Iron assimilation inCryptococcus neoformans

GmYSL7 controls iron uptake, allocation, and cellular response of nodules in soybean

Iron (Fe) is essential for DNA synthesis, photosynthesis and respiration of plants. The demand for Fe substantially increases during legumes-rhizobia symbiotic nitrogen fixation because of the synthesis of leghemoglobin in the host and Fe-containing proteins in bacteroids. However, the mechanism by which plant controls iron transport to nodules remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that GmYSL7 serves as a key regulator controlling Fe uptake from root to nodule and distribution in soybean nodules. GmYSL7 is Fe responsive and GmYSL7 transports iron across the membrane and into the infected cells of nodules. Alterations of GmYSL7 substantially affect iron distribution between root and nodule, resulting in defective growth of nodules and reduced nitrogenase activity. GmYSL7 knockout increases the expression of GmbHLH300, a transcription factor required for Fe response of nodules. Overexpression of GmbHLH300 decreases nodule number, nitrogenase activity and Fe content in nodules. Remarkably, GmbHLH300 directly binds to the promoters of ENOD93 and GmLbs, which regulate nodule number and nitrogenase activity, and represses their transcription. Our data reveal a new role of GmYSL7 in controlling Fe transport from host root to nodule and Fe distribution in nodule cells, and uncover a molecular mechanism by which Fe affects nodule number and nitrogenase activity.

Iron source preference and regulation of iron uptake in Cryptococcus neoformans

The level of available iron in the mammalian host is extremely low, and pathogenic microbes must compete with host proteins such as transferrin for iron. Iron regulation of gene expression, including genes encoding iron uptake functions and virulence factors, is critical for the pathogenesis of the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. In this study, we characterized the roles of the CFT1 and CFT2 genes that encode C. neoformans orthologs of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae high-affinity iron permease FTR1. Deletion of CFT1 reduced growth and iron uptake with ferric chloride and holo-transferrin as the in vitro iron sources, and the cft1 mutant was attenuated for virulence in a mouse model of infection. A reduction in the fungal burden in the brains of mice infected with the cft1 mutant was observed, thus suggesting a requirement for reductive iron acquisition during cryptococcal meningitis. CFT2 played no apparent role in iron acquisition but did influence virulence. The expression of both CFT1 and CFT2 was influenced by cAMP-dependent protein kinase, and the iron-regulatory transcription factor Cir1 positively regulated CFT1 and negatively regulated CFT2. Overall, these results indicate that C. neoformans utilizes iron sources within the host (e.g., holo-transferrin) that require Cft1 and a reductive iron uptake system.

Opportunistic fungal pathogens and other invading microbes must overcome extreme iron limitation to proliferate in the mammalian host. It is not yet known which iron sources are preferred by fungal pathogens of mammals, although the mechanisms of acquisition are beginning to be explored. Some fungi produce iron-chelating siderophores to capture iron from host proteins, while others appear to require a membrane-bound iron permease–ferroxidase system. We describe the ability of the encapsulated yeast Cryptococcus neoformans to use host iron sources including transferrin and heme, and we identify an iron permease that is required for full disease progression in experimental mouse models. The permease is required for iron utilization from transferrin but not heme during growth in laboratory culture. This result when combined with the observed slow growth of the permease mutant during the experimental infections implicates transferrin as an important iron source in the host. However, we find that mutants lacking the permease eventually do cause disease, thus revealing that additional iron sources such as heme and other uptake mechanisms are available to C. neoformans. Finally, we noted that the permease mutant showed particularly poor growth in the brains of infected animals, suggesting that transferrin may be an especially important iron source in this tissue.

Iron and fungal pathogenesis: a case study with Cryptococcus neoformans

The acquisition of iron from mammalian hosts is an important aspect of infection because microbes must compete with the host for this nutrient and iron perception often regulates virulence factor expression. For example, iron levels are known to influence the elaboration of two major virulence factors, the polysaccharide capsule and melanin, in the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans. This pathogen, which causes meningoencephalitis in immunocompromised people, acquires iron through the use of secreted reductants, cell surface reductases, a permease/ferroxidase uptake system and siderophore transporters. In addition, a master regulator, Cir1, integrates iron sensing with the expression of virulence factors, with growth at 37 degrees C and with signalling pathways that also influence virulence. The challenge ahead is to develop mechanistic views of the iron acquisition functions and regulatory schemes that operate when C. neoformans is in host tissue. Achieving these goals may contribute to an understanding of the notable predilection of the fungus for the mammalian central nervous system.

