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Sung K, Gao Y, Yu LR, Chon J, Hiett KL, Line JE, Kweon O, Park M, Khan SA. Phenotypic, genotypic and proteomic variations between poor and robust colonizing Campylobacter jejuni strains. Microb Pathog 2024; 193:106766. [PMID: 38942248 DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2024.106766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 06/30/2024]
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is one of the major causes of bacterial gastrointestinal disease in humans worldwide. This foodborne pathogen colonizes the intestinal tracts of chickens, and consumption of chicken and poultry products is identified as a common route of transmission. We analyzed two C. jejuni strains after oral challenge with 105 CFU/ml of C. jejuni per chick; one strain was a robust colonizer (A74/C) and the other a poor colonizer (A74/O). We also found extensive phenotypic differences in growth rate, biofilm production, and in vitro adherence, invasion, intracellular survival, and transcytosis. Strains A74/C and A74/O were genotypically similar with respect to their whole genome alignment, core genome, and ribosomal MLST, MLST, flaA, porA, and PFGE typing. The global proteomes of the two congenic strains were quantitatively analyzed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) and 618 and 453 proteins were identified from A74/C and A74/O isolates, respectively. Cluster of Orthologous Groups (COG) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses showed that carbon metabolism and motility proteins were distinctively overexpressed in strain A74/C. The robust colonizer also exhibited a unique proteome profile characterized by significantly increased expression of proteins linked to adhesion, invasion, chemotaxis, energy, protein synthesis, heat shock proteins, iron regulation, two-component regulatory systems, and multidrug efflux pump. Our study underlines phenotypic, genotypic, and proteomic variations of the poor and robust colonizing C. jejuni strains, suggesting that several factors may contribute to mediating the different colonization potentials of the isogenic isolates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kidon Sung
- Division of Microbiology, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), Jefferson, AR, 72079, USA.
| | - Yuan Gao
- Division of Systems Biology, National Center for Toxicological Research, US FDA, Jefferson, AR, 72079, USA
| | - Li-Rong Yu
- Division of Systems Biology, National Center for Toxicological Research, US FDA, Jefferson, AR, 72079, USA
| | - Jungwhan Chon
- Department of Companion Animal Health, Inje University, Gimhae, South Korea
| | - Kelli L Hiett
- Office of Applied Research and Safety Assessment, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, US FDA, Laurel, MD, 20708, USA
| | - J Eric Line
- Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Athens, GA, 30605, USA
| | - Ohgew Kweon
- Division of Microbiology, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), Jefferson, AR, 72079, USA
| | - Miseon Park
- Division of Microbiology, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), Jefferson, AR, 72079, USA
| | - Saeed A Khan
- Division of Microbiology, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), Jefferson, AR, 72079, USA
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König F, Svensson SL, Sharma CM. Interplay of two small RNAs fine-tunes hierarchical flagella gene expression in Campylobacter jejuni. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5240. [PMID: 38897989 PMCID: PMC11187230 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48986-8] [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: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Like for many bacteria, flagella are crucial for Campylobacter jejuni motility and virulence. Biogenesis of the flagellar machinery requires hierarchical transcription of early, middle (RpoN-dependent), and late (FliA-dependent) genes. However, little is known about post-transcriptional regulation of flagellar biogenesis by small RNAs (sRNAs). Here, we characterized two sRNAs with opposing effects on C. jejuni filament assembly and motility. We demonstrate that CJnc230 sRNA (FlmE), encoded downstream of the flagellar hook protein, is processed from the RpoN-dependent flgE mRNA by RNase III, RNase Y, and PNPase. We identify mRNAs encoding a flagella-interaction regulator and the anti-sigma factor FlgM as direct targets of CJnc230 repression. CJnc230 overexpression upregulates late genes, including the flagellin flaA, culminating in longer flagella and increased motility. In contrast, overexpression of the FliA-dependent sRNA CJnc170 (FlmR) reduces flagellar length and motility. Overall, our study demonstrates how the interplay of two sRNAs post-transcriptionally fine-tunes flagellar biogenesis through balancing of the hierarchically-expressed components.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian König
- University of Würzburg, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, Department of Molecular Infection Biology II, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Sarah L Svensson
- University of Würzburg, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, Department of Molecular Infection Biology II, 97080, Würzburg, Germany
- The Center for Microbes, Development and Health, CAS Key Laboratory of Molecular Virology and Immunology, Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 200031, China
| | - Cynthia M Sharma
- University of Würzburg, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, Department of Molecular Infection Biology II, 97080, Würzburg, Germany.
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3
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Stoakes E, Chen X, Kalmar L, Baker D, Evans R, Rudder S, Grant AJ. Identification of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli genes contributing to oxidative stress response using TraDIS analysis. BMC Microbiol 2024; 24:46. [PMID: 38302896 PMCID: PMC10832277 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-024-03201-y] [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: 09/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/21/2024] [Indexed: 02/03/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli are the major causative agents of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide and are known obligate microaerophiles. Despite being sensitive to oxygen and its reduction products, both species are readily isolated from animal food products kept under atmospheric conditions where they face high oxygen tension levels. RESULTS In this study, Transposon Directed Insertion-site Sequencing (TraDIS) was used to investigate the ability of one C. jejuni strain and two C. coli strains to overcome oxidative stress, using H2O2 to mimic oxidative stress. Genes were identified that were required for oxidative stress resistance for each individual strain but also allowed a comparison across the three strains. Mutations in the perR and ahpC genes were found to increase Campylobacter tolerance to H2O2. The roles of these proteins in oxidative stress were previously known in C. jejuni, but this data indicates that they most likely play a similar role in C. coli. Mutation of czcD decreased Campylobacter tolerance to H2O2. The role of CzcD, which functions as a zinc exporter, has not previously been linked to oxidative stress. The TraDIS data was confirmed using defined deletions of perR and czcD in C. coli 15-537360. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study to investigate gene fitness in both C. jejuni and C. coli under oxidative stress conditions and highlights both similar roles for certain genes for both species and highlights other genes that have a role under oxidative stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Stoakes
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK
| | - Xuanlin Chen
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK
| | - Lajos Kalmar
- MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, UK
| | - Dave Baker
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Rhiannon Evans
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Steven Rudder
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Andrew J Grant
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK.
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Mino S, Fukazawa S, Tsuchiya J, McNichol JC, Sievert SM, Yamaki S, Ando Y, Sawabe T. Hydrogenimonas cancrithermarum sp. nov., a hydrogen- and thiosulfate-oxidizing mesophilic chemolithoautotroph isolated from diffuse-flow fluids on the East Pacific Rise, and an emended description of the genus Hydrogenimonas. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2023; 73. [PMID: 37921642 DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.006132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2023] Open
Abstract
A novel mesophilic, hydrogen- and thiosulfate-oxidizing bacterium, strain ISO32T, was isolated from diffuse-flow hydrothermal fluids from the Crab Spa vent on the East Pacific Rise. Cells of ISO32T were rods, being motile by means of a single polar flagellum. The isolate grew at a temperature range between 30 and 55 °C (optimum, 43 °C), at a pH range between 5.3 and 7.6 (optimum, pH 5.8) and in the presence of 2.0-4.0 % NaCl (optimum, 2.5 %). The isolate was able to grow chemolithoautotrophically with molecular hydrogen, thiosulfate or elemental sulfur as the sole electron donor. Thiosulfate, elemental sulfur, nitrate and molecular oxygen were each used as a sole electron acceptor. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences placed ISO32T in the genus Hydrogenimonas of the class Epsilonproteobacteria, with Hydrogenimonas thermophila EP1-55-1 %T as its closest relative (95.95 % similarity). On the basis of the phylogenetic, physiological and genomic characteristics, it is proposed that the organism represents a novel species within the genus Hydrogenimonas, Hydrogenimonas cancrithermarum sp. nov. The type strain is ISO32T (=JCM 39185T =KCTC 25252T). Furthermore, the genomic properties of members of the genus Hydrogenimonas are distinguished from those of members of other thermophilic genera in the orders Campylobacterales (Nitratiruptor and Nitrosophilus) and Nautiliales (Caminibacter, Nautilia and Lebetimonas), with larger genome sizes and lower 16S rRNA G+C content values. Comprehensive metabolic comparisons based on genomes revealed that genes responsible for the Pta-AckA pathway were observed exclusively in members of mesophilic genera in the order Campylobacterales and of the genus Hydrogenimonas. Our results indicate that the genus Hydrogenimonas contributes to elucidating the evolutionary history of Epsilonproteobacteria in terms of metabolism and transition from a thermophilic to a mesophilic lifestyle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sayaka Mino
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan
| | - So Fukazawa
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan
| | - Jiro Tsuchiya
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan
| | - Jesse C McNichol
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA, USA
- Department of Biology, St. Francis Xavier University, NS, Canada
| | - Stefan M Sievert
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA, USA
| | - Shogo Yamaki
- Laboratory of Marine Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan
| | - Yasuhiro Ando
- Laboratory of Marine Bioresources Chemistry, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan
| | - Tomoo Sawabe
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Japan
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Stoakes E, Turner K, Baker DJ, Suau Sans M, Yasir M, Kalmar L, Costigan R, Lott M, Grant AJ. Application of TraDIS to define the core essential genome of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. BMC Microbiol 2023; 23:97. [PMID: 37024800 PMCID: PMC10077673 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-023-02835-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2022] [Accepted: 03/23/2023] [Indexed: 04/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter species are the major cause of bacterial gastroenteritis. As there is no effective vaccine, combined with the rapid increase in antimicrobial resistant strains, there is a need to identify new targets for intervention. Essential genes are those that are necessary for growth and/or survival, making these attractive targets. In this study, comprehensive transposon mutant libraries were created in six C. jejuni strains, four C. coli strains and one C. lari and C. hyointestinalis strain, allowing for those genes that cannot tolerate a transposon insertion being called as essential. Comparison of essential gene lists using core genome analysis can highlight those genes which are common across multiple strains and/or species. Comparison of C. jejuni and C. coli, the two species that cause the most disease, identified 316 essential genes. Genes of interest highlighted members of the purine pathway being essential for C. jejuni whilst also finding that a functional potassium uptake system is essential. Protein-protein interaction networks using these essential gene lists also highlighted proteins in the purine pathway being major 'hub' proteins which have a large number of interactors across the network. When adding in two more species (C. lari and C. hyointestinalis) the essential gene list reduces to 261. Within these 261 essential genes, there are many genes that have been found to be essential in other bacteria. These include htrB and PEB4, which have previously been found as core virulence genes across Campylobacter species in other studies. There were 21 genes which have no known function with eight of these being associated with the membrane. These surface-associated essential genes may provide attractive targets. The essential gene lists presented will help to prioritise targets for the development of novel therapeutic and preventative interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Stoakes
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK
| | - Keith Turner
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Dave J Baker
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Maria Suau Sans
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK
| | - Muhammad Yasir
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Lajos Kalmar
- MRC Toxicology Unit, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ruby Costigan
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK
| | - Martin Lott
- Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK
| | - Andrew J Grant
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, UK.
