Distinct signatures of host–microbial meta-metabolome and gut microbiome in two C57BL/6 strains under high-fat diet

A combinatory approach using metabolomics and gut microbiome analysis techniques was performed to unravel the nature and specificity of metabolic profiles related to gut ecology in obesity. This study focused on gut and liver metabolomics of two different mouse strains, the C57BL/6J (C57J) and the C57BL/6N (C57N) fed with high-fat diet (HFD) for 3 weeks, causing diet-induced obesity in C57N, but not in C57J mice. Furthermore, a 16S-ribosomal RNA comparative sequence analysis using 454 pyrosequencing detected significant differences between the microbiome of the two strains on phylum level for Firmicutes, Deferribacteres and Proteobacteria that propose an essential role of the microbiome in obesity susceptibility. Gut microbial and liver metabolomics were followed by a combinatory approach using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) and ultra performance liquid chromatography time of tlight MS/MS with subsequent multivariate statistical analysis, revealing distinctive host and microbial metabolome patterns between the C57J and the C57N strain. Many taurine-conjugated bile acids (TBAs) were significantly elevated in the cecum and decreased in liver samples from the C57J phenotype likely displaying different energy utilization behavior by the bacterial community and the host. Furthermore, several metabolite groups could specifically be associated with the C57N phenotype involving fatty acids, eicosanoids and urobilinoids. The mass differences based metabolite network approach enabled to extend the range of known metabolites to important bile acids (BAs) and novel taurine conjugates specific for both strains. In summary, our study showed clear alterations of the metabolome in the gastrointestinal tract and liver within a HFD-induced obesity mouse model in relation to the host–microbial nutritional adaptation.     

Upregulation of ABC transporters contributes to chemoresistance of sphingosine 1-phosphate lyase-deficient fibroblasts

Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is an extra- and intracellular mediator that regulates cell growth, survival, migration, and adhesion in many cell types. S1P lyase is the enzyme that irreversibly cleaves S1P and thereby constitutes the ultimate step in sphingolipid catabolism. It has been reported previously that embryonic fibroblasts from S1P lyase-deficient mice (Sgpl1^−/−-MEFs) are resistant to chemotherapy-induced apoptosis through upregulation of B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) and Bcl-2-like 1 (Bcl-xL). Here, we demonstrate that the transporter proteins Abcc1/MRP1, Abcb1/MDR1, Abca1, and spinster-2 are upregulated in Sgpl1^−/−-MEFs. Furthermore, the cells efficiently sequestered the substrates of Abcc1 and Abcb1, fluo-4 and doxorubicin, in subcellular compartments. In line with this, Abcb1 was localized mainly at intracellular vesicular structures. After 16 h of incubation, wild-type MEFs had small apoptotic nuclei containing doxorubicin, whereas the nuclei of Sgpl1^−/−-MEFs appeared unchanged and free of doxorubicin. A combined treatment with the inhibitors of Abcb1 and Abcc1, zosuquidar and MK571, respectively, reversed the compartmentalization of doxorubicin and rendered the cells sensitive to doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. It is concluded that upregulation of multidrug resistance transporters contributes to the chemoresistance of S1P lyase-deficient MEFs.     

Identification of a new class of nitrogen fixation genes in Rhodobacter capsalatus: a putative membrane complex involved in electron transport to nitrogenase

DNA sequence analysis of a 12236 by fragment, which is located upstream of nifE in Rhodobacter capsulatus nif region A, revealed the presence of ten open reading frames. With the exception of fdxC and fdxN, which encode a plant-type and a bacterial-type ferredoxin, the deduced products of these coding regions exhibited no significant homology to known proteins. Analysis of defined insertion and deletion mutants demonstrated that six of these genes were required for nitrogen fixation. Therefore, we propose to call these genes rnfA, rnfB, rnfC, rnfD, rnfE and rnfF (for Rhodobacter nitrogen fixation). Secondary structure predictions suggested that the rnf genes encode four potential membrane proteins and two putative iron-sulphur proteins, which contain cysteine motifs (C-X₂-C-X₂-C-X₃-C-P) typical for [4Fe-4S] proteins. Comparison of the in vivo and in vitro nitrogenase activities of fdxN and rnf mutants suggested that the products encoded by these genes are involved in electron transport to nitrogenase. In addition, these mutants were shown to contain significantly reduced amounts of nitrogenase. The hypothesis that this new class of nitrogen fixation genes encodes components of an electron transfer system to nitrogenase was corroborated by analysing the effect of metronidazole. Both the fdxN and rnf mutants had higher growth yields in the presence of metronidazole than the wild type, suggesting that these mutants contained lower amounts of reduced ferredoxins.     

Immunospecific responses to bacterial elongation factor Tu during Burkholderia infection and immunization

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the etiological agent of melioidosis, a disease endemic in parts of Southeast Asia and Northern Australia. Currently there is no licensed vaccine against infection with this biological threat agent. In this study, we employed an immunoproteomic approach and identified bacterial Elongation factor-Tu (EF-Tu) as a potential vaccine antigen. EF-Tu is membrane-associated, secreted in outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), and immunogenic during Burkholderia infection in the murine model of melioidosis. Active immunization with EF-Tu induced antigen-specific antibody and cell-mediated immune responses in mice. Mucosal immunization with EF-Tu also reduced lung bacterial loads in mice challenged with aerosolized B. thailandensis. Our data support the utility of EF-Tu as a novel vaccine immunogen against bacterial infection.     

