Role of RelA and SpoT in Burkholderia pseudomallei virulence and immunity.

Burkholderia pseudomallei is a Gram-negative soil bacterium and the causative agent of melioidosis, a disease of humans and animals. It is also listed as a category B bioterrorism threat agent by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and there is currently no melioidosis vaccine available. Small modified nucleotides such as the hyperphosphorylated guanosine molecules ppGpp and pppGpp play an important role as signaling molecules in prokaryotes. They mediate a global stress response under starvation conditions and have been implicated in the regulation of virulence and survival factors in many bacterial species. In this study, we created a relA spoT double mutant in B. pseudomallei strain K96243, which lacks (p)ppGpp-synthesizing enzymes, and investigated its phenotype in vitro and in vivo. The B. pseudomallei ΔrelA ΔspoT mutant displayed a defect in stationary-phase survival and intracellular replication in murine macrophages. Moreover, the mutant was attenuated in the Galleria mellonella insect model and in both acute and chronic mouse models of melioidosis. Vaccination of mice with the ΔrelA ΔspoT mutant resulted in partial protection against infection with wild-type B. pseudomallei. In summary, (p)ppGpp signaling appears to represent an essential component of the regulatory network governing virulence gene expression and stress adaptation in B. pseudomallei, and the ΔrelA ΔspoT mutant may be a promising live-attenuated vaccine candidate.

Engineering crystals of dendritic molecules.

A detailed single-crystal X-ray study of conformationally flexible sulfonimide-based dendritic molecules with systematically varied molecular architectures was undertaken. Thirteen crystal structures reported in this work include 9 structures of the second-generation dendritic sulfonimides decorated with different aryl groups, 2 compounds bearing branches of both second and first generation, and 2 representatives of the first generation. Analysis of the packing patterns of 9 compounds bearing second-generation branches shows that despite their lack of strong directive functional groups there is a repeatedly reproduced intermolecular interaction mode consisting in an anchor-type packing of complementary second-generation branches of neighbouring molecules. The observed interaction tolerates a wide range of substituents in meta- and para-positions of the peripheral arylsulfonyl rings. Quantum chemical calculations of the molecule-molecule interaction energies agree at the qualitative level with the packing preferences found in the crystalline state. The calculations can therefore be used as a tool to rationalize and predict molecular structures with commensurate and non-commensurate branches for programming of different packing modes in crystal.

Differential effects and interactions of endogenous and horizontally acquired H-NS-like proteins in pathogenic Escherichia coli.

The nucleoid-associated protein H-NS is important for gene regulation in Escherichia coli. We have studied H-NS interaction with StpA and an uncharacterized H-NS-like protein, Hfp, in the uropathogenic E. coli isolate 536 that expresses all three nucleoid-associated proteins. We found distinct interactions of the three proteins at the protein level, resulting in the formation of heteromers, as well as differences in their gene expression at the transcriptional level. Mutants lacking either StpA or Hfp alone did not exhibit a phenotype at 37 degrees C, which is consistent with a low level of expression at that temperature. Expression of the hfp and stpA genes was found to be induced by apparently diametrical conditions, and StpA and Hfp levels could be correlated to modulatory effects on the expression of different H-NS targets, the bgl operon and operons for virulence factors such as fimbriae and capsular polysaccharide. The hns/hfp and hns/stpA double mutants displayed severe growth defects at low and high temperatures respectively. Our findings demonstrated different requirements for the alternative H-NS/Hfp/StpA combinations under these growth conditions. We propose that Hfp and StpA have distinct functions and roles in a dynamic pool of nucleoid-associated proteins that is adapting to requirements in a particular environment.

Type 1 fimbriae, a colonization factor of uropathogenic Escherichia coli, are controlled by the metabolic sensor CRP-cAMP.

Type 1 fimbriae are a crucial factor for the virulence of uropathogenic Escherichia coli during the first steps of infection by mediating adhesion to epithelial cells. They are also required for the consequent colonization of the tissues and for invasion of the uroepithelium. Here, we studied the role of the specialized signal transduction system CRP-cAMP in the regulation of type 1 fimbriation. Although initially discovered by regulating carbohydrate metabolism, the CRP-cAMP complex controls a major regulatory network in Gram-negative bacteria, including a broad subset of genes spread into different functional categories of the cell. Our results indicate that CRP-cAMP plays a dual role in type 1 fimbriation, affecting both the phase variation process and fimA promoter activity, with an overall repressive outcome on fimbriation. The dissection of the regulatory pathway let us conclude that CRP-cAMP negatively affects FimB-mediated recombination by an indirect mechanism that requires DNA gyrase activity. Moreover, the underlying studies revealed that CRP-cAMP controls the expression of another global regulator in Gram-negative bacteria, the leucine-responsive protein Lrp. CRP-cAMP-mediated repression is limiting the switch from the non-fimbriated to the fimbriated state. Consistently, a drop in the intracellular concentration of cAMP due to altered physiological conditions (e.g. growth in presence of glucose) increases the percentage of fimbriated cells in the bacterial population. We also provide evidence that the repression of type 1 fimbriae by CRP-cAMP occurs during fast growth conditions (logarithmic phase) and is alleviated during slow growth (stationary phase), which is consistent with an involvement of type 1 fimbriae in the adaptation to stress conditions by promoting biofilm growth or entry into host cells. Our work suggests that the metabolic sensor CRP-cAMP plays a role in coupling the expression of type 1 fimbriae to environmental conditions, thereby also affecting subsequent attachment and colonization of host tissues.

