Study of the immunobiological properties of a soluble antigen of Rickettsia prowazekii in an experiment

The results obtained in the study of the immunobiological properties of R. prowazekii soluble antigen purified without the use of ether are presented. The effectiveness of this antigen has been shown to be not inferior to that of preparations obtained by ether purification. It is expedient to introduce the antigen in the adsorbed form in two injections at an interval of 10--14 days, as immunization in two injections produces phase changes in the immune responsiveness of animals.     

Regulatory properties of citrate synthase from Rickettsia prowazekii

Citrate synthase [citrate (si)-synthase] (EC 4.1.3.7) was partially purified from extracts of highly purified typhus rickettsiae (Rickettsia prowazekii). Molecular exclusion and affinity column chromatography were used to prepare 200-fold-purified citrate synthase that contained no detectable malate dehydrogenase (EC 1.1.1.37) activity. Rickettsial malate dehydrogenase also was partially purified (200-fold) via this purification procedure. Catalytically active citrate synthase exhibited a relative molecular weight of approximately 62,000 after elution from a calibrated Sephacryl S-200 column. Acetyl coenzyme A saturation of partially purified enzyme was sensitive to strong competitive inhibition with adenylates (ATP greater than ADP much greater than AMP). [beta,gamma-methylene]ATP, dATP, and dADP also caused strong inhibition, but guanosine and cytosine nucleotides were significantly less inhibitory. Adenylates had no effect on oxalacetate saturation kinetics when acetyl coenzyme A was present in high concentration (greater than or equal to 50 microM). Neither NADH nor alpha-ketoglutarate affected the saturation kinetics of rickettsial citrate synthase. Thus, citrate synthase from R. prowazekii exhibits greater similarity to the eucaryotic and gram-positive procaryotic enzymes than to citrate synthase from free-living gram-negative bacteria. These results represent the first characterization of a highly purified key regulatory enzyme from these obligate intracellular parasitic bacteria.     

Potassium permeability of Rickettsia prowazekii.

The potassium permeability of Rickettsia prowazekii was characterized by chemical measurement of the intracellular sodium and potassium pools and isotopic flux measurements with 86Rb+ as a tracer. R. prowazekii, in contrast to Escherichia coli, did not maintain a high potassium-to-sodium ratio in their cytoplasm except when the potassium-to-sodium ratio in the extracellular medium was high or when the extracellular concentrations of both cations were low (ca. 1 mM). Both influx and efflux assays with 86Rb+ demonstrated that the rickettsial membrane had limited permeability to potassium and that incorporation of valinomycin into these cells increased these fluxes at least 10-fold. The transport of potassium showed specificity and dependence on rickettsial metabolism. The increased flux of potassium which results from the incorporation of valinomycin into the rickettsial membrane was detrimental to both lysine transport and lysis of erythrocytes by the rickettsiae.     

Biochemical and immunochemical study of antigen preparations of Rickettsia prowazekii

The biochemical and immunochemical study of the qualitative composition of R. prowazekii antigenic preparations, isolated and purified by different methods, indicates that these preparations contain high-molecular polypeptide 3 (133600 D), morphologically linked with the cell membrane of R. prowazekii. The method of adsorption chromatography on calcium phosphate permits obtaining specific rickettsial antigens with a greater degree of purification from ballast admixtures than the methods of acid precipitation and gel filtration on Sephadex G-200.     

Transport of AMP by Rickettsia prowazekii.

Rickettsia prowazekii possesses an exchange transport system for AMP. Chromatographic analysis of the rickettsiae demonstrated that transported AMP appeared intracellularly as AMP, ADP, and ATP, and no hydrolytic products appeared in either the intracellular or extracellular compartments. The phosphorylation of AMP to ADP and ATP was prevented by pretreatment of the cells with 1 mM N-ethylmaleimide without inhibiting the transport of AMP. Although no efflux was demonstrable in the absence of nucleotide in the medium, the intracellular adenine nucleotide pool could be exchanged with external unlabeled adenine nucleotides. Both ADP and ATP were as effective as AMP at inhibiting the uptake of [3H]AMP. Although this transport system was inhibited by low temperature (0 degrees C) and partially inhibited by the protonophore carbonyl cyanide-m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (1 mM), it was relatively insensitive to KCN (1 mM). The uptake of AMP at 34 degrees C had an apparent Kt for influx of 0.4 mM and a Vmax of 354 pmol min-1 per mg. At 0 degrees C there was a very rapid and unsaturable association of AMP with these organisms. Correction of the uptake data at 34 degrees C for the 0 degrees C component lowered the apparent Kt to 0.15 mM. Both magnesium and phosphate ions are required for optimal transport activity. Chemical measurements of the total intracellular nucleotide pools demonstrated that this system was not a net adenine nucleotide transport system, but that uptake of AMP was the result of an exchange with internal adenine nucleotides.     

Permeability of Rickettsia prowazekii to NAD.

Rickettsia prowazekii accumulated radioactivity from [adenine-2,8-3H]NAD but not from [nicotinamide-4-3H]NAD, which demonstrated that NAD was not taken up intact. Extracellular NAD was hydrolyzed by rickettsiae with the products of hydrolysis, nicotinamide mononucleotide and AMP, appearing in the incubation medium in a time- and temperature-dependent manner. The particulate (membrane) fraction contained 90% of this NAD pyrophosphatase activity. Rickettsiae which had accumulated radiolabel after incubation with [adenine-2,8-3H]NAD were extracted, and the intracellular composition was analyzed by chromatography. The cells contained labeled AMP, ADP, ATP, and NAD. The NAD-derived intracellular AMP was transported via a pathway distinct from and in addition to the previously described AMP translocase. Exogenous AMP (1 mM) inhibited uptake of radioactivity from [adenine-2,8-3H]NAD and hydrolysis of extracellular NAD. AMP increased the percentage of intracellular radiolabel present as NAD. Nicotinamide mononucleotide was not taken up by the rickettsiae, did not inhibit hydrolysis of extracellular NAD, and was not a good inhibitor of the uptake of radiolabel from [adenine-2,8-3H]NAD. Neither AMP nor ATP (both of which are transported) could support the synthesis of intracellular NAD. The presence of intracellular [adenine-2,8-3H]NAD within an organism in which intact NAD could not be transported suggested the resynthesis from AMP of [adenine-2,8-3H]NAD at the locus of NAD hydrolysis and translocation.     

