FcpB Is a Surface Filament Protein of the Endoflagellum Required for the Motility of the Spirochete Leptospira

International audienceThe spirochete endoflagellum is a unique motility apparatus among bacteria. Despite its critical importance for pathogenesis, the full composition of the flagellum remains to be determined. We have recently reported that FcpA is a novel flagellar protein and a major component of the sheath of the filament of the spirochete Leptospira. By screening a library of random transposon mutants in the spirochete Leptospira biflexa, we found a motility-deficient mutant harboring a disruption in a hypothetical gene of unknown function. Here, we show that this gene encodes a surface component of the endoflagellar filament and is required for typical hook- and spiral-shaped ends of the cell body, coiled structure of the endoflagella, and high velocity phenotype. We therefore named the gene fcpB for flagellar-coiling protein B. fcpB is conserved in all members of the Leptospira genus, but not present in other organisms including other spirochetes. Complementation of the fcpB− mutant restored the wild-type morphology and motility phenotypes. Immunoblotting with anti-FcpA and anti-FcpB antisera and cryo-electron microscopy of the filament indicated that FcpB assembled onto the surface of the sheath of the filament and mostly located on the outer (convex) side of the coiled filament. We provide evidence that FcpB, together with FcpA, are Leptospira-specific novel components of the sheath of the filament, key determinants of the coiled and asymmetric structure of the endoflagella and are essential for high velocity. Defining the components of the endoflagella and their functions in these atypical bacteria should greatly enhance our understanding of the mechanisms by which these bacteria produce motility

Mastite bovina : agentes identificados no Rio Grande do Sul

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Quantification of Leptospira interrogans Survival in Soil and Water Microcosms

Leptospira interrogans is the etiological agent of leptospirosis, a globally distributed zoonotic disease. Human infection usually occurs through skin exposure with water and soil contaminated with the urine of chronically infected animals. In this study, we aimed to quantitatively characterize the survival of Leptospira interrogans serovar Copenhageni in environmental matrices. We constructed laboratory microcosms to simulate natural conditions and determined the persistence of DNA markers in soil, mud, spring water and sewage using a quantitative PCR (qPCR) and a propidium monoazide (PMA)-qPCR assay. We found that L. interrogans does not survive at high concentrations in the tested matrices. No net growth was detected in any of the experimental conditions and in all cases the concentration of the DNA markers targeted decreased from the beginning of the experiment following an exponential decay with a decreasing decay rate over time. After 12 and 21 days of incubation the spiked concentration of 106L. interrogans cells/ml or g decreased to approximately 100 cells/ml or g in soil and spring water microcosms, respectively. Furthermore, culturable L. interrogans persisted at concentrations under the limit of detection by PMA-qPCR or qPCR for at least 16 days in soil and 28 days in spring water. Altogether, our findings suggest that the environment is not a multiplication reservoir but a temporary carrier of L. interrogans Copenhageni, although the observed prolonged persistence at low concentrations may still enable the transmission of the disease.IMPORTANCE Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease caused by spirochetes of the genus Leptospira that primarily affects impoverished populations worldwide. Although leptospirosis is transmitted by contact with water and soil, little is known about the ability of the pathogen to survive in the environment. In this study, we quantitatively characterized the survival of L. interrogans in environmental microcosms and found that although it cannot multiply in water, soil or sewage, it survives for extended time periods (days to weeks depending on the matrix). The survival parameters obtained here may help to better understand the distribution of pathogenic Leptospira in the environment and improve the predictions of human infection risks in areas where such infections are endemic

Linking rattiness, geography and environmental degradation to spillover Leptospira infections in marginalised urban settings: An eco-epidemiological community-based cohort study in Brazil

