Leukotoxic activity in Actinobacillus (Haemophilus) actinomycetemcomitans isolated from periodontal disease patients

Impaired innate immune function associated with fecal supernatant from Crohn's disease patients: insights into potential pathogenic role of the microbiome

BACKGROUND

Although a dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiome plays a role in the pathogenesis of Crohn's disease (CD), the functional implication is unclear. We sought to determine the influence of fecal supernatant from patients with CD on innate immune function in neutrophil, macrophage, and epithelial cells. Metabolomic analysis was subsequently performed in an attempt to identify potential compounds responsible for the effects identified.

METHODS

In the fecal samples from 11 pediatric patients with CD and 10 healthy controls, 16S ribosomal and metabolomic analyses were performed. We evaluated the effect of preincubation with fecal supernatant on neutrophil, macrophage, epithelial cell survival, superoxide production, bacterial invasion, and/or bactericidal function using gentamicin protection assay. Ten substances identified as most elevated in CD compared with control samples by metabolomic analysis were similarly tested for effect on bactericidal function.

RESULTS

There were no statistically significant differences in microbial membership in fecal samples from patients with CD compared with healthy controls. However, bactericidal function was impaired in neutrophils and monocytes preincubated with supernatant from fecal samples from patients with CD. Although levels of many metabolites were noted to be altered in samples from patients with CD, the combination of the 10 most elevated compounds failed to demonstrate any effect on neutrophil bactericidal capacity.

CONCLUSIONS

Fecal supernatant from patients with CD impairs intracellular bactericidal activity in neutrophils and macrophages. The functional consequences of the intestinal microbiome and its associated secreted products on innate immune function may be more critical than microbial membership in understanding the pathophysiology of CD.

Sequence diversity in the major fimbrial subunit gene (flp-1) of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

Cells of the periodontal pathogen Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans exhibit tight adherence to surfaces such as glass, plastic and hydroxyapatite, a property that probably plays an important role in the ability of this bacterium to colonize teeth and other surfaces. Tight adherence is mediated by long fibrils of bundled pili (fimbriae) that form on the surface of the cell. The flp-1 gene encodes the major pilin protein component of A. actinomycetemcomitans fimbriae. In this study we compared flp-1 DNA sequences from 43 strains of A. actinomycetemcomitans isolated in Europe, Japan and the United States and identified seven distinct flp-1 allelic classes. DNA and predicted protein sequences were almost completely conserved within each flp-1 class but were highly divergent between classes. Most amino acid substitutions occurred in the C-terminus of the pilin protein, a region that has been shown to be important for the bundling and adhesive properties of the pili. flp-1 classes correlated with serotypes and 16S rRNA genotypes in most strains. At least five strains showed evidence of horizontal transfer of flp-1 between strains of different serotypes and 16S rRNA genotypes. Four of the seven flp-1 classes were present in geographically diverse isolates. Strains representing all seven flp-1 classes, but not a strain carrying a transposon insertion in flp-1, bound avidly to polystyrene in an in vitro adherence assay. Strains representing six of the seven flp-1 classes were isolated from localized juvenile periodontitis patients, suggesting that phylogenetically diverse strains carry pathogenic potential. Our findings provide a framework for future biochemical, immunological and genetic studies of A. actinomycetemcomitans fimbriae.

Fermentable-sugar-level-dependent regulation of leukotoxin synthesis in a variably toxic strain of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, a Gram-negative periodontopathic bacterium, produces a leukotoxin belonging to the RTX family. The production of leukotoxin varies greatly among different strains of this species and under different culture conditions. A toxin-production-variable strain, 301-b, stably produces significant amounts of leukotoxin in anaerobic fructose-limited chemostat cultures, but does not do so in the presence of excess fructose. This communication describes the cloning and sequencing of the leukotoxin promoter region from 301-b, showing that this strain has a promoter region similar to that from strain 652, a moderately toxic strain. Northern blot analysis using a leukotoxin gene probe demonstrated that change in toxin production in response to the level of external fructose was due to alteration in the transcriptional level of the leukotoxin gene. Pulsing of fructose into the fructose-limited chemostat culture remarkably reduced the intracellular cAMP level from 40 pmol (mg dry wt cells)(-1) to 3.1 pmol (mg dry wt cells)(-1), which was restored when the culture was returned to fructose-limited conditions. Further, it was found that addition of external cAMP to the culture with excess fructose resulted in an apparent recovery of leukotoxin production. Taken together, these findings indicate that a cAMP-dependent mechanism, possibly a catabolite-repression-like system, may be involved in the regulation of leukotoxin production in this bacterium.

