Dataset Information

The Virulence Effect of CpxRA in Citrobacter rodentium Is Independent of the Auxiliary Proteins NlpE and CpxP

ABSTRACT: Citrobacter rodentium is a murine pathogen used to model the intestinal infection caused by Enteropathogenic and Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EPEC and EHEC), two diarrheal pathogens responsible for morbidity and mortality in developing and developed countries, respectively. During infection, these bacteria must sense and adapt to the gut environment of the host. In order to adapt to changing environmental cues and modulate expression of specific genes, bacteria can use two-component signal transduction systems (TCS). We have shown that the deletion of the Cpx TCS in C. rodentium leads to a marked attenuation in virulence in C3H/HeJ mice. In E. coli, the Cpx TCS is reportedly activated in response to signals from the outer-membrane lipoprotein NlpE. We therefore investigated the role of NlpE in C. rodentium virulence. We also assessed the role of the reported negative regulator of CpxRA, CpxP. We found that as opposed to the ΔcpxRA strain, neither the ΔnlpE, ΔcpxP nor the ΔnlpE/ΔcpxP strains were significantly attenuated, and had similar in vivo localization to wild-type C. rodentium. The in vitro adherence of the Cpx auxiliary protein mutants, ΔnlpE, ΔcpxP, ΔnlpEΔcpxP, was comparable to wild-type C. rodentium, whereas the ΔcpxRA strain showed significantly decreased adherence. To further elucidate the mechanisms behind the contrasting virulence phenotypes, we performed microarrays in order to define the regulon of the Cpx TCS. We detected 393 genes differentially regulated in the ΔcpxRA strain. The gene expression profile of the ΔnlpE strain is strikingly different than the profile of ΔcpxRA with regards to the genes activated by CpxRA. Further, there is no clear inverse correlation in the expression pattern of the ΔcpxP strain in comparison to ΔcpxRA. Interestingly, 161 genes were downregulated in the ΔcpxRA strain while being upregulated or unchanged in all other Cpx auxiliary protein deletion strains. This group of genes include T6SS, ompF and the regulator for colanic acid synthesis, that may contribute to the loss of virulence of ΔcpxRA. Taken together, these data suggest that in these conditions, CpxRA activates gene expression in a largely NlpE- and CpxP-independent manner.

ORGANISM(S): Citrobacter rodentium

PROVIDER: GSE114699 | GEO | 2018/12/26

REPOSITORIES: GEO

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:The gene NMB0419 of Neisseria meningitidis strain MC58 encodes a putative tetratricopeptide repeats (TPR) containing protein, which was implicated in respiratory epithelial invasion. We have accordingly sought a role for NMB0419 in meningococcal adherence and invasion of human epithelial cells using Escherichia coli surrogates. In trans expression of NMB0419 promoted adherence of the E. coli strain to human epithelial cells, which showed a unique aggregative adherence pattern that was observed for pathogenic E. coli. This adherence was totally abolished by addition of D-mannose, suggesting that formation of type 1 pili on the surface of E. coli strain was solely responsible for the adherence and was facilitated by the expression of NMB0419. This was further supported by rigid pilus structures seen on the surface of NMB0419 expressing E. coli using electron microscopy. A survey of other meningococcal strains including serogroup A, B, C, W, X, Y and Z (n=3, 42, 10, 1, 1, 1, and 1, respectively) revealed that an NMB0419 homologue was present in all strains, however, encoded varying number of TPR domains from 1 to 7. E. coli with in trans expression of such a homologue (NMA2065) encoding single TPR domain also showed enhanced adherence to the level that was observed for the E. coli strain expressing NMB0419 encoding for 4 TPR domains. Nevertheless, in-frame deletion of the TPR-domain coding sequence from the expression plasmid construct reduced the E. coli adherence to the background level. Revisit of the NMB0419 mutant strain of meningococcus indicated that reduction in adherence was primarily responsible for the reduced epithelial invasion that was previously observed. Study of transcriptome profiles in E. coli using microarray showed that the most significantly up-regulated genes in NMB0419 expressing E. coli belonging to the fim operon encoding all necessary structure proteins and chaperons for type 1 pili, strongly suggesting a gene regulatory role for NMB0419. Although the mechanism yet to be explored, this is the first study to showed that TPR domains are involved in bacterial adherence and that a gene encoding single functional TPR domain produced the same phenotype as a homologue encoding multiple TPR domains did.

