化脓性链球菌纤维粘连蛋白结合蛋白的研究进展

本文介绍化脓性链球菌纤维粘连蛋白（ＥＢＰ）结合蛋白的最新研究进展，对链球菌的粘附机理、纤维粘连蛋白结合蛋白的分子生物学结构特征、在粘附过程中的作用以及其临床意义作了扼要阐述。     

乳杆菌代谢产物对化脓性链球菌的抑制作用

【目的】分析乳杆菌代谢产物对化脓性链球菌的抑制作用。【方法】基于双层平板打孔法,通过测量抑菌圈大小来检测乳杆菌代谢产物对化脓性链球菌的抑菌作用;然后分别采用高效液相色谱法和4-氨酰安替比林法检测乳杆菌代谢产物中的有机酸和H2O2含量;最后,检测乳酸、乙酸和H2O2对化脓性链球菌的最小抑菌浓度(MIC)、最小杀菌浓度(MBC)。【结果】对化脓性链球菌的抑菌效果以植物乳杆菌KLDS1.0667最好,副干酪乳杆菌KLDS1.0342-1次之,瑞士乳杆菌KLDS1.0203抑菌效果最差;乳酸和乙酸产量KLDS1.0667>KLDS1.0342-1>KLDS1.0203;H2O2产量KLDS1.0203>KLDS1.0667>KLDS1.0342-1。在抑菌试验中,乳杆菌的发酵上清液经去除H2O2处理后抑菌圈直径都减小;将发酵上清液的p H调至7.0后均检测不到抑菌圈。结果表明,乳杆菌代谢产物中对化脓性链球菌起抑制作用的主要物质为有机酸和H2O2,其中乳酸是产生抑菌作用的最主要物质。乳酸、乙酸和H2O2对化脓性链球菌的最小抑菌浓度(MIC)分别为1.28、0.64和0.008 g/L,对化脓性链球菌的最小杀菌浓度(MBC)分别为5.12、2.56和0.032 g/L。【结论】乳杆菌可利用其代谢产物对化脓性链球菌产生抑制作用,主要抑菌物质为有机酸和H2O2。     

金属蛋白质组学研究锌离子匮乏对肺炎链球菌的影响

【目的】研究锌离子缺乏对肺炎链球菌的影响,找到其适应性生长机制。【方法】以肺炎链球菌为模型,利用加锌和不加锌的培养基对细菌进行培养,收集细胞蛋白,采用双向凝胶电泳,结合金属亲和层析和质谱技术鉴定差异表达蛋白,进而通过生物信息学分析蛋白质相互关系,从中找到细菌适应锌离子匮乏条件的关键代谢通路和蛋白。【结果】测定了在限制培养条件下肺炎链球菌的最适生长浓度,建立了锌离子调控蛋白双向凝胶电泳图谱,鉴定到了96个差异表达蛋白斑点,共67个差异蛋白,其中32个表达下调,35个表达上调,锌离子调控蛋白的作用可能主要体现在糖代谢、核酸代谢、氧化还原作用、辅助蛋白质翻译、合成及折叠等方面。建立了锌结合蛋白的差异表达图谱,鉴定到了10个差异表达蛋白斑点,共7个差异蛋白,其中1个表达下调,6个表达上调。锌离子结合蛋白的作用可能主要体现在应对压力、蛋白质折叠和转运、氨基酸代谢等方面。【结论】肺炎链球菌主要通过调控碳水化合物代谢和核酸代谢等多个代谢通路来应对宿主锌金属离子匮乏的环境,从而使自身能够存活并对宿主形成感染。本研究为揭示细菌在宿主环境,特别是金属离子匮乏条件下的适应性生长机制提供理论基础。     

化脓性链球菌溶血素O活性结构重组蛋白的制备

生物信息分析化脓性链球菌溶血素O(streptolysin O,Slo)蛋白结构表明,Slo蛋白除含有由461氨基酸残基组成的溶血活性结构域Thiol_cytolysin外,在N端还有一跨膜结构域。利用pET101-GENE蛋白表达系统,成功构建出表达具有Slo活性重组蛋白的重组子,采用镍柱亲和层析分离技术,纯化目的蛋白;纯化蛋白SDS-PAGE检测分析表明,重组蛋白与预测的溶血活性结构域的分子量相一致;溶血实验显示,纯化重组蛋白具有溶血活性。以纯化的重组蛋白为免疫原,对大鼠进行4次免疫,所获得免疫血清经 Elisa检测,抗Slo血清效价达到 1 ∶12 800;Western blot检测猪链球菌、马链球菌和化脓性链球菌中的链球菌溶血素结果显示,抗Slo多克隆抗体仅能与化脓性链球菌溶血素O发生反应,表明研究制备的化脓性链球菌溶血素O活性结构重组蛋白抗原具有较好的特异性,所制备的抗原Slo 可用于进一步开发抗链球菌溶血素O(ASO)试剂盒。     