Three-dimensional organotypic models of human colonic epithelium to study the early stages of enteric salmonellosis

In vitro cell culture models used to study how Salmonella initiates disease at the intestinal epithelium would benefit from the recognition that organs and tissues function in a three-dimensional (3-D) environment and that this spatial context is necessary for development of cultures that more realistically resemble in vivo tissues/organs. Our aim was to establish and characterize biologically meaningful 3-D models of human colonic epithelium and apply them to study the early stages of enteric salmonellosis. The human colonic cell line HT-29 was cultured in 3-D and characterized by immunohistochemistry, histology, and scanning electron microscopy. Wild-type Salmonella typhimurium and an isogenic SPI-1 type three secretion system (TTSS) mutant derivative (invA) were used to compare the interactions with 3-D cells and monolayers in adherence/invasion, tissue pathology, and cytokine expression studies. The results showed that 3-D culture enhanced many characteristics normally associated with fully differentiated, functional intestinal epithelia in vivo, including better organization of junctional, extracellular matrix, and brush-border proteins, and highly localized mucin production. Wild-type Salmonella demonstrated increased adherence, but significantly lower invasion for 3-D cells. Interestingly, the SPI-I TTSS mutant showed wild-type ability to invade into the 3-D cells but did not cause significant structural changes to these cells. Moreover, 3-D cells produced less interleukin-8 before and after Salmonella infection. These results suggest that 3-D cultures of human colonic epithelium provide valuable alternative models to study human enteric salmonellosis with potential for novel insight into Salmonella pathogenesis.     

Platelet-activating factor-induced clathrin-mediated endocytosis requires beta-arrestin-1 recruitment and activation of the p38 MAPK signalosome at the plasma membrane for actin bundle formation

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is a common pathway used by G protein-linked receptors to transduce extracellular signals. We hypothesize that platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor (PAFR) ligation requires CME and causes engagement of beta-arrestin-1 and recruitment of a p38 MAPK signalosome that elicits distinct actin rearrangement at the receptor before endosomal scission. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils were stimulated with buffer or 2 microM PAF (1 min), and whole cell lysates or subcellular fractions were immunoprecipitated or slides prepared for colocalization and fluorescent resonance energy transfer analysis. In select experiments, beta-arrestin-1 or dynamin-2 were neutralized by intracellular introduction of specific Abs. PAFR ligation caused 1) coprecipitation of the PAFR and clathrin with beta-arrestin-1, 2) fluorescent resonance energy transfer-positive interactions among the PAFR, beta-arrestin-1, and clathrin, 3) recruitment and activation of the apoptosis signal-regulating kinase-1/MAPK kinase-3/p38 MAPK (ASK1/MKK3/p38 MAPK) signalosome, 4) cell polarization, and 5) distinct actin bundle formation at the PAFR. Neutralization of beta-arrestin-1 inhibited all of these cellular events, including PAFR internalization; conversely, dynamin-2 inhibition only affected receptor internalization. Selective p38 MAPK inhibition globally abrogated actin rearrangement; however, inhibition of MAPK-activated protein kinase-2 and its downstream kinase leukocyte-specific protein-1 inhibited only actin bundle formation and PAFR internalization. In addition, ASK1/MKK3/p38 MAPK signalosome assembly appears to occur in a novel manner such that the ASK1/p38 MAPK heterodimer is recruited to a beta-arrestin-1 bound MKK3. In polymorphonuclear neutrophils, leukocyte-specific protein-1 may play a role similar to fascin for actin bundle formation. We conclude that PAF signaling requires CME, beta-arrestin-1 recruitment of a p38 MAPK signalosome, and specific actin bundle formation at the PAFR for transduction before endosomal scission.     

Identification of the single specific IQ motif of myosin V from which calmodulin dissociates in the presence of Ca2+

Each heavy chain of dimeric chick brain myosin V (BMV) has a neck domain consisting of six IQ motifs with different amino acid sequences. The six IQ motifs form binding sites for five calmodulin (CaM) molecules and one essential light chain (either 17 or 23 kDa). When the calcium concentration is high, a small fraction of the 10 total CaM molecules dissociates from one molecule of BMV, resulting in loss of actin-based motor activity. At low Ca2+ concentrations, two molecules of exogenous CaM associate with one molecule of CaM-released BMV. This suggests that there is a single specific IQ motif responsible for the calcium-induced dissociation of CaM. In this study, we identify the specific IQ motif to be IQ2, the second IQ motif when counted from the N-terminal end of the neck domain. In addition, we showed that the essential light chains do not reside on IQ1 and IQ2. These findings were derived from proteolysis of BMV at high Ca2+ concentrations specifically at the neck region and SDS-PAGE analyses of the digests.     

Trip duration drives shift in travel network structure with implications for the predictability of spatial disease spread

Human travel is one of the primary drivers of infectious disease spread. Models of travel are often used that assume the amount of travel to a specific destination decreases as cost of travel increases with higher travel volumes to more populated destinations. Trip duration, the length of time spent in a destination, can also impact travel patterns. We investigated the spatial patterns of travel conditioned on trip duration and find distinct differences between short and long duration trips. In short-trip duration travel networks, trips are skewed towards urban destinations, compared with long-trip duration networks where travel is more evenly spread among locations. Using gravity models to inform connectivity patterns in simulations of disease transmission, we show that pathogens with shorter generation times exhibit initial patterns of spatial propagation that are more predictable among urban locations. Further, pathogens with a longer generation time have more diffusive patterns of spatial spread reflecting more unpredictable disease dynamics.