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6
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Molecular Targets in Campylobacter Infections. Biomolecules 2023; 13:biom13030409. [PMID: 36979344 PMCID: PMC10046527 DOI: 10.3390/biom13030409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 02/08/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Human campylobacteriosis results from foodborne infections with Campylobacter bacteria such as Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli, and represents a leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. After consumption of contaminated poultry meat, constituting the major source of pathogenic transfer to humans, infected patients develop abdominal pain and diarrhea. Post-infectious disorders following acute enteritis may occur and affect the nervous system, the joints or the intestines. Immunocompromising comorbidities in infected patients favor bacteremia, leading to vascular inflammation and septicemia. Prevention of human infection is achieved by hygiene measures focusing on the reduction of pathogenic food contamination. Molecular targets for the treatment and prevention of campylobacteriosis include bacterial pathogenicity and virulence factors involved in motility, adhesion, invasion, oxygen detoxification, acid resistance and biofilm formation. This repertoire of intervention measures has recently been completed by drugs dampening the pro-inflammatory immune responses induced by the Campylobacter endotoxin lipo-oligosaccharide. Novel pharmaceutical strategies will combine anti-pathogenic and anti-inflammatory effects to reduce the risk of both anti-microbial resistance and post-infectious sequelae of acute enteritis. Novel strategies and actual trends in the combat of Campylobacter infections are presented in this review, alongside molecular targets applied for prevention and treatment strategies.
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Kim J, Park M, Ahn E, Mao Q, Chen C, Ryu S, Jeon B. Stimulation of Surface Polysaccharide Production under Aerobic Conditions Confers Aerotolerance in Campylobacter jejuni. Microbiol Spectr 2023; 11:e0376122. [PMID: 36786626 PMCID: PMC10100837 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.03761-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability of a foodborne pathogen to tolerate environmental stress critically affects food safety by increasing the risk of pathogen survival and transmission in the food supply chain. Campylobacter jejuni, a leading bacterial cause of foodborne illnesses, is an obligate microaerophile and is sensitive to atmospheric levels of oxygen. Currently, the molecular mechanisms of how C. jejuni withstands oxygen toxicity under aerobic conditions have not yet been fully elucidated. Here, we show that when exposed to aerobic conditions, C. jejuni develops a thick layer of bacterial capsules, which in turn protect C. jejuni under aerobic conditions. The presence of both capsular polysaccharides and lipooligosaccharides is required to protect C. jejuni from excess oxygen in oxygen-rich environments by alleviating oxidative stress. Under aerobic conditions, C. jejuni undergoes substantial transcriptomic changes, particularly in the genes of carbon metabolisms involved in amino acid uptake, the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway despite the inability of C. jejuni to grow aerobically. Moreover, the stimulation of carbon metabolism by aerobiosis increases the level of glucose-6-phosphate, the EMP pathway intermediate required for the synthesis of surface polysaccharides. The disruption of the TCA cycle eliminates aerobiosis-mediated stimulation of surface polysaccharide production and markedly compromises aerotolerance in C. jejuni. These results in this study provide novel insights into how an oxygen-sensitive microaerophilic pathogen survives in oxygen-rich environments by adapting its metabolism and physiology. IMPORTANCE Oxygen-sensitive foodborne pathogens must withstand oxygen toxicity in aerobic environments during transmission to humans. C. jejuni is a major cause of gastroenteritis, accounting for 400 million to 500 million infection cases worldwide per year. As an obligate microaerophile, C. jejuni is sensitive to air-level oxygen. However, it has not been fully explained how this oxygen-sensitive zoonotic pathogen survives in aerobic environments and is transmitted to humans. Here, we show that under aerobic conditions, C. jejuni boosts its carbon metabolism to produce a thick layer of bacterial capsules, which in turn act as a protective barrier conferring aerotolerance. The new findings in this study improve our understanding of how oxygen-sensitive C. jejuni can survive in aerobic environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinshil Kim
- Department of Food and Animal Biotechnology, Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Center for Food and Bioconvergence, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Myungseo Park
- Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Eunbyeol Ahn
- Department of Food and Animal Biotechnology, Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Qingqing Mao
- Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Chi Chen
- Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
| | - Sangryeol Ryu
- Department of Food and Animal Biotechnology, Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Center for Food and Bioconvergence, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Byeonghwa Jeon
- Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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Linz B, Sharafutdinov I, Tegtmeyer N, Backert S. Evolution and Role of Proteases in Campylobacter jejuni Lifestyle and Pathogenesis. Biomolecules 2023; 13:biom13020323. [PMID: 36830692 PMCID: PMC9953165 DOI: 10.3390/biom13020323] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2022] [Revised: 01/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/04/2023] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Infection with the main human food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni causes campylobacteriosis that accounts for a substantial percentage of gastrointestinal infections. The disease usually manifests as diarrhea that lasts for up to two weeks. C. jejuni possesses an array of peptidases and proteases that are critical for its lifestyle and pathogenesis. These include serine proteases Cj1365c, Cj0511 and HtrA; AAA+ group proteases ClpP, Lon and FtsH; and zinc-dependent protease PqqE, proline aminopeptidase PepP, oligopeptidase PepF and peptidase C26. Here, we review the numerous critical roles of these peptide bond-dissolving enzymes in cellular processes of C. jejuni that include protein quality control; protein transport across the inner and outer membranes into the periplasm, cell surface or extracellular space; acquisition of amino acids and biofilm formation and dispersal. In addition, we highlight their role as virulence factors that inflict intestinal tissue damage by promoting cell invasion and mediating cleavage of crucial host cell factors such as epithelial cell junction proteins. Furthermore, we reconstruct the evolution of these proteases in 34 species of the Campylobacter genus. Finally, we discuss to what extent C. jejuni proteases have initiated the search for inhibitor compounds as prospective novel anti-bacterial therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bodo Linz
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-(0)-9131-8528988
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9
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Kabongo AT, Acharjee R, Sakura T, Bundutidi GM, Hartuti ED, Davies C, Gundogdu O, Kita K, Shiba T, Inaoka DK. Biochemical characterization and identification of ferulenol and embelin as potent inhibitors of malate:quinone oxidoreductase from Campylobacter jejuni. Front Mol Biosci 2023; 10:1095026. [PMID: 36776743 PMCID: PMC9908594 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1095026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni infection poses a serious global threat to public health. The increasing incidence and antibiotic resistance of this bacterial infection have necessitated the adoption of various strategies to curb this trend, primarily through developing new drugs with new mechanisms of action. The enzyme malate:quinone oxidoreductase (MQO) has been shown to be essential for the survival of several bacteria and parasites. MQO is a peripheral membrane protein that catalyses the oxidation of malate to oxaloacetate, a crucial step in the tricarboxylic acid cycle. In addition, MQO is involved in the reduction of the quinone pool in the electron transport chain and thus contributes to cellular bioenergetics. The enzyme is an attractive drug target as it is not conserved in mammals. As a preliminary step in assessing the potential application of MQO from C. jejuni (CjMQO) as a new drug target, we purified active recombinant CjMQO and conducted, for the first time, biochemical analyses of MQO from a pathogenic bacterium. Our study showed that ferulenol, a submicromolar mitochondrial MQO inhibitor, and embelin are nanomolar inhibitors of CjMQO. We showed that both inhibitors are mixed-type inhibitors versus malate and noncompetitive versus quinone, suggesting the existence of a third binding site to accommodate these inhibitors; indeed, such a trait appears to be conserved between mitochondrial and bacterial MQOs. Interestingly, ferulenol and embelin also inhibit the in vitro growth of C. jejuni, supporting the hypothesis that MQO is essential for C. jejuni survival and is therefore an important drug target.
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Affiliation(s)
- Augustin Tshibaka Kabongo
- School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Molecular Infection Dynamics, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Public Health, University of Mbujimayi, Kinshasa, Congo
| | - Rajib Acharjee
- Department of Parasitology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Program for Nurturing Global Leaders in Tropical and Emerging Communicable Disease, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Zoology, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, Bangladesh
| | - Takaya Sakura
- School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Molecular Infection Dynamics, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
| | - Gloria Mavinga Bundutidi
- Department of Molecular Infection Dynamics, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Parasitology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Program for Nurturing Global Leaders in Tropical and Emerging Communicable Disease, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Pediatrics, Kinshasa University Hospital, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Congo
| | - Endah Dwi Hartuti
- Department of Parasitology, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Program for Nurturing Global Leaders in Tropical and Emerging Communicable Disease, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Research Center for Genetic Engineering, National Research and Innovation Agency, West Java, Indonesia
| | - Cadi Davies
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ozan Gundogdu
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kiyoshi Kita
- School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Host-Defense Biochemistry, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tomoo Shiba
- Department of Applied Biology, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto, Japan,*Correspondence: Tomoo Shiba, ; Daniel Ken Inaoka,
| | - Daniel Ken Inaoka
- School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Molecular Infection Dynamics, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN), Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan,Department of Biomedical Chemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan,*Correspondence: Tomoo Shiba, ; Daniel Ken Inaoka,
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10
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Cysteine Biosynthesis in Campylobacter jejuni: Substrate Specificity of CysM and the Dualism of Sulfide. Biomolecules 2022; 13:biom13010086. [PMID: 36671471 PMCID: PMC9855970 DOI: 10.3390/biom13010086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Revised: 12/28/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a highly successful enteric pathogen with a small, host-adapted genome (1.64 Mbp, ~1650 coding genes). As a result, C. jejuni has limited capacity in numerous metabolic pathways, including sulfur metabolism. Unable to utilise ionic sulfur, C. jejuni relies on the uptake of exogenous cysteine and its derivatives for its supply of this essential amino acid. Cysteine can also be synthesized de novo by the sole cysteine synthase, CysM. In this study, we explored the substrate specificity of purified C. jejuni CysM and define it as an O-acetyl-L-serine sulfhydrylase with an almost absolute preference for sulfide as sulfur donor. Sulfide is produced in abundance in the intestinal niche C. jejuni colonises, yet sulfide is generally viewed as highly toxic to bacteria. We conducted a series of growth experiments in sulfur-limited media and demonstrate that sulfide is an excellent sulfur source for C. jejuni at physiologically relevant concentrations, combating the view of sulfide as a purely deleterious compound to bacteria. Nonetheless, C. jejuni is indeed inhibited by elevated concentrations of sulfide and we sought to understand the targets involved. Surprisingly, we found that inactivation of the sulfide-sensitive primary terminal oxidase, the cbb3-type cytochrome c oxidase CcoNOPQ, did not explain the majority of growth inhibition by sulfide. Therefore, further work is required to reveal the cellular targets responsible for sulfide toxicity in C. jejuni.