应用蛋白质组学的方法分析缺铁培养对化脓性链球菌MGAS5005的影响

【目的】研究铁缺失对化脓性链球菌的影响,并寻找摄铁系统中的关键蛋白。【方法】以化脓链球菌为模型,利用含Fe和不含Fe的培养基对细菌进行培养,收集全细胞蛋白进行双向电泳,定量软件分析电泳图谱,质谱鉴定差异蛋白,进而通过生物信息学分析蛋白上下游关系,从中找到关键蛋白。【结果】鉴定出20个差异蛋白,并用Cytoscape软件对差异蛋白相互关系网络进行节点分析找到其中5个瓶颈分子。【结论】在培养基中的Fe3+缺乏时,细菌的生物合成和含氮化合物、生物大分子等重要代谢受到很大影响,这为进一步阐明细菌铁代谢机制奠定了基础。     

利用IMAC与LC-MS/MS技术分离和鉴定化脓链球菌中的锌结合蛋白

化脓链球菌是一种革兰氏阳性致病菌,能引起一系列疾病。运用固定化金属离子亲和层析技术(IMAC)富集化脓链球菌中锌结合蛋白,进行溶液酶解,利用先进的LC-MS/MS技术对富集的锌结合蛋白进行质谱分析。鉴定到48个在化脓链球菌中与锌结合相关蛋白,这些蛋白主要涉及到蛋白翻译、糖代谢、金属转运、氧化等重要生理过程。这些结果对于深入研究化脓链球菌的致病机制,寻找新的抗菌药物作用靶点和疫苗候选物具有重要意义。     

甲型链球菌SN-34和SN-35体外抑菌作用的研究

目的观察甲型链球菌SN-34和SN-35的抑菌效果。方法在固体培养基上用复层琼脂法观测甲型链球菌SN-34和SN-35对化脓性链球菌32309-2和金黄色葡萄球菌26001的抑菌环大小;在液体培养基中,甲型链球菌SN-34和SN-35分别与化脓性链球菌32309-2和金黄色葡萄球菌26001共同培养,然后观察一定间隔（2h）细菌的数量变化,并绘制生长曲线。结果化脓性链球菌32309-2的生长明显受到抑制。结论仅甲型链球菌SN-34具有抑菌作用。     

铜与神经退行性疾病

铜是一种必需微量元素,在生物体内起着重要的生理功能,并且与许多神经退行性疾病有密切关系,阿尔茨海默病是一种中枢神经系统退行性疾病,与该疾病相关的两种蛋白质可以与铜结合,从而发生代谢途径和构象的变化,表明铜与该病的形成和发展有某种联系,朊病毒是一种蛋白感染因子-可能引起转移性神经退行疾病,近来的研究表明铜在朊病毒蛋白构象变化中发挥着某种作用。     

化脓链球菌中铁结合蛋白MtsA二级结构的研究

化脓性链球菌是一种革兰氏阳性人类致病菌,其生长和感染离不开铁离子。MtsA是化脓链球菌中直接结合铁离子的一个脂蛋白。通过PCR扩增化脓性链球菌MGAS5005中的MtsA基因,构建高效表达质粒pGEX-MtsA,将其转化到大肠杆菌BL21中并用IPTG进行诱导表达。利用亲和层析方法纯化表达产物。通过多序列比对分析了MtsA铁结合中心的保守性,利用定点突变技术将MtsA的结合配体单位点及多位点进行突变,结合圆二色谱分析这些氨基酸突变后蛋白二级结构的变化。多序列比对结果表明MtsA结合铁离子的氨基酸位点是保守的,4个关键氨基酸位点处于蛋白空间的凹陷处。通过比较空载及饱和铁离子的野生型蛋白以及突变体蛋白的圆二色吸收光谱,发现野生型MtsA结合铁离子后结构更加紧密,H68A,E206A和D281A则比野生型的二级结构松散,而H140A的二级结构和野生型的几乎没有差别。对MtsA 4个结合配体突变后其二级结构变化的研究,为进一步研究细菌中的铁转运机理及开发疫苗候选药物和药靶奠定了一定的理论依据。     

