Measuring Bacterial Load and Immune Responses in Mice Infected with Listeria monocytogenes

Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular pathogen1. Mouse studies typically employ intravenous injection of Listeria, which results in systemic infection2. After injection, Listeria quickly disseminates to the spleen and liver due to uptake by CD8α+ dendritic cells and Kupffer cells3,4. Once phagocytosed, various bacterial proteins enable Listeria to escape the phagosome, survive within the cytosol, and infect neighboring cells5. During the first three days of infection, different innate immune cells (e.g. monocytes, neutrophils, NK cells, dendritic cells) mediate bactericidal mechanisms that minimize Listeria proliferation. CD8+ T cells are subsequently recruited and responsible for the eventual clearance of Listeria from the host, typically within 10 days of infection6

Innate secretory antibodies protect against natural Salmonella typhimurium infection

The production of IgA is induced in an antigen-unspecific manner by commensal flora. These secretory antibodies (SAbs) may bind multiple antigens and are thought to eliminate commensal bacteria and self-antigens to avoid systemic recognition. In this study, we addressed the role of “innate” SAbs, i.e., those that are continuously produced in normal individuals, in protection against infection of the gastrointestinal tract. We used polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR−/−) knock-out mice, which are unable to bind and actively transport dimeric IgA and pentameric IgM to the mucosae, and examined the role of innate SAbs in protection against the invasive pathogen Salmonella typhimurium. In vitro experiments suggested that innate IgA in pIgR−/− serum bound S. typhimurium in a cross-reactive manner which inhibited epithelial cell invasion. Using a “natural” infection model, we demonstrated that pIgR−/− mice are profoundly sensitive to infection with S. typhimurium via the fecal-oral route and, moreover, shed more bacteria that readily infected other animals. These results imply an important evolutionary role for innate SAbs in protecting both the individual and the herd against infections, and suggest that the major role of SAbs may be to prevent the spread of microbial pathogens throughout the population, rather than protection of local mucosal surfaces

Can environmental DNA be used to detect first arrivals of the cane toad, Rhinella marina, into novel locations?

Eradicating invasive species is difficult, but success is more likely when populations are small after arrival. The cane toad, Rhinella marina, is an invasive pest species that threatens native fauna worldwide. Increasingly, environmental DNA (eDNA) is used as a technique to monitor the presence of invasive species given its power to detect low numbers of individuals. We aimed to investigate eDNA persistence in freshwater at three different temperatures (25, 30 and 35°C) and eDNA detection thresholds for R. marina using controlled experiments in aquaria. For the latter, two water volumes and two cane toad exposure times were used (800 or 200 L volume with 5 or 30 min exposure). A 15‐ml water sample was collected from each replicated aquaria and preserved with 5 ml Longmire's buffer. Environmental DNA was extracted and four technical quantitative PCR replicates were analyzed targeting the cane toad 16S rDNA mitochondrial gene. Environmental DNA decayed rapidly in water and was reliably detected for up to 3 days after cane toad removal, regardless of the temperature treatment. Also, cane toad eDNA was detected in the water after a 5‐min initial exposure of a single individual in 800 L of water. Under the physical parameters tested here, a positive detection means that a cane toad has been in contact with the water body between 1 and 3 days prior to the sampling event. The results of the present study show the importance of eDNA for determining the presence of a species that occurs at low abundance in a small water body, such as at the onset of a cane toad invasion

Bacterial Antigen Expression Is an Important Component in Inducing an Immune Response to Orally Administered Salmonella-Delivered DNA Vaccines

BACKGROUND: The use of Salmonella to deliver heterologous antigens from DNA vaccines is a well-accepted extension of the success of oral Salmonella vaccines in animal models. Attenuated S. typhimurium and S. typhi strains are safe and efficacious, and their use to deliver DNA vaccines combines the advantages of both vaccine approaches, while complementing the limitations of each technology. An important aspect of the basic biology of the Salmonella/DNA vaccine platform is the relative contributions of prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression in production of the vaccine antigen. Gene expression in DNA vaccines is commonly under the control of the eukaryotic cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter. The aim of this study was to identify and disable putative bacterial promoters within the CMV promoter and evaluate the immunogenicity of the resulting DNA vaccine delivered orally by S. typhimurium. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The results reported here clearly demonstrate the presence of bacterial promoters within the CMV promoter. These promoters have homology to the bacterial consensus sequence and functional activity. To disable prokaryotic expression from the CMV promoter a series of genetic manipulations were performed to remove the two major bacterial promoters and add a bacteria transcription terminator downstream of the CMV promoter. S. typhimurium was used to immunise BALB/c mice orally with a DNA vaccine encoding the C-fragment of tetanus toxin (TT) under control of the original or the modified CMV promoter. Although both promoters functioned equally well in eukaryotic cells, as indicated by equivalent immune responses following intramuscular delivery, only the original CMV promoter was able to induce an anti-TT specific response following oral delivery by S. typhimurium. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that prokaryotic expression of the antigen and co-delivery of this protein by Salmonella are at least partially responsible for the successful oral delivery of C-fragment DNA vaccines containing the CMV promoter by S. typhimurium

Salmonella typhimurium's transthyretin-like protein is a host-specific factor important in fecal survival in chickens.