Project description:Opioids analgesics are frequently prescribed in the United States and worldwide. However, serious side effects such as addiction, immunosuppression and gastrointestinal symptoms limit their use. It has been recently demonstrated that morphine treatment results in significant disruption in gut barrier function leading to increased translocation of gut commensal bacteria. Further study indicated distinct alterations in the gut microbiome and metabolome following morphine treatment, contributing to the negative consequences associated with opioid use. However, it is unclear how opioids modulate gut homeostasis in the context of a hospital acquired bacterial infection. In the current study, a mouse model of C. rodentium infection was used to investigate the role of morphine in the modulation of gut homeostasis in the context of a hospital acquired bacterial infection. Citrobacter rodentium is a natural mouse pathogen that models intestinal infection by enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) and causes attaching and effacing lesions and colonic hyperplasia. Morphine treatment resulted in 1) the promotion of C. rodentium systemic dissemination, 2) increase in virulence factors expression with C. rodentium colonization in intestinal contents, 3) altered gut microbiome, 4) damaged integrity of gut epithelial barrier function, 5) inhibition of C. rodentium-induced increase in goblet cells, and 6) dysregulated IL-17A immune response. This is the first study to demonstrate that morphine promotes pathogen dissemination in the context of intestinal C. rodentium infection, indicating morphine modulates virulence factor-mediated adhesion of pathogenic bacteria and induces disruption of mucosal host defense during C. rodentium intestinal infection in mice. This study demonstrates and further validates a positive correlation between opioid drug use/abuse and increased risk of infections, suggesting over-prescription of opioids may increase the risk in the emergence of pathogenic strains and should be used cautiously. Therapeutics directed at maintaining gut homeostasis during opioid use may reduce the comorbidities associated with opioid use for pain management.

Project description:Adherence of pathogenic Escherichia coli strains to intestinal epithelia is essential for infection. For enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) serotype O157:H7, we have previously demonstrated that multiple factors govern this pathogen’s adherence to HeLa cells (39). One of these factors is CadA, a lysine decarboxylase, and this protein has been proposed to negatively regulate virulence in several enteric pathogens. In the case of EHEC strains, CadA modulates expression of the intimin, an outer membrane adhesin involved in pathogenesis. Here, we experimentally inactivated cadA in O157:H7 strain 86-24 to investigate the role of this gene in EHEC adhesion to tissue culture monolayers, global gene expression patterns, and colonization of the infant rabbit intestine. As expected, the cadA mutant did not possess lysine decarboxylation activity and was hyper-adherent to tissue-culture cells. Adherence of the cadA mutant was nearly 2-fold greater than that of the wt and complementation of the cadA defect reduced adherence back to wt levels. Furthermore, the cadA mutant affected the expression of intimin protein. Disruption of the eae gene (encoding the intimin protein) in the cadA mutant significantly reduced its adherence to tissue-culture cells. However, adherence of the cadA eae double mutant was greater than that of an 86-24 eae mutant, suggesting that the enhanced adherence of the cadA mutant is not entirely attributable to enhanced expression of intimin in this background. Gene array analysis revealed that the cadA mutation significantly altered EHEC gene expression patterns; expression of 1332 genes was down-regulated and 132 genes up-regulated in the mutant compared to the wild type strain. Interestingly, the gene expression variation shows an EHEC-biased gene alteration including intergenic regions. Two putative adhesins: flagella and F9 fimbriae were up-regulated in the cadA mutant, suggestive of their association with adherence in absence of the Cad regulatory mechanism. Remarkably, in the infant rabbit model, the cadA mutant out-competed the wild type strain in the ileum but not in the cecum or mid-colon, raising the possibility that CadA negatively regulates EHEC pathogenicity in a tissue-specific fashion.

Dataset Information

The Virulence Effect of CpxRA in Citrobacter rodentium Is Independent of the Auxiliary Proteins NlpE and CpxP

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure