A prl Mutation in SecY Suppresses Secretion and Virulence Defects of Listeria monocytogenes secA2 Mutants

The bulk of bacterial protein secretion occurs through the conserved SecY translocation channel that is powered by SecA-dependent ATP hydrolysis. Many Gram-positive bacteria, including the human pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, possess an additional nonessential specialized ATPase, SecA2. SecA2-dependent secretion is required for normal cell morphology and virulence in L. monocytogenes; however, the mechanism of export via this pathway is poorly understood. L. monocytogenes secA2 mutants form rough colonies, have septation defects, are impaired for swarming motility, and form small plaques in tissue culture cells. In this study, 70 spontaneous mutants were isolated that restored swarming motility to L. monocytogenes secA2 mutants. Most of the mutants had smooth colony morphology and septated normally, but all were lysozyme sensitive. Five representative mutants were subjected to whole-genome sequencing. Four of the five had mutations in proteins encoded by the lmo2769 operon that conferred lysozyme sensitivity and increased swarming but did not rescue virulence defects. A point mutation in secY was identified that conferred smooth colony morphology to secA2 mutants, restored wild-type plaque formation, and increased virulence in mice. This secY mutation resembled a prl suppressor known to expand the repertoire of proteins secreted through the SecY translocation complex. Accordingly, the ΔsecA2prlA1 mutant showed wild-type secretion levels of P60, an established SecA2-dependent secreted autolysin. Although the prl mutation largely suppressed almost all of the measurable SecA2-dependent traits, the ΔsecA2prlA1 mutant was still less virulent in vivo than the wild-type strain, suggesting that SecA2 function was still required for pathogenesis.     

一多重耐药单增李斯特菌株的生长特性及毒力分析

为了解单增李斯特菌株耐药后可能发生的生物学变化,以哈市生肉中分离到的1株对17种抗生素耐受的单增李斯特菌株L.M.B8为研究对象,对其生长及毒力特性进行研究。结果显示,L.M.B8的生长及毒力特性均与标准菌株有明显差异。在NaC l浓度为0.5%~5%、pH值为4.0~10.0及温度为20~45℃范围内,L.M.B8的生长速度均明显高于标准菌株。L.M.B8对高浓度盐的敏感性高于标准菌株,且对温度的适应能力强于标准菌株。从生长曲线看,L.M.B8的对数生长期与稳定期均较标准菌株提前2~3 h,且其稳定期较标准菌株明显缩短。L.M.B8小鼠腹腔注射半数致死量（LD50）较标准菌株明显降低。该研究为进一步探讨单增李斯特菌的耐药性与其他生物学特性的相关性奠定基础。     

Redundant Hydrogen Peroxide Scavengers Contribute to Salmonella Virulence and Oxidative Stress Resistance