Specific antibody can prevent fungal biofilm formation and this effect correlates with protective efficacy

One of the most troublesome medical problems today is infection of prosthetic devices with organisms that form polysaccharide biofilms. This combined with increasing antimicrobial drug resistance is making many infectious diseases incurable. Cryptococcus neoformans is a human-pathogenic fungus that has a polysaccharide capsule and can form biofilms in prosthetic medical devices. We developed a system to study cryptococcal biofilm formation in vitro and studied the effect of antibody to the C. neoformans capsular polysaccharide on this process. C. neoformans biofilm formation was dependent on the presence of a polysaccharide capsule and correlated with the ability of capsular polysaccharide to bind the polystyrene solid support. Protective antibodies prevented biofilm formation whereas nonprotective antibodies were not effective. The mechanism of antibody action involved interference with capsular polysaccharide release from the fungal cell. In contrast, lactoferrin, an effector molecule of innate immune mechanisms, was unable to prevent fungal biofilm formation despite its efficacy against bacterial biofilms. Our results suggest a new role of adaptive humoral immunity whereby some antibodies can inhibit biofilm formation by encapsulated organisms. Vaccines that elicit antibody responses to capsular antigens and/or passive transfer of antibodies to microbial polysaccharides may be useful in preventing biofilm formation.

Laccase protects Cryptococcus neoformans from antifungal activity of alveolar macrophages

While laccase of Cryptococcus neoformans is implicated in the virulence of the organism, our recent studies showing absence of melanin in the infected mouse brain has led us to a search for alternative roles for laccase in cryptococcosis. We investigated the role of laccase in protection of C. neoformans against murine alveolar macrophage (AM)-mediated antifungal activity by using a pair of congenic laccase-positive (2E-TUC) and laccase-deficient (2E-TU) strains. The laccase-positive cells with laccase derepression were more resistant to the antifungal activity of AM than a laccase-deficient strain ([28.9 +/- 1.2]% versus [40.2 +/- 2.6]% killing). Addition of L-dopa to Cryptococcus to produce melanin in a laccase-positive strain resulted in a slight increase in protection of C. neoformans from the antifungal activity of macrophages ([25.4 +/- 3.4]% versus [28.9 +/- 1.2]% killing). Recombinant cryptococcal laccase exhibited iron oxidase activity in converting Fe(II) to Fe(III). Moreover, recombinant laccase inhibited killing of C. neoformans by hydroxyl radicals catalyzed by iron in a cell-free system. Addition of the hydroxyl radical scavenger mannitol or dimethyl sulfoxide to AMs prior to the introduction of cryptococcal cells decreased killing of both strains and reduced the difference in susceptibility between the laccase-positive and laccase-deficient strains. Furthermore, laccase-mediated protection from AM killing was inhibited by the addition of Fe(II), presumably by overcoming the effects of the iron oxidase activity of cryptococcal laccase. These results suggest that the iron oxidase activity of laccase may protect C. neoformans from macrophages by oxidation of phagosomal iron to Fe(III) with a resultant decrease in hydroxyl radical formation.

Ferrous iron uptake in Cryptococcus neoformans

Previous studies have implicated ferric reduction in the iron uptake pathway of the opportunistic pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Here we studied iron uptake directly, using 55Fe in the presence of reductants. Uptake was linear with respect to time and number of yeast cells. The plot of uptake versus concentration exhibited a steep rise up to about 1 microM, a plateau between 1 and 25 microM, and a second steep rise above 25 microM, consistent with high- and low-affinity uptake systems. A Km for high-affinity uptake was estimated to be 0.6 microM Fe(II); 1 microM was used for standardized uptake assays. At this concentration, the uptake rate was 110 +/- 3 pmol/10(6) cells/h. Iron repletion (15 microM) and copper starvation drastically decreased high-affinity iron uptake. Incubation at 0 degreesC or in the presence of 2 mM KCN abolished high-affinity iron uptake, suggesting that uptake requires metabolic energy. When exogenous reducing agents were not supplied and the culture was washed free of secreted reductants, uptake was reduced by 46%; the remaining uptake activity presumably was dependent upon the cell membrane ferric reductase. Further decreases in free Fe(II) levels achieved by trapping with bathophenanthroline disulfonate or reoxidizing with potassium nitrosodisulfonate reduced iron uptake very drastically, suggesting that it is the Fe(II) species which is transported by the high-affinity transporter. The uptake of Fe was stimulated two- to threefold by deferoxamine, but this increment could be abolished by copper starvation or inhibition of the ferric reductase by Pt, indicating that Fe solubilized by this molecule also entered the reductive iron uptake pathway.