The transthyretin-like protein (TLP) from Salmonella enterica subspecies I is a periplasmic protein with high level structural similarity to a protein found in mammals and fish. In humans, the protein homologue, transthyretin, binds and carries retinol and thyroxine, and a series of other, unrelated aromatic compounds. Here we show that the amino acid sequence of the TLP from different species, subspecies and serovars of the Salmonella genus is highly conserved and demonstrate that the TLP gene is constitutively expressed in S. Typhimurium and that copper and other divalent metal ions severely inhibit enzyme activity of the TLP, a cyclic amidohydrolase that hydrolyses 5-hydroxyisourate (5-HIU). In order to determine the in vivo role of the S. Typhimurium TLP, we constructed a strain of mouse-virulent S. Typhimurium SL1344 bearing a mutation in the TLP gene (SL1344 ΔyedX). We assessed the virulence of this strain via oral inoculation of mice and chickens. Whilst SL1344 ΔyedX induced a systemic infection in both organisms, the bacterial load detected in the faeces of infected chickens was significantly reduced when compared to the load of S. Typhimurium SL1344. These data demonstrate that the TLP gene is required for survival of S. Typhimurium in a high uric acid environment such as chicken faeces, and that metabolic traits of Salmonellae in natural and contrived hosts may be fundamentally different. Our data also highlight the importance of using appropriate animal models for the study of bacterial pathogenesis especially where host-specific virulence factors or traits are the subject of the study

Phylogenetic Analysis of Klebsiella pneumoniae from Hospitalized Children, Pakistan.

Klebsiella pneumoniae shows increasing emergence of multidrug-resistant lineages, including strains resistant to all available antimicrobial drugs. We conducted whole-genome sequencing of 178 highly drug-resistant isolates from a tertiary hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Phylogenetic analyses to place these isolates into global context demonstrate the expansion of multiple independent lineages, including K. quasipneumoniae.This work was supported by National Health and Medical Research Council program grants (0606788 to R.A.S. and T. L.; 1092262 to R.A.S., G.D., and T.L.); the Wellcome Trust (206194); and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and The Children’s Hospital & The Institute of Child Health, Lahore, Pakistan. H.E. was supported by a scholarship from Higher Education Commission Pakistan under the International Research Support Initiative Program

Assembly of the type II secretion system such as found in Vibrio cholerae depends on the novel Pilotin AspS

The Type II Secretion System (T2SS) is a molecular machine that drives the secretion of fully-folded protein substrates across the bacterial outer membrane. A key element in the machinery is the secretin: an integral, multimeric outer membrane protein that forms the secretion pore. We show that three distinct forms of T2SSs can be distinguished based on the sequence characteristics of their secretin pores. Detailed comparative analysis of two of these, the Klebsiella-type and Vibrio-type, showed them to be further distinguished by the pilotin that mediates their transport and assembly into the outer membrane. We have determined the crystal structure of the novel pilotin AspS from Vibrio cholerae, demonstrating convergent evolution wherein AspS is functionally equivalent and yet structurally unrelated to the pilotins found in Klebsiella and other bacteria. AspS binds to a specific targeting sequence in the Vibrio-type secretins, enhances the kinetics of secretin assembly, and homologs of AspS are found in all species of Vibrio as well those few strains of Escherichia and Shigella that have acquired a Vibrio-type T2SS

FusC, a member of the M16 protease family acquired by bacteria for iron piracy against plants.

Iron is essential for life. Accessing iron from the environment can be a limiting factor that determines success in a given environmental niche. For bacteria, access of chelated iron from the environment is often mediated by TonB-dependent transporters (TBDTs), which are β-barrel proteins that form sophisticated channels in the outer membrane. Reports of iron-bearing proteins being used as a source of iron indicate specific protein import reactions across the bacterial outer membrane. The molecular mechanism by which a folded protein can be imported in this way had remained mysterious, as did the evolutionary process that could lead to such a protein import pathway. How does the bacterium evolve the specificity factors that would be required to select and import a protein encoded on another organism's genome? We describe here a model whereby the plant iron-bearing protein ferredoxin can be imported across the outer membrane of the plant pathogen Pectobacterium by means of a Brownian ratchet mechanism, thereby liberating iron into the bacterium to enable its growth in plant tissues. This import pathway is facilitated by FusC, a member of the same protein family as the mitochondrial processing peptidase (MPP). The Brownian ratchet depends on binding sites discovered in crystal structures of FusC that engage a linear segment of the plant protein ferredoxin. Sequence relationships suggest that the bacterial gene encoding FusC has previously unappreciated homologues in plants and that the protein import mechanism employed by the bacterium is an evolutionary echo of the protein import pathway in plant mitochondria and plastids

CD4+ T cell immunity to Salmonella is transient in the circulation

While Salmonella enterica is seen as an archetypal facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen where protection is mediated by CD4+ T cells, identifying circulating protective cells has proved very difficult, inhibiting steps to identify key antigen specificities. Exploiting a mouse model of vaccination, we show that the spleens of C57BL/6 mice vaccinated with live-attenuated Salmonella serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) strains carried a pool of IFN-γ+ CD4+ T cells that could adoptively transfer protection, but only transiently. Circulating Salmonella-reactive CD4+ T cells expressed the liver-homing chemokine receptor CXCR6, accumulated over time in the liver and assumed phenotypic characteristics associated with tissue-associated T cells. Liver memory CD4+ T cells showed TCR selection bias and their accumulation in the liver could be inhibited by blocking CXCL16. These data showed that the circulation of CD4+ T cells mediating immunity to Salmonella is limited to a brief window after which Salmonella-specific CD4+ T cells migrate to peripheral tissues. Our observations highlight the importance of triggering tissue-specific immunity against systemic infections