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11
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Mo R, Ma W, Zhou W, Gao B. Polar localization of CheO under hypoxia promotes Campylobacter jejuni chemotactic behavior within host. PLoS Pathog 2022; 18:e1010953. [PMID: 36327346 PMCID: PMC9665402 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 10/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a food-borne zoonotic pathogen of worldwide concern and the leading cause of bacterial diarrheal disease. In contrast to other enteric pathogens, C. jejuni has strict growth and nutritional requirements but lacks many virulence factors that have evolved for pathogenesis or interactions with the host. It is unclear how this bacterium has adapted to an enteric lifestyle. Here, we discovered that the CheO protein (CJJ81176_1265) is required for C. jejuni colonization of mice gut through its role in chemotactic control of flagellar rotation in oxygen-limiting environments. CheO interacts with the chemotaxis signaling proteins CheA and CheZ, and also with the flagellar rotor components FliM and FliY. Under microaerobic conditions, CheO localizes at the cellular poles where the chemosensory array and flagellar machinery are located in C. jejuni and its polar localization depends on chemosensory array formation. Several chemoreceptors that mediate energy taxis coordinately determine the bipolar distribution of CheO. Suppressor screening for a ΔcheO mutant identified that a single residue variation in FliM can alleviate the phenotype caused by the absence of CheO, confirming its regulatory role in the flagellar rotor switch. CheO homologs are only found in species of the Campylobacterota phylum, mostly species of host-associated genera Campylobacter, Helicobacter and Wolinella. The CheO results provide insights into the complexity of chemotaxis signal transduction in C. jejuni and closely related species. Importantly, the recruitment of CheO into chemosensory array to promote chemotactic behavior under hypoxia represents a new adaptation strategy of C. jejuni to human and animal intestines. Bacteria use chemotaxis to navigate their flagellar motility towards or away from a variety of environmental stimuli. For many pathogens, chemotactic motility plays an important role in infection and disease. Understanding the mechanism of chemotaxis behavior in pathogens can help the development of therapeutic strategies by interfering with chemotactic signal transduction. In this study, we identified a novel chemotaxis protein CheO in Campylobacter jejuni, a leading cause of human gastroenteritis worldwide. We demonstrated that CheO is directly involved in chemotactic control of the flagellar motor switch, the reason that it is required for colonization of different animal models. We also provide evidences that CheO is responsive to environmental oxygen variation, with a more prominent role in energy taxis under low oxygen levels. Therefore, CheO presents a novel mechanism for C. jejuni adaptation to hypoxia conditions such as those existing in human and animal intestines. Targeting CheO and other chemotaxis regulators could reduce the survival of C. jejuni within hosts and in the food chain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran Mo
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
- Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Sanya Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hainan Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Biotechnology, Sanya, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Wenhui Ma
- Department of General Surgery & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Gastrointestinal Tumor, Nanfang Hospital, First Clinical Medical School, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Weijie Zhou
- Department of General Surgery & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Precision Medicine for Gastrointestinal Tumor, Nanfang Hospital, First Clinical Medical School, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Beile Gao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China
- Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Sanya Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Hainan Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Biotechnology, Sanya, China
- * E-mail:
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12
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Hankel J, Kittler S, Chuppava B, Galvez E, Strowig T, Becker A, von Köckritz-Blickwede M, Plötz M, Visscher C. Luminal and mucosa-associated caecal microbiota of chickens after experimental Campylobacter jejuni infection in the absence of Campylobacter-specific phages of group II and III. Microb Genom 2022; 8. [PMID: 36190827 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.000874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Campylobacteriosis is still the most commonly reported zoonosis in the European Union causing gastrointestinal disease in humans. One of the most common sources for these food-borne infections is broiler meat. Interactions between Campylobacter (C.) jejuni and the intestinal microbiota might influence Campylobacter colonization in chickens. The aim of the present study was to gain further knowledge about exclusive interactions of the host microbiota with C. jejuni in Campylobacter-specific phage-free chickens under standardized conditions and special biosafety precautions.Therefore, 12 artificially infected (C. jejuni inoculum with a challenge dose of 7.64 log10 c.f.u.) and 12 control chickens of the breed Ross 308 were kept under special biosafety measures in an animal facility. At day 42 of life, microbiota studies were performed on samples of caecal digesta and mucus. No Campylobacter-specific phages were detected by real-time PCR analysis of caecal digesta of control or artificially infected chickens. Amplification of the 16S rRNA gene was performed within the hypervariable region V4 and subsequently sequenced with Illumina MiSeq platform. R (version 4.0.2) was used to compare the microbiota between C. jejuni-negative and C. jejuni-positive chickens. The factor chickens' infection status contributed significantly to the differences in microbial composition of mucosal samples, explaining 10.6 % of the microbiota variation (P=0.007) and in digesta samples, explaining 9.69 % of the microbiota variation (P=0.015). The strongest difference between C. jejuni-non-infected and C. jejuni-infected birds was observed for the family Peptococcaceae whose presence in C. jejuni-infected birds could not be demonstrated. Further, several genera of the family Ruminococcaceae appeared to be depressed in its abundance due to Campylobacter infection. A negative correlation was found between Christensenellaceae R-7 group and Campylobacter in C. jejuni-colonised chickens, both genera potentially competing for substrate. This makes Christensenellaceae R-7 group highly interesting for further studies that aim to find control options for Campylobacter infections and assess the relevance of this finding for chicken health and Campylobacter colonization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Hankel
- Institute for Animal Nutrition, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, D 30173 Hannover, Germany
| | - Sophie Kittler
- Institute for Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, D 30173 Hannover, Germany
| | - Bussarakam Chuppava
- Institute for Animal Nutrition, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, D 30173 Hannover, Germany
| | - Eric Galvez
- Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, D 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.,Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, D 30625 Hannover, Germany
| | - Till Strowig
- Helmholtz Center for Infection Research, Inhoffenstraße 7, D 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.,Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, D 30625 Hannover, Germany
| | - André Becker
- Institute for Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, D 30173 Hannover, Germany
| | - Maren von Köckritz-Blickwede
- Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bünteweg 17, D 30559 Hannover, Germany
| | - Madeleine Plötz
- Institute for Food Quality and Food Safety, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, D 30173 Hannover, Germany
| | - Christian Visscher
- Institute for Animal Nutrition, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, D 30173 Hannover, Germany
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13
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Middendorf PS, Jacobs-Reitsma WF, Zomer AL, den Besten HMW, Abee T. Comparative Analysis of L-Fucose Utilization and Its Impact on Growth and Survival of Campylobacter Isolates. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:872207. [PMID: 35572645 PMCID: PMC9100392 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.872207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli were previously considered asaccharolytic, but are now known to possess specific saccharide metabolization pathways, including L-fucose. To investigate the influence of the L-fucose utilization cluster on Campylobacter growth, survival and metabolism, we performed comparative genotyping and phenotyping of the C. jejuni reference isolate NCTC11168 (human isolate), C. jejuni Ca1352 (chicken meat isolate), C. jejuni Ca2426 (sheep manure isolate), and C. coli Ca0121 (pig manure isolate), that all possess the L-fucose utilization cluster. All isolates showed enhanced survival and prolonged spiral cell morphology in aging cultures up to day seven in L-fucose-enriched MEMα medium (MEMαF) compared to MEMα. HPLC analysis indicated L-fucose utilization linked to acetate, lactate, pyruvate and succinate production, confirming the activation of the L-fucose pathway in these isolates and its impact on general metabolism. Highest consumption of L-fucose by C. coli Ca0121 is conceivably linked to its enhanced growth performance up to day 7, reaching 9.3 log CFU/ml compared to approximately 8.3 log CFU/ml for the C. jejuni isolates. Genetic analysis of the respective L-fucose clusters revealed several differences, including a 1 bp deletion in the Cj0489 gene of C. jejuni NCTC11168, causing a frameshift in this isolate resulting in two separate genes, Cj0489 and Cj0490, while no apparent phenotype could be linked to the presumed frameshift in this isolate. Additionally, we found that the L-fucose cluster of C. coli Ca0121 was most distant from C. jejuni NCTC11168, but confirmation of links to L-fucose metabolism associated phenotypic traits in C. coli versus C. jejuni isolates requires further studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pjotr S. Middendorf
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands
| | | | - Aldert L. Zomer
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands
- WHO Collaborating Center for Campylobacter/OIE Reference Laboratory for Campylobacteriosis, Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Heidy M. W. den Besten
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
- Heidy M. W. den Besten,
| | - Tjakko Abee
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands
- *Correspondence: Tjakko Abee,
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14
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Strain R, Stanton C, Ross RP. Effect of diet on pathogen performance in the microbiome. MICROBIOME RESEARCH REPORTS 2022; 1:13. [PMID: 38045644 PMCID: PMC10688830 DOI: 10.20517/mrr.2021.10] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2021] [Revised: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2023]
Abstract
Intricate interactions among commensal bacteria, dietary substrates and immune responses are central to defining microbiome community composition, which plays a key role in preventing enteric pathogen infection, a dynamic phenomenon referred to as colonisation resistance. However, the impact of diet on sculpting microbiota membership, and ultimately colonisation resistance has been overlooked. Furthermore, pathogens have evolved strategies to evade colonisation resistance and outcompete commensal microbiota by using unique nutrient utilisation pathways, by exploiting microbial metabolites as nutrient sources or by environmental cues to induce virulence gene expression. In this review, we will discuss the interplay between diet, microbiota and their associated metabolites, and how these can contribute to or preclude pathogen survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronan Strain
- APC Microbiome Ireland, Biosciences Institute, University College Cork, Cork T12 YT20, Ireland
- Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork P61 C996, Ireland
| | - Catherine Stanton
- APC Microbiome Ireland, Biosciences Institute, University College Cork, Cork T12 YT20, Ireland
- Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork P61 C996, Ireland
| | - R. Paul Ross
- APC Microbiome Ireland, Biosciences Institute, University College Cork, Cork T12 YT20, Ireland
- School of Microbiology, University College Cork, College Road, Cork T12 K8AF, Ireland
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15
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A Review of the Advantages, Disadvantages and Limitations of Chemotaxis Assays for Campylobacter spp. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23031576. [PMID: 35163499 PMCID: PMC8836060 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Reproducible qualitative and quantitative assessment of bacterial chemotactic motility, particularly in response to chemorepellent effectors, is experimentally challenging. Here we compare several established chemotaxis assays currently used to investigate Campylobacter jejuni chemotaxis, with the aim of improving the correlation between different studies and establishing the best practices. We compare the methodologies of capillary, agar, and chamber-based assays, and discuss critical technical points, in terms of reproducibility, accuracy, and the advantages and limitations of each.
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16
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Nogales J, Garmendia J. Bacterial metabolism and pathogenesis intimate intertwining: time for metabolic modelling to come into action. Microb Biotechnol 2022; 15:95-102. [PMID: 34672429 PMCID: PMC8719832 DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.13942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
We take a snapshot of the recent understanding of bacterial metabolism and the bacterial-host metabolic interplay during infection, and highlight key outcomes and challenges for the practical implementation of bacterial metabolic modelling computational tools in the pathogenesis field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Nogales
- Department of Systems BiologyCentro Nacional de BiotecnologíaCSICMadridSpain
- Interdisciplinary Platform for Sustainable Plastics towards a Circular Economy‐Spanish National Research Council (SusPlast‐CSIC)MadridSpain
| | - Junkal Garmendia
- Instituto de AgrobiotecnologíaConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IdAB‐CSIC)‐Gobierno de NavarraMutilvaSpain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES)MadridSpain
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17
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Lanzl MI, van Mastrigt O, Zwietering MH, Abee T, den Besten HMW. Role of substrate availability in the growth of Campylobacter co-cultured with extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli in Bolton broth. Int J Food Microbiol 2021; 363:109518. [PMID: 34996645 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2021.109518] [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: 08/24/2021] [Revised: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 12/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
It is well-established that Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing (ESBL-) Escherichia coli challenge reliable detection of campylobacters during enrichment in Bolton broth (BB) following ISO 10272-1:2017. The overgrowth of Campylobacter by ESBL-E. coli in the enrichment medium BB can lead to false-negative detection outcomes, but the cause for the growth suppression is yet unknown. A plausible reason could be the competition-induced lack of certain growth substrates. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether campylobacters and ESBL-E. coli compete for the same medium components and whether this is the cause for the observed growth repression. The availability of possible growth substrates in BB was determined and changes in their extracellular concentration were measured over time during mono-culture enrichment of C. jejuni, C. coli or ESBL-E. coli as well as in co-culture enrichments of campylobacters and ESBL-E. coli. Comparative analysis showed lactate and fumarate utilization by C. jejuni and C. coli exclusively, whereas ESBL-E. coli rapidly consumed asparagine, glutamine/arginine, lysine, threonine, tryptophan, pyruvate, glycerol, cellobiose, and glucose. Both campylobacters and ESBL-E. coli utilized aspartate, serine, formate, a-ketoglutarate and malate. Trends in compound utilization were similar for C. jejuni and C. coli and trends in compound utilization were rather comparable during enrichment of reference and freeze-stressed campylobacters. Since final cell densities of C. jejuni and C. coli in co-cultures were not enhanced by the addition of surplus l-serine and final cell densities were similar in fresh and spent medium, growth suppression seems not to be caused by a lack of substrates or production of inhibitory compounds. We hypothesized that oxygen availability was limiting growth in co-cultures. Higher oxygen availability increased the competitive fitness of C. jejuni 81-176 in co-culture with ESBL-E. coli in duplicate experiments, as cell concentrations in stationary phase were similar to those without competition. This could indicate the critical role of oxygen availability during the growth of Campylobacter and offers potential for further improvement of Campylobacter spp. enrichment efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- M I Lanzl
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
| | - O van Mastrigt
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
| | - M H Zwietering
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
| | - T Abee
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands
| | - H M W den Besten
- Food Microbiology, Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands.