Background: Zoonotic spillover from animal reservoirs is responsible for a significant global public health burden, but the processes that promote spillover events are poorly understood in complex urban settings. Endemic transmission of Leptospira, the agent of leptospirosis, in marginalised urban communities occurs through human exposure to an environment contaminated by bacteria shed in the urine of the rat reservoir. However, it is unclear to what extent transmission is driven by variation in the distribution of rats or by the dispersal of bacteria in rainwater runoff and overflow from open sewer systems. Methods: We conducted an eco-epidemiological study in a high-risk community in Salvador, Brazil, by prospectively following a cohort of 1401 residents to ascertain serological evidence for leptospiral infections. A concurrent rat ecology study was used to collect information on the fine-scale spatial distribution of 'rattiness', our proxy for rat abundance and exposure of interest. We developed and applied a novel geostatistical framework for joint spatial modelling of multiple indices of disease reservoir abundance and human infection risk. Results: The estimated infection rate was 51.4 (95%CI 40.4, 64.2) infections per 1000 follow-up events. Infection risk increased with age until 30 years of age and was associated with male gender. Rattiness was positively associated with infection risk for residents across the entire study area, but this effect was stronger in higher elevation areas (OR 3.27 95% CI 1.68, 19.07) than in lower elevation areas (OR 1.14 95% CI 1.05, 1.53). Conclusions: These findings suggest that, while frequent flooding events may disperse bacteria in regions of low elevation, environmental risk in higher elevation areas is more localised and directly driven by the distribution of local rat populations. The modelling framework developed may have broad applications in delineating complex animal-environment-human interactions during zoonotic spillover and identifying opportunities for public health intervention

Spatial and temporal dynamics of pathogenic Leptospira in surface waters from the urban slum environment

Leptospirosis has emerged as an important urban health problem as slum settlements have expanded worldwide. Yet the dynamics of the environmentally transmitted Leptospira pathogen has not been well characterized in these settings. We used a stratified dense sampling scheme to study the dynamics of Leptospira abundance in surface waters from a Brazilian urban slum community. We collected surface water samples during the dry, intermediate and rainy seasons within a seven-month period and quantified pathogenic Leptospira by quantitative PCR (qPCR). We used logistic and linear mixed models to identify factors that explained variation for the presence and concentration of Leptospira DNA. Among 335 sewage and 250 standing water samples, Leptospira DNA were detected in 36% and 34%, respectively. Among the 236 samples with positive results geometric mean Leptospira concentrations were 152 GEq/mL. The probability of finding Leptospira DNA was higher in sewage samples collected during the rainy season when increased leptospirosis incidence occurred, than during the dry season (47.2% vs 12.5%, respectively, p = 0.0002). There was a marked spatial and temporal heterogeneity in Leptospira DNA distribution, for which type of water, elevation, and time of day that samples were collected, in addition to season, were significant predictors. Together, these findings indicate that Leptospira are ubiquitous in the slum environment and that the water-related risk to which inhabitants are exposed is low. Seasonal increases in Leptospira presence may explain the timing of leptospirosis outbreaks. Effective prevention will need to consider the spatial and temporal dynamics of pathogenic Leptospira in surface waters to reduce the burden of the disease

Mastite bovina : avaliação microbiológica do leite, com ênfase nas leveduras isoladas de casos de mastite clínica e subclínica, na região do planalto médio-RS, em 2005 e 2006.

A mastite bovina é comprovadamente um dos maiores problemas atuais da pecuária leiteira no Brasil e no mundo, acarretando ônus aos produtores, à indústria e ao consumidor final. Foram analisadas 240 amostras de leite proveniente de animais com mastite clínica e de animais com mastite subclínica, criados em propriedades leiteiras de alta produção, da região do Planalto Médio, Rio Grande do Sul. Houve isolamento de 250 agentes bacterianos em 218 amostras (90,8%) e 65 agentes leveduriformes em 39 amostras (16,25%). Foram identificados 10 gêneros e 12 espécies de bactérias, sendo os gêneros Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium e Nocardia responsáveis por 88% dos isolados. Foram identificados 08 gêneros (29 espécies) de leveduras além de 02 gêneros de fungos semelhantes a leveduras (04 espécies), sendo os gêneros Candida, Pichia, Cryptococcus e Rhodotorula responsáveis por 80% das espécies isoladas.Apenas 03 amostras apresentaram crescimento puro de leveduras, o restante estando associado com isolamentos bacterianos, o que demonstra uma importante relação entre fungos e bactérias na etiologia das mastites. Mais de 90% dos agentes leveduriformes isolados tiveram crescimento em temperaturas acima de 37ºC, demonstrando seu potencial patogênico. Verificou-se que a prevalência de mastite fúngica na região é significante e fortemente relacionada com a presença de agentes bacterianos, o tratamento inadequado com produtos antimicrobianos e a saúde do úbere.The bovine mastitis is one of the largest problems of dairy herds in Brazil and all over the world, resulting in losses to producers, to the industry and to the final consumer. High production dairy herds were analyzed in Planalto Médio, Rio Grande do Sul, were 240 samples with clinical and subclínica mastitis were collected. There was the isolation of 250 bacterial agents in 218 samples (90,8%) and 65 yeast organisms in 39 samples (16,25%). There was identification of 10 genera and 12 species of bacteria, and 88% of the isolates were from genera Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium and Nocardia. There was the identification of 08 genera (29 species) of yeasts and 02 genera of yeast-like organisms (04 species), and 80% of the isolates were from genera Candida, Pichia, Cryptococcus and Rhodotorula. Only 03 samples presented pure growth of yeasts, the remaining was associated with bacterial isolations, which demonstrates an important relationship between yeasts and bacteria in the etiology of the mastitis. More than 90% of the yeast isolates had growth in temperatures above 37ºC, which demonstrates their pathogenic potential. It was verified that in this particularly region, the occurrence of mastitis caused by yeasts has a significant importance and are closely related with the bacterial agents' presence, the inadequate treatment with antibiotic products and udder’s health

