Two Spx Regulators Modulate Stress Tolerance and Virulence in Streptococcus suis Serotype 2

Streptococcus suis serotype 2 is an important zoonotic pathogen causing severe infections in pigs and humans. The pathogenesis of S. suis 2 infections, however, is still poorly understood. Spx proteins are a group of global regulators involved in stress tolerance and virulence. In this study, we characterized two orthologs of the Spx regulator, SpxA1 and SpxA2 in S. suis 2. Two mutant strains (ΔspxA1 and ΔspxA2) lacking the spx genes were constructed. The ΔspxA1 and ΔspxA2 mutants displayed different phenotypes. ΔspxA1 exhibited impaired growth in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, while ΔspxA2 exhibited impaired growth in the presence of SDS and NaCl. Both mutants were defective in medium lacking newborn bovine serum. Using a murine infection model, we demonstrated that the abilities of the mutant strains to colonize the tissues were significantly reduced compared to that of the wild-type strain. The mutant strains also showed a decreased level of survival in pig blood. Microarray analysis revealed a global regulatory role for SpxA1 and SpxA2. Furthermore, we demonstrated for the first time that Spx is involved in triggering the host inflammatory response. Collectively, our data suggest that SpxA1 and SpxA2 are global regulators that are implicated in stress tolerance and virulence in S. suis 2.     

肺炎链球菌SpxA蛋白的原核表达、纯化及多克隆抗体的制备

目的 构建肺炎链球菌SpxA蛋白的原核表达系统,制备其多克隆抗体.方法 设计引物,利用PCR技术扩增肺炎链球菌D39菌株的spxA基因,并插入表达载体pET-28a（＋）内,测序鉴定.重组质粒转化至大肠埃希菌BL21（DE3）中,以IPTG诱导表达含6个组氨酸标签的SpxA重组蛋白,经Ni-NTA亲和层析柱纯化后,以其为抗原免疫BALB/c小鼠制备多克隆抗体.用ELISA及Western印迹方法分别检测多克隆抗体的效价及特异性.结果 从大肠埃希菌中诱导出高表达的SpxA重组蛋白,纯化后免疫小鼠获得抗血清,ELISA测定其效价可达1：2 560 000以上,Western印迹结果显示其能特异性地作用于肺炎链球菌SpxA.结论 成功构建了pET-28a（＋）-spxA原核表达质粒,获得了高纯度的目的 蛋白和高滴度、高特异性的多克隆抗体.     

Transcriptional regulator SpxA1a controls the resistance of the honey bee pathogen Melissococcus plutonius to the antimicrobial activity of royal jelly

Royal jelly (RJ), a brood food of honey bees, has strong antimicrobial activity. Melissococcus plutonius, the causative agent of European foulbrood of honey bees, exhibits resistance to this antimicrobial activity and infects larvae orally. Among three genetically distinct groups (CC3, CC12 and CC13) of M. plutonius, CC3 strains exhibit the strongest RJ resistance. In this study, to identify genes involved in RJ resistance, we generated an RJ-susceptible derivative from a highly RJ-resistant CC3 strain by UV mutagenesis. Genome sequence analysis of the derivative revealed the presence of a frameshift mutation in the putative regulator gene spxA1a. The deletion of spxA1a from a CC3 strain resulted in increased susceptibility to RJ and its antimicrobial component 10-hydroxy-2-decenoic acid. Moreover, the mutant became susceptible to low-pH and oxidative stress, which may be encountered in brood foods. Differentially expressed gene analysis using wild-type and spxA1a mutants revealed that 45 protein-coding genes were commonly upregulated in spxA1a-positive strains. Many upregulated genes were located in a prophage region, and some highly upregulated genes were annotated as universal/general stress proteins, oxidoreductase/reductase, chaperons and superoxide dismutase. These results suggest that SpxA1a is a key regulator to control the tolerance status of M. plutonius against stress in honey bee colonies.     