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18
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Liu X, Liu G, Wu Y, Pang X, Wu Y, Qinshu, Niu J, Chen Q, Zhang X. Transposon sequencing: A powerful tool for the functional genomic study of food-borne pathogens. Trends Food Sci Technol 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tifs.2021.06.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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19
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Carda-Diéguez M, Amaro C. A Method of Transposon Insertion Sequencing in Comprehensively Identifying Vibrio vulnificus Genes Required for Growth in Human Serum. Methods Mol Biol 2021; 2377:159-178. [PMID: 34709616 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1720-5_9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
One of the most powerful approaches to detect the loci that enable a pathogen to cause disease is the creation of a high-density transposon mutant library by transposon insertion sequencing (TIS) and the screening of the library using an adequate in vivo and/or ex vivo model of the disease. Here we describe the procedure for detection of the putative loci required for a septicemic pathogen to cause sepsis in humans by using TIS plus an ex vivo model of septicaemia: to grow the pathogen in fresh and inactivated human serum. We selected V. vulnificus because it is a highly invasive pathogen capable of spreading from an infection site to the bloodstream, causing sepsis and death in less than 24 h. To survive and proliferate in blood (or host serum), the pathogen requires mechanisms to overcome the innate immune defenses and metabolic limitations of this host niche. Initially, genes under-represented for insertions can be used to estimate the V. vulnificus essential gene set. Analysis of the relative abundance of insertion mutants in the library after exposure to serum would detect which genes are essential for the pathogen to overcome the diverse limitations imposed by serum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Carda-Diéguez
- Department of Microbiology and Ecology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain.
| | - Carmen Amaro
- Department of Microbiology and Ecology, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
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20
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Steiner TM, Lettl C, Schindele F, Goebel W, Haas R, Fischer W, Eisenreich W. Substrate usage determines carbon flux via the citrate cycle in Helicobacter pylori. Mol Microbiol 2021; 116:841-860. [PMID: 34164854 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.14775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2021] [Revised: 06/07/2021] [Accepted: 06/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Helicobacter pylori displays a worldwide infection rate of about 50%. The Gram-negative bacterium is the main reason for gastric cancer and other severe diseases. Despite considerable knowledge about the metabolic inventory of H. pylori, carbon fluxes through the citrate cycle (TCA cycle) remained enigmatic. In this study, different 13 C-labeled substrates were supplied as carbon sources to H. pylori during microaerophilic growth in a complex medium. After growth, 13 C-excess and 13 C-distribution were determined in multiple metabolites using GC-MS analysis. [U-13 C6 ]Glucose was efficiently converted into glyceraldehyde but only less into TCA cycle-related metabolites. In contrast, [U-13 C5 ]glutamate, [U-13 C4 ]succinate, and [U-13 C4 ]aspartate were incorporated at high levels into intermediates of the TCA cycle. The comparative analysis of the 13 C-distributions indicated an adaptive TCA cycle fully operating in the closed oxidative direction with rapid equilibrium fluxes between oxaloacetate-succinate and α-ketoglutarate-citrate. 13 C-Profiles of the four-carbon intermediates in the TCA cycle, especially of malate, together with the observation of an isocitrate lyase activity by in vitro assays, suggested carbon fluxes via a glyoxylate bypass. In conjunction with the lack of enzymes for anaplerotic CO2 fixation, the glyoxylate bypass could be relevant to fill up the TCA cycle with carbon atoms derived from acetyl-CoA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas M Steiner
- Bavarian NMR Center-Structural Membrane Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany
| | - Clara Lettl
- Chair of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Max von Pettenkofer Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, München, Germany.,German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Munich, München, Germany
| | - Franziska Schindele
- Chair of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Max von Pettenkofer Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, München, Germany
| | - Werner Goebel
- Chair of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Max von Pettenkofer Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, München, Germany
| | - Rainer Haas
- Chair of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Max von Pettenkofer Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, München, Germany.,German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Munich, München, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Fischer
- Chair of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Epidemiology, Max von Pettenkofer Institute of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, LMU Munich, München, Germany.,German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Munich, München, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Eisenreich
- Bavarian NMR Center-Structural Membrane Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany
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21
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Fernandes AS, Pombinho A, Teixeira-Duarte CM, Morais-Cabral JH, Harley CA. Fluorometric Liposome Screen for Inhibitors of a Physiologically Important Bacterial Ion Channel. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:603700. [PMID: 33732218 PMCID: PMC7956971 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.603700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2020] [Accepted: 02/01/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The bacterial K+ homeostasis machinery is widely conserved across bacterial species, and different from that in animals. Dysfunction in components of the machinery has an impact on intracellular turgor, membrane potential, adaptation to changes in both extracellular pH and osmolarity, and in virulence. Using a fluorescence-based liposome flux assay, we have performed a high-throughput screen to identify novel inhibitors of the KtrAB ion channel complex from Bacillus subtilis, a component of the K+ homeostasis machinery that is also present in many bacterial pathogens. The screen identified 41 compounds that inhibited K+ flux and that clustered into eight chemical groups. Many of the identified inhibitors were found to target KtrAB with an in vitro potency in the low μM range. We investigated the mechanisms of inhibition and found that most molecules affected either the membrane component of the channel, KtrB alone or the full KtrAB complex without a preference for the functional conformation of the channel, thus broadening their inhibitory action. A urea derivative molecule that inhibited the membrane component of KtrAB affected cell viability in conditions in which KtrAB activity is essential. With this proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate that targeting components of the K+ homeostasis machinery has the potential as a new antibacterial strategy and that the fluorescence-based flux assay is a robust tool for screening chemical libraries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreia S Fernandes
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - António Pombinho
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Celso M Teixeira-Duarte
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Programa Doutoral em Biologia Molecular e Celular (MCbiology), Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - João H Morais-Cabral
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Carol A Harley
- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde (i3S), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular (IBMC), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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22
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Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli can be frequently isolated from poultry and poultry-derived products, and in combination these two species cause a large portion of human bacterial gastroenteritis cases. While birds are typically colonized by these Campylobacter species without clinical symptoms, in humans they cause (foodborne) infections at high frequencies, estimated to cost billions of dollars worldwide every year. The clinical outcome of Campylobacter infections comprises malaise, diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever. Symptoms may continue for up to two weeks and are generally self-limiting, though occasionally the disease can be more severe or result in post-infection sequelae. The virulence properties of these pathogens have been best-characterized for C. jejuni, and their actions are reviewed here. Various virulence-associated bacterial determinants include the flagellum, numerous flagellar secreted factors, protein adhesins, cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), lipooligosaccharide (LOS), serine protease HtrA and others. These factors are involved in several pathogenicity-linked properties that can be divided into bacterial chemotaxis, motility, attachment, invasion, survival, cellular transmigration and spread to deeper tissue. All of these steps require intimate interactions between bacteria and host cells (including immune cells), enabled by the collection of bacterial and host factors that have already been identified. The assortment of pathogenicity-associated factors now recognized for C. jejuni, their function and the proposed host cell factors that are involved in crucial steps leading to disease are discussed in detail.
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23
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Elmi A, Nasher F, Dorrell N, Wren B, Gundogdu O. Revisiting Campylobacter jejuni Virulence and Fitness Factors: Role in Sensing, Adapting, and Competing. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021; 10:607704. [PMID: 33614526 PMCID: PMC7887314 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.607704] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2020] [Accepted: 12/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial foodborne gastroenteritis world wide and represents a major public health concern. Over the past two decades, significant progress in functional genomics, proteomics, enzymatic-based virulence profiling (EBVP), and the cellular biology of C. jejuni have improved our basic understanding of this important pathogen. We review key advances in our understanding of the multitude of emerging virulence factors that influence the outcome of C. jejuni–mediated infections. We highlight, the spatial and temporal dynamics of factors that promote C. jejuni to sense, adapt and survive in multiple hosts. Finally, we propose cohesive research directions to obtain a comprehensive understanding of C. jejuni virulence mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdi Elmi
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Fauzy Nasher
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Nick Dorrell
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Brendan Wren
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ozan Gundogdu
- Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom
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24
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Kelley BR, Lu J, Haley KP, Gaddy JA, Johnson JG. Metal homeostasis in pathogenic Epsilonproteobacteria: mechanisms of acquisition, efflux, and regulation. Metallomics 2021; 13:mfaa002. [PMID: 33570133 PMCID: PMC8043183 DOI: 10.1093/mtomcs/mfaa002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Revised: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 12/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Epsilonproteobacteria are a diverse class of eubacteria within the Proteobacteria phylum that includes environmental sulfur-reducing bacteria and the human pathogens, Campylobacter jejuni and Helicobacter pylori. These pathogens infect and proliferate within the gastrointestinal tracts of multiple animal hosts, including humans, and cause a variety of disease outcomes. While infection of these hosts provides nutrients for the pathogenic Epsilonproteobacteria, many hosts have evolved a variety of strategies to either sequester metals from the invading pathogen or exploit the toxicity of metals and drive their accumulation as an antimicrobial strategy. As a result, C. jejuni and H. pylori have developed mechanisms to sense changes in metal availability and regulate their physiology in order to respond to either metal limitation or accumulation. In this review, we will discuss the challenges of metal availability at the host-pathogen interface during infection with C. jejuni and H. pylori and describe what is currently known about how these organisms alter their gene expression and/or deploy bacterial virulence factors in response to these environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brittni R Kelley
- Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - Jacky Lu
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Kathryn P Haley
- Department of Biology, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI, USA
| | - Jennifer A Gaddy
- Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Tennessee Valley Healthcare Systems, Department of Veterans Affairs, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
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25
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Ruddell B, Hassall A, Sahin O, Zhang Q, Plummer PJ, Kreuder AJ. Role of metAB in Methionine Metabolism and Optimal Chicken Colonization in Campylobacter jejuni. Infect Immun 2020; 89:e00542-20. [PMID: 33046508 PMCID: PMC7927925 DOI: 10.1128/iai.00542-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 10/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a zoonotic pathogen and is one of the leading causes of human gastroenteritis worldwide. C. jejuni IA3902 (representative of the sheep abortion clone) is genetically similar to C. jejuni W7 (representative of strain type NCTC 11168); however, there are significant differences in the ability of luxS mutants of these strains to colonize chickens. LuxS is essential for the activated methyl cycle and generates homocysteine for conversion to l-methionine. Comparative genomics identified differential distribution of the genes metA and metB, which function to convert homoserine for downstream production of l-methionine, between IA3902 and W7, which could enable a secondary pathway for l-methionine biosynthesis in a W7 ΔluxS but not in an IA3902 ΔluxS strain. To test the hypothesis that the genes metA and metB contribute to l-methionine production and chicken colonization by Campylobacter, we constructed two mutants for phenotypic comparison, the W7 ΔmetAB ΔluxS and IA3902 ΔluxS::metAB mutants. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and tandem mass spectrometry protein analysis were used to validate MetAB transcription and translation as present in the IA3902 ΔluxS::metAB mutant and absent in the W7 ΔmetAB ΔluxS mutant. Time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer fluorescence assays demonstrated that l-methionine and S-adenosyl methionine concentrations decreased in the W7 ΔmetAB ΔluxS mutant and increased in the IA3902 ΔluxS::metAB mutant. Assessment of chicken colonization revealed that the IA3902 ΔluxS::metAB strain partially rescued the colonization defect of the IA3902 ΔluxS strain, while the W7 ΔmetAB ΔluxS strain showed significantly decreased colonization compared to that of the wild-type and the W7 ΔluxS strain. These results indicate that the ability to maintain l-methionine production in vivo, conferred by metA and metB in the absence of luxS, is critical for normal chicken colonization by C. jejuni.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brandon Ruddell