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is an intracellular pathogen that can survive and replicate within macrophages. One of the host defense mechanisms that Salmonella encounters during infection is the production of reactive oxygen species by the phagocyte NADPH oxidase. Among them, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) can diffuse across bacterial membranes and damage biomolecules. Genome analysis allowed us to identify five genes encoding H₂O₂ degrading enzymes: three catalases (KatE, KatG, and KatN) and two alkyl hydroperoxide reductases (AhpC and TsaA). Inactivation of the five cognate structural genes yielded the HpxF⁻ mutant, which exhibited a high sensitivity to exogenous H₂O₂ and a severe survival defect within macrophages. When the phagocyte NADPH oxidase was inhibited, its proliferation index increased 3.7-fold. Moreover, the overexpression of katG or tsaA in the HpxF⁻ background was sufficient to confer a proliferation index similar to that of the wild type in macrophages and a resistance to millimolar H₂O₂ in rich medium. The HpxF⁻ mutant also showed an attenuated virulence in a mouse model. These data indicate that Salmonella catalases and alkyl hydroperoxide reductases are required to degrade H₂O₂ and contribute to the virulence. This enzymatic redundancy highlights the evolutionary strategies developed by bacterial pathogens to survive within hostile environments.Salmonella is a facultative intracellular pathogen that is associated with gastroenteritis, septicemia, and typhoid fever. This gram-negative bacterium survives and replicates in macrophages during the course of infection and can be exposed to a number of stressful environments during its life cycle (16). One of the host defense mechanisms that Salmonella encounters upon infection is the production of superoxide anion O₂⁻ by the phagocyte NADPH oxidase (1, 25). This radical can pass the outer membrane of the bacteria and represents one of the major weapons used by the macrophage to kill engulfed pathogens (18). Evidence that phagocyte-produced superoxide is a key mechanism for avoiding Salmonella infection is clear: mice and humans who are genetically defective in superoxide production are significantly more susceptible to infection (36, 38). Superoxide dismutases, located in the bacterial periplasm and in the cytoplasm, dismutate superoxide O₂⁻ to hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂ and molecular oxygen. Unlike superoxide, hydrogen peroxide can diffuse readily across bacterial membranes and form HO hydroxyl radicals in the presence of Fe(II) (18). These reactive oxygen species (ROS) can oxidize and damage proteins, nucleic acids, and cell membranes.To scavenge and degrade H₂O₂ molecules generated either as a by-product of aerobic metabolism or by the phagocyte NADPH oxidase, Salmonella has evolved numerous defense mechanisms. The KatE and KatG catalases are involved in H₂O₂ degradation, with katE being described as a member of the RpoS regulon (17, 22) and katG being OxyR dependent (26, 39). Both enzymes share the ability to reduce hydrogen peroxide to water and molecular oxygen, and their role was shown to be predominant at millimolar concentrations of H₂O₂ since they do not require any reductant (32). This observation is of particular importance, since these enzymes are not limited by the availability of a reductant, such as NADH, which cannot be generated fast enough to face a burst of H₂O₂. However, the katG and katE simple mutants, as well as the katE katG double mutant, did not show any increased susceptibility in macrophage or virulence attenuation in mice (5, 27). A possible reason could be the presence of a third nonheme and manganese-dependent catalase called KatN (30). This enzyme may contribute to hydrogen peroxide resistance under certain environmental conditions, but its involvement in virulence remains unknown. Moreover, katE, katG, and katN single mutants did not show any susceptibility to exogenous millimolar H₂O₂, essentially due to the compensatory function of the remaining catalases (5, 30).Another family of enzymes was shown to play an alternative role in H₂O₂ scavenging: the alkyl hydroperoxide reductases. These proteins directly convert organic hydroperoxides to alcohols, e.g., hydrogen peroxide to water. The alkyl hydroperoxide reductase AhpC belongs to the two-cysteine peroxiredoxin family, and the gene encoding this enzyme was identified as a member of the OxyR regulon (26, 39). The redox system consists of two proteins, AhpC and AhpF, with the latter being a thioredoxin reductase-like protein that contains two disulfide centers and transfers electrons from NADH to AhpC (13). AhpC was shown to be a predominant scavenger at low concentrations of H₂O₂, mainly because its catalytic efficiency was better than those of catalases (32). Recently the alkyl hydroperoxide reductase from Helicobacter hepaticus, TsaA (Thiol-Specific Antioxidant), was characterized (24). The tsaA mutant was found to be more sensitive to oxidizing agents like superoxide anion or t-butyl hydroperoxide. Surprisingly, this mutant was more resistant than the wild-type to H₂O₂, essentially because the level of catalase was increased in this background (24). In gastric pathogens, TsaA plays a critical role in the defense against oxygen toxicity that is essential for survival and growth (2). Interestingly, Salmonella contains two genes encoding alkyl hydroperoxide reductases, ahpC and tsaA, whereas a single copy was found in Escherichia coli (ahpC) or in Helicobacter pylori (tsaA).The redundancy of these antioxidant proteins could explain the extremely high resistance of Salmonella to hydrogen peroxide. It has been shown by Imlay and coworkers that in E. coli, three genes were involved in H₂O₂ scavenging: two catalase genes (katE and katG) and an alkyl hydroperoxide reductase gene (ahpC) (32). Simultaneous inactivation of the katE, katG, and ahpCF genes negated H₂O₂ degradation. As a consequence, this triple mutant, called the Hpx⁻ mutant, accumulates intracellular H₂O₂ (32). Moreover, H₂O₂ generated by aerobic metabolism was found to be sufficient to create toxic levels of DNA damage in such a background (28). In the present study, we deleted the Salmonella katE, katG, and ahpCF genes and two more genes absent in E. coli, katN and tsaA, to obtain the HpxF⁻ mutant, which lacks three catalases and two alkyl hydroperoxide reductases. HpxF⁻ cells exhibited the incapacity to degrade micromolar concentrations of H₂O₂, whereas this phenotype was not observed for the Kat⁻ (katE katG katN) and Ahp⁻ (ahpCF tsaA) mutants. Therefore, the HpxF⁻ mutant exhibited a high sensitivity to this compound. Moreover, this mutant did not show any proliferation within macrophages and presented reduced virulence in mice, suggesting that Salmonella catalases and alkyl hydroperoxide reductases form a redundant antioxidant arsenal essential for survival and replication within host cells.     