Peptide alarmone signalling triggers an auto-active bacteriocin necessary for genetic competence

The induction of genetic competence is a strategy used by bacteria to increase their genetic repertoire under stressful environmental conditions. Recently, Streptococcus pneumoniae has been shown to co-ordinate the uptake of transforming DNA with fratricide via increased expression of the peptide pheromone responsible for competence induction. Here, we document that environmental stress-induced expression of the peptide pheromone competence-stimulating peptide (CSP) in the oral pathogen Streptococcus mutans . We showed that CSP is involved in the stress response and determined the CSP-induced regulon in S. mutans by microarray analysis. Contrary to pneumococcus, S. mutans responds to increased concentrations of CSP by cell lysis in only a fraction of the population. We have focused on the mechanism of cell lysis and have identified a novel bacteriocin as the 'death effector'. Most importantly, we showed that this bacteriocin causes cell death via a novel mechanism of action: intracellular action against self. We have also identified the cognate bacteriocin immunity protein, which resides in a separate unlinked genetic locus to allow its differential regulation. The role of the lytic response in S. mutans competence is also discussed. Together, these findings reveal a novel autolytic pathway in S. mutans which may be involved in the dissemination of fitness-enhancing genes in the oral biofilm.     

Mutations which alter the kinetics of calcium transport alter the regulation of competence in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

In Streptococcus pneumoniae, Ca2+ induces a stress response which is regulated by a proteic activator known as competence factor (CF). This stress response is expressed as the induction of competence for DNA uptake and genetic transformation in exponentially growing cultures and by autolysis in late exponential phase. DNA transport during competence can be described as a homeostatic response that prevents autolysis of the cultures. Electrogenic and cooperative calcium transport with a Hill number (nH) of 2 appears to mediate this Ca2+ response. Mutant strains altered in their kinetics for Ca2+ transport, with nHs of 1 and 4, were isolated and characterized in order to address the role of the kinetics of Ca2+ transport in the Ca2+ response. The reduced cooperativity of Ca2+ uptake in mutant strain Cp2200 was associated with an absolute requirement for added CF to develop competence and with resistance to autolysis. The enhanced cooperativity of Ca2+ uptake in mutant strain Cp3300 was associated with facilitated competence and hypersensitivity to autolysis. Moreover, the mutation carried by strain Cp3300 increases the CF response of previously described competence-defective mutants. The pleiotropic mutants Cp2200 and Cp3300 allowed us to demonstrate that cooperativity of transport determines the Ca2+ response in S. pneumoniae.     

Toll-like receptor 2 contributes to antibacterial defence against pneumolysin-deficient pneumococci

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are pattern recognition receptors that recognize conserved molecular patterns expressed by pathogens. Pneumolysin, an intracellular toxin found in all Streptococcus pneumoniae clinical isolates, is an important virulence factor of the pneumococcus that is recognized by TLR4. Although TLR2 is considered the most important receptor for Gram-positive bacteria, our laboratory previously could not demonstrate a decisive role for TLR2 in host defence against pneumonia caused by a serotype 3 S. pneumoniae . Here we tested the hypothesis that in the absence of TLR2, S. pneumoniae can still be sensed by the immune system through an interaction between pneumolysin and TLR4. C57BL/6 wild-type (WT) and TLR2 knockout (KO) mice were intranasally infected with either WT S. pneumoniae D39 (serotype 2) or the isogenic pneumolysin-deficient S. pneumoniae strain D39 PLN. TLR2 did not contribute to antibacterial defence against WT S. pneumoniae D39. In contrast, pneumolysin-deficient S. pneumoniae only grew in lungs of TLR2 KO mice. TLR2 KO mice displayed a strongly reduced early inflammatory response in their lungs during pneumonia caused by both pneumolysin-producing and pneumolysin-deficient pneumococci. These data suggest that pneumolysin-induced TLR4 signalling can compensate for TLR2 deficiency during respiratory tract infection with S. pneumoniae.     

Competence Repression under Oxygen Limitation through the Two-Component MicAB Signal-Transducing System in Streptococcus pneumoniae and Involvement of the PAS Domain of MicB

In Streptococcus pneumoniae, a fermentative aerotolerant and catalase-deficient human pathogen, oxidases with molecular oxygen as substrate are important for virulence and for competence. The signal-transducing two-component systems CiaRH and ComDE mediate the response to oxygen, culminating in competence. In this work we show that the two-component MicAB system, whose MicB kinase carries a PAS domain, is also involved in competence repression under oxygen limitation. Autophosphorylation of recombinant MicB and phosphotransfer to recombinant MicA have been demonstrated. Mutational analysis and in vitro assays showed that the C-terminal part of the protein and residue L100 in the N-terminal cap of its PAS domain are both crucial for autokinase activity in vitro. Although no insertion mutation in micA was obtained, expression of the mutated allele micA59DA did not change bacterial growth and overcame competence repression under microaerobiosis. This was related to a strong instability of MicA59DA-PO(4) in vitro. Thus, mutations which either reduced the stability of MicA-PO(4) or abolished kinase activity in MicB were related to competence derepression under microaerobiosis, suggesting that MicA-PO(4) is involved in competence repression when oxygen becomes limiting. The micAB genes are flanked by mutY and orfC. MutY is an adenine glycosylase involved in the repair of oxidized pyrimidines. OrfC shows the features of a metal binding protein. We did not obtain insertion mutation in orfC, suggesting its requirement for growth. It is proposed that MicAB, with its PAS motif, may belong to a set of functions important in the protection of the cell against oxidative stress, including the control of competence.     

