Dataset Information

Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4 Phase-Locked Opacity Variants Differ in Virulence Phenotypes.

ABSTRACT: Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a leading human pathogen that can cause serious localized and invasive diseases. Pneumococci can undergo a spontaneous and reversible phase variation that is reflected in colony opacity and which allows the population to adapt to different host environments. Generally, transparent variants are adapted for nasopharyngeal colonization, whereas opaque variants are associated with invasive disease. In recent work, colony phase variation was shown to occur by means of recombination events to generate multiple alleles of the hsdS targeting domain of a DNA methylase complex, which mediates epigenetic changes in gene expression. A panel of isogenic strains were created in the well-studied S. pneumoniae TIGR4 background that are "locked" in the transparent (n = 4) or opaque (n = 2) colony phenotype. The strains had significant differences in colony size which were stable over multiple passages in vitro and in vivo. While there were no significant differences in adherence for the phase-locked mutant strains to immortalized epithelial cells, biofilm formation and viability were reduced for the opaque variants in static assays. Nasopharyngeal colonization was stable for all strains, but the mortality rates differed between them. Transcript profiling by transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) analyses revealed that the expression levels of certain virulence factors were increased in a phase-specific manner. As epigenetic regulation of phase variation (often referred to as "phasevarion") is emerging as a common theme for mucosal pathogens, these results serve as a model for future studies of host-pathogen interactions. IMPORTANCE A growing number of bacterial species undergo epigenetic phase variation due to variable expression or specificity of DNA-modifying enzymes. For pneumococci, this phase variation has long been appreciated as being revealed by changes in colony opacity, which are reflected in changes in expression or accessibility of factors on the bacterial surface. Recent work showed that recombination-generated variation in alleles of the HsdS DNA methylase specificity subunit mediated pneumococcal phase variation. We generated phase-locked populations of S. pneumoniae TIGR4 expressing a single nonvariant hsdS allele and observed significant differences in gene expression and virulence. These results highlight the importance of focused pathogenesis studies within specific phase types. Moreover, the generation of single-allele hsdS constructs will greatly facilitate such studies.

SUBMITTER: Oliver MB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5687919 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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<i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i> TIGR4 Phase-Locked Opacity Variants Differ in Virulence Phenotypes.

Oliver Melissa B MB Basu Roy Ankita A Kumar Ranjit R Lefkowitz Elliot J EJ Swords W Edward WE

mSphere 20171115 6

<i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i> (pneumococcus) is a leading human pathogen that can cause serious localized and invasive diseases. Pneumococci can undergo a spontaneous and reversible phase variation that is reflected in colony opacity and which allows the population to adapt to different host environments. Generally, transparent variants are adapted for nasopharyngeal colonization, whereas opaque variants are associated with invasive disease. In recent work, colony phase variation was shown to ...[more]

PMID: 29152579

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Project description:Previous studies have indicated that PsaR of Streptococcus pneumoniae is a manganese-dependent regulator, negatively affecting the expression of at least seven genes. Here, we extended these observations by transcriptome and proteome analysis of psaR mutants in strains D39 and TIGR4. The microarray analysis identified three shared PsaR targets: the psa-operon, pcpA, and prtA. Additionally, we found 31 genes to be regulated by PsaR in D39 only, most strikingly a cellobiose-specific PTS and a putative bacteriocin operon (sp0141-sp0146). In TIGR4, 14 PsaR gene targets were detected, with the rlrA pathogenicity islet being the most pronounced. Proteomics confirmed most of the shared gene targets. To examine the contribution of PsaR to pneumococcal virulence, we compared D39 and TIGR4 wild-type (wt) and psaR-mutants in three murine infection models. During colonization, no clear effect was observed of the psaR mutation in either D39 or TIGR4. In the pneumonia model, small but significant differences were observed in the lungs of mice infected with either D39wt or âpsaR: D39âpsaR had an initial advantage in survival in the lungs. Conversely, TIGR4âpsaR-infected mice had significantly lower bacterial loads at 24h only. Finally, during experimental bacteremia, D39âpsaR-infected mice had significantly lower bacterial loads in the blood stream than wt-infected mice for the first 24h of infection. TIGR4âpsaR showed attenuation at 36h only. In conclusion, our results show that PsaR of D39 and TIGR4 has a strain-specific role in global gene expression and in the development of bacteremia in mice. Microarray analysis was performed essentially as described (Hendriksen et al., 2007; Hendriksen et al., 2008a). In short, 500 ml of CDM was inoculated with 10-20 colonies from agar plates, and these cultures were statically grown at 37Â°C. Samples for RNA isolation were taken when the cultures reached an optical density (OD600) of 0.2 (mid-log growth). RNA was isolated and purified using the High Pure RNA isolation kit (Roche diagnostics) as described (Hendriksen et al., 2007; Hendriksen et al., 2008a). Contaminating genomic DNA was removed by treatment with RNase-free DNase I (Roche diagnostics). RNA was isolated from three replicate cultures. Synthesis, subsequent labeling of cDNA, and microarray hybridization was performed as described (Hendriksen et al., 2007; Kloosterman et al., 2006). In all cases, dye-swapping was performed with one of the three biological replicates. Microarrays used in this study were constructed as described (Hendriksen et al., 2007; Kloosterman et al., 2006) and contain amplicons representing 2,087 ORFs of S. pneumoniae TIGR4 and 184 ORFs unique for S. pneumoniae R6, all spotted in duplicate.

Dataset Information

Streptococcus pneumoniae TIGR4 Phase-Locked Opacity Variants Differ in Virulence Phenotypes.

Publications

<i>Streptococcus pneumoniae</i> TIGR4 Phase-Locked Opacity Variants Differ in Virulence Phenotypes.

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