The Mycobacterium marinum G13 promoter is a strong sigma 70-like promoter that is expressed in Escherichia coli and mycobacteria species.

A Mycobacterium marinum promoter, designated G13, was isolated from a promoter-trap library as a constitutive producer of the mutant green fluorescent protein. Sequence analysis, primer extension analysis, and computer promoter prediction analysis indicate that the G13 promoter is very similar to Escherichia coli consensus sigma 70 promoters. Expression of the green fluorescent protein from the G13 promoter in M. marinum is, however, up to 40 times higher than that seen from the mycobacterial hsp60 promoter during exponential growth. Further, expression from this promoter does not appear to affect the growth of the organism in culture media or in macrophages. The strong expression of the G13 promoter allows it to be developed as a useful molecular tool for high level expression of markers in vitro.

The identification of Mycobacterium marinum genes differentially expressed in macrophage phagosomes using promoter fusions to green fluorescent protein.

Mycobacterium marinum, like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a slow-growing pathogenic mycobacteria that is able to survive and replicate in macrophages. Using the promoter-capture vector pFPV27, we have constructed a library of 200-1000 bp fragments of M. marinum genomic DNA inserted upstream of a promoterless green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene. Only those plasmids that contain an active promoter will express GFP. Macrophages were infected with this fusion library, and phagosomes containing fluorescent bacteria were isolated. Promoter constructs that were more active intracellularly were isolated with a fluorescence-activated cell sorter, and inserts were partially sequenced. The promoter fusions expressed intracellularly exhibited homology to mycobacterial genes encoding, among others, membrane proteins and biosynthetic enzymes. Intracellular expression of GFP was 2-20 times that of the same clones grown in media. Several promoter constructs were transformed into Mycobacterium smegmatis, Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These constructs were positive for GFP expression in all mycobacterial strains tested. Sorting fluorescent bacteria in phagosomes circumvents the problem of isolating a single clone from macrophages, which may contain a mixed bacterial population. This method has enabled us to isolate 12 M. marinum clones that contain promoter constructs differentially expressed in the macrophage.

Partial purification and characterization of biological effects of a lipid toxin produced by Mycobacterium ulcerans.

Organisms in the genus Mycobacterium cause a variety of human diseases. One member of the genus, M. ulcerans, causes a necrotizing skin disease called Buruli ulcer. Buruli ulcer is unique among mycobacterial diseases in that the organisms at the site of infection are extracellular and there is little acute inflammatory response. Previous literature reported the presence of a toxin in the culture supernatant of M. ulcerans which causes a cytopathic effect on the mouse fibroblast cell line L929 in which the adherent cells round up and detach from the tissue culture plate. Here we report partial purification of a lipid toxin from the culture supernatant of M. ulcerans which is capable of causing the cytopathic effect on L929 cells. We also show that this cytopathic effect is a result of cytoskeletal rearrangement. The M. ulcerans toxin does not cause cell death but instead arrests cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle.

The unique trafficking pattern of Salmonella typhimurium-containing phagosomes in murine macrophages is independent of the mechanism of bacterial entry.

Although it has been known for some time that Salmonella typhimurium is able to survive and even replicate in the normally bactericidal environment of the macrophage phagosome, the mechanisms by which this organism accomplishes this feat remain obscure. In this study, a murine macrophage cell line and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy were used to more thoroughly define the specific nature of phagosomes containing latex beads or wild-type S. typhimurium (viable or heat-killed organisms). Live S. typhimurium organisms were observed to reside in phagosomes that diverge from the degradative pathway of the macrophage. These compartments contain lysosomal glycoproteins and lysosomal acid phosphatase, endocytic markers delivered to vacuoles by mannose 6-phosphate receptor-independent mechanisms, but are devoid of the mannose 6-phosphate receptor and cathepsin L. In contrast, phagosomes containing latex beads or heat-killed organisms appeared to be processed along the degradative pathway of the host cell; these compartments colocalized not only with lysosomal glycoproteins and lysosomal acid phosphatases but also with mannose 6-phosphate receptors and cathepsin L. The uniqueness of the phagosome containing viable S. typhimurium was confirmed by the observation that these compartments, in comparison to phagosomes containing latex beads, do not readily interact with incoming endocytic traffic. Finally, we show that an isogenic, noninvasive mutant of S. typhimurium, BJ66, ends up in an intracellular compartment identical to the wild-type S. typhimurium-containing phagosome. Thus, modifications of the Salmonella-containing compartment occur independently of the mechanism of bacterial entry.

