[Solving the puzzle of persistence in Staphylococcus aureus]. / Résoudre le puzzle de la persistance chez Staphylococcus aureus.

Title: Résoudre le puzzle de la persistance chez Staphylococcus aureus. Abstract: Dans le cadre de l'unité d'enseignement « Rédiger en sciences ¼ proposée par l'université d'Aix-Marseille, les étudiants du master 2 Microbiologie Intégrative et Fondamentale (MIF) ­ en partenariat avec l'Institut de Microbiologie, Bioénergies et Biotechnologie (IM2B) ­ ont été confrontés aux exigences de l'écriture scientifique. Trois thématiques leur ont été proposées : la persistance bactérienne chez Staphylococcus, les approches à l'échelle de la cellule unique en microbiologie et le modèle Dictyostelium pour l'étude de la phagocytose. À partir de trois publications originales, les étudiants ont rédigé une nouvelle soulignant les résultats majeurs et l'impact des articles étudiés. Complété par un entretien avec des chercheurs, l'ensemble offre un éclairage original sur la compréhension du vivant dans le domaine de la microbiologie et de la santé.

Scar/WAVE drives actin protrusions independently of its VCA domain using proline-rich domains.

Cell migration requires the constant modification of cellular shape by reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. Fine-tuning of this process is critical to ensure new actin filaments are formed only at specific times and in defined regions of the cell. The Scar/WAVE complex is the main catalyst of pseudopod and lamellipodium formation during cell migration. It is a pentameric complex highly conserved through eukaryotic evolution and composed of Scar/WAVE, Abi, Nap1/NCKAP1, Pir121/CYFIP, and HSPC300/Brk1. Its function is usually attributed to activation of the Arp2/3 complex through Scar/WAVE's VCA domain, while other parts of the complex are expected to mediate spatial-temporal regulation and have no direct role in actin polymerization. Here, we show in both B16-F1 mouse melanoma and Dictyostelium discoideum cells that Scar/WAVE without its VCA domain still induces the formation of morphologically normal, actin-rich protrusions, extending at comparable speeds despite a drastic reduction of Arp2/3 recruitment. However, the proline-rich regions in Scar/WAVE and Abi subunits are essential, though either is sufficient for the generation of actin protrusions in B16-F1 cells. We further demonstrate that N-WASP can compensate for the absence of Scar/WAVE's VCA domain and induce lamellipodia formation, but it still requires an intact WAVE complex, even if without its VCA domain. We conclude that the Scar/WAVE complex does more than directly activating Arp2/3, with proline-rich domains playing a central role in promoting actin protrusions. This implies a broader function for the Scar/WAVE complex, concentrating and simultaneously activating many actin-regulating proteins as a lamellipodium-producing core.

Characterization of Aeromonas salmonicida mesophilic isolates from Alberta (Canada) allows the development of a more sensitive Dictyostelium discoideum predation test.

Aeromonas salmonicida is studied using Dictyostelium discoideum as a model host, with predation resistance measured as a key parameter. Aeromonas salmonicida mesophilic isolates exhibit inconclusive results with the amoebic model. This study focuses on new mesophilic isolates (S24-S38, S26-S10, and S28-S20) from Alberta, Canada, and introduces an improved predation test method. Phylogenetic analysis reveals two subgroups, with S24-S38 and S26-S10 clustering with the subspecies pectinolytica from Argentina, and S28-S20 with strains from India (Y567) and Spain (AJ83), showcasing surprising mesophilic strain diversity across geographic locations. Predation tests were carried out with various mesophilic and psychrophilic strains of A. salmonicida, including Alberta isolates. The amoeba cell lines used were DH1-10 and AX2. Although the mesophilic isolates were very resistant to predation by the amoeba DH1-10, some lost this resistance to the AX2 strain, which appeared more voracious in the conditions tested. In addition, when diluting the culture medium used in a predation test with AX2, a loss of the capacity to predation resistance was observed for all the mesophilic isolates, including the highly resistant S28-S20 isolate. This study provides insights into the predation resistance of A. salmonicida isolates and offers avenues for better characterizing mesophilic isolates.