Redox buffering by melanin and Fe(II) in Cryptococcus neoformans

Melanin is a fungal extracellular redox buffer which, in principle, can neutralize antimicrobial oxidants generated by immunologic effector cells, but its source of reducing equivalents is not known. We wondered whether Fe(II) generated by the external ferric reductase of fungi might have the physiologic function of reducing fungal melanin and thereby promoting pathogenesis. We observed that exposure of a melanin film electrode to reductants decreased the open-circuit potential (OCP) and reduced the area of a cyclic voltammetric reduction wave whereas exposure to oxidants produced the opposite effects. Exposure to 10, 100, 1,000 or 10,000 microM Fe(II) decreased the OCP of melanin by 0.015, 0.038, 0.100, and 0.120 V, respectively, relative to a silver-silver chloride standard, and decreased the area of the cyclic voltammetric reduction wave by 27, 35, 50, and 83%, respectively. Moreover, exposure to Fe(II) increased the buffering capacity by 44%, while exposure to millimolar dithionite did not increase the buffering capacity. The ratio of the amount of bound iron to the amount of the incremental increase in the following oxidation wave was approximately 1.0, suggesting that bound iron participates in buffering. Light absorption by melanin suspensions was decreased 14% by treatment with Fe(II), consistent with reduction of melanin. Light absorption by suspensions of melanized Cryptococcus neoformans was decreased 1.3% by treatment with Fe(II) (P < 0.05). Cultures of C. neoformans generated between 2 and 160 microM Fe(II) in culture supernatant, depending upon the strain and the conditions [the higher values were achieved by a constitutive ferric reductase mutant in high concentrations of Fe(III)]. We infer that Fe(II) can reduce melanin under physiologic conditions; moreover, it binds to melanin and cooperatively increases redox buffering. The data support a model for physiologic redox cycling of fungal melanin, whereby electrons exported by the yeast to form extracellular Fe(II) maintain the reducing capacity of the extracellular redox buffer.

Ferric iron reduction by Cryptococcus neoformans

The pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans must reduce Fe(III) to Fe(II) prior to uptake. We investigated mechanisms of reduction using the chromogenic ferrous chelator bathophenanthroline disulfonate. Iron-depleted cells reduced 57 nmol of Fe(III) per 10(6) cells per h, while iron-replete cells reduced only 8 nmol of Fe(III). Exponential-phase cells reduced the most and stationary-phase cells reduced the least Fe(III), independent of iron status. Supernatants from iron-depleted cells reduced up to 2 nmol of Fe(III) per 10(6) cells per h, while supernatants from iron-replete cells reduced 0.5 nmol of Fe(III), implying regulation of the secreted reductant(s). One such reductant is 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (3HAA), which was found at concentrations up to 29 microM in iron-depleted cultures but <2 microM in cultures supplemented with iron. Moreover, when washed and resuspended in low iron medium, iron-depleted cells secreted 20.4 microM 3HAA, while iron-replete cells secreted only 4.5 microM 3HAA. Each mole of 3HAA reduced 3 mol of Fe(III), and increasing 3HAA concentrations correlated with increasing reducing activity of supernatants; however, 3HAA accounted for only half of the supernatant's reducing activity, indicating the presence of additional reductants. Finally, we found that melanized stationary-phase cells reduced 2 nmol of Fe(III) per 10(6) cells per h--16 times the rate of nonmelanized cells--suggesting that this redox polymer participates in reduction of Fe(III).

Virulence factors of medically important fungi

Human fungal pathogens have become an increasingly important medical problem with the explosion in the number of immunocompromised patients as a result of cancer, steroid therapy, chemotherapy, and AIDS. Additionally, the globalization of travel and expansion of humankind into previously undisturbed habitats have led to the reemergence of old fungi and new exposure to previously undescribed fungi. Until recently, relatively little was known about virulence factors for the medically important fungi. With the advent of molecular genetics, rapid progress has now been made in understanding the basis of pathogenicity for organisms such as Aspergillus species and Cryptococcus neoformans. The twin technologies of genetic transformation and "knockout" deletion construction allowed for genetic tests of virulence factors in these organisms. Such knowledge will prove invaluable for the rational design of antifungal therapies. Putative virulence factors and attributes are reviewed for Aspergillus species, C. neoformans, the dimorphic fungal pathogens, and others, with a focus upon a molecular genetic approach. Candida species are excluded from coverage, having been the subject of numerous recent reviews. This growing body of knowledge about fungal pathogens and their virulence factors will significantly aid efforts to treat the serious diseases they cause.

A vitamin-free minimal synthetic medium for Cryptococcus neoformans

The use of a simple synthetic medium is essential for study on the growth and physiology of Cryptococcus neoformans. In the present study, a minimal synthetic liquid medium (MSM) was tested for the growth of 23 C. neoformans strains. This medium contained a low concentration of glucose, ammonium sulphate and inorganic salts with a pH value of 4.5, but no amino acids or vitamins. The strains were starved for 4 days to eliminate nutrients which might have been carried over from their pre-culture medium. Then, they were inoculated in the MSM as an initial OD of 0.020 at 550 nm and incubated at 37 degrees C for 20 days. Cell growth was generally monitored daily by measuring the absorbance at 550 nm. The medium supported the growth of the strains tested and gave an average final OD of 0.500. The results obtained indicate that C. neoformans may be autotrophic with respect to vitamins and in particular to thiamine. The MSM medium is easy to prepare and store. It is highly reproducible and useful for studies on the growth and physiology of C. neoformans.

Studies on siderophore production and effect of iron deprivation on the outer membrane proteins of Madurella mycetomatis

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether Madurella mycetomatis, the most frequent agent of eumycotic mycetomas, produces siderophores and synthesizes new outer membrane proteins under iron-starvation conditions. Siderophore production, only of the hydroxamate type, was demonstrated in all nine strains tested. It was regulated by extracellular iron concentrations. Under iron-restricted conditions, M. mycetomatis expressed various outer membrane iron-regulated proteins, particularly of 24-kilodalton, that may participate in iron metabolism.