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
| | - Alan Hassall
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
- Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
| | - Orhan Sahin
- Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
| | - Qijing Zhang
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
| | - Paul J Plummer
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
- Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
| | - Amanda J Kreuder
- Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
- Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
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Heimesaat MM, Schmidt AM, Mousavi S, Escher U, Tegtmeyer N, Wessler S, Gadermaier G, Briza P, Hofreuter D, Bereswill S, Backert S. Peptidase PepP is a novel virulence factor of Campylobacter jejuni contributing to murine campylobacteriosis. Gut Microbes 2020; 12:1770017. [PMID: 32584649 PMCID: PMC7524167 DOI: 10.1080/19490976.2020.1770017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 05/05/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions resulting in immunopathological responses upon human Campylobacter jejuni infection are not completely understood, but the recent availability of murine infection models mimicking key features of campylobacteriosis helps solving this dilemma. During a screen for proteases expressed by C. jejuni, we identified a peptidase of the M24 family as a potential novel virulence factor, which was named PepP. The gene is strongly conserved in various Campylobacter species. A constructed deletion mutant ΔpepP of C. jejuni strain 81-176 grew as efficiently compared to isogenic wild-type (WT) or pepP complemented bacteria. To shed light on the potential role of this protease in mediating immunopathological responses in the mammalian host, we perorally challenged microbiota-depleted IL-10-/- mice with these strains. All strains stably colonized the murine gastrointestinal tract with comparably high loads. Remarkably, pepP deficiency was associated with less severe induced malaise, with less distinct apoptotic and innate immune cell responses, but also with more pronounced proliferative/regenerative epithelial cell responses in the large intestine at d6post-infection. Furthermore, pro-inflammatory mediators were lower in the colon, ileum, and mesenteric lymph nodes of mice that had been challenged with the ΔpepP mutant compared to the WT or pepP complemented strains. This also held true for extra-intestinal organs including liver, kidneys, and lungs, and, strikingly, to systemic compartments. Taken together, protease PepP is a novel virulence determinant involved in mediating campylobacteriosis. The finding that apoptosis in the colon is significantly diminished in mice infected with the pepP mutant highlights the epithelial layer as the first and main target of PepP in the intestine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Markus M. Heimesaat
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, And Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anna-Maria Schmidt
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, And Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Soraya Mousavi
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, And Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ulrike Escher
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, And Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nicole Tegtmeyer
- Division of Microbiology, Department of Biology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen/Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Silja Wessler
- Department of Biosciences, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Gabriele Gadermaier
- Department of Biosciences, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Peter Briza
- Department of Biosciences, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria
| | - Dirk Hofreuter
- Department of Biological Safety, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (Bfr), Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefan Bereswill
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, And Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Steffen Backert
- Division of Microbiology, Department of Biology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen/Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany
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27
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Sher AA, Jerome JP, Bell JA, Yu J, Kim HY, Barrick JE, Mansfield LS. Experimental Evolution of Campylobacter jejuni Leads to Loss of Motility, rpoN (σ54) Deletion and Genome Reduction. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:579989. [PMID: 33240235 PMCID: PMC7677240 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.579989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolution experiments in the laboratory have focused heavily on model organisms, often to the exclusion of clinically relevant pathogens. The foodborne bacterial pathogen Campylobacter jejuni belongs to a genus whose genomes are small compared to those of its closest genomic relative, the free-living genus Sulfurospirillum, suggesting genome reduction during the course of evolution to host association. In an in vitro experiment, C. jejuni serially passaged in rich medium in the laboratory exhibited loss of flagellar motility-an essential function for host colonization. At early time points the motility defect was often reversible, but after 35 days of serial culture, motility was irreversibly lost in most cells in 5 independently evolved populations. Population re-sequencing revealed disruptive mutations to genes in the flagellar transcriptional cascade, rpoN (σ54)-therefore disrupting the expression of the genes σ54 regulates-coupled with deletion of rpoN in all evolved lines. Additional mutations were detected in virulence-related loci. In separate in vivo experiments, we demonstrate that a phase variable (reversible) motility mutant carrying an adenine deletion within a homopolymeric tract resulting in truncation of the flagellar biosynthesis gene fliR was deficient for colonization in a C57BL/6 IL-10-/- mouse disease model. Re-insertion of an adenine residue partially restored motility and ability to colonize mice. Thus, a pathogenic C. jejuni strain was rapidly attenuated by experimental laboratory evolution and demonstrated genomic instability during this evolutionary process. The changes observed suggest C. jejuni is able to evolve in a novel environment through genome reduction as well as transition, transversion, and slip-strand mutations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Azam A. Sher
- Comparative Enteric Diseases Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
- BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - John P. Jerome
- Comparative Enteric Diseases Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, United States
- BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Julia A. Bell
- Comparative Enteric Diseases Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Julian Yu
- Comparative Enteric Diseases Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, United States
- BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Hahyung Y. Kim
- Comparative Enteric Diseases Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Jeffrey E. Barrick
- BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
| | - Linda S. Mansfield
- Comparative Enteric Diseases Laboratory, East Lansing, MI, United States
- BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States
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28
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Barnawi H, Masri N, Hussain N, Al-Lawati B, Mayasari E, Gulbicka A, Jervis AJ, Huang MH, Cavet JS, Linton D. RNA-based thermoregulation of a Campylobacter jejuni zinc resistance determinant. PLoS Pathog 2020; 16:e1009008. [PMID: 33064782 PMCID: PMC7592916 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2020] [Revised: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 09/28/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
RNA thermometers (RNATs) trigger bacterial virulence factor expression in response to the temperature shift on entering a warm-blooded host. At lower temperatures these secondary structures sequester ribosome-binding sites (RBSs) to prevent translation initiation, whereas at elevated temperatures they "melt" allowing translation. Campylobacter jejuni is the leading bacterial cause of human gastroenteritis worldwide yet little is known about how it interacts with the host including host induced gene regulation. Here we demonstrate that an RNAT regulates a C. jejuni gene, Cj1163c or czcD, encoding a member of the Cation Diffusion Facilitator family. The czcD upstream untranslated region contains a predicted stem loop within the mRNA that sequesters the RBS to inhibit translation at temperatures below 37°C. Mutations that disrupt or enhance predicted secondary structure have significant and predictable effects on temperature regulation. We also show that in an RNAT independent manner, CzcD expression is induced by Zn(II). Mutants lacking czcD are hypersensitive to Zn(II) and also over-accumulate Zn(II) relative to wild-type, all consistent with CzcD functioning as a Zn(II) exporter. Importantly, we demonstrate that C. jejuni Zn(II)-tolerance at 32°C, a temperature at which the RNAT limits CzcD production, is increased by RNAT disruption. Finally we show that czcD inactivation attenuates larval killing in a Galleria infection model and that at 32°C disrupting RNAT secondary structure to allow CzcD production can enhance killing. We hypothesise that CzcD regulation by metals and temperature provides a mechanism for C. jejuni to overcome innate immune system-mediated Zn(II) toxicity in warm-blooded animal hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heba Barnawi
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Nader Masri
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Natasha Hussain
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Bushra Al-Lawati
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Evita Mayasari
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
- Microbiology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia
| | - Aleksandra Gulbicka
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Adrian J. Jervis
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
- Manchester Centre for Synthetic Biology of Fine and Speciality Chemicals (SYNBIOCHEM), Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Min-Hsuan Huang
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
| | - Jennifer S. Cavet
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (JSC); (DL)
| | - Dennis Linton
- The Lydia Becker Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (JSC); (DL)
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29
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Kortright KE, Chan BK, Turner PE. High-throughput discovery of phage receptors using transposon insertion sequencing of bacteria. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:18670-18679. [PMID: 32675236 PMCID: PMC7414163 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001888117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
As the most abundant microbes on Earth, novel bacteriophages (phages; bacteria-specific viruses) are readily isolated from environmental samples. However, it remains challenging to characterize phage-bacteria interactions, such as the host receptor(s) phages bind to initiate infection. Here, we tested whether transposon insertion sequencing (INSeq) could be used to identify bacterial genes involved in phage binding. As proof of concept, results showed that INSeq screens successfully identified genes encoding known receptors for previously characterized viruses of Escherichia coli (phages T6, T2, T4, and T7). INSeq screens were then used to identify genes involved during infection of six newly isolated coliphages. Results showed that candidate receptors could be successfully identified for the majority (five of six) of the phages; furthermore, genes encoding the phage receptor(s) were the top hit(s) in the analyses of the successful screens. INSeq screens provide a generally useful method for high-throughput discovery of phage receptors. We discuss limitations of our approach when examining uncharacterized phages, as well as usefulness of the method for exploring the evolution of broad versus narrow use of cellular receptors among phages in the biosphere.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Benjamin K Chan
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520
| | - Paul E Turner
- Program in Microbiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06520;
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520
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30
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Caballero-Flores G, Pickard JM, Fukuda S, Inohara N, Núñez G. An Enteric Pathogen Subverts Colonization Resistance by Evading Competition for Amino Acids in the Gut. Cell Host Microbe 2020; 28:526-533.e5. [PMID: 32726577 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2020.06.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2020] [Revised: 06/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
The microbiota confers host protection by limiting the colonization of pathogenic bacteria in the gut, but the mechanisms by which pathogens overcome colonization resistance remain poorly understood. Using a high-density transposon screen in the enteric pathogen Citrobacter rodentium, we find that the bacterium requires amino acid biosynthesis pathways to colonize conventionally raised mice, but not germ-free or antibiotic-treated animals. These metabolic pathways are induced during infection by the presence of the gut microbiota. Reduced amounts of amino acids are found in the guts of conventionally raised mice compared with germ-free animals. Dietary administration of high protein increases amino acid levels in the gut and promotes pathogen colonization. Thus, the depletion of amino acids by the microbiota limits pathogen colonization, and in turn, the pathogen activates amino acid biosynthesis to expand in the presence of the microbiota.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gustavo Caballero-Flores
- Department of Pathology and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
| | - Joseph M Pickard
- Department of Pathology and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Shinji Fukuda
- Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Tsuruoka, Yamagata 997-0052, Japan; Intestinal Microbiota Project, Kanagawa Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, Atsugi, Kanagawa 210-0821, Japan; Transborder Medical Research Center, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan
| | - Naohiro Inohara
- Department of Pathology and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Gabriel Núñez
- Department of Pathology and Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
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31