Forecasting and Predicting Stochastic Agent-Based Model Data with Biologically-Informed Neural Networks.

Collective migration is an important component of many biological processes, including wound healing, tumorigenesis, and embryo development. Spatial agent-based models (ABMs) are often used to model collective migration, but it is challenging to thoroughly predict these models' behavior throughout parameter space due to their random and computationally intensive nature. Modelers often coarse-grain ABM rules into mean-field differential equation (DE) models. While these DE models are fast to simulate, they suffer from poor (or even ill-posed) ABM predictions in some regions of parameter space. In this work, we describe how biologically-informed neural networks (BINNs) can be trained to learn interpretable BINN-guided DE models capable of accurately predicting ABM behavior. In particular, we show that BINN-guided partial DE (PDE) simulations can (1) forecast future spatial ABM data not seen during model training, and (2) predict ABM data at previously-unexplored parameter values. This latter task is achieved by combining BINN-guided PDE simulations with multivariate interpolation. We demonstrate our approach using three case study ABMs of collective migration that imitate cell biology experiments and find that BINN-guided PDEs accurately forecast and predict ABM data with a one-compartment PDE when the mean-field PDE is ill-posed or requires two compartments. This work suggests that BINN-guided PDEs allow modelers to efficiently explore parameter space, which may enable data-driven tasks for ABMs, such as estimating parameters from experimental data. All code and data from our study is available at https://github.com/johnnardini/Forecasting_predicting_ABMs .

Imaging-Based Analysis of Cell-Cell Contact-Dependent Migration in Dictyostelium.

Cell-cell interaction mediated by secreted and adhesive signaling molecules forms the basis of the coordinated cell movements (i.e., collective cell migration) observed in developing embryos, regenerating tissues, immune cells, and metastatic cancer. Decoding the underlying input/output rules at the single-cell level, however, remains a challenge due to the vast complexity in the extracellular environments that support such cellular behaviors. The amoebozoa Dictyostelium discoideum uses GPCR-mediated chemotaxis and cell-cell contact signals mediated by adhesion proteins with immunoglobulin-like folds to form a collectively migrating slug. Coordinated migration and repositioning of the cells in this relatively simple morphogenetic system are driven strictly by regulation of actin cytoskeleton by these signaling factors. Its unique position in the eukaryotic tree of life outside metazoa points to basic logics of tissue self-organization that are common across taxa. Here, we describe a method to reconstitute intercellular contact signals and the resulting cell polarization using purified adhesion proteins. In addition, a protocol using a microfluidic chamber is laid out where one can study how the cell-cell contact signal and chemoattractant signals, when simultaneously presented, are interpreted. Quantitative image analysis for obtaining cell morphology features is also provided. A similar approach should be applicable to study other collectively migrating cells.

A Mutant of Dictyostelium discoideum, KI-Cell, as a Model of Collective Cell Migration Independent of Chemotaxis.

Collective cell migration occurs when the orientation of cell polarity is aligned with each other in a group of cells. Such collective polarization depends on a reciprocal process between cell intrinsic mechanisms such as cell-cell adhesion and extracellular guidance mechanism such as wound healing and chemotaxis. As part of its development life cycle, individual single cells of Dictyostelium discoideum exhibit chemotaxis toward cAMP, which is secreted from a certain population of cells. During the formation of multicellular body by chemotaxis-dependent cell aggregation, D. discoideum is also known to relay on multiple cell-cell adhesion mechanisms. In particular, tail-following behavior at the contact site, called contact following of locomotion (CFL), plays a pivotal role on the formation of the multicellular body. However, whether and how CFL alone can lead to a formation of collective behavior was not well understood. KI cell is a mutant of D. discoideum that lacks all chemotactic activity. Yet, it can exhibit the CFL activity and show nontrivial collective cell migration. This mutant provides an excellent model system to analyze the mechanism of the CFL and the macroscopic phenomena brought by the CFL. This chapter describes protocols for using KI cell to understand the biophysics and cell biology behind the collective cell migration induced by CFL.

Electrotaxis of Dictyostelium discoideum, Migration in an Electric Field.

Living cells have the ability to detect electric fields and respond to them with directed migratory movements. Many proteomic approaches have been adopted in the past to identify the molecular mechanism behind this cellular phenomenon. However, how the cells sense the electric stimulus and transduce it into directed cell migration is still under discussion. Many eukaryotic cells react to applied electric stimulation, including Dictyostelium discoideum cells. We use them as model system for studying cell migration in electric fields, also known as electrotaxis. Here we report the protocols that we developed for our experiments. Our experimental outcomes helped us to characterize: (i) the memory that cells have in a varying electric field, which we defined as temporal electric persistence; and (ii) the accelerating motion of cells along their paths over the electric exposure time. We also report on the analysis of the role that conditioned medium factor (CMF), a protein secreted by cells when they begin to starve, plays in the mechanism of electric sensing. The results of this study can contribute to the understanding of the electrical sensing of cells and its transduction into directed cell migration.

Chemotaxis of Large Multinucleate Cells of Dictyostelium Produced by Electric-Pulse Induced Fusion.

Normal-sized cells of Dictyostelium build up a front-tail polarity when they respond to a gradient of chemoattractant. To challenge the polarity-generating system, cells are fused to study the chemotactic response of oversized cells that extend multiple fronts toward the source of attractant. An aspect that can be explored in these cells is the relationship of spontaneously generated actin waves to actin reorganization in response to chemoattractant.

Pseudopod Tracking and Statistics During Cell Movement in Buffer and Chemotaxis.

Amoeboid cells such as the protist Dictyostelium, human neutrophils, and the fungus B.d. chytrid move by extending pseudopods. The trajectories of cell movement depend on the size, rhythm, and direction of long series of pseudopods. These pseudopod properties are regulated by internal factors such as memory of previous directions and by external factors such as gradients of chemoattractants or electric currents. Here a simple method is described that defines the X, Y time coordinates of a pseudopod at the start and the end of the extension phase. The connection between the start and end of an extending pseudopod defines a vector, which is the input of different levels of analysis that defines cell movement. The primary information of the vector is its spatial length (pseudopod size), temporal length (extension time), extension rate (size divided by time), and direction. The second layer of information describes the sequence of two (or more) pseudopods: the direction of the second pseudopod relative to the direction of the first pseudopod, the start of the second pseudopod relative to the extension phase of the first pseudopod (the second starts while the first is still extending or after the first has stopped), and the alternating right/left extension of pseudopods. The third layer of information is provided by specific and detailed statistical analysis of these data and addresses question such as: is pseudopod extension in buffer in random direction or has the system internal directional memory, and how do shallow external electrical or chemical gradients bias the intrinsic pseudopod extension. The method is described for Dictyostelium, but has been used successfully for fast-moving neutrophils, slow-moving stem cells, and the fungus B.d. chytrid.

A Hands-on Guide to AmoePy - a Python-Based Software Package to Analyze Cell Migration Data.

Amoeboid cell motility is fundamental for a multitude of biological processes such as embryogenesis, immune responses, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. It is characterized by specific cell shape changes: the extension and retraction of membrane protrusions, known as pseudopodia. A common approach to investigate the mechanisms underlying this type of cell motility is to study phenotypic differences in the locomotion of mutant cell lines. To characterize such differences, methods are required to quantify the contour dynamics of migrating cells. AmoePy is a Python-based software package that provides tools for cell segmentation, contour detection as well as analyzing and simulating contour dynamics. First, a digital representation of the cell contour as a chain of nodes is extracted from each frame of a time-lapse microscopy recording of a moving cell. Then, the dynamics of these nodes-referred to as virtual markers-are tracked as the cell contour evolves over time. From these data, various quantities can be calculated that characterize the contour dynamics, such as the displacement of the virtual markers or the local stretching rate of the marker chain. Their dynamics is typically visualized in space-time plots, the so-called kymographs, where the temporal evolution is displayed for the different locations along the cell contour. Using AmoePy, you can straightforwardly create kymograph plots and videos from stacks of experimental bright-field or fluorescent images of motile cells. A hands-on guide on how to install and use AmoePy is provided in this chapter.

Evolutionary stability of developmental commitment.

Evolution of unicellular to multicellular organisms must resolve conflicts in reproductive interests between individual cells and the group. The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is a soil-living eukaryote with facultative sociality. While cells grow in the presence of nutrients, cells aggregate under starvation to form fruiting bodies containing spores and altruistic stalk cells. Once cells socially committed, they complete formation of fruiting bodies, even if a new source of nutrients becomes available. The persistence of this social commitment raises questions as it inhibits individual cells from swiftly returning to solitary growth. I hypothesize that traits enabling premature de-commitment are hindered from being selected. Recent work has revealed outcomes of the premature de-commitment through forced refeeding; The de-committed cells take an altruistic prestalk-like position due to their reduced cohesiveness through interactions with socially committed cells. I constructed an evolutionary model assuming their division of labor. The results revealed a valley in the fitness landscape that prevented invasion of de-committing mutants, indicating evolutionary stability of the social commitment. The findings provide a general scheme that maintains multicellularity by evolving a specific division of labor, in which less cohesive individuals become altruists.

Eukaryotic Chemotaxis under Periodic Stimulation Shows Temporal Gradient Dependence.

When cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum are starved of nutrients they start to synthesize and secrete the chemical messenger and chemoattractant cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). This signal is relayed by other cells, resulting in the establishment of periodic waves. The cells aggregate through chemotaxis toward the center of these waves. We investigated the chemotactic response of individual cells to repeated exposure to waves of cAMP generated by a microfluidic device. For fast-moving waves (short period), the chemotactic ability of the cells was found to increase upon exposure to more waves, suggesting the development of a memory over several cycles. This effect was not significant for slow-moving waves (large period). We show that the experimental results are consistent with a local excitation global inhibition-based model, extended by including a component that rises and decays slowly and that is activated by the temporal gradient of cAMP concentration. The observed enhancement in chemotaxis is relevant to populations in the wild: once sustained, periodic waves of the chemoattractant are established, it is beneficial to cells to improve their chemotactic ability in order to reach the aggregation center sooner.

Quantitative Analysis of the Inactivation Process of Internalized Bacteria in Dictyostelium Cells.

The understanding of the inactivation process of ingested bacteria by phagocytes is a key focus in the field of host-pathogen interactions. Dictyostelium is a model organism that has been at the forefront of uncovering the mechanisms underlying this type of interaction. In this study, we describe an assay designed to measure the inactivation of Klebsiella aerogenes in the phagosomes of Dictyostelium discoideum.

Methods to Assess Autophagic Activity in Dictyostelium.

Autophagy is an intracellular clearance and recycling pathway that delivers different types of cargos to lysosomes for degradation. In recent years, autophagy has attracted considerable medical interest, and many different techniques are being developed to study this process in experimental models such as Dictyostelium. Here we describe the use of different autophagic markers in confocal microscopy, in vivo and also in fixed cells. In particular, we describe the use of the GFP-Atg8-RFP-Atg8ΔG marker and the optimization of the GFP-PgkA cleavage assay to detect small differences in autophagy flux.

Analyzing the Micro-topography Guidance of Dictyostelium Cells Using Microfabricated Structures.

Over the last decade, the use of microfabricated substrates has proven pivotal for studying the effect of substrate topography on cell deformation and migration. Microfabrication techniques allow one to construct a transparent substrate with topographic features with high designability and reproducibility and thus well suited to experiments that microscopically address how spatial and directional bias are brought about in the cytoskeletal machineries and hence cell motility. While much of the progress in this avenue of study has so far been made in adhesive cells of epithelial and mesenchymal nature, whether related phenomena exist in less adhesive fast migrating cells is relatively unknown. In this chapter, we describe a method that makes use of micrometer-scale ridges to study fast-migrating Dictyostelium cells where it was recently shown that membrane evagination associated with macropinocytic cup formation plays a pivotal role in the topography sensing. The method requires only basic photolithography, and thus the step-by-step protocol should be a good entry point for cell biologists looking to incorporate similar microfabrication approaches.