综述:金属离子代谢平衡失调与阿尔茨海默病早期发病机制

研究表明,脑内金属离子代谢失衡与阿尔茨海默病(AD)有关,但其机理尚需深入探讨．结合本实验室研究结果,作者对金属离子代谢紊乱与氧化应激,金属离子代谢紊乱与β-淀粉样蛋白、转铁蛋白和转铁蛋白受体、铁调节蛋白、二价金属离子转运体以及天然抗氧化剂通过调节金属离子代谢平衡缓解β-淀粉样蛋白的毒性和保护细胞的作用进行探讨．提出：铁、铜等金属离子缺乏可能主要与AD早期关系密切,而铁、铜等金属离子过载可能主要与AD后期损伤关系密切的学术观点．     

Proteomic analysis and identification of Streptococcus pyogenes surface-associated proteins

Streptococcus pyogenes is a gram-positive human pathogen that causes a wide spectrum of disease, placing a significant burden on public health. Bacterial surface-associated proteins play crucial roles in host-pathogen interactions and pathogenesis and are important targets for the immune system. The identification of these proteins for vaccine development is an important goal of bacterial proteomics. Here we describe a method of proteolytic digestion of surface-exposed proteins to identify surface antigens of S. pyogenes. Peptides generated by trypsin digestion were analyzed by multidimensional tandem mass spectrometry. This approach allowed the identification of 79 proteins on the bacterial surface, including 14 proteins containing cell wall-anchoring motifs, 12 lipoproteins, 9 secreted proteins, 22 membrane-associated proteins, 1 bacteriophage-associated protein, and 21 proteins commonly identified as cytoplasmic. Thirty-three of these proteins have not been previously identified as cell surface associated in S. pyogenes. Several proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli, and the purified proteins were used to generate specific mouse antisera for use in a whole-cell enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The immunoreactivity of specific antisera to some of these antigens confirmed their surface localization. The data reported here will provide guidance in the development of a novel vaccine to prevent infections caused by S. pyogenes.     

Virulent aggregates of Streptococcus pyogenes are generated by homophilic protein-protein interactions

Many strains of the important human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes form aggregates when grown in vitro in liquid medium. The present studies demonstrate that this property is crucial for the adherence, the resistance to phagocytosis and the virulence of S. pyogenes. A conserved sequence of 19 amino acid residues (designated AHP) was identified in surface proteins of common S. pyogenes serotypes. This sequence was found to promote bacterial aggregation through homophilic protein-protein interactions between AHP-containing surface proteins of neighbouring bacteria. A synthetic AHP peptide inhibited S. pyogenes aggregation, reduced the survival of S. pyogenes in human blood and attenuated its virulence in mice. In contrast, mutant bacteria devoid of surface proteins containing AHP-related sequences did not aggregate or adhere to epithelial cells. These bacteria are also rapidly killed in human blood and show reduced virulence in mice, underlining the pathogenic significance of the AHP sequence and S. pyogenes aggregation.     

Proteolysis and its regulation at the surface of Streptococcus pyogenes

Pathogenic bacteria often produce proteinases that are believed to be involved in virulence. Moreover, several host defence systems depend on proteolysis, demonstrating that proteolysis and its regulation play an important role during bacterial infections. Here, we discuss how proteolytical events are regulated at the surface of Streptococcus pyogenes during infection with this important human pathogen. Streptococcus pyogenes produces proteinases, and host proteinases are produced and released as a result of the infection. Streptococcus pyogenes also recruits host proteinase inhibitors to its surface, suggesting that proteolysis is tightly regulated at the bacterial surface. We propose that the initial phase of a S. pyogenes infection is characterized by inhibition of proteolysis and complement activity at the bacterial surface. This is achieved mainly through binding of host proteinase inhibitors and complement regulatory proteins to bacterial surface proteins. In a later phase of the infection, massive proteolytic activity will release bacterial surface proteins and degrade human tissues, thus facilitating bacterial spread. These proteolytic events are regulated both temporally and spatially, and should influence virulence and the outcome of S. pyogenes infections.     

Gene repertoire evolution of Streptococcus pyogenes inferred from phylogenomic analysis with Streptococcus canis and Streptococcus dysgalactiae