小麦叶片顺乌头酸酶对NO和H2 O2 的敏感性

外源一氧化氮（nitric oxide,NO)供体硝普钠（sodium nitroprusside,SNP)和过氧化氢（hydrogen peroxide,H2O2)处理抑制小麦（Triticu aestivum L.)叶片顺乌头酸酶活性,抑制呈明显的浓度及时间效应;同时外源NO衍生代谢物过氧亚硝酸阴离子（peroxynitrite,ONOO^-)的供体3－morpholinosydnonimine hydrochlloride(SIN-1)和水杨酸（salicylic acid,SA)对酶活性也具有抑制作用,而且小麦叶片线粒体顺乌头酸酶对H2O2和SIN－1更敏感。分别以SNP与过氧化氢酶（catalase,CAT)专一性抑制剂氨基三唑（3－amino-1,2,4-triazole,3-AT)处理离体小麦叶片,发现在其内源H2O2含量上升的同时,顺乌头酸酶活性均呈浓度与时间依赖性下降趋势。表明NO除直接抑制顺乌头酸酶活性外,还可能经H2O2介导间接对顺乌头酸酶产生抑制作用。     

Sensitivity of Listeria monocytogenes to irradiation on poultry meat and in phosphate-buffered saline

The sensitivity of four strains of Listeria monocytogenes to irradiation on poultry meat and in phosphate-buffered saline was investigated. The D₁₀ values on poultry meat were 0.417–0.553 kGy depending on strain and plating medium used. Lower values were obtained in phosphate-buffered saline. Generally tryptone soya yeast extract and McBride agars gave a better recovery (higher D₁₀ value) than listeria selective agar. The D₁₀ values for L. monocytogenes were similar to those reported for Salmonella spp. irradiated under similar conditions. Therefore irradiation doses suggested to eliminate salmonellas from poultry carcasses would also be sufficient to remove L. monocytogenes.     

Listeria monocytogenes Alters Mast Cell Phenotype,Mediator and Osteopontin Secretion in a Listeriolysin-Dependent Manner

Whilst mast cells participate in the immune defence against the intracellular bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, there is conflicting evidence regarding the ability of L. monocytogenes to infect mast cells. It is known that the pore-forming toxin listeriolysin (LLO) is important for mast cell activation, degranulation and the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Mast cells, however, are a potential source of a wide range of cytokines, chemokines and other mediators including osteopontin, which contributes to the clearing of L. monocytogenes infections in vivo, although its source is unknown. We therefore aimed to resolve the controversy of mast cell infection by L. monocytogenes and investigated the extent of mediator release in response to the bacterium. In this paper we show that the infection of bone marrow-derived mast cells by L. monocytogenes is inefficient and LLO-independent. LLO, however, is required for calcium-independent mast cell degranulation as well as for the transient and selective downregulation of cell surface CD117 (c-kit) on mast cells. We demonstrate that in addition to the key pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6, mast cells release a wide range of other mediators in response to L. monocytogenes. Osteopontin, IL-2, IL-4, IL-13 and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and chemokines including CCL2, CCL3, CCL4 and CCL5 are released in a MyD88-dependent manner. The wide range of mediators released by mast cells in response to L. monocytogenes may play an important role in the recruitment and activation of a variety of immune cells in vivo. The cocktail of mediators, however, is unlikely to skew the immune response to a particular effector response. We propose that mast cells provide a hitherto unreported source of osteopontin, and may provide an important role in co-ordinating the immune response during Listeria infection.     

An mRNA-mRNA Interaction Couples Expression of a Virulence Factor and Its Chaperone in Listeria monocytogenes

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Virulence Phenotyping and Molecular Characterization of a Low-pathogenicity Isolate of Listeria monocytogenes from Cow＇s Milk

A low-pathogenicity isolate of Listeria monocytogenes from cow＇s milk, as screened in mouse and chicken embryonated egg models, was examined for virulence-related phenotypic traits. Corresponding virulence genes （iap, prfA, picA, hly, mpl, actA, plcB, InlA and lnlB） were compared with L. monocytogenes reference strains 10403S and EGD to elucidate the possible molecular mechanisms of low virulence. Although L. monocytogenes H4 exhibited similar patterns to strain 10403S in terms of hemolytic activity, in vitro growth and invasiveness and even had higher adhesiveness, faster intracellular growth and higher phospholipase activity in vitro, it was substantially less virulent than the strain 10403S in mouse and chicken embryo models （50% lethal dose： 10^8.14 VS. 10^5.49 and 10^6.73 VS. 10^1.9, respectively）. The genes prfA, picA and mpl were homologous among L. monocytogenes strains H4, 10403S and EGD （〉98%）. Genes iap, hly, plcB, lnlA and lnlB of L. monocytogenes 10403S had higher homology to those of strain EGD （〉98%） than isolate H4. The homology of the gene hly between strain 10403S and isolate H4 was 96.9% at the nucleotide level, but 98.7% at the amino acid level. The actA gene of isolate H4 had deletions of 105 nucleotides corresponding to 35 amino acid deletions falling within the proline-rich region. Taken together, this study presents some clues as to reduced virulence to mice and chicken embryos of the isolate H4 probably as a result of deletion mutations of actA.     