Competence pheromone, oligopeptide permease, and induction of competence in Streptococcus pneumoniae

An unmodified heptadecapeptide pheromone capable of eliciting competence for genetic transformation in Streptococcus pneumoniae has recently been identified and characterized. In considering possible signaltransduction mechanisms for the peptide, the previously characterized Ami oligopeptide permease and the three highly homologous oligopeptide-binding lipoproteins, AmiA. AliA, and AliB, appeared to be good candidates for receptors. We therefore compared the spontaneous transformability of Ami, AliA and AliB mutants to that of an isogenic wild-type strain and we investigated the response of the various mutants to treatment with synthetic competence-stimulating peptide (CSP). Our results clearly demonstrate that neither Ami nor any of the three highly homologous oligopeptide-binding lipoproteins identified so far in S. pneumoniae are required for competence induction following treatment with synthetic CSP. Although the existence of a fourth unidentified oligopeptide-binding lipoprotein and/or a second oligopeptide permease operon could not be completely ruled out, we favour the hypothesis that CSP signal transmission rather involves a two-component regulatory system. Although none of the single or double Ami and Ali mutants tested appeared severely affected for competence, an exceptional aliB plasmid-insertion mutation abolished competence completely. In addition, the triple AmiA-AliA-AliB mutant differed from wild type in showing no sharp peak of competence but exhibiting transformability throughout the exponential phase of growth. These and previous observations are discussed and a general hypothesis is proposed to account for the modulation of competence by peptide permease mutants in S. pneumoniae.     

Genes involved in glucose repression and oxidative stress response in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

We looked for changes in gene expression and novel genes that could be involved in the interaction between glucose repression and oxidative stress response in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, using a constitutive invertase mutant, ird11, which is resistant to glucose. BLAST analysis was made of the S. pombe genome database of cDNAs whose expression ratios differentially decreased or increased upon exposure to mild oxidative stress in this mutant compared to the wild type. Genes with this type of activity were identified as rpl302, encoding 60S ribosomal protein L3, and mpg1, encoding mannose-1-phosphate guanyltransferase; their expression patterns were measured using quantitative real-time PCR. We found that the expression levels of rpl302 and mpg1 genes in ird11 under unstressed conditions were increased compared to those of the wild type. Under stress conditions, the expression levels of the rpl302 gene were decreased in both strains, while mpg1 expression levels remained unchanged. These results suggest that these genes play a role in the response to oxidative stress in this mutant strain.     

Cellular localization of choline-utilization proteins in Streptococcus pneumoniae using novel fluorescent reporter systems

The molecular mechanisms underlying cell growth, cell division and pathogenesis in Streptococcus pneumoniae are still not fully understood. Single-cell methodologies are potentially of great value to investigate S. pneumoniae cell biology. Here, we report the construction of novel plasmids for single and double cross-over integration of functional fusions to the gene encoding a fast folding variant of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) into the S. pneumoniae chromosome. We have also established a zinc-inducible system for the fine control of gfp -fusion gene expression and for protein depletion experiments in S. pneumoniae . Using this novel single cell toolkit, we have examined the cellular localization of the proteins involved in the essential process of choline decoration of S. pneumoniae teichoic acid. GFP fusions to LicA and LicC, enzymes involved in the activation of choline, showed a cytoplasmic distribution, as predicted from their primary sequences. A GFP fusion to the choline importer protein LicB showed clear membrane localization. GFP fusions to LicD1 and LicD2, enzymes responsible for loading of teichoic acid subunits with choline, are also membrane-associated, even though both proteins lack any obvious membrane spanning domain. These results indicate that the decoration of teichoic acid by the LicD enzymes is a membrane-associated process presumably occurring at lipid-linked teichoic acid precursors.