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Tejera N, Crossman L, Pearson B, Stoakes E, Nasher F, Djeghout B, Poolman M, Wain J, Singh D. Genome-Scale Metabolic Model Driven Design of a Defined Medium for Campylobacter jejuni M1cam. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:1072. [PMID: 32636809 PMCID: PMC7318876 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni, the most frequent cause of food-borne bacterial gastroenteritis, is a fastidious organism when grown in the laboratory. Oxygen is required for growth, despite the presence of the metabolic mechanism for anaerobic respiration. Amino acid auxotrophies are variably reported and energy metabolism can occur through several electron donor/acceptor combinations. Overall, the picture is one of a flexible, but vulnerable metabolism. To understand Campylobacter metabolism, we have constructed a fully curated, metabolic model for the reference organism M1 (our variant is M1cam) and validated it through laboratory experiments. Our results show that M1cam is auxotrophic for methionine, niacinamide, and pantothenate. There are complete biosynthesis pathways for all amino acids except methionine and it can produce energy, but not biomass, in the absence of oxygen. M1cam will grow in DMEM/F-12 defined media but not in the previously published Campylobacter specific defined media tested. Using the model, we identified potential auxotrophies and substrates that may improve growth. With this information, we designed simple defined media containing inorganic salts, the auxotrophic substrates, L-methionine, niacinamide, and pantothenate, pyruvate and additional amino acids L-cysteine, L-serine, and L-glutamine for growth enhancement. Our defined media supports a 1.75-fold higher growth rate than Brucella broth after 48 h at 37°C and sustains the growth of other Campylobacter jejuni strains. This media can be used to design reproducible assays that can help in better understanding the adaptation, stress resistance, and the virulence mechanisms of this pathogen. We have shown that with a well-curated metabolic model it is possible to design a media to grow this fastidious organism. This has implications for the investigation of new Campylobacter species defined through metagenomics, such as C. infans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noemi Tejera
- Microbes in Food Chain, Quadram Institute Biosciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa Crossman
- Microbes in Food Chain, Quadram Institute Biosciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom.,SequenceAnalysis.co.uk, NRP Innovation Centre, Norwich, United Kingdom.,University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Bruce Pearson
- Microbes in Food Chain, Quadram Institute Biosciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Emily Stoakes
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Fauzy Nasher
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Bilal Djeghout
- Microbes in Food Chain, Quadram Institute Biosciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Poolman
- Cell Systems Modelling Group, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - John Wain
- Microbes in Food Chain, Quadram Institute Biosciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom
| | - Dipali Singh
- Microbes in Food Chain, Quadram Institute Biosciences, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom
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32
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Rendón JM, Lang B, Tartaglia GG, Burgas MT. BacFITBase: a database to assess the relevance of bacterial genes during host infection. Nucleic Acids Res 2020; 48:D511-D516. [PMID: 31665505 PMCID: PMC7145566 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkz931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2019] [Revised: 10/04/2019] [Accepted: 10/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacterial infections have been on the rise world-wide in recent years and have a considerable impact on human well-being in terms of attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life years. Yet many mechanisms underlying bacterial pathogenesis are still poorly understood. Here, we introduce the BacFITBase database for the systematic characterization of bacterial proteins relevant for host infection aimed to enable the identification of new antibiotic targets. BacFITBase is manually curated and contains more than 90 000 entries with information on the contribution of individual genes to bacterial fitness under in vivo infection conditions in a range of host species. The data were collected from 15 different studies in which transposon mutagenesis was performed, including top-priority pathogens such as Acinetobacter baumannii and Campylobacter jejuni, for both of which increasing antibiotic resistance has been reported. Overall, BacFITBase includes information on 15 pathogenic bacteria and 5 host vertebrates across 10 different tissues. It is freely available at www.tartaglialab.com/bacfitbase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier Macho Rendón
- Systems Biology of Infection Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biosciences Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
| | - Benjamin Lang
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Gian Gaetano Tartaglia
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.,ICREA, 23 Passeig Lluis Companys 08010 and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain.,Department of Biology 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, Rome 00185, Italy.,Department of Neuroscience and Brain Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genoa, Italy
| | - Marc Torrent Burgas
- Systems Biology of Infection Lab, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biosciences Faculty, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain
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Genger C, Kløve S, Mousavi S, Bereswill S, Heimesaat MM. The conundrum of colonization resistance against Campylobacter reloaded: The gut microbota composition in conventional mice does not prevent from Campylobacter coli infection. Eur J Microbiol Immunol (Bp) 2020; 10:80-90. [PMID: 32590346 PMCID: PMC7391380 DOI: 10.1556/1886.2020.00004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Accepted: 03/03/2020] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The physiological colonization resistance exerted by the murine gut microbiota prevents conventional mice from Campylobacter jejuni infection. In the present study we addressed whether this also held true for Campylobacter coli. Following peroral application, C. coli as opposed to C.jejuni could stably establish within the gastrointestinal tract of conventionally colonized mice until 3 weeks post-challenge. Neither before nor after either Campylobacter application any changes in the gut microbiota composition could be observed. C. coli, but not C. jejuni challenge was associated with pronounced regenerative, but not apoptotic responses in colonic epithelia. At day 21 following C. coli versus C. jejuni application mice exhibited higher numbers of adaptive immune cells including T-lymphocytes and regulatory T-cells in the colonic mucosa and lamina propria that were accompanied by higher large intestinal interferon-γ (IFN-γ) concentrations in the former versus the latter but comparable to naive levels. Campylobacter application resulted in decreased splenic IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and IL-6 concentrations, whereas IL-12p70 secretion was increased in the spleens at day 21 following C. coli application only. In either Campylobacter cohort decreased IL-10 concentrations could be measured in splenic and serum samples. In conclusion, the commensal gut microbiota prevents mice from C. jejuni, but not C. coli infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Genger
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sigri Kløve
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Soraya Mousavi
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Markus M Heimesaat
- Institute of Microbiology, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Gastrointestinal Microbiology Research Group, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
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Selection or drift: The population biology underlying transposon insertion sequencing experiments. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2020; 18:791-804. [PMID: 32280434 PMCID: PMC7138912 DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2020.03.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/15/2019] [Revised: 03/06/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Transposon insertion sequencing methods such as Tn-seq revolutionized microbiology by allowing the identification of genomic loci that are critical for viability in a specific environment on a genome-wide scale. While powerful, transposon insertion sequencing suffers from limited reproducibility when different analysis methods are compared. From the perspective of population biology, this may be explained by changes in mutant frequency due to chance (drift) rather than differential fitness (selection). Here, we develop a mathematical model of the population biology of transposon insertion sequencing experiments, i.e. the changes in size and composition of the transposon-mutagenized population during the experiment. We use this model to investigate mutagenesis, the growth of the mutant library, and its passage through bottlenecks. Specifically, we study how these processes can lead to extinction of individual mutants depending on their fitness and the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of the entire mutant population. We find that in typical in vitro experiments few mutants with high fitness go extinct. However, bottlenecks of a size that is common in animal infection models lead to so much random extinction that a large number of viable mutants would be misclassified. While mutants with low fitness are more likely to be lost during the experiment, mutants with intermediate fitness are expected to be much more abundant and can constitute a large proportion of detected hits, i.e. false positives. Thus, incorporating the DFEs of randomly generated mutations in the analysis may improve the reproducibility of transposon insertion experiments, especially when strong bottlenecks are encountered.
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35
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Alzheimer M, Svensson SL, König F, Schweinlin M, Metzger M, Walles H, Sharma CM. A three-dimensional intestinal tissue model reveals factors and small regulatory RNAs important for colonization with Campylobacter jejuni. PLoS Pathog 2020; 16:e1008304. [PMID: 32069333 PMCID: PMC7048300 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2019] [Revised: 02/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/02/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The Gram-negative Epsilonproteobacterium Campylobacter jejuni is currently the most prevalent bacterial foodborne pathogen. Like for many other human pathogens, infection studies with C. jejuni mainly employ artificial animal or cell culture models that can be limited in their ability to reflect the in-vivo environment within the human host. Here, we report the development and application of a human three-dimensional (3D) infection model based on tissue engineering to study host-pathogen interactions. Our intestinal 3D tissue model is built on a decellularized extracellular matrix scaffold, which is reseeded with human Caco-2 cells. Dynamic culture conditions enable the formation of a polarized mucosal epithelial barrier reminiscent of the 3D microarchitecture of the human small intestine. Infection with C. jejuni demonstrates that the 3D tissue model can reveal isolate-dependent colonization and barrier disruption phenotypes accompanied by perturbed localization of cell-cell junctions. Pathogenesis-related phenotypes of C. jejuni mutant strains in the 3D model deviated from those obtained with 2D-monolayers, but recapitulated phenotypes previously observed in animal models. Moreover, we demonstrate the involvement of a small regulatory RNA pair, CJnc180/190, during infections and observe different phenotypes of CJnc180/190 mutant strains in 2D vs. 3D infection models. Hereby, the CJnc190 sRNA exerts its pathogenic influence, at least in part, via repression of PtmG, which is involved in flagellin modification. Our results suggest that the Caco-2 cell-based 3D tissue model is a valuable and biologically relevant tool between in-vitro and in-vivo infection models to study virulence of C. jejuni and other gastrointestinal pathogens. Enteric pathogens have evolved numerous strategies to successfully colonize and persist in the human gastrointestinal tract. However, especially for the research of virulence mechanisms of human pathogens, often only limited infection models are available. Here, we have applied and further advanced a tissue-engineered human intestinal tissue model based on an extracellular matrix scaffold reseeded with human cells that can faithfully mimic pathogenesis-determining processes of the zoonotic pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. Our three-dimensional (3D) intestinal infection model allows for the assessment of epithelial barrier function during infection as well as for the quantification of bacterial adherence, internalization, and transmigration. Investigation of C. jejuni mutant strains in our 3D tissue model revealed isolate-specific infection phenotypes, in-vivo relevant infection outcomes, and uncovered the involvement of a small RNA pair during C. jejuni pathogenesis. Overall, our results demonstrate the power of tissue-engineered models for studying host-pathogen interactions, and our model will also be helpful to investigate other gastrointestinal pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona Alzheimer
- Chair of Molecular Infection Biology II, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Sarah L. Svensson
- Chair of Molecular Infection Biology II, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Fabian König
- Chair of Molecular Infection Biology II, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Matthias Schweinlin
- Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Marco Metzger
- Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- Fraunhofer-Institute for Silicate Research, Translational Centre Regenerative Therapies, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Heike Walles
- Department of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- Core Facility Tissue Engineering, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany
- * E-mail: (HW); (CMS)
| | - Cynthia M. Sharma
- Chair of Molecular Infection Biology II, Institute of Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
- * E-mail: (HW); (CMS)
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Xi D, Alter T, Einspanier R, Sharbati S, Gölz G. Campylobacter jejuni genes Cj1492c and Cj1507c are involved in host cell adhesion and invasion. Gut Pathog 2020; 12:8. [PMID: 32064001 PMCID: PMC7011364 DOI: 10.1186/s13099-020-00347-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) has been assigned as an important food-borne pathogen for human health but many pathogenicity factors of C. jejuni and human host cell responses related to the infection have not yet been adequately clarified. This study aimed to determine further C. jejuni pathogenicity factors and virulence genes based on a random mutagenesis approach. A transposon mutant library of C. jejuni NCTC 11168 was constructed and the ability of individual mutants to adhere to and invade human intestinal epithelial cells was evaluated compared to the wild type. We identified two mutants of C. jejuni possessing altered phenotypes with transposon insertions in the genes Cj1492c and Cj1507c. Cj1492c is annotated as a two-component sensor and Cj1507c is described as a regulatory protein. However, functions of both mutated genes are not clarified so far. Results In comparison to the wild type, Cj::1492c and Cj::1507c showed around 70-80% relative motility and Cj::1492c had around 3-times enhanced adhesion and invasion rates whereas Cj::1507c had significantly impaired adhesive and invasive capability. Moreover, Cj::1492c had a longer lag phase and slower growth rate while Cj::1507c showed similar growth compared to the wild type. Between 5 and 24 h post infection, more than 60% of the intracellular wild type C. jejuni were eliminated in HT-29/B6 cells, however, significantly fewer mutants were able to survive intracellularly. Nevertheless, no difference in host cell viability and induction of the pro-inflammatory chemokine IL-8 were determined between both mutants and the wild type. Conclusion We conclude that genes regulated by Cj1507c have an impact on efficient adhesion, invasion and intracellular survival of C. jejuni in HT-29/B6 cells. Furthermore, potential signal sensing by Cj1492c seems to lead to limiting attachment and hence internalisation of C. jejuni. However, as the intracellular survival capacities are reduced, we suggest that signal sensing by Cj1492c impacts several processes related to pathogenicity of C. jejuni.