Streptococcus pyogenes, is an important human pathogen classified within the pyogenic group of streptococci, exclusively adapted to the human host. Our goal was to employ a comparative evolutionary approach to better understand the genomic events concomitant with S. pyogenes human adaptation. As part of ascertaining these events, we sequenced the genome of one of the potential sister species, the agricultural pathogen S. canis, and combined it in a comparative genomics reconciliation analysis with two other closely related species, Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Streptococcus equi, to determine the genes that were gained and lost during S. pyogenes evolution. Genome wide phylogenetic analyses involving 15 Streptococcus species provided convincing support for a clade of S. equi, S. pyogenes, S. dysgalactiae, and S. canis and suggested that the most likely S. pyogenes sister species was S. dysgalactiae. The reconciliation analysis identified 113 genes that were gained on the lineage leading to S. pyogenes. Almost half (46%) of these gained genes were phage associated and 14 showed significant matches to experimentally verified bacteria virulence factors. Subsequent to the origin of S. pyogenes, over half of the phage associated genes were involved in 90 different LGT events, mostly involving different strains of S. pyogenes, but with a high proportion involving the horse specific pathogen S. equi subsp. equi, with the directionality almost exclusively (86%) in the S. pyogenes to S. equi direction. Streptococcus agalactiae appears to have played an important role in the evolution of S. pyogenes with a high proportion of LGTs originating from this species. Overall the analysis suggests that S. pyogenes adaptation to the human host was achieved in part by (i) the integration of new virulence factors (e.g. speB, and the sal locus) and (ii) the construction of new regulation networks (e.g. rgg, and to some extent speB).     

C-terminal antibodies (CTAbs): a simple and broadly applicable approach for the rapid generation of protein-specific antibodies with predefined specificity

Recent advances in proteomic techniques have resulted in an ever-increasing need to produce antibodies. Here, to address this problem, a technically simple approach of targeting the extreme C-termini of proteins with antibodies (CTAbs) was investigated in proteins secreted by the human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes. Target proteins were identified by a conventional proteomic approach and CTAbs produced against synthetic five amino acid peptides representing the C-terminus of each target protein. In every case where protein secretion was demonstrated (n = 20), CTAbs were successfully produced and bound specifically to the target protein (100% success rate). The apparent specificity was consistent with the structural heterogeneity of the C-termini of S. pyogenes proteins. The global specificity of CTAb binding was defined using a combinatorial library of synthetic peptides representing structural variants of the original synthetic immunogen. This is a systematic and comprehensive approach for the development of antibodies with defined specificity that can be used in a range of applications.     

Identification and characterization of two temperature-induced surface-associated proteins of Streptococcus suis with high homologies to members of the Arginine Deiminase system of Streptococcus pyogenes

The present study was performed to identify stress-induced putative virulence proteins of Streptococcus suis. For this, protein expression patterns of streptococci grown at 32, 37, and 42 degrees C were compared by one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Temperature shifts from 32 and 37 to 42 degrees C induced expression of two cell wall-associated proteins with apparent molecular masses of approximately 47 and 53 kDa. Amino-terminal sequence analysis of the two proteins indicated homologies of the 47-kDa protein with an ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OCT) from Streptococcus pyogenes and of the 53-kDa protein with the streptococcal acid glycoprotein (SAGP) from S. pyogenes, an arginine deiminase (AD) recently proposed as a putative virulence factor. Cloning and sequencing the genes encoding the putative OCT and AD of S. suis, octS and adiS, respectively, revealed that they had 81.2 (octS) and 80.2% (adiS) identity with the respective genes of S. pyogenes. Both genes belong to the AD system, also found in other bacteria. Southern hybridization analysis demonstrated the presence of the adiS gene in all 42 serotype 2 and 9 S. suis strains tested. In 9 of these 42 strains, selected randomly, we confirmed expression of the AdiS protein, homologous to SAGP, by immunoblot analysis using a specific antiserum against the SAGP of S. pyogenes. In all strains AD activity was detected. Furthermore, by immunoelectron microscopy using the anti-S. pyogenes SAGP antiserum we were able to demonstrate that the AdiS protein is expressed on the streptococcal surface in association with the capsular polysaccharides but is not coexpressed with them.     

Streptococcus pyogenes in human plasma: adaptive mechanisms analyzed by mass spectrometry-based proteomics

Streptococcus pyogenes is a major bacterial pathogen and a potent inducer of inflammation causing plasma leakage at the site of infection. A combination of label-free quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics strategies were used to measure how the intracellular proteome homeostasis of S. pyogenes is influenced by the presence of human plasma, identifying and quantifying 842 proteins. In plasma the bacterium modifies its production of 213 proteins, and the most pronounced change was the complete down-regulation of proteins required for fatty acid biosynthesis. Fatty acids are transported by albumin (HSA) in plasma. S. pyogenes expresses HSA-binding surface proteins, and HSA carrying fatty acids reduced the amount of fatty acid biosynthesis proteins to the same extent as plasma. The results clarify the function of HSA-binding proteins in S. pyogenes and underline the power of the quantitative mass spectrometry strategy used here to investigate bacterial adaptation to a given environment.