Project description:Leptospirosis is a global zoonotic, neglected tropical disease. Interestingly, a high level of species specificity (both bacteria and host) plays a major role in the severity of disease presentation which can vary from asymptomatic to multi-organ failure. Pathogenic Leptospira colonize the kidneys of infected individuals and are shed in urine into the environment where they can survive until they are contracted by another host. This study looks at two strains of L. borgpetersenii, HB203 and JB197 which are genetically very similar, and identical by serotyping as serovar Hardjo, yet HB203 causes a chronic infection in the hamster while JB197 causes organ failure and mortality. To better characterize bacterial factors causing different disease outcomes, we examined the gene expression profile of these strains in the context of temperatures that would reflect natural Leptospira life cycles (environmentally similar 29oC and 37oC which is more indicative of host environment). We found vast differences in gene expression both between the strains and within strains between temperatures. Characterization of the transcriptome of L. borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo strains JB197 and HB203 provides insights into factors that can determine acute versus chronic disease in the hamster model of infection. Additionally, these studies highlight strain to strain variability within the same species, and serovar, at different growth temperatures, which needs to be considered when serovars are selected and propagated for use as bacterin vaccines used to immunize domestic animal species.
Project description:Leptospirosis, caused by bacteria of the genus Leptospira, is a zoonotic disease affecting humans, companion animals, and all major livestock species. Typical propagation of the highly fastidious Leptospira borgepetesenii serovar Hardjo is limited to 29°C. However, newer culture media formulations now facilitate isolation and propagation at 37°C, a temperature that more closely emulates in vivo conditions and is hypothesized to regulate the expression of virulence factors during host infection. Since protein expression by leptospires is temperature dependent, and therefore the proteome of bacterin vaccines can differ whether grown at 37°C compared to 29°C, we compared the proteome of strains of Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo at each temperature; two well-established strains that causes acute (strain JB197) or chronic asymptomatic disease (strain HB203) in the hamster challenge model of leptospirosis and two more recently isolated strains designated TC129 and TC273 (both of which cause chronic asymptomatic disease in the hamster). We found proteomic expression differences within strains propagated at the routine temperature of 29°C, and compared to the newly achieved culture temperature of 37°C. Results highlight significant differential protein expression, including virulence factors, amongst identical serovars of L. borgpetersenii when propagated at 29oC, the collective variation of which can be diminished when propagated at 37oC. Collectively, there is increasingly more evidence available to suggest bacterin vaccine design would benefit from consideration of strains employed, and potential effects of growth temperature related to specific behavior of pathogens in vaccine composition.
