肺炎克雷伯菌菌毛的研究进展

肺炎克雷伯菌为条件致病菌,可引起肺炎、败血症等多种化脓性炎症,近年来肺炎克雷伯菌也成为医院内感染的主要致病菌之一。研究表明,菌毛作为细菌重要的毒力因子之一,在细菌黏附过程中起重要作用,细菌可借助于菌毛尖端黏附素黏附到宿主的组织器官,这是引起机体致病的首要条件。肺炎克雷伯菌菌毛包括Ⅰ型菌毛和Ⅲ型菌毛,绝大多数的肺炎克雷伯菌均可表达Ⅲ型菌毛,在医院感染的致病过程中起到关键作用。     

沙门氏菌Ⅰ型菌毛研究进展

据WHO估计,全球每年有数十亿人患食源性疾病,其中由沙门氏菌感染引起的死亡就超过23万人。在沙门氏菌众多的毒力因子中,菌毛在该病原体感染过程中发挥了不可或缺的作用。菌毛(又称纤毛)是细菌表面的丝状蛋白附属物,是细菌对宿主细胞产生作用和造成感染的关键因子。其中,Ⅰ型菌毛是肠杆菌科成员(包括沙门氏菌)中最常见的菌毛之一,对于细菌启动和发挥致病作用至关重要。鉴于Ⅰ型菌毛对沙门氏菌的重要性,现就沙门氏菌Ⅰ型菌毛的结构、表达调控、致病性及其与其他毒力因子的相互作用等方面展开讨论,旨在为靶向Ⅰ型菌毛来研究沙门氏菌的致病机理提供一定的理论参考。     

细菌群集运动特性的研究进展

群集运动(swarming motility)是细菌以群体方式协调性地依靠鞭毛和Ⅳ型菌毛(type Ⅳ pili,TFP)在半固体表面共同运动,是一种典型的协同运动。群集运动因其与生物被膜、子实体的形成、病原体的侵入和微生物的扩散及共生等过程都有着密切的关系而备受人们的关注,是当前微生物领域的一个研究热点。人们对细菌群集运动开展了大量的研究,包括群集运动中关键蛋白表达的变化、细胞间化学交流的变化以及机械性变化等。鞭毛蛋白的表达以及胞内环二鸟苷酸(cyclic diguanosine monophosphate,c-di-GMP)的水平等会对群集运动产生一定的影响,在菌落中复杂地调控着细菌集体行为;群集运动细胞独特的物理性质表现有益于菌落整体的扩张;细菌周围生长环境中的营养和水分含量等因素也在不同程度上影响细菌群集运动的能力。未来,在解析群集运动分子机制的基础上,如何构建一个统一的群集运动模型成为该领域研究面临的一个挑战。     

细菌菌毛及有关粘附素研究的新进展

近年来,有关细菌菌毛及有关粘附素(adhesin)的报导日渐增多。对菌毛结构、功能及其实际意义的研究,目前已成为细菌学的重要课题。最近有关实践及理论,均有新飞跃。一、细菌菌毛与细菌鞭毛的比较菌毛与鞭毛均系蛋白质构成,均未见有细菌胞壁酸成分掺入,且皆分别由单体菌毛素(pilin)及单体鞭毛素(flagellin)缠绕构成的单孔中空微丝组成。主要差别     

MshB基因突变对维罗纳气单胞菌菌毛动力的影响

目的:通过探索野生型(菌毛表达)和MSHB基因突变型(菌毛不表达)维罗纳气单胞菌动力方面的差别,证明菌毛在细菌运动方面的重要功能。方法:首先培养细菌长至对数生长期,让后进行半固体培养基穿刺与平板挖沟培养实验,最后对阳性率进行T分析。结果:两者之间具有显著差别(P0.05)。结论:菌毛对维罗纳菌的动力具有重要作用。     

鲍曼不动杆菌菌毛在细菌生物膜形成中的作用

目的通过观察鲍曼不动杆菌菌毛,了解菌毛结构在生物被膜形成过程中的作用。方法以ICU的医院感染患者的腹腔手术后引流液、痰及呼吸机导管内壁附着物等为材料分离鉴定细菌,制备细菌的电镜标本,通过超微结构观察鲍曼不动杆菌菌体表面的菌毛与生物被膜形成的相关性。结果新分离的鲍曼不动杆菌菌体表面存在菌毛,菌毛与生物膜形成过程中的粘附有关。结论菌毛粘附是生物被膜形成的原因之一。     