Energy metabolism of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans during anaerobic and microaerobic growth in low- and high-potassium continuous culture

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, a member of the gamma subclass of the Proteobacteria, has been implicated as the agent responsible for human periodontitis. In this study, A. actinomycetemcomitans 301-b was grown in fructose-limited chemostat cultures under anaerobic [redox potential (E(h))<-400 mV] and microaerobic (E(h)= -200 mV) conditions to characterize its energy metabolism. Effects of K(+) and Na(+) on growth and metabolism were also examined. In a control medium containing 5.2 mM K(+) and 24 mM Na(+), the molar growth yield on fructose (Y(fructose)) of microaerobic cultures was 1.3 times higher than the yield of anaerobic cultures at D < or =0.10 h(-1), but the difference in the Y(fructose) between microaerobic and anaerobic cultures decreased at D< or =0.10 h(-1). When the ATP yield from fermentation was estimated from the amounts of fructose consumed and acetate formed, the value of the microaerobic culture (2.49 mol ATP produced per mol fructose consumed) was lower than the anaerobic value [3.13 mol ATP (mol fructose)(-1)]. Therefore, ATP production from fermentation could not account for the increase in the Y(fructose) at D > 0.10 h(-1) and thus additional ATP was expected to be generated via respiration. Assuming that the Y(ATP) (g cells formed per mol ATP synthesized) was similar between anaerobic and microaerobic cultures, the estimated ATP yield from respiration was between 1.2 and 2.0 mol ATP (mol fructose)(-1) below D=0.10 h(-1) and decreased to 0.3 mol ATP (mol fructose)(-1) when D was increased to 0.19 h(-1). Such growth-rate-dependent decreases in the Y(fructose) and the estimated ATP production from respiration were also observed in a high-Na(+) (5.2 mM K(+) and 106 mM Na(+)) culture but not in a high-K(+) (81 mM K(+) and 24 mM Na(+)) culture. In the high-K(+) culture, the microaerobic Y(fructose) was 1.4-2.0 times higher than the anaerobic value and the respiration-derived ATP yield was estimated to be between 1.2 and 1.9 mol ATP (mol fructose)(-1) over a wide range of dilution rate. These results suggest that higher concentrations of extracellular K(+) are required for the respiration to occur in rapidly growing cells of A. actinomycetemcomitans.

Heterogeneous post-translational modification of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans fimbrillin

Fresh isolates of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans produce bundle-forming fimbriae. The exact molecular mass of A. actinomycetemcomitans fimbrillin, a structural subunit of fimbriae, was determined by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Three major molecular species with 6,226.0, 6,366.0, and 6,513.0 Da were detected in a purified fimbrial fraction from the strain 310-a. These molecular masses were significantly higher than the molecular weight (5,118 Da) calculated from nucleotide sequence data of the fimbrillin gene, flp, suggesting that the fimbrial peptides were post-translationally modified. Modification of the fimbrial peptides was also suggested by an N-terminal amino acid sequence analysis of fimbrillin peptic fragments, with the modified amino acids being due to seven serine or asparagine residues located in the C-terminal region. A periodate oxidation/biotin-hydrazide labeling assay of fimbrillin suggested that it might be glycosylated.

Cell surface-associated enolase in Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

Cell surface-associated materials of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans were extracted by a short incubation of the cell suspension in a Tris-buffered saline in the presence and absence of a restriction enzyme, EcoRI. The supernatants (which we termed EcoRI extract and surface extract, respectively) contained a number of extracellularly released proteins. Of these proteins, four major proteins were identified by N-terminal sequencing to be the 34 and 39 kDa outer membrane proteins, the GroEL-like protein, and a 47 kDa protein homologous to Haemophilus influenzae enolase. Enolase activity was found in the extracts and its relative amount of activity in the EcoRI extract from a culture of the mid-exponential growth phase was estimated as 5.7% of total enzyme activity. In contrast, the relative amount of activity of another cytosolic enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, was extremely low in the extracts and also in the culture supernatant. These results suggest the external localization of enolase in this bacterium.