Patogênese da leptospirose: estudo sobre os fatores envolvidos na virulência e disseminação do agente durante a infecção no modelo animal de hamster

Submitted by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2012-07-16T21:26:49Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Elsio Augusto Wunder Júnior Patogênese da leptospirose...pdf: 2609622 bytes, checksum: aa34c959355bc105a6e849e74258cf78 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2012-07-16T21:26:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elsio Augusto Wunder Júnior Patogênese da leptospirose...pdf: 2609622 bytes, checksum: aa34c959355bc105a6e849e74258cf78 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Centro de Pesquisas Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, Bahia, BrasilA leptospirose é uma zoonose de importância global e um importante problema de saúde pública principalmente em países em desenvolvimento. É causada por bactérias do gênero Leptospira, uma espiroqueta móvel e de alta morbidade capaz de se disseminar nos tecidos e causar doença crônica em animais hospedeiros. Uma barreira importante para o controle e prevenção da doença tem sido o pouco conhecimento da patogênese do agente, em parte pela falta de ferramentas disponíveis e eficazes de manipulação genética. Um dos objetivos desse estudo foi caracterizar duas cepas mutantes de Leptospira interrogans. A interrupção do gene lipl32, que codifica para a proteína LipL32, a mais abundante proteína no gênero Leptospira e expressa somente na superfície das leptospiras patogênicas, foi realizada através da inserção do transposon Himar1 no sorovar Manilae. A cepa mutante não apresentou nenhuma diferença de crescimento ou de aderência em componentes da matriz celular, comparada com a cepa parental. O mutante foi capaz de produzir doença aguda no modelo animal de hamster e causar colonização crônica no modelo animal de rato, mostrando que LipL32 não possui um papel nestes modelos de infecção. A interrupção do gene ligB foi realizada com a utilização, pela primeira vez em leptospiras patogênicas, da técnica de recombinação homóloga por mutagênese dirigida, onde o gene que codifica para a proteína LigB teve uma parte substituída por um cassete de resistência de espectinomicina (Spcr). Essa proteína, identificada como um possível fator de virulência, reconhecida pelo soro de pacientes infectados e importante para a aderência em componentes da matriz celular, mostrou não ser importante para a infecção aguda ou crônica, quando testada frente aos modelos animais, além de não ser necessária para a aderência em cultura de células. Outro objetivo desse trabalho foi estudar a cinética de disseminação da Leptospira interrogans no modelo animal de hamster, utilizando uma dose alta (108 leptospiras) e baixa (250 leptospiras) de inóculo, além de diferentes rotas de infecção. Nossos resultados demonstraram que leptospiras se disseminam rapidamente em todos os tecidos 01 hora após a infecção com uma alta dose de inóculo e que possivelmente a carga do agente nos tecidos é mais importante para a patogênese do que a sua habilidade para a disseminação. Também demonstramos que a motilidade não é essencial para disseminação, mas pode ser essencial para a carga nos tecidos e letalidade.Leptospirosis is a worldwide zoonosis and a major public health problem especially important in developing countries. Caused by bacteria of Leptospira genus, a motile lifethreatening spirochete which is able to disseminate to tissues and causes chronic carriage in animal hosts. A significant barrier to the control and prevention of leptospirosis has been the limited understanding of its pathogenesis, due in part to the lack of tools available for the genetic manipulation of this pathogen. One of the purposes of this study was to characterize two mutant strains of Leptospira interrogans. Interruption of lipL32 gene, encoding LipL32, the most abundant protein of pathogenic leptospires and its major outermembrane lipoprotein, was achieved in serovar Manilae using transposon mutagenesis with Himar1. The mutant had normal morphology and growth rate compared to the wild type and was equally adherent to extracellular matrix. The mutant was able to cause acute severe disease manifestations in the hamster model and chronic colonization in the rat model, showing that LipL32 doesn’t play a role in neither of those models of infection. Interruption of ligB gene was achieved using the homologous recombination by target mutagenesis for the first time in pathogenic leptospires and a spectinomycin resistance (Spcr) gene replaced a portion of the ligB coding sequence. This Lig protein, previously identified as a putative virulence factor, recognized by the sera of infected patients and important for the adherence in extracellular matrix components, showed not to be important for acute or chronic infection when tested with animal models and it’s not required to mediate bacterial adherence to cultured cells. Another purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the kinetics of dissemination of Leptospira interrogans in the hamster model, using a high (108 leptospires) and low (250 leptospires) dose of inoculum and different routes of infection. Our results demonstrated that leptospires can rapidly disseminate through all tissues after 1 hour post-challenge with a high inoculum dose and that perhaps the load of the agent in target tissues is more important for pathogenesis than its ability for dissemination. We also demonstrate that motility is not essential for dissemination but can be essential for tissue load and lethality