流感嗜血杆菌菌毛在粘附与定居中的作用

流感嗜血杆菌主要感染呼吸道粘膜。可产生多种临床疾病，如菌血症、脑膜炎、会咽炎、肺炎、脓毒性关节炎等。在力感染的每一步－粘附、定居过程中的 菌体表面的菌毛起着重要的作用。本语文从菌毛的结构、功能、免疫学和分子特点等几方面进行了阐述，并简要地叙述才制备疫苗的可能性。     

消化系统类器官及其在运动生理学研究中的应用前景

随着干细胞诱导分化和组织器官发育调控研究的不断发展,消化系统中胃、肠、肝脏、胰腺和胆囊等类器官(organoid)模型相继构建,并广泛应用于发育生物学、遗传学、细胞生物学、药理学和肿瘤学等领域。运动导致血液重分配,小肠和肝脏等器官血液灌流量减少。随着运动中氧分压的降低和代谢需求的增加,肠上皮细胞和肝细胞等细胞所处的微环境发生剧烈改变,进而影响器官的生理机能。然而,由于传统研究手段的限制,运动对消化系统各器官生理机能的动态调控机制目前尚不明确。本文综述了消化系统类器官模型的建立与应用,以及运动对肠上皮细胞和肝细胞所处微环境的影响,展望了消化系统类器官在运动生理学研究中的应用前景。随着类器官模型的引入与应用,通过模拟运动过程中微环境的变化,从整合生物学的角度观察消化系统类器官的结构与功能,将为运动生理学研究提供新的角度与思路。     

外源表位在Salmonella菌毛上的表达

过去的20年中,在细菌表面展示外源多肽的表达系统的研究取得了重要进展。而其中相当一部分是以细菌菌毛作为表达载体用于表达外源多肽或蛋白。本文将详述一种特殊的利用基因置换构建的沙门菌菌毛外源多肽展示系统,同时介绍一些其他的菌毛展示系统并探讨他们的优劣性。     

肺炎克雷伯菌Ⅲ型菌毛的提取与鉴定

将表达Ⅲ型菌毛的肺炎克雷伯菌临床分离株Kp7在改良Minka液体培养基上传代培养,使之充分菌毛化,大量收集菌毛生长良好的细菌,利用热洗脱法分离提取菌毛,经硫酸铵沉淀、透析后进行蔗糖密度梯度离心,收集20%~30%梯度中的蛋白带,经SDS-PAGE电泳可见1条大小在20.5 ku的蛋白条带。提纯菌毛保留了甘露糖抵抗血凝特性,并与用Kp7全菌免疫家兔制备的高免血清在Western blot中反应呈阳性,证实其条带为Ⅲ型菌毛主要结构蛋白。     

Biogenesis of Type V pili

Pili or fimbriae, which are filamentous structures present on the surface of bacteria, were purified from a periodontal pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis, in 1980s. The protein component of pili (stalk pilin), which is its major component, was named FimA; it has a molecular weight of approximately 41 kDa. Because the molecular weight of the pilin from P. gingivalis is twice that of pilins from other bacterial pili, the P. gingivalis Fim pili were suggested to be formed via a novel mechanism. In earlier studies, we reported that the FimA pilin is secreted on the cell surface as a lipoprotein precursor, and the subsequent N-terminal processing of the FimA precursor by arginine-specific proteases is necessary for Fim pili formation. The crystal structures of FimA and its related proteins were determined recently, which show that Fim pili are formed by a protease-mediated strand-exchange mechanism. The most recent study conducted by us, wherein we performed cryoelectron microscopy of the pilus structure, provided evidence in support of this mechanism. As the P. gingivalis Fim pili are formed through novel transport and assembly mechanisms, such pili are now designated as Type V pili. Surface lipoproteins, including the anchor pilin FimB of Fim pili that are present on the outer membrane, have been detected in certain Gram-negative bacteria. Here, we describe the assembly mechanisms of pili, including those of Type V and other pili, as well as the lipoprotein transport mechanisms.     