Molecular characterization of low-molecular-weight component protein, Flp, in Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans fimbriae

Fimbriae preparation from Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans was found to contain an abundant low-molecular-weight protein (termed Flp) with an apparent molecular mass of approximately 6.5 kDa, in addition to a small amount of 54-kDa protein. Immunogold electron microscopy localized the Flp protein at the bacterial fimbriae but not at the cell surface. The DNA fragment including the flp gene was cloned from A. actinomycetemcomitans 304-a and its nucleotide sequence was determined. An open reading frame of the flp gene was composed of 225 bp encoding a protein of 75 amino acids. Comparison of the translated amino acid sequence with the sequence of native Flp determined by Edman degradation indicated that the N-terminal part of 26 amino acids is leader peptide. The N-terminal sequence of mature Flp exhibited some similarity to type-IV pilin. Furthermore, the processing site of premature Flp is also similar to that of type-IV prepilin, and a gene encoding a protein homologous to type-IV prepilin-like protein leader peptidase was found downstream of the flp gene. These findings indicate that Flp is the major component protein of A. actinomycetemcomitans fimbriae.

The regulatory effect of fermentable sugar levels on the production of leukotoxin by Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

The relationship between sugar availability and RTX (repeats in toxin) cytotoxin (leukotoxin) production in the periodontopathic bacterium, Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, was investigated using a chemostat. A actinomycetemcomitans 301-b produced significant amounts of leukotoxin in anaerobic fructose-limited chemostat cultures at a dilution rate of 0.15 h-1 and at pH 7.0. When the growth limitation was relieved by pulsing the cultures with 50 or 150 mM fructose (final concentrations), leukotoxin production immediately stopped and the amount of cellular leukotoxin decreased until the culture was returned to fructose-limited conditions. Leukotoxin synthesis was also repressed in the chemostat cultures by pulsing with glucose but not with the non-fermentable sugar analog, alpha-methyl-D-glucoside. Leukotoxin production was also repressed by fructose in chemostat cultures of ATCC 33384, which is generally recognized as a non-leukotoxin-producing or minimally leukotoxic strain.

The relationships between leukotoxin production, growth rate and the bicarbonate concentration in a toxin-production-variable strain of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, a Gram-negative periodontopathic bacterium, produces a leukotoxin belonging to the RTX family. The production of leukotoxin varies greatly among different strains of this species. In this paper the effects of growth rate and bicarbonate on the leukotoxin production by a toxin-production-variable strain (301-b) during growth in a chemostat were examined. When the bacterium was grown in anaerobic fructose-limited chemostat cultures (pH 7.0 and 37 degrees C) at dilution rates (D) ranging from 0.04 to 0.20 h-1 in the absence and presence of 10 mM bicarbonate, it produced leukotoxin as a cluster of two polypeptides (M(r) 113,000 and 120,000) and complexed with nucleic acids on the bacterial cell surface. The relationship between leukotoxin production and specific growth rate was analysed by plotting the specific rate of leukotoxin production [qLT, in microgram (mg dry wt)-1 h-1] against D. The plots were approximated to the linear relationships qLT = 2.7D-0.058 and qLT = 9.3D-0.407 without and with bicarbonate, respectively. These relationships suggest that the apparent leukotoxin production is a result of both growth-rate-dependent production and growth-rate-independent decomposition. The cellular leukotoxin level was also followed after the change from chemostat to batch culture in the same fermenter. In batch culture leukotoxin production stopped immediately and the cellular toxin level rapidly decreased, suggesting toxin decomposition. From the slopes of the approximated linear relationships between qLT and D, a theoretical maximum leukotoxin yield (YLT) was estimated as 2.7 and 9.3 micrograms (mg dry wt)-1 in the absence and presence of 10 mM bicarbonate, respectively. The increased YLT value in the cultures containing bicarbonate indicated that the addition stimulated the efficiency of leukotoxin synthesis up to about threefold. Further increases of bicarbonate concentration to between 20 and 40 mM had no effect on the total leukotoxin production, but the amount of extracellular leukotoxin increased with higher bicarbonate concentrations.

Association of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans leukotoxin with nucleic acids on the bacterial cell surface

Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, a periodontopathic gram-negative bacterium, produces a leukotoxin that is a member of the RTX cytotoxin family. Although genes may function in toxin secretion, the leukotoxin is not secreted extracellularly but remains associated with the bacterial cell surface. We report here that this toxin-cell surface association is mediated by nucleic acids and directly demonstrate that the extracellular secretion of toxin occurs in growing cultures with increased ionic strength of medium. All examinations were performed with freshly harvested A. actinomycetemcomitans 301-b from anaerobic fructose-limited chemostat cultures. The occurrence of cell surface-localized DNA was shown by directly digesting whole cells with the restriction endonuclease EcoRI or HindIII, which yielded many DNA fragments. The cell surface DNA constituted about 20% of the total cellular DNA. The leukotoxin was released from the whole cells by digestion with DNase I as well as restriction endonucleases. Because the leukotoxin binds ionically to DNA, it is dependent on the ionic strength of buffers or media. Accordingly, the toxin was released from cells suspended in saline at pH 7.5 in the presence of increasing amounts of MgCl2 (0 to 10 mM) or NaCl (0 to 50 mM). Moreover, a considerable quantity of leukotoxin was detected in the culture supernatant of fructose-limited chemostat cultures when sodium succinate solution was pumped into the steady state as an additional salt (30 and then 50 mM). This toxin-DNA association was also found in well-characterized strains including not only the leukotoxin-producing ATCC 29522 but also the toxin production-variable ATCC 29523 and the non-leukotoxin-producing ATCC 33384 when these strains were grown in the chemostat culture.