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Affiliation(s)
- De Xi
- 1Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Thomas Alter
- 2Institute of Food Safety and Food Hygiene, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ralf Einspanier
- 1Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Soroush Sharbati
- 1Institute of Veterinary Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Greta Gölz
- 2Institute of Food Safety and Food Hygiene, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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37
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Kriner MA, Subramaniam AR. The serine transporter SdaC prevents cell lysis upon glucose depletion in Escherichia coli. Microbiologyopen 2019; 9:e960. [PMID: 31680488 PMCID: PMC7002108 DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2019] [Revised: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
The amino acid serine plays diverse metabolic roles, yet bacteria actively degrade exogenously provided serine via deamination to pyruvate. Serine deamination is thought to be a detoxification mechanism due to the ability of serine to inhibit several biosynthetic reactions, but this pathway remains highly active even in nutrient-replete conditions. While investigating the physiological roles of serine deamination in different growth conditions, we discovered that Escherichia coli cells lacking the sdaCB operon, which encodes the serine transporter SdaC and the serine deaminase SdaB, lyse upon glucose depletion in a medium containing no exogenous serine but all other amino acids and nucleobases. Unexpectedly, this lysis phenotype can be recapitulated by deleting sdaC alone and can be rescued by heterologous expression of SdaC. Lysis of ΔsdaC cells can be prevented by omitting glycine from the medium, inhibiting the glycine cleavage system, or by increasing alanine availability. Together, our results reveal that the serine transporter SdaC plays a critical role in maintaining amino acid homeostasis during shifts in nutrient availability in E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle A Kriner
- Basic Sciences Division and Computational Biology Section of the Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Arvind R Subramaniam
- Basic Sciences Division and Computational Biology Section of the Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA
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38
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Burnham PM, Hendrixson DR. Campylobacter jejuni: collective components promoting a successful enteric lifestyle. Nat Rev Microbiol 2019; 16:551-565. [PMID: 29892020 DOI: 10.1038/s41579-018-0037-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 137] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of bacterial diarrhoeal disease in many areas of the world. The high incidence of sporadic cases of disease in humans is largely due to its prevalence as a zoonotic agent in animals, both in agriculture and in the wild. Compared with many other enteric bacterial pathogens, C. jejuni has strict growth and nutritional requirements and lacks many virulence and colonization determinants that are typically used by bacterial pathogens to infect hosts. Instead, C. jejuni has a different collection of factors and pathways not typically associated together in enteric pathogens to establish commensalism in many animal hosts and to promote diarrhoeal disease in the human population. In this Review, we discuss the cellular architecture and structure of C. jejuni, intraspecies genotypic variation, the multiple roles of the flagellum, specific nutritional and environmental growth requirements and how these factors contribute to in vivo growth in human and avian hosts, persistent colonization and pathogenesis of diarrhoeal disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter M Burnham
- Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - David R Hendrixson
- Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
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Warr AR, Hubbard TP, Munera D, Blondel CJ, Abel zur Wiesch P, Abel S, Wang X, Davis BM, Waldor MK. Transposon-insertion sequencing screens unveil requirements for EHEC growth and intestinal colonization. PLoS Pathog 2019; 15:e1007652. [PMID: 31404118 PMCID: PMC6705877 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2019] [Revised: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 08/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC) is an important food-borne pathogen that colonizes the colon. Transposon-insertion sequencing (TIS) was used to identify genes required for EHEC and E. coli K-12 growth in vitro and for EHEC growth in vivo in the infant rabbit colon. Surprisingly, many conserved loci contribute to EHEC's but not to K-12's growth in vitro. There was a restrictive bottleneck for EHEC colonization of the rabbit colon, which complicated identification of EHEC genes facilitating growth in vivo. Both a refined version of an existing analytic framework as well as PCA-based analysis were used to compensate for the effects of the infection bottleneck. These analyses confirmed that the EHEC LEE-encoded type III secretion apparatus is required for growth in vivo and revealed that only a few effectors are critical for in vivo fitness. Over 200 mutants not previously associated with EHEC survival/growth in vivo also appeared attenuated in vivo, and a subset of these putative in vivo fitness factors were validated. Some were found to contribute to efficient type-three secretion while others, including tatABC, oxyR, envC, acrAB, and cvpA, promote EHEC resistance to host-derived stresses. cvpA is also required for intestinal growth of several other enteric pathogens, and proved to be required for EHEC, Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemolyticus resistance to the bile salt deoxycholate, highlighting the important role of this previously uncharacterized protein in pathogen survival. Collectively, our findings provide a comprehensive framework for understanding EHEC growth in the intestine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyson R. Warr
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Troy P. Hubbard
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Diana Munera
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Carlos J. Blondel
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Pia Abel zur Wiesch
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Sören Abel
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Xiaoxue Wang
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Brigid M. Davis
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Matthew K. Waldor
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
- HHMI, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
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40
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Ren J, Sang Y, Qin R, Su Y, Cui Z, Mang Z, Li H, Lu S, Zhang J, Cheng S, Liu X, Li J, Lu J, Wu W, Zhao GP, Shao F, Yao YF. Metabolic intermediate acetyl phosphate modulates bacterial virulence via acetylation. Emerg Microbes Infect 2019; 8:55-69. [PMID: 30866760 PMCID: PMC6455138 DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2018.1558963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Accumulating evidence indicates that bacterial metabolism plays an important role in virulence. Acetyl phosphate (AcP), the high-energy intermediate of the phosphotransacetylase-acetate kinase pathway, is the major acetyl donor in E. coli. PhoP is an essential transcription factor for bacterial virulence. Here, we show in Salmonella typhimurium that PhoP is non-enzymatically acetylated by AcP, which modifies its transcriptional activity, demonstrating that the acetylation of Lysine 102 (K102) is dependent on the intracellular AcP. The acetylation level of K102 decreases under PhoP-activating conditions including low magnesium, acid stress or following phagocytosis. Notably, in vitro assays show that K102 acetylation affects PhoP phosphorylation and inhibits its transcriptional activity. Both cell and mouse models show that K102 is critical to Salmonella virulence, and suggest acetylation is involved in regulating PhoP activity. Together, the current study highlights the importance of the metabolism in bacterial virulence, and shows AcP might be a key mediator.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Ren
- a Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Department of Microbiology and Immunology , Institutes of Medical Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Yu Sang
- a Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Department of Microbiology and Immunology , Institutes of Medical Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Ran Qin
- b Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environmental Microbiology, Ministry of Agriculture , College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing , People's Republic of China
| | - Yang Su
- a Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Department of Microbiology and Immunology , Institutes of Medical Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Zhongli Cui
- b Key Laboratory of Agricultural Environmental Microbiology, Ministry of Agriculture , College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University , Nanjing , People's Republic of China
| | - Zhiguo Mang
- c Department of Pharmaceutical Science , School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science & Technology , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Hao Li
- c Department of Pharmaceutical Science , School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science & Technology , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Shaoyong Lu
- d Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis of Chinese Ministry of Education , Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Jian Zhang
- d Department of Pathophysiology, Key Laboratory of Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis of Chinese Ministry of Education , Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Sen Cheng
- e Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center , College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing , People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaoyun Liu
- e Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center , College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University , Beijing , People's Republic of China
| | - Jixi Li
- f State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Industrial Microorganisms , School of Life Sciences, Fudan University , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Jie Lu
- g Department of Infectious Diseases , Shanghai Ruijin Hospital , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Wenjuan Wu
- h Department of Laboratory Medicine , Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Guo-Ping Zhao
- i Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology , Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
| | - Feng Shao
- j National Institute of Biological Sciences , Beijing , People's Republic of China
| | - Yu-Feng Yao
- a Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis, Department of Microbiology and Immunology , Institutes of Medical Sciences, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China.,h Department of Laboratory Medicine , Shanghai East Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine , Shanghai , People's Republic of China
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Rossler E, Signorini ML, Romero‐Scharpen A, Soto LP, Berisvil A, Zimmermann JA, Fusari ML, Olivero C, Zbrun MV, Frizzo LS. Meta‐analysis of the prevalence of thermotolerant
Campylobacter
in food‐producing animals worldwide. Zoonoses Public Health 2019; 66:359-369. [DOI: 10.1111/zph.12558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2018] [Revised: 11/12/2018] [Accepted: 12/09/2018] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Eugenia Rossler
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
| | - Marcelo L. Signorini
- Department of Public Health Faculty of Veterinary Science – Litoral National University Esperanza Argentina
- National Institute of Agricultural Technology EEA Rafaela National Council of Scientific and Technical Research Rafaela Argentina
| | - Analía Romero‐Scharpen
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
| | - Lorena P. Soto
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
- Department of Public Health Faculty of Veterinary Science – Litoral National University Esperanza Argentina
| | - Ayelén Berisvil
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
| | - Jorge A. Zimmermann
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
| | - Marcia L. Fusari
- Department of Public Health Faculty of Veterinary Science – Litoral National University Esperanza Argentina
| | - Carolina Olivero
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
| | - María V. Zbrun
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
- Department of Public Health Faculty of Veterinary Science – Litoral National University Esperanza Argentina
| | - Laureano S. Frizzo
- Laboratory of Food Analysis, Institute of Veterinary Science (ICiVet Litoral) National University of the Litoral, National Council of Scientific and Technical Research (UNL/CONICET) Esperanza Argentina
- Department of Public Health Faculty of Veterinary Science – Litoral National University Esperanza Argentina
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Cha G, Chen Z, Mo R, Lu G, Gao B. The novel regulators CheP and CheQ control the core chemotaxis operon cheVAW in Campylobacter jejuni. Mol Microbiol 2018; 111:145-158. [PMID: 30338872 DOI: 10.1111/mmi.14144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/27/2018] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of foodborne gastrointestinal illness worldwide, and chemotaxis plays an important role in its host colonization and pathogenesis. Although many studies on chemotaxis have focused on the physical organization and signaling mechanism of the system's protein complex, much less is known about the transcriptional regulation of its components. Here, we describe two novel regulators, CJJ81176_0275 and CJJ81176_0276 (designated as CheP and CheQ), which specifically activate the transcription of the chemotaxis core genes cheV, cheA and cheW in C. jejuni and they are also essential for chemotactic responses. CheP has a single HD-related output domain (HDOD) domain and can promote CheQ binding to the cheVAW operon promoter through a protein-protein interaction. Mutagenesis analyses identified key residues critical for CheP function and/or interaction with CheQ. Further structural characterization of CheQ revealed a novel fold with strong positive surface charges that allow for its DNA binding. These findings reveal the gene regulatory mechanism of the chemotaxis system in an important bacterial pathogen and provide potential anti-virulence targets for campylobacteriosis treatment. In addition, ChePQ is an example of how proteins with the widespread but functionally obscure HDOD can coordinate with a signal output DNA-binding protein/domain to regulate the expression of important signaling pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guihong Cha
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Zimin Chen
- West China Hospital Emergency Department (WCHED), Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
| | - Ran Mo
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China.,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Guangwen Lu
- West China Hospital Emergency Department (WCHED), Collaborative Innovation Center of Biotherapy, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041, China
| | - Beile Gao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China