Macrophage and Galleria mellonella infection models reflect the virulence of naturally occurring isolates of B. pseudomallei, B. thailandensis and B. oklahomensis.

BACKGROUND: Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, a tropical disease of humans with a variable and often fatal outcome. In murine models of infection, different strains exhibit varying degrees of virulence. In contrast, two related species, B. thailandensis and B. oklahomensis, are highly attenuated in mice. Our aim was to determine whether virulence in mice is reflected in macrophage or wax moth larvae (Galleria mellonella) infection models. RESULTS: B. pseudomallei strains 576 and K96243, which have low median lethal dose (MLD) values in mice, were able to replicate and induce cellular damage in macrophages and caused rapid death of G. mellonella. In contrast, B. pseudomallei strain 708a, which is attenuated in mice, showed reduced replication in macrophages, negligible cellular damage and was avirulent in G. mellonella larvae. B. thailandensis isolates were less virulent than B. pseudomallei in all of the models tested. However, we did record strain dependent differences. B. oklahomensis isolates were the least virulent isolates. They showed minimal ability to replicate in macrophages, were unable to evoke actin-based motility or to form multinucleated giant cells and were markedly attenuated in G. mellonella compared to B. thailandensis. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that the alternative infection models tested here, namely macrophages and Galleria mellonella, are able to distinguish between strains of B. pseudomallei, B. thailandensis and B. oklahomensis and that these differences reflect the observed virulence in murine infection models. Our results indicate that B. oklahomensis is the least pathogenic of the species investigated. They also show a correlation between isolates of B. thailandensis associated with human infection and virulence in macrophage and Galleria infection models.

Galleria mellonella as a model system to test the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of antibiotics against Burkholderia pseudomallei.

Mammalian models of infection are paramount to elucidating the mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and are also used for evaluating the efficacy of novel antimicrobials before the commencement of human trials. In this study, Galleria mellonella was used to determine the efficacy of antibiotics towards a Burkholderia thailandensis infection in G. mellonella larvae. Kanamycin, imipenem, ceftazidime, doxycycline and ciprofloxacin could all provide some protection when given 1 h before challenge with B. thailandensis; however, at 2 h or 6 h post challenge, imipenem and kanamycin were unable to rescue larvae. The most effective antibiotic for the prevention or treatment of disease was ceftazidime. Pharmacokinetic properties of a single dose of these antibiotics in G. mellonella larvae were also determined, and it was demonstrated that this model is useful for approximating the antibiotic response in humans. The G. mellonella model was used to screen a panel of novel antimicrobials for activity towards B. thailandensis and Burkholderia pseudomallei, and three novel compounds with antibiotic activity were identified. These results support the hypothesis that G. mellonella can be used to screen antimicrobial efficacy. This is the first study to determine the pharmacokinetic parameters of clinically relevant antibiotics in this model system.

Role of histone-like proteins H-NS and StpA in expression of virulence determinants of uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

The histone-like protein H-NS is a global regulator in Escherichia coli that has been intensively studied in nonpathogenic strains. However, no comprehensive study on the role of H-NS and its paralogue, StpA, in gene expression in pathogenic E. coli has been carried out so far. Here, we monitored the global effects of H-NS and StpA in a uropathogenic E. coli isolate by using DNA arrays. Expression profiling revealed that more than 500 genes were affected by an hns mutation, whereas no effect of StpA alone was observed. An hns stpA double mutant showed a distinct gene expression pattern that differed in large part from that of the hns single mutant. This suggests a direct interaction between the two paralogues and the existence of distinct regulons of H-NS and an H-NS/StpA heteromeric complex. hns mutation resulted in increased expression of alpha-hemolysin, fimbriae, and iron uptake systems as well as genes involved in stress adaptation. Furthermore, several other putative virulence genes were found to be part of the H-NS regulon. Although the lack of H-NS, either alone or in combination with StpA, has a huge impact on gene expression in pathogenic E. coli strains, its effect on virulence is ambiguous. At a high infection dose, hns mutants trigger more sudden lethality due to their increased acute toxicity in murine urinary tract infection and sepsis models. At a lower infectious dose, however, mutants lacking H-NS are attenuated through their impaired growth rate, which can only partially be compensated for by the higher expression of numerous virulence factors.