Light-microscopic visualization of F and type 1 pili

Methods for the direct visualization of F and type 1 pili of Escherichia coli in the light microscope are described. The method for visualizing F pili is based on the specific adsorption of fluorescent dye-labelled RNA phages to F pili. The best results were obtained with MS2 phages labelled with rhodamine B. Semi-quantitative determination of the amount of F pili is possible. Type 1 pili can be visualized rapidly and specifically by indirect immunofluorescence. Other structures on the cell surface are neither detected by, nor interfere with these assays. By using different fluorescent dyes the two methods can be combined and both F and type 1 pili can be determined in the same sample.     

Identification of surprisingly diverse type IV pili, across a broad range of gram-positive bacteria

Background

In Gram-negative bacteria, type IV pili (TFP) have long been known to play important roles in such diverse biological phenomena as surface adhesion, motility, and DNA transfer, with significant consequences for pathogenicity. More recently it became apparent that Gram-positive bacteria also express type IV pili; however, little is known about the diversity and abundance of these structures in Gram-positives. Computational tools for automated identification of type IV pilins are not currently available.

Results

To assess TFP diversity in Gram-positive bacteria and facilitate pilin identification, we compiled a comprehensive list of putative Gram-positive pilins encoded by operons containing highly conserved pilus biosynthetic genes (pilB, pilC). A surprisingly large number of species were found to contain multiple TFP operons (pil, com and/or tad). The N-terminal sequences of predicted pilins were exploited to develop PilFind, a rule-based algorithm for genome-wide identification of otherwise poorly conserved type IV pilins in any species, regardless of their association with TFP biosynthetic operons (http://signalfind.org). Using PilFind to scan 53 Gram-positive genomes (encoding >187,000 proteins), we identified 286 candidate pilins, including 214 in operons containing TFP biosynthetic genes (TBG+ operons). Although trained on Gram-positive pilins, PilFind identified 55 of 58 manually curated Gram-negative pilins in TBG+ operons, as well as 53 additional pilin candidates in operons lacking biosynthetic genes in ten species (>38,000 proteins), including 27 of 29 experimentally verified pilins. False positive rates appear to be low, as PilFind predicted only four pilin candidates in eleven bacterial species (>13,000 proteins) lacking TFP biosynthetic genes.

Conclusions

We have shown that Gram-positive bacteria contain a highly diverse set of type IV pili. PilFind can be an invaluable tool to study bacterial cellular processes known to involve type IV pilus-like structures. Its use in combination with other currently available computational tools should improve the accuracy of predicting the subcellular localization of bacterial proteins.     

Effects of growth inhibitors and ultraviolet irradiation on F pili

The effects of chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid, mitomycin C, NaCN, and ultraviolet irradiation at 253.7 nm on F pili production by Escherichia coli cells was studied by electron microscopy. The results show that cells contain pools of pili protein, and that assembly does not require synthesis of protein or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). NaCN (2 x 10(-2)m) prevents the reappearance of pili and causes existing pili to disappear quickly from the cell surface. This suggests that energy is used in the assembly of pili and to retain pili on the cell. Cells irradiated with high doses (10(4)ergs/mm(2)) of 253. 7 nm light produce fewer pili, and these are shorter than normal. Dose-response curves for number of pili per cell and length of pili resemble single hit kinetics, showing 37% survival at 10(4) ergs/mm(2) and 2 x 10(4) ergs/mm(2), respectively. This suggests that DNA is at the site where pili are produced, and that it may be involved in the assembly of pili.     

Binding of lysozyme to common pili of Escherichia coli.

Common pili from Escherichia coli were found to bind hen egg white lysozyme. The binding was highly dependent on ionic strength, and the maximum binding occurred near an ionic strength of 0.02. The pili were aggregated by lysozyme, and this process could be followed by optical turbidity, electron microscopy, and coprecipitation. Near the maximum saturation of binding, one lysozyme molecule was bound by two pilus protein subunits. Electron micrographs of this aggregate indicated that they were paracrystalline structures. Piliated bacteria were more readily agglutinated by lysozyme than were nonpiliated bacteria. Since lysozyme is considered to be an antibacterial humoral factor and since pili are considered to be a colonization factor, the binding of lysozyme may represent an important bacterium-host interaction     

Uptake of extracellular DNA: Competence induced pili in natural transformation of Streptococcus pneumoniae

Transport of DNA across bacterial membranes involves complex DNA uptake systems. In Gram‐positive bacteria, the DNA uptake machinery shares fundamental similarities with type IV pili and type II secretion systems. Although dedicated pilus structures, such as type IV pili in Gram‐negative bacteria, are necessary for efficient DNA uptake, the role of similar structures in Gram‐positive bacteria is just beginning to emerge. Recently two essentially very different pilus structures composed of the same major pilin protein ComGC were proposed to be involved in transformation of the Gram‐positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae – one is a long, thin, type IV pilus‐like fiber with DNA binding capacity and the other one is a pilus structure that was thicker, much shorter and not able to bind DNA. Here we discuss how competence induced pili, either by pilus retraction or by a transient pilus‐related opening in the cell wall, may mediate DNA uptake in S. pneumoniae.     