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Mannion A, Shen Z, Fox JG. Comparative genomics analysis to differentiate metabolic and virulence gene potential in gastric versus enterohepatic Helicobacter species. BMC Genomics 2018; 19:830. [PMID: 30458713 PMCID: PMC6247508 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-018-5171-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2018] [Accepted: 10/15/2018] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The genus Helicobacter are gram-negative, microaerobic, flagellated, mucus-inhabiting bacteria associated with gastrointestinal inflammation and classified as gastric or enterohepatic Helicobacter species (EHS) according to host species and colonization niche. While there are over 30 official species, little is known about the physiology and pathogenic mechanisms of EHS, which account for most in the genus, as well as what genetic factors differentiate gastric versus EHS, given they inhabit different hosts and colonization niches. The objective of this study was to perform a whole-genus comparative analysis of over 100 gastric versus EHS genomes in order to identify genetic determinants that distinguish these Helicobacter species and provide insights about their evolution/adaptation to different hosts, colonization niches, and mechanisms of virulence. Results Whole-genome phylogeny organized Helicobacter species according to their presumed gastric or EHS classification. Analysis of orthologs revealed substantial heterogeneity in physiological and virulence-related genes between gastric and EHS genomes. Metabolic reconstruction predicted that unlike gastric species, EHS appear asaccharolytic and dependent on amino/organic acids to fuel metabolism. Additionally, gastric species lack de novo biosynthetic pathways for several amino acids and purines found in EHS and instead rely on environmental uptake/salvage pathways. Comparison of virulence factor genes between gastric and EHS genomes identified overlapping yet distinct profiles and included canonical cytotoxins, outer membrane proteins, secretion systems, and survival factors. Conclusions The major differences in predicted metabolic function suggest gastric species and EHS may have evolved for survival in the nutrient-rich stomach versus the nutrient-devoid environments, respectively. Contrasting virulence factor gene profiles indicate gastric species and EHS may utilize different pathogenic mechanisms to chronically infect hosts and cause inflammation and tissue damage. The findings from this study provide new insights into the genetic differences underlying gastric versus EHS and support the need for future experimental studies to characterize these pathogens. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5171-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Mannion
- Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Zeli Shen
- Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - James G Fox
- Division of Comparative Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
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Ren F, Li X, Tang H, Jiang Q, Yun X, Fang L, Huang P, Tang Y, Li Q, Huang J, Jiao XA. Insights into the impact of flhF inactivation on Campylobacter jejuni colonization of chick and mice gut. BMC Microbiol 2018; 18:149. [PMID: 30348090 PMCID: PMC6196472 DOI: 10.1186/s12866-018-1318-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2018] [Accepted: 10/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a leading cause of foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. This bacterium lacks many of the classical virulence factors, and flagellum-associated persistent colonization has been shown to be crucial for its pathogenesis. The flagellum plays a multifunctional role in C. jejuni pathogenesis, and different flagellar elements make diverse contributions. The flhF gene encodes the flagellar biosynthesis regulator, which is important for flagellar biosynthesis. In this study, the influence of flhF on C. jejuni colonization was systematically studied, and the possible mechanisms were also analyzed. Results The flhF gene has a significant influence on C. jejuni colonization, and its inactivation resulted in severe defects in the commensal colonization of chicks, with approximately 104- to 107-fold reductions (for NCTC 11168 and a C. jejuni isolate respectively) observed in the bacterial caecal loads. Similar effects were observed in mice where the flhF mutant strain completely lost the ability to continuously colonize mice, which cleared the isolate at 7 days post inoculation. Characterization of the phenotypic properties of C. jejuni that influence colonization showed that the adhesion and invasion abilities of the C. jejuni flhF mutant were reduced to approximately 52 and 27% of that of the wild-type strain, respectively. The autoagglutination and biofilm-formation abilities of the flhF mutant strain were also significantly decreased. Further genetic investigation revealed that flhF is continuously upregulated during the infection process, which indicates a close association of this gene with C. jejuni pathogenesis. The transcription of some other infection-related genes that are not directly involved in flagellar assembly were also influenced by its inactivation, with the flagellar coexpressed determinants (Feds) being apparently affected. Conclusions Inactivation of flhF has a significant influence on C. jejuni colonization in both birds and mammals. This defect may be caused by the decreased adhesion, invasion, autoagglutination and biofilm-formation abilities of the flhF mutant strain, as well as the influence on the transcription of other infection related genes, which provides insights into this virulence factor and the flagellum mediated co-regulation of C. jejuni pathogenesis. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-018-1318-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fangzhe Ren
- Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis/Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xiaofei Li
- Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Haiyan Tang
- Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Qidong Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xi Yun
- Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-product Safety, Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Lin Fang
- Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-product Safety, Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Pingyu Huang
- Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-product Safety, Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yuanyue Tang
- Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis/Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.,Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.,Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-product Safety, Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Qiuchun Li
- Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis/Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.,Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.,Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-product Safety, Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Jinlin Huang
- Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis/Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China. .,Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China. .,Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-product Safety, Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.
| | - Xin-An Jiao
- Jiangsu Key Lab of Zoonosis/Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou University, 48 East Wenhui Road, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China. .,Key Laboratory of Prevention and Control of Biological Hazard Factors (Animal Origin) for Agrifood Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China. .,Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-product Safety, Ministry of Education of China, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.
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Gomes CN, Passaglia J, Vilela FP, Pereira da Silva FM, Duque SS, Falcão JP. High survival rates of Campylobacter coli under different stress conditions suggest that more rigorous food control measures might be needed in Brazil. Food Microbiol 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.fm.2018.02.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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Boehm M, Simson D, Escher U, Schmidt AM, Bereswill S, Tegtmeyer N, Backert S, Heimesaat MM. Function of Serine Protease HtrA in the Lifecycle of the Foodborne Pathogen Campylobacter jejuni. Eur J Microbiol Immunol (Bp) 2018; 8:70-77. [PMID: 30345086 PMCID: PMC6186014 DOI: 10.1556/1886.2018.00011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 06/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Campylobacter jejuni is a major food-borne zoonotic pathogen, responsible for a large proportion of bacterial gastroenteritis cases, as well as Guillian-Barré and Miller-Fisher syndromes. During infection, tissue damage is mainly caused by bacteria invading epithelial cells and traversing the intestinal barrier. C. jejuni is able to enter the lamina propria and the bloodstream and may move into other organs, such as spleen, liver, or mesenteric lymph nodes. However, the involved molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. C. jejuni can transmigrate effectively across polarized intestinal epithelial cells mainly by the paracellular route using the serine protease high-temperature requirement A (HtrA). However, it appears that HtrA has a dual function, as it also acts as a chaperone, interacting with denatured or misfolded periplasmic proteins under stress conditions. Here, we review recent progress on the role of HtrA in C. jejuni pathogenesis. HtrA can be transported into the extracellular space and cleaves cell-to-cell junction factors, such as E-cadherin and probably others, disrupting the epithelial barrier and enabling paracellular transmigration of the bacteria. The secretion of HtrA is a newly discovered strategy also utilized by other pathogens. Thus, secreted HtrA proteases represent highly attractive targets for anti-bacterial treatment and may provide a suitable candidate for vaccine development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manja Boehm
- Department of Biology, Institute for Microbiology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen/Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Daniel Simson
- Department of Biology, Institute for Microbiology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen/Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Ulrike Escher
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Immunology, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anna-Maria Schmidt
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Immunology, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefan Bereswill
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Immunology, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nicole Tegtmeyer
- Department of Biology, Institute for Microbiology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen/Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Steffen Backert
- Department of Biology, Institute for Microbiology, Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen/Nuremberg, Staudtstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Markus M Heimesaat
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Immunology, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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47
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van der Stel AX, van de Lest CHA, Huynh S, Parker CT, van Putten JPM, Wösten MMSM. Catabolite repression in Campylobacter jejuni correlates with intracellular succinate levels. Environ Microbiol 2018; 20:1374-1388. [PMID: 29318721 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.14042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2017] [Accepted: 01/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Bacteria have evolved different mechanisms to catabolize carbon sources from nutrient mixtures. They first consume their preferred carbon source, before others are used. Regulatory mechanisms adapt the metabolism accordingly to maximize growth and to outcompete other organisms. The human pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is an asaccharolytic Gram-negative bacterium that catabolizes amino acids and organic acids for growth. It prefers serine and aspartate as carbon sources, however it lacks all regulators known to be involved in regulating carbon source utilization in other organisms. In which manner C. jejuni adapts its metabolism towards the presence or absence of preferred carbon sources is unknown. In this study, we show with transcriptomic analysis and enzyme assays how C. jejuni adapts its metabolism in response to its preferred carbon sources. In the presence of serine as well as lactate and pyruvate C. jejuni inhibits the utilization of other carbon sources, by repressing the expression of a number of central metabolic enzymes. The regulatory proteins RacR, Cj1000 and CsrA play a role in the regulation of these metabolic enzymes. This metabolism dependent transcriptional repression correlates with an accumulation of intracellular succinate. Hence, we propose a demand-based catabolite repression mechanism in C. jejuni, depended on intracellular succinate levels.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Chris H A van de Lest
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Steven Huynh
- Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, Albany, CA, USA
| | - Craig T Parker
- Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit, Albany, CA, USA
| | - Jos P M van Putten
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Marc M S M Wösten
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Shields RC, Zeng L, Culp DJ, Burne RA. Genomewide Identification of Essential Genes and Fitness Determinants of Streptococcus mutans UA159. mSphere 2018; 3:e00031-18. [PMID: 29435491 PMCID: PMC5806208 DOI: 10.1128/msphere.00031-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2018] [Accepted: 01/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Transposon mutagenesis coupled with next-generation DNA sequencing (Tn-seq) is a powerful tool for discovering regions of the genome that are required for the survival of bacteria in different environments. We adapted this technique to the dental caries pathogen Streptococcus mutans UA159 and identified 11% of the genome as essential, with many genes encoding products required for replication, translation, lipid metabolism, and cell wall biogenesis. Comparison of the essential genome of S. mutans UA159 with those of selected other streptococci for which such information is available revealed several metabolic pathways and genes that are required in S. mutans, but not in some Streptococcus spp. We further identified genes that are essential for sustained growth in rich or defined medium, as well as for persistence in vivo in a rodent model of oral infection. Collectively, our results provide a novel and comprehensive view of the genes required for essential processes of S. mutans, many of which could represent potential targets for therapeutics. IMPORTANCE Tooth decay (dental caries) is a common cause of pain, impaired quality of life, and tooth loss in children and adults. It begins because of a compositional change in the microorganisms that colonize the tooth surface driven by repeated and sustained carbohydrate intake. Although several bacterial species are associated with tooth decay, Streptococcus mutans is the most common cause. Therefore, it is important to identify biological processes that contribute to the survival of S. mutans in the human mouth, with the aim of disrupting the processes with antimicrobial agents. We successfully applied Tn-seq to S. mutans, discovering genes that are required for survival, growth, and persistence, both in laboratory environments and in a mouse model of tooth decay. This work highlights new avenues for the control of an important human pathogen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert C. Shields
- Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Lin Zeng
- Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - David J. Culp
- Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - Robert A. Burne
- Department of Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA
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