Differential trafficking of live and dead Mycobacterium marinum organisms in macrophages.

We characterized the Mycobacterium marinum phagosome by using a variety of endocytic markers to follow the path of the bacteria through a mouse macrophage cell line. Using a laser confocal microscope, we found that the majority of viable M. marinum cells were in nonacidic vacuoles that did not colocalize with the vacuolar proton ATPase (V-ATPase), the calcium-independent mannose-6-phosphate receptor (CI-M6PR), or cathepsin D. In contrast, heat-killed organisms and latex beads were in acidic vacuoles which contained the V-ATPase, the CI-M6PR, and cathepsin D. A population of vesicles that contained live M. marinum labeled with the lysosomal glycoprotein LAMP-1, but the percentage of vacuoles that labeled was lower than for heat-killed organisms or latex beads. When testing live and heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis, we found levels of colocalization with LAMP- and cathepsin D comparable to those for the M. marinum isolate. We conclude that M. marinum, like M. tuberculosis, can circumvent the host endocytic pathway and reside in an intracellular compartment which is not acidic and does not fuse with lysosomes. In addition, we describe a system for sampling a large population of intracellular organisms by using a laser confocal microscope.

Differential production of slime under aerobic and anaerobic conditions.

A series of 37 clinical isolates of coagulase-negative staphylococci previously identified as negative for slime production by the tube test were reexamined by the tissue culture plate test under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. None of the strains produced slime under anaerobic conditions; however, five strains (13%) produced slime under aerobic conditions.

Identification of an antigenic marker of slime production for Staphylococcus epidermidis.

The pathogenic Staphylococcus epidermidis strain RP62A (ATCC 35984) adheres to smooth surfaces by forming a tenacious bacterial film known as slime. The mechanism of slime production is not known; however, workers in the laboratory of G. Pier (Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass.) have isolated from RP62A a galactose-rich capsular polysaccharide adhesin (CPA) which mediates the attachment of the organism to smooth surfaces. We have obtained two daughter strains from RP62A that no longer produce slime. One daughter strain, H4A, was obtained by selection for a spontaneous variant; the other strain, HAM892, was obtained by treating growing cultures of RP62A with acriflavin. Using an antiserum generated against whole cells of RP62A, we have examined lysozyme-lysostaphin digests of RP62A, H4A, and HAM892 by double immunodiffusion. The two strains that no longer produced slime no longer produced a particular antigen, which we refer to as the slime-associated antigen (SAA). SAA was also produced by unrelated strains of slime-producing S. epidermidis. SAA was heat and protease stable, had a molecular weight of greater than 50,000, and could be partially purified by chromatographing trypsin-digested material over a Sephadex G-200 column. Chemical analysis of partially purified SAA by gas-liquid chromatography found SAA to be glucose rich (59%) and galactose poor (1.4%). This analysis chemically distinguished SAA from CPA. When tested together by double immunodiffusion with anti-RP62A and anti-CPA antisera, partially purified SAA did not cross-react with CPA. Kinetic studies suggested that SAA is a marker for surface accumulation whereas CPA mediates initial adherence.

Phenotypic variation of Staphylococcus epidermidis in infection of transvenous endocardial pacemaker electrodes.

Coagulase-negative staphylococci isolated from a patient with a pacemaker electrode infection were extensively evaluated by phenotypic and genotypic characterization. Findings from this evaluation were striking because different colony morphologic subtypes were recovered from blood and resected pacemaker electrodes. Staphylococci from each colony subtype (LBL, LBV, LBP, LBS) were identified as slime-producing strains of Staphylococcus epidermidis sensu stricto. Direct plating of isolates from a restricted electrode revealed a mixture of colony phenotypes when examined on a high-salt, low-glucose medium, Memphis agar. Bacteriophage typing employing 17 different phages and plasmid profile analysis were largely unsuccessful in further characterizing bacterial cells of each of the four colony morphotypes. On the other hand, restriction endonuclease analysis by EcoRI digestion of the chromosomal DNA demonstrated the probable common clonal origin of the four colony phenotypes.