revealed that P. larvae phage genomes shared at least one phamily with 72 of the 107 other phages. The phamily relationship of large terminase proteins was used to indicate putative DNA packaging strategies. Analyses from CoreGenes, Phamerator, and electron micrograph measurements indicated Jimmer1, Jimmer2, Abouo and Davies were related to phages phiC2, EJ-1, KC5a, and AQ113, which are small-genome myoviruses that infect Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, and Clostridium, respectively.

Conclusions

This paper represents the first comparison of phage genomes in the Paenibacillus genus and the first organization of P. larvae phages based on sequence and structure. This analysis provides an important contribution to the field of bacteriophage genomics by serving as a foundation on which to build an understanding of the natural predators of P. larvae.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-745) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Paenilarvins: Iturin family lipopeptides from the honey bee pathogen Paenibacillus larvae

The bacterium Paenibacillus larvae has been extensively studied as it is an appalling honey bee pathogen. In the present work, we screened crude extracts derived from fermentations of P. larvae genotypes ERIC I and II for antimicrobial activity, following the detection of four putative secondary metabolite gene clusters that show high sequence homology to known biosynthetic gene clusters for the biosynthesis of antibiotics. Low molecular weight metabolites produced by P. larvae have recently been shown to have toxic effects on honey bee larvae. Moreover, a novel tripeptide, sevadicin, was recently characterized from laboratory cultures of P. larvae. In this study, paenilarvins, which are iturinic lipopeptides exhibiting strong antifungal activities, were obtained by bioassay-guided fractionation from cultures of P. larvae, genotype ERIC II. Their molecular structures were determined by extensive 2D NMR spectroscopy, high resolution mass spectrometry, and other methods. Paenilarvins are the first antifungal secondary metabolites to be identified from P. larvae. In preliminary experiments, these lipopeptides also affected honey bee larvae and might thus play a role in P. larvae survival and pathogenesis. However, further studies are needed to investigate their function.

Low-molecular-weight metabolites secreted by Paenibacillus larvae as potential virulence factors of American foulbrood

The spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae causes a severe and highly infective bee disease, American foulbrood (AFB). Despite the large economic losses induced by AFB, the virulence factors produced by P. larvae are as yet unknown. To identify such virulence factors, we experimentally infected young, susceptible larvae of the honeybee, Apis mellifera carnica, with different P. larvae isolates. Honeybee larvae were reared in vitro in 24-well plates in the laboratory after isolation from the brood comb. We identified genotype-specific differences in the etiopathology of AFB between the tested isolates of P. larvae, which were revealed by differences in the median lethal times. Furthermore, we confirmed that extracts of P. larvae cultures contain low-molecular-weight compounds, which are toxic to honeybee larvae. Our data indicate that P. larvae secretes metabolites into the medium with a potent honeybee toxic activity pointing to a novel pathogenic factor(s) of P. larvae. Genome mining of P. larvae subsp. larvae BRL-230010 led to the identification of several biosynthesis gene clusters putatively involved in natural product biosynthesis, highlighting the potential of P. larvae to produce such compounds.

Effect of bodily fluids from honey bee (Apis mellifera) larvae on growth and genome-wide transcriptional response of the causal agent of American Foulbrood disease (Paenibacillus larvae)

Paenibacillus larvae, the causal agent of American Foulbrood disease (AFB), affects honey bee health worldwide. The present study investigates the effect of bodily fluids from honey bee larvae on growth velocity and transcription for this Gram-positive, endospore-forming bacterium. It was observed that larval fluids accelerate the growth and lead to higher bacterial densities during stationary phase. The genome-wide transcriptional response of in vitro cultures of P. larvae to larval fluids was studied by microarray technology. Early responses of P. larvae to larval fluids are characterized by a general down-regulation of oligopeptide and sugar transporter genes, as well as by amino acid and carbohydrate metabolic genes, among others. Late responses are dominated by general down-regulation of sporulation genes and up-regulation of phage-related genes. A theoretical mechanism of carbon catabolite repression is discussed.

Extracellular Proteins of Mycoplasma synoviae

Mycoplasma synoviae is a Gram positive bacteria lacking of cell wall that affects chickens and turkeys causing infection in the upper respiratory tract and in some cases arthritis, with economical impact to broiler breeders. Treatment and prevention of avian synovitis depend on knowledge of the infectious process. Secreted or surface-exposed proteins play a critical role in disease because they often mediate interactions between host and pathogen. In the present work, we sought to identify possible M. synoviae secreted proteins by cultivating the bacteria in a modified protein-free Frey medium. Using this approach, we were able to detect in the cell-free fraction a number of proteins that have been shown in other organisms to be secreted, suggesting that they may also be secreted by M. synoviae.

