Project description:The symptoms of infectious diarrheal disease are mediated by the interplay between the host and pathogen. Campylobacter jejuni is the leading bacterial cause of diarrhea worldwide due to its near-ubiquitous zoonotic association with poultry. One of the outstanding questions is what factors drive the intestinal inflammation during the development of C. jejuni-mediated disease. Specifically, it is not known the extent to which the bacteria are responsible for the diarrheal symptoms via cell necrosis, or whether there is immune cell recruitment prior to tissue damage. To determine the stepwise process of inflammation that leads to diarrhea, we used a piglet ligated intestinal loop model to study the intestinal environment in response to C. jejuni. Pigs were chosen due to the anatomical similarity of the porcine intestine to the human intestine, as the basis of disease modeling is to understand the process of human disease. Using immunoassays and proteomic approaches, we found that neutrophils are most likely the predominant cell type recruited to the intestines of C. jejuni infected animals. In the lumen of the intestine, a number of neutrophil related proteins increased during C. jejuni infection, including proteins related to neutrophil migration (elastase and MMP9), actin reorganization and bacterial uptake (Cdc42, WAVE-2, and Arp2/3), and antimicrobial proteins (lipocalin-2, myeloperoxidase, S100A8, and S100A9). The appearance of neutrophils also corresponds with increases of both IL-8 and TNF-a. Compared to infection with the C. jejuni wild-type strain, infection with the noninvasive C. jejuni ∆ciaD mutant resulted in a blunted inflammatory response, with less inflammatory cytokines and neutrophil markers. These findings indicate that intestinal inflammation is driven by C. jejuni virulence, and that resident intestinal cells precipitate the inflammatory response. Using this new disease model, we have developed a platform to study the early immune events during C. jejuni infection.

Project description:Campylobacter jejuni is the prevalent cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in human worldwide. The ability to survive stomach acidity is a fundamental requirement for C. jejuni to colonize the host and cause disease. However, the mechanism of C. jejuni acid survival is still unknown. Herein, we demonstrated that C. jejuni is able to survive acidic conditions at pH 4 up to 8 min without a drop in viability. The acid stimulon of C. jejuni 81-176 revealed the up-regulation of many genes important for Campylobacter acid survival such as heat shock genes and genes involved in energy metabolism. On the other hand, the repression of ribosomal genes highlights the ability of C. jejuni to direct its machinery to survive stressful conditions. Prior acid exposure cross-protected C. jejuni against oxidative stress suggesting an overlap in C. jejuni’s responses to various stresses. Interestingly, the induced expression of virulence genes in C. jejuni upon acid exposure such as the Campylobacter invasion antigen (ciaB) indicates that acid stress plays a role in C. jejuni host pathogenesis. Acid exposure significantly enhanced C. jejuni pathogenesis in both eukaryotic cells and G. melonella. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study characterizes the influence of acid stress on C. jejuni pathogenesis in an infection model. Altogether, this study uncovers the transcriptional profile of C. jejuni in response to acidic conditions as those encountered in the stomach. In addition, our results demonstrate that acid stress jump-starts C. jejuni for efficient gut colonization and host pathogenesis. Campylobacter jejuni is the prevalent cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in human worldwide. The ability to survive stomach acidity is a fundamental requirement for C. jejuni to colonize the host and cause disease. However, the mechanism of C. jejuni acid survival is still unknown. Herein, we demonstrated that C. jejuni is able to survive acidic conditions at pH 4 up to 8 min without a drop in viability. The acid stimulon of C. jejuni 81-176 revealed the up-regulation of many genes important for Campylobacter acid survival such as heat shock genes and genes involved in energy metabolism. On the other hand, the repression of ribosomal genes highlights the ability of C. jejuni to direct its machinery to survive stressful conditions. Prior acid exposure cross-protected C. jejuni against oxidative stress suggesting an overlap in C. jejuni’s responses to various stresses. Interestingly, the induced expression of virulence genes in C. jejuni upon acid exposure such as the Campylobacter invasion antigen (ciaB) indicates that acid stress plays a role in C. jejuni host pathogenesis. Acid exposure significantly enhanced C. jejuni pathogenesis in both eukaryotic cells and G. melonella. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study characterizes the influence of acid stress on C. jejuni pathogenesis in an infection model. Altogether, this study uncovers the transcriptional profile of C. jejuni in response to acidic conditions as those encountered in the stomach. In addition, our results demonstrate that acid stress jump-starts C. jejuni for efficient gut colonization and host pathogenesis.

Project description:Background: The food-borne pathogen Campylobacter is one of the most important zoonotic pathogens. Compared to other zoonotic bacteria, Campylobacter species are quite susceptible to environmental or technological stressors. This might be due to the lack of many stress response mechanisms described in other bacteria. Nevertheless, Campylobacter is able to survive in the environment and food products. Although some aspects of the heat stress response in Campylobacter (C.) jejuni are already known, information about the heat stress response in the related species C. coli and C. lari are still unknown. Results: The stress response to elevated temperatures (46°C) was investigated by survival assays and whole transcriptome analyses for the strain C. jejuni NCTC11168, C. coli RM2228 and C. lari RM2100. While C. jejuni showed highest thermotolerance followed by C. lari and C. coli, none of the strains survived at this temperature for more than 24 hours. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that only 3 % of the genes in C. jejuni and approx. 20 % of the genes of C. coli and C. lari were differentially expressed after heat stress, respectively. The transcriptomic profiles showed enhanced gene expression of several chaperones like dnaK, groES, groEL and clpB in all strains, but differences in the gene expression of transcriptional regulators like hspR, perR as well as for genes involved in metabolic pathways, translation processes and membrane components. However, the function of many of the differentially expressed gene is unknown so far. Conclusion: We could demonstrate differences in the ability to survive at elevated temperatures for C. jejuni, C. coli and C. lari and showed for the first time transcriptomic analyses of the heat stress response of C. coli and C. lari. Our data suggest that the heat stress response of C. coli and C. lari are more similar to each other compared to C. jejuni, even though on genetic level a higher homology exists between C. jejuni and C. coli. This indicates that stress response mechanisms described for C. jejuni might be unique for this species and not necessarily transferable to other Campylobacter species.

Dataset Information

LB001: The ALPK1 pathway drives the inflammatory response to Campylobacter jejuni in human intestinal epithelial cells

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