Galleria mellonella - a novel infection model for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

Animal models have long been used in tuberculosis research to understand disease pathogenesis and to evaluate novel vaccine candidates and anti-mycobacterial drugs. However, all have limitations and there is no single animal model which mimics all the aspects of mycobacterial pathogenesis seen in humans. Importantly mice, the most commonly used model, do not normally form granulomas, the hallmark of tuberculosis infection. Thus there is an urgent need for the development of new alternative in vivo models. The insect larvae, Galleria mellonella has been increasingly used as a successful, simple, widely available and cost-effective model to study microbial infections. Here we report for the first time that G. mellonella can be used as an infection model for members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. We demonstrate a dose-response for G. mellonella survival infected with different inocula of bioluminescent Mycobacterium bovis BCG lux, and demonstrate suppression of mycobacterial luminesence over 14 days. Histopathology staining and transmission electron microscopy of infected G. mellonella phagocytic haemocytes show internalization and aggregation of M. bovis BCG lux in granuloma-like structures, and increasing accumulation of lipid bodies within M. bovis BCG lux over time, characteristic of latent tuberculosis infection. Our results demonstrate that G. mellonella can act as a surrogate host to study the pathogenesis of mycobacterial infection and shed light on host-mycobacteria interactions, including latent tuberculosis infection.

Role of (p)ppGpp in Viability and Biofilm Formation of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae S8.

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is a Gram-negative bacterium and the cause of porcine pleuropneumonia. When the bacterium encounters nutritional starvation, the relA-dependent (p)ppGpp-mediated stringent response is activated. The modified nucleotides guanosine 5'-diphosphate 3'-diphosphate (ppGpp) and guanosine 5'-triphosphate 3'-diphosphate (pppGpp) are known to be signaling molecules in other prokaryotes. Here, to investigate the role of (p)ppGpp in A. pleuropneumoniae, we created a mutant A. pleuropneumoniae strain, S8ΔrelA, which lacks the (p)ppGpp-synthesizing enzyme RelA, and investigated its phenotype in vitro. S8ΔrelA did not survive after stationary phase (starvation condition) and grew exclusively as non-extended cells. Compared to the wild-type (WT) strain, the S8ΔrelA mutant had an increased ability to form a biofilm. Transcriptional profiles of early stationary phase cultures revealed that a total of 405 bacterial genes were differentially expressed (including 380 up-regulated and 25 down-regulated genes) in S8ΔrelA as compared with the WT strain. Most of the up-regulated genes are involved in ribosomal structure and biogenesis, amino acid transport and metabolism, translation cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis. The data indicate that (p)ppGpp coordinates the growth, viability, morphology, biofilm formation and metabolic ability of A. pleuropneumoniae in starvation conditions. Furthermore, S8ΔrelA could not use certain sugars nor produce urease which has been associated with the virulence of A. pleuropneumoniae, suggesting that (p)ppGpp may directly or indirectly affect the pathogenesis of A. pleuropneumoniae during the infection process. In summary, (p)ppGpp signaling represents an essential component of the regulatory network governing stress adaptation and virulence in A. pleuropneumoniae.

Analysis of the Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae HlyX (FNR) regulon and identification of iron-regulated protein B as an essential virulence factor.

The Gram-negative rod Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is a facultative anaerobic pathogen of the porcine respiratory tract, and HlyX, the A. pleuropneumoniae homologue of fumarate and nitrate reduction regulator (FNR), has been shown to be important for persistence. An A. pleuropneumoniae hlyX deletion mutant has a decreased generation time but highly prolonged survival in comparison to its wild type parent strain when grown anaerobically in glucose-supplemented medium. Applying a combination of proteomic and transcriptomic approaches as well as in silico analyses, we identified 23 different proteins and 418 genes to be modulated by HlyX (> or = twofold up- or down-regulated). A putative HlyX-box was identified upstream of 54 of these genes implying direct control by HlyX. Consistent with its role as a strong positive regulator, HlyX induced the expression of genes for anaerobic metabolism encoding alternative terminal reductases and hydrogenases. In addition, expression of virulence-associated genes encoding iron uptake systems, a putative DNA adenine modification system, and an autotransporter serine protease were induced by HlyX under anaerobic growth conditions. With respect to virulence-associated genes, we focused on the iron-regulated protein B (FrpB) as it is the outer membrane protein most strongly up-regulated by HlyX. An frpB deletion mutant of A. pleuropneumoniae had the same growth characteristics as wild type grown aerobically and anaerobically. In contrast, A. pleuropneumoniae DeltafrpB did not cause any disease and could not be re-isolated from experimentally infected pigs, thereby identifying FrpB as a previously unknown virulence factor.

Two TonB systems in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae: their roles in iron acquisition and virulence.

Iron acquisition in vivo by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae depends upon a functional TonB system. Tonpitak et al. (W. Tonpitak, S. Thiede, W. Oswald, N. Baltes, and G.-F. Gerlach, Infect. Immun. 68:1164-1170, 2000) have described one such system, associated with tbpBA encoding the transferrin receptor, and here we report a second, termed tonB2. This gene cluster (exbB2-exbD2-tonB2) is highly homologous to those in other Pasteurellaceae, unlike the earlier system described (now termed tonB1), suggesting that it is the indigenous system for this organism. Both tonB2 and tonB1 are upregulated upon iron restriction. TonB2, but not TonB1, was found to be essential for growth in vitro when the sole source of iron was hemin, porcine hemoglobin, or ferrichrome. In the case of iron provided as iron-loaded porcine transferrin, neither tonB mutant was viable. The tonB1 phenotype could be explained by a polar effect of the mutation on transcription of downstream tbp genes. We propose that TonB2 is crucial for the acquisition of iron provided in this form, interacting with accessory proteins of the TonB1 system that have been demonstrated to be necessary by Tonpitak et al. TonB2 appears to play a much more important role in A. pleuropneumoniae virulence than TonB1. In an acute porcine infection model, the tonB2 mutant was found to be highly attenuated, while the tonB1 mutant was not. We hypothesize that acquisition of the tonB1-tbp gene cluster confers a biological advantage through its capacity to utilize transferrin-iron but that TonB1 itself plays little or no part in this process.

Identification of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae genes important for survival during infection in its natural host.

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae is a strict respiratory tract pathogen of swine and is the causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia. We have used signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM) to identify genes required for survival of the organism within the pig. A total of 2,064 signature-tagged Tn10 transposon mutants were assembled into pools of 48 each, and used to inoculate pigs by the endotracheal route. Out of 105 mutants that were consistently attenuated in vivo, only 11 mutants showed a >2-fold reduction in growth in vitro compared to the wild type, whereas 8 of 14 mutants tested showed significant levels of attenuation in pig as evidenced from competitive index experiments. Inverse PCR was used to generate DNA sequence of the chromosomal domains flanking each transposon insertion. Only one sibling pair of mutants was identified, but three apparent transposon insertion hot spots were found--an anticipated consequence of the use of a Tn10-based system. Transposon insertions were found within 55 different loci, and similarity (BLAST) searching identified possible analogues or homologues for all but four of these. Matches included proteins putatively involved in metabolism and transport of various nutrients or unknown substances, in stress responses, in gene regulation, and in the production of cell surface components. Ten of the sequences have homology with genes involved in lipopolysaccharide and capsule production. The results highlight the importance of genes involved in energy metabolism, nutrient uptake and stress responses for the survival of A. pleuropneumoniae in its natural host: the pig.