Psychrotolerant Paenibacillus tundrae isolates from barley grains produce new cereulide-like depsipeptides (paenilide and homopaenilide) that are highly toxic to mammalian cells

Paenilide is a novel, heat-stable peptide toxin from Paenibacillus tundrae, which colonizes barley. P. tundrae produced 20 to 50 ng of the toxin mg(-1) of cells (wet weight) throughout a range of growth temperatures from +5°C to +28°C. Paenilide consisted of two substances of 1,152 Da and 1,166 Da, with masses and tandem mass spectra identical to those of cereulide and a cereulide homolog, respectively, produced by Bacillus cereus NS-58. The two components of paenilide were separated from those of cereulide by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), showing a structural difference suggesting the replacement of O-Leu (cereulide) by O-Ile (paenilide). The exposure of porcine spermatozoa and kidney tubular epithelial (PK-15) cells to subnanomolar concentrations of paenilide resulted in inhibited motility, the depolarization of mitochondria, excessive glucose consumption, and metabolic acidosis. Paenilide was similar to cereulide in eight different toxicity endpoints with porcine and murine cells. In isolated rat liver mitochondria, nanomolar concentrations of paenilide collapsed respiratory control, zeroed the mitochondrial membrane potential, and induced swelling. The toxic effect of paenilide depended on its high lipophilicity and activity as a high-affinity potassium ion carrier. Similar to cereulide, paenilide formed lipocations, i.e., lipophilic cationic compounds, with K(+) ions already at 4 mM [K(+)], rendering lipid membranes electroconductive. Paenilide-producing P. tundrae was negative in a PCR assay with primers specific for the cesB gene, indicating that paenilide was not a product of plasmid pCER270, encoding the biosynthesis of cereulide in B. cereus. Paenilide represents the first potassium ionophoric compound described for Paenibacillus. The findings in this paper indicate that paenilide from P. tundrae is a potential food-poisoning agent.

Updated genome assembly and annotation of Paenibacillus larvae, the agent of American foulbrood disease of honey bees

Abstract

Results

We used the Illumina GAIIx platform and conventional Sanger sequencing to generate a 182-fold sequence coverage of the P. larvae genome, and assembled the data using ABySS into a total of 388 contigs spanning 4.5 Mbp. Comparative genomics analysis against fully-sequenced soil bacteria P. JDR2 and P. vortex showed that regions of poor conservation may contain putative virulence factors. We used GLIMMER to predict 3568 gene models, and named them based on homology revealed by BLAST searches; proteases, hemolytic factors, toxins, and antibiotic resistance enzymes were identified in this way. Finally, mass spectrometry was used to provide experimental evidence that at least 35% of the genes are expressed at the protein level.

Conclusions

This update on the genome of P. larvae and annotation represents an immense advancement from what we had previously known about this species. We provide here a reliable resource that can be used to elucidate the mechanism of infection, and by extension, more effective methods to control and cure this widespread honey bee disease.

Metalloprotease production by Paenibacillus larvae during the infection of honeybee larvae

American foulbrood is a bacterial disease of worldwide distribution that affects larvae of the honeybee Apis mellifera. The causative agent is the Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. Several authors have proposed that P. larvae secretes metalloproteases that are involved in the larval degradation that occurs after infection. The aim of the present work was to evaluate the production of a metalloprotease by P. larvae during larval infection. First, the complete gene encoding a metalloprotease was identified in the P. larvae genome and its distribution was evaluated by PCR in a collection of P. larvae isolates from different geographical regions. Then, the complete gene was amplified, cloned and overexpressed, and the recombinant metalloprotease was purified and used to generate anti-metalloprotease antibodies. Metalloprotease production was evaluated by immunofluorescence and fluorescence in situ hybridization. The gene encoding a P. larvae metalloprotease was widely distributed in isolates from different geographical origins in Uruguay and Argentina. Metalloprotease was detected inside P. larvae vegetative cells, on the surface of P. larvae spores and secreted to the external growth medium. Its production was also confirmed in vivo, during the infection of honeybee larvae. This protein was able to hydrolyse milk proteins as described for P. larvae, suggesting that could be involved in larval degradation. This work contributes to the knowledge of the pathogenicity mechanisms of a bacterium of great economic significance and is one step in the characterization of potential P. larvae virulence factors.

Paenibacillus larvae enolase as a virulence factor in honeybee larvae infection

Paenibacillus larvae is a gram-positive spore-forming bacteria, causative agent of American Foulbrood (AFB), a severe disease affecting larvae of the honeybee Apis mellifera. In an attempt to detect potential virulence factors secreted by P. larvae, we identified an enolase among different secreted proteins. Although this protein is a cytosolic enzyme involved in glycolytic pathways, it has been related to virulence. The aim of the present work was to evaluate its role during the infection of honeybee larvae. Toxicity assays showed that enolase was highly toxic and immunogenic to honeybee larvae. Its production was detected inside P. larvae vegetative cells, on the surface of P. larvae spores and secreted to the external growth medium. P. larvae enolase production was also confirmed in vivo, during the infection of honeybee larvae. This protein was able to hydrolyze milk proteins as described for P. larvae, suggesting that could be involved in larval degradation, maybe through the plasmin(ogen) system. These results suggest that P. larvae enolase may have a role in virulence and could contribute to a general insight about insect-pathogen interaction mechanisms.