Virulence Phenotyping and Molecular Characterization of a Low-pathogenicity Isolate of Listeria monocytogenes from Cow's Milk

A low-pathogenicity isolate of Listeria monocytogenes from cow's milk,as screened in mouseand chicken embryonated egg models,was examined for virulence-related phenotypic traits.Correspondingvirulence genes (iap,prfA,plcA,hly,mpl,actA,plcB,InlA and InlB) were compared with L.monocytogenesreference strains 10403S and EGD to elucidate the possible molecular mechanisms of low virulence.Al-though L.monocytogenes H4 exhibited similar patterns to strain 10403S in terms of hemolytic activity,invitro growth and invasiveness and even had higher adhesiveness,faster intracellular growth and higherphospholipase activity in vitro,it was substantially less virulent than the strain 10403S in mouse and chickenembryo models (50% lethal dose:10~(8.14) vs.10~(5.49) and 10~(6.73) vs.10~(1.9),respectively).The genes prfA,plcA andmpl were homologous among L.monocytogenes strains H4,10403S and EGD (>98%).Genes iap,hly,plcB,InlA and InIB of L.monocytogenes 10403S had higher homology to those of strain EGD (>98%) than isolateH4.The homology of the gene hly between strain 10403S and isolate H4 was 96.9% at the nucleotide level,but 98.7% at the amino acid level.The actA gene of isolate H4 had deletions of 105 nucleotides correspondingto 35 amino acid deletions falling Within the proline-rich region.Taken together,this study presents someclues as to reduced virulence to mice and chicken embryos of the isolate H4 probably as a result of deletionmutations of actA.     

Deoxycytidine Deaminase-Deficient Escherichia coli Strains Display Acute Sensitivity to Cytidine,Adenosine, and Guanosine and Increased Sensitivity to a Range of Antibiotics,Including Vancomycin

We show here that deoxycytidine deaminase (DCD)-deficient mutants of Escherichia coli are hypersensitive to killing by exogenous cytidine, adenosine, or guanosine, whereas wild-type cells are not. This hypersensitivity is reversed by exogenous thymidine. The mechanism likely involves the allosteric regulation of ribonucleotide reductase and severe limitations of the dTTP pools, resulting in thymineless death, the phenomenon of cell death due to thymidine starvation. We also report here that DCD-deficient mutants of E. coli are more sensitive to a series of different antibiotics, including vancomycin, and we show synergistic killing with the combination of vancomycin and cytidine. One possibility is that a very low, subinhibitory concentration of vancomycin enters Gram-negative cells and that this concentration is potentiated by chromosomal lesions resulting from the thymineless state. A second possibility is that the metabolic imbalance resulting from DCD deficiency affects the assembly of the outer membrane, which normally presents a barrier to drugs such as vancomycin. We consider these findings with regard to ideas of rendering Gram-negative bacteria sensitive to drugs such as vancomycin.     

Sensitivity of nisin-resistant Listeria monocytogenes to heat and the synergistic action of heat and nisin

Nisin, a bacteriocin produced by some strains of Lactococcus lactis, acts against foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes. A single exposure of cells to nisin can generate nisin-resistant (Nisr) mutants, which may compromise the use of nisin in the food industry. The objective of this research was to compare the heat resistance of Nisr and wild type (WT) Listeria monocytogenes. The synergistic effect of heat-treatment (55 degrees C) and nisin (500 IU ml-1) on the Nisr cells and the WT L. monocytogenes Scott A was also studied. When the cells were grown in the absence of nisin, there was no significant (alpha = 0.05) difference in heat resistance between WT and Nisr cells of L. monocytogenes at 55, 60 and 65 degrees C. However, when the Nisr cells were grown in the presence of nisin, they were more sensitive to heat at 55 degrees C than the WT cells. The D-values at 55 degrees C were 2.88 and 2.77 min for Nisr ATCC 700301 and ATCC 700302, respectively, which was significantly (alpha = 0.05) lower than the D-value for WT, 3.72 min. When Nisr cells were subjected to a combined treatment of heat and nisin, there was approximately a four log reduction during the first 7 min of treatment.