Procedures to Measure Dictyostelium Phagocytosis and Macropinocytosis.

Uptaking particulate objects and bulk liquid by eucaryotic cells is critical for their growth, survival, and defense. Dictyostelium is a model organism spearheaded to uncover mechanisms behind various types of uptaking activities. Here, we describe assays measuring phagocytosis and macropinocytosis using Dictyostelium discoideum.

Complex third-party effects in the Dictyostelium-Paraburkholderia symbiosis: prey bacteria that are eaten, carried or left behind.

Symbiotic interactions may change depending on third parties like predators or prey. Third-party interactions with prey bacteria are central to the symbiosis between Dictyostelium discoideum social amoeba hosts and Paraburkholderia bacterial symbionts. Symbiosis with inedible Paraburkholderia allows host D. discoideum to carry prey bacteria through the dispersal stage where hosts aggregate and develop into fruiting bodies that disperse spores. Carrying prey bacteria benefits hosts when prey are scarce but harms hosts when prey bacteria are plentiful, possibly because hosts leave some prey bacteria behind while carrying. Thus, understanding benefits and costs in this symbiosis requires measuring how many prey bacteria are eaten, carried and left behind by infected hosts. We found that Paraburkholderia infection makes hosts leave behind both symbionts and prey bacteria. However, the number of prey bacteria left uneaten was too small to explain why infected hosts produced fewer spores than uninfected hosts. Turning to carried bacteria, we found that hosts carry prey bacteria more often after developing in prey-poor environments than in prey-rich ones. This suggests that carriage is actively modified to ensure hosts have prey in the harshest conditions. Our results show that multi-faceted interactions with third parties shape the evolution of symbioses in complex ways.

RapB Regulates Cell Adhesion and Migration in Dictyostelium, Similar to RapA.

Ras small GTPases act as molecular switches in various cellular signaling pathways, including cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation. Three Rap proteins are present in Dictyostelium; RapA, RapB, and RapC. RapA and RapC have been reported to have opposing functions in the control of cell adhesion and migration. Here, we investigated the role of RapB, a member of the Ras GTPase subfamily in Dictyostelium, focusing on its involvement in cell adhesion, migration, and developmental processes. This study revealed that RapB, similar to RapA, played a crucial role in regulating cell morphology, adhesion, and migration. rapB null cells, which were generated by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, displayed altered cell size, reduced cell-substrate adhesion, and increased migration speed during chemotaxis. These phenotypes of rapB null cells were restored by the expression of RapB and RapA, but not RapC. Consistent with these results, RapB, similar to RapA, failed to rescue the phenotypes of rapC null cells, spread morphology, increased cell adhesion, and decreased migration speed during chemotaxis. Multicellular development of rapB null cells remained unaffected. These results suggest that RapB is involved in controlling cell morphology and cell adhesion. Importantly, RapB appears to play an inhibitory role in regulating the migration speed during chemotaxis, possibly by controlling cell-substrate adhesion, resembling the functions of RapA. These findings contribute to the understanding of the functional relationships among Ras subfamily proteins.

The greenbeard gene tgrB1 regulates altruism and cheating in Dictyostelium discoideum.

Greenbeard genetic elements encode rare perceptible signals, signal recognition ability, and altruism towards others that display the same signal. Putative greenbeards have been described in various organisms but direct evidence for all the properties in one system is scarce. The tgrB1-tgrC1 allorecognition system of Dictyostelium discoideum encodes two polymorphic membrane proteins which protect cells from chimerism-associated perils. During development, TgrC1 functions as a ligand-signal and TgrB1 as its receptor, but evidence for altruism has been indirect. Here, we show that mixing wild-type and activated tgrB1 cells increases wild-type spore production and relegates the mutants to the altruistic stalk, whereas mixing wild-type and tgrB1-null cells increases mutant spore production and wild-type stalk production. The tgrB1-null cells cheat only on partners that carry the same tgrC1-allotype. Therefore, TgrB1 activation confers altruism whereas TgrB1 inactivation causes allotype-specific cheating, supporting the greenbeard concept and providing insight into the relationship between allorecognition, altruism, and exploitation.