Instability of Rickettsia prowazekii RNA polymerase-promoter complexes.

The Rickettsia prowazekii sigma factor was overexpressed, purified, and used to reconstitute RNA polymerase holoenzyme species. R. prowazekii RNA polymerase-promoter complexes were unstable and remained dissociable and heparin sensitive under conditions in which the corresponding Escherichia coli complexes were not. The R. prowazekii core played the major role in determining heparin sensitivity.     

Analysis of the peptidoglycan of Rickettsia prowazekii.

In the present study, peptidoglycan from Rickettsia prowazekii, an obligate intracellular bacterium, was purified. The rickettsial peptidoglycan is like that of gram-negative bacteria; that is, it is sodium dodecyl sulfate insoluble, lysozyme sensitive, and composed of glutamic acid, alanine, and diaminopimelic acid in a molar ratio of 1.0:2.3:1.0. The small amount of lysine found in the peptidoglycan preparation suggests that a peptidoglycan-linked lipoprotein(s) may be present in the rickettsiae. D-Cycloserine, a D-alanine analog which inhibits the biosynthesis of bacterial cell walls, prevented rickettsial growth in mouse L929 cells at a high concentration and altered the morphology of the rickettsiae at a low concentration. These effects were prevented by the addition of D-alanine. This suggests that R. prowazekii contains D-alanine in the peptidoglycan and has D-Ala-D-Ala ligase and alanine racemase activities.     

S-adenosylmethionine transport in Rickettsia prowazekii

Rickettsia prowazekii, the causative agent of epidemic typhus, is an obligate, intracellular, parasitic bacterium that grows within the cytoplasm of eucaryotic host cells. Rickettsiae exploit this intracellular environment by using transport systems for the compounds available in the host cell's cytoplasm. Analysis of the R. prowazekii Madrid E genome sequence revealed the presence of a mutation in the rickettsial metK gene, the gene encoding the enzyme responsible for the synthesis of S-adenosylmethionine (AdoMet). Since AdoMet is required for rickettsial processes, the apparent inability of this strain to synthesize AdoMet suggested the presence of a rickettsial AdoMet transporter. We have confirmed the presence of an AdoMet transporter in the rickettsiae which, to our knowledge, is the first bacterial AdoMet transporter identified. The influx of AdoMet into rickettsiae was a saturable process with a K(T) of 2.3 micro M. Transport was inhibited by S-adenosylethionine and S-adenosylhomocysteine but not by sinfungin or methionine. Transport was also inhibited by 2,4-dinitrophenol, suggesting an energy-linked transport mechanism, and by N-ethylmaleimide. AdoMet transporters with similar properties were also identified in the Breinl strain of R. prowazekii and in Rickettsia typhi. By screening Escherichia coli clone banks for AdoMet transport, the R. prowazekii gene coding for a transporter, RP076 (sam), was identified. AdoMet transport in E. coli containing the R. prowazekii sam gene exhibited kinetics similar to that seen in rickettsiae. The existence of a rickettsial transporter for AdoMet raises intriguing questions concerning the evolutionary relationship between the synthesis and transport of this essential metabolite.     

Establishment of a replicating plasmid in Rickettsia prowazekii

Rickettsia prowazekii, the causative agent of epidemic typhus, grows only within the cytosol of eukaryotic host cells. This obligate intracellular lifestyle has restricted the genetic analysis of this pathogen and critical tools, such as replicating plasmid vectors, have not been developed for this species. Although replicating plasmids have not been reported in R. prowazekii, the existence of well-characterized plasmids in several less pathogenic rickettsial species provides an opportunity to expand the genetic systems available for the study of this human pathogen. Competent R. prowazekii were transformed with pRAM18dRGA, a 10.3 kb vector derived from pRAM18 of R. amblyommii. A plasmid-containing population of R. prowazekii was obtained following growth under antibiotic selection, and the rickettsial plasmid was maintained extrachromosomally throughout multiple passages. The transformant population exhibited a generation time comparable to that of the wild type strain with a copy number of approximately 1 plasmid per rickettsia. These results demonstrate for the first time that a plasmid can be maintained in R. prowazekii, providing an important genetic tool for the study of this obligate intracellular pathogen.     

The library of Rickettsia prowazekii genes

The DNA of Rickettsia provazekii strain E was cleaved by PstI restriction endonuclease under the conditions of partial restriction. The fragments were inserted into the PstI site of pBR325 and cloned in this plasmid. E. coli strain HB101 was used as a recipient for cloning. 880 clones sensitive to ampicillin and resistant to tetracycline were selected from 5120 transformants. The cloning of rickettsial DNA has been confirmed by the blot hybridization technique. Analysis of individual and net probes of the hybrid DNA by gel electrophoresis makes it possible to conclude that 90% of the selected clones harbour hybrid plasmids, the size of the cloned fragments rangers from 0.9 to 10.4 Kb, the obtained library of clones contains 70% of the whole genome of Rickettsia provazekii.