Suppression of proliferation of a human B-cell leukaemic cell line derived from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia by soluble factor(s) from Campylobacter rectus

Soluble sonic extracts of several strains were examined for their ability to alter proliferation of a cell line derived from acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (BALL-1). Extracts of all strains tested caused dose-dependent suppression of proliferation when assessed by DNA (tritiated thymidine incorporation), RNA (tritiated uridine incorporation) and protein (tritiated leucine incorporation) synthesis. There was no effect on the viability of BALL-1 as measured by either trypan-blue exclusion or extracellular release of the cytoplasmic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase. The suppressive factor(s) was separated in a well-defined peak by high-pressure liquid DEAE ion-exchange chromatography, which revealed a single active peak with a molecular mass of 48 kDa. Characterization of the peak indicated that the suppressive factor(s) was heat labile (activity destroyed at 80 degrees C) and sensitive to the proteolytic enzyme pronase P. The soluble suppressive factor(s) from Campylobacter rectus thus has protein-like properties and no cytotoxicity to a human B-cell leukaemic cell line.

Nuclease-sensitive binding of an Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans leukotoxin to the bacterial cell surface

A leukotoxin of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans 301-b was solubilized from cell-associated membrane vesicles by treatment with externally added DNase and RNase and was further purified by a procedure which included ammonium sulfate fractionation, gel filtration chromatography, and ion-exchange chromatography. The purified toxin had a molecular mass of 113,000 Da by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and a high isoelectric point (approximately 8.8). From these characteristics, it was to be expected that the membrane vesicle toxin was almost identical to the leukotoxin extracted with polymyxin B in an earlier study (C.-C. Tsai, B. J. Shenker, J. M. DiRienzo, D. Malamud, and N. S. Taichman, Infect, Immun. 43:700-705, 1984). The treatment with DNase and RNase was also highly effective for solubilizing the leukotoxin directly from whole cells, suggesting that the toxin is secreted extracellularly but retained in nucleic acids on the outermost surface of bacterial cells.

Factors in virulence expression and their role in periodontal disease pathogenesis

The classic progression of the development of periodontitis with its associated formation of an inflammatory lesion is characterized by a highly reproducible microbiological progression of a Gram-positive microbiota to a highly pathogenic Gram-negative one. While this Gram-negative microbiota is estimated to consist of at least 300 different microbial species, it appears to consist of a very limited number of microbial species that are involved in the destruction of periodontal diseases. Among these "putative periodontopathic species" are members of the genera Porphyromonas, Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, Wolinella, Actinobacillus, Capnocytophaga, and Eikenella. While members of the genera Actinomyces and Streptococcus may not be directly involved in the microbial progression, these species do appear to be essential to the construction of the network of microbial species that comprise both the subgingival plaque matrix. The temporal fluctuation (emergence/disappearance) of members of this microbiota from the developing lesion appears to depend upon the physical interaction of the periodontal pocket inhabitants, as well as the utilization of the metabolic end-products of the respective species intimately involved in the disease progression. A concerted action of the end-products of prokaryotic metabolism and the destruction of host tissues through the action of a large number of excreted proteolytic enzymes from several of these periodontopathogens contribute directly to the periodontal disease process.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cell surface protein antigen from Wolinella recta ATCC 33238T

A high-molecular-weight (approximately 150,000) protein was selectively isolated by acid extraction from the cell surface of Wolinella recta and purified by negative adsorption on DEAE-cellulose and gel filtration. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis showed that this protein was found in W. recta but not in other Wolinella species, such as W. curva and W. succinogenes. Sera from patients with periodontitis reacted strongly with this protein antigen, whereas sera from healthy donors showed little or no reactivity, as determined by immunoblotting analysis. In serum, titers of immunoglobulin G antibodies to the protein antigen were significantly higher in patients with periodontitis than in periodontally healthy donors, as detected by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.