Mastite bovina : avaliação microbiológica do leite, com ênfase nas leveduras isoladas de casos de mastite clínica e subclínica, na região do planalto médio-RS, em 2005 e 2006.

A mastite bovina é comprovadamente um dos maiores problemas atuais da pecuária leiteira no Brasil e no mundo, acarretando ônus aos produtores, à indústria e ao consumidor final. Foram analisadas 240 amostras de leite proveniente de animais com mastite clínica e de animais com mastite subclínica, criados em propriedades leiteiras de alta produção, da região do Planalto Médio, Rio Grande do Sul. Houve isolamento de 250 agentes bacterianos em 218 amostras (90,8%) e 65 agentes leveduriformes em 39 amostras (16,25%). Foram identificados 10 gêneros e 12 espécies de bactérias, sendo os gêneros Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium e Nocardia responsáveis por 88% dos isolados. Foram identificados 08 gêneros (29 espécies) de leveduras além de 02 gêneros de fungos semelhantes a leveduras (04 espécies), sendo os gêneros Candida, Pichia, Cryptococcus e Rhodotorula responsáveis por 80% das espécies isoladas.Apenas 03 amostras apresentaram crescimento puro de leveduras, o restante estando associado com isolamentos bacterianos, o que demonstra uma importante relação entre fungos e bactérias na etiologia das mastites. Mais de 90% dos agentes leveduriformes isolados tiveram crescimento em temperaturas acima de 37ºC, demonstrando seu potencial patogênico. Verificou-se que a prevalência de mastite fúngica na região é significante e fortemente relacionada com a presença de agentes bacterianos, o tratamento inadequado com produtos antimicrobianos e a saúde do úbere.The bovine mastitis is one of the largest problems of dairy herds in Brazil and all over the world, resulting in losses to producers, to the industry and to the final consumer. High production dairy herds were analyzed in Planalto Médio, Rio Grande do Sul, were 240 samples with clinical and subclínica mastitis were collected. There was the isolation of 250 bacterial agents in 218 samples (90,8%) and 65 yeast organisms in 39 samples (16,25%). There was identification of 10 genera and 12 species of bacteria, and 88% of the isolates were from genera Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium and Nocardia. There was the identification of 08 genera (29 species) of yeasts and 02 genera of yeast-like organisms (04 species), and 80% of the isolates were from genera Candida, Pichia, Cryptococcus and Rhodotorula. Only 03 samples presented pure growth of yeasts, the remaining was associated with bacterial isolations, which demonstrates an important relationship between yeasts and bacteria in the etiology of the mastitis. More than 90% of the yeast isolates had growth in temperatures above 37ºC, which demonstrates their pathogenic potential. It was verified that in this particularly region, the occurrence of mastitis caused by yeasts has a significant importance and are closely related with the bacterial agents' presence, the inadequate treatment with antibiotic products and udder’s health