Type 4 pili are dispensable for biofilm development in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus

The hair‐like cell appendages denoted as type IV pili are crucial for biofilm formation in diverse eubacteria. The protein complex responsible for type IV pilus assembly is homologous with the type II protein secretion complex. In the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, the gene Synpcc7942_2071 encodes an ATPase homologue of type II/type IV systems. Here, we report that inactivation of Synpcc7942_2071 strongly affected the suite of proteins present in the extracellular milieu (exo‐proteome) and eliminated pili observable by electron microscopy. These results support a role for this gene product in protein secretion as well as in pili formation. As we previously reported, inactivation of Synpcc7942_2071 enables biofilm formation and suppresses the planktonic growth of S. elongatus. Thus, pili are dispensable for biofilm development in this cyanobacterium, in contrast to their biofilm‐promoting function in type IV pili‐producing heterotrophic bacteria. Nevertheless, pili removal is not required for biofilm formation as evident by a piliated mutant of S. elongatus that develops biofilms. We show that adhesion and timing of biofilm development differ between the piliated and non‐piliated strains. The study demonstrates key differences in the process of biofilm formation between cyanobacteria and well‐studied type IV pili‐producing heterotrophic bacteria.     

Assembly mechanism of FCT region type 1 pili in serotype M6 Streptococcus pyogenes

The human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes produces diverse pili depending on the serotype. We investigated the assembly mechanism of FCT type 1 pili in a serotype M6 strain. The pili were found to be assembled from two precursor proteins, the backbone protein T6 and ancillary protein FctX, and anchored to the cell wall in a manner that requires both a housekeeping sortase enzyme (SrtA) and pilus-associated sortase enzyme (SrtB). SrtB is primarily required for efficient formation of the T6 and FctX complex and subsequent polymerization of T6, whereas proper anchoring of the pili to the cell wall is mainly mediated by SrtA. Because motifs essential for polymerization of pilus backbone proteins in other Gram-positive bacteria are not present in T6, we sought to identify the functional residues involved in this process. Our results showed that T6 encompasses the novel VAKS pilin motif conserved in streptococcal T6 homologues and that the lysine residue (Lys-175) within the motif and cell wall sorting signal of T6 are prerequisites for isopeptide linkage of T6 molecules. Because Lys-175 and the cell wall sorting signal of FctX are indispensable for substantial incorporation of FctX into the T6 pilus shaft, FctX is suggested to be located at the pilus tip, which was also implied by immunogold electron microscopy findings. Thus, the elaborate assembly of FCT type 1 pili is potentially organized by sortase-mediated cross-linking between sorting signals and the amino group of Lys-175 positioned in the VAKS motif of T6, thereby displaying T6 and FctX in a temporospatial manner.     

Cell wall anchor structure of BcpA pili in Bacillus anthracis

Assembly of pili in Gram-positive bacteria and their attachment to the cell wall envelope are mediated by sortases. In Bacillus cereus and its close relative Bacillus anthracis, the major pilin protein BcpA is cleaved between the threonine and the glycine of its C-terminal LPXTG motif sorting signal by the pilin-specific sortase D. The resulting acyl enzyme intermediate is relieved by the nucleophilic attack of the side-chain amino group of lysine within the YPKN motif of another BcpA subunit. Cell wall anchoring of assembled BcpA pili requires sortase A, which also cleaves the LPXTG sorting signal of BcpA between its threonine and glycine residues. We show here that sortases A and D require only the C-terminal sorting signal of BcpA for substrate cleavage. Unlike sortase D, which accepts the YPKN motif as a nucleophile, sortase A forms an amide bond between the BcpA C-terminal carboxyl group of threonine and the side-chain amino group of diaminopimelic acid within the cell wall peptidoglycan of bacilli. These results represent the first demonstration of a cell wall anchor structure for pili, which are deposited by sortase A into the envelope of many different microbes.