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Copper tolerance in bacteria requires the activation of multiple accessory pathways.
Giachino, A, Waldron, KJ
Molecular microbiology. 2020;(3):377-390
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Abstract
Copper is a required micronutrient for bacteria and an essential cofactor for redox-active cuproenzymes. Yet, excess copper is extremely toxic, and is exploited as a bacteriocide in medical and biotechnological applications and also by the mammalian immune system. To evade copper toxicity, bacteria not only control intracellular copper homeostasis, but they must also repair the damage caused by excess copper. In this review, we summarize the bacterial cell-wide response to copper toxicity in Enterobacteria. Tapping into the abundant research data on two key organisms, Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica, we show that copper resistance requires both the direct copper homeostatic response and also the indirect accessory pathways that deal with copper-induced damage. Since patterns of copper response are conserved through the Proteobacteria, we propose a cell-wide view of copper detoxification and copper tolerance that can be used to identify novel targets for copper-based antibacterial therapeutics.
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[In silico Screening of Flavones and its Derivatives as Potential Inhibitors of Quorum-Sensing Regulator LasR of Pseudomonas aeruginosa].
Abelyan, N, Grabski, H, Tiratsuyan, S
Molekuliarnaia biologiia. 2020;(1):153-163
Abstract
Antibiotic resistance is a global problem nowadays and in 2017 the World Health Organization published the list of bacteria for which treatment are urgently needed, where Pseudomonas aeruginosa is of critical priority. Current therapies lack efficacy because this organism creates biofilms conferring increased resistance to antibiotics and host immune responses. The strategy is to "not kill, but disarm" the pathogen and resistance will be developed slowly. It has been shown that LasI/LasR system is the main component of the quorum sensing system in P. aeruginosa. LasR is activated by the interaction with its native autoinducer. A lot flavones and their derivatives are used as antibacterial drug compounds. The purpose is to search compounds that will inhibit LasR. This leads to the inhibition of the synthesis of virulence factors thus the bacteria will be vulnerable and not virulent. We performed virtual screening using AutoDock Vina, rDock, LeDock for obtaining consensus predictions. The results of virtual screening suggest benzamides which are synthetical derivatives of flavones as potential inhibitors of transcriptional regulator LasR. These are consistent with recently published experimental data, which demonstrate the high antibacterial activity of benzamides. The compounds interact with the ligand binding domain of LasR with higher binding affinity than with DNA binding domain. Among the selected compounds, by conformational analysis, it was found that there are compounds that bind to the same amino acids of ligand binding domain as the native autoinducer. This could indicate the possibility of competitive interaction of these compounds. A number of compounds that bind to other conservative amino acids ligand binding domain have also been discovered, which will be of interest for further study. Selected compounds meet the criteria necessary for their consideration as drugs and can serve as a basis for conducting further in vitro/in vivo experiments. It could be used for the development of modern anti-infective therapy based on the quorum sensing system of P. aeruginosa.
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Handling of nutrient copper in the bacterial envelope.
Stewart, LJ, Thaqi, D, Kobe, B, McEwan, AG, Waldron, KJ, Djoko, KY
Metallomics : integrated biometal science. 2019;(1):50-63
Abstract
In bacteria, copper (Cu) is often recognised for its potential toxicity and its antibacterial activity is now considered a key component of the mammalian innate immune system. Cu ions bound in weak sites can catalyse harmful redox reactions while Cu ions in strong but adventitious sites can disrupt protein or enzyme function. For these reasons, the outward transport of Cu from bacteria has received significant attention. Yet, Cu is also a bacterial nutrient, required as a cofactor by enzymes that catalyse electron transfer processes, for instance in aerobic and anaerobic respiration. To date, the inward flow of this metal ion as a nutrient and its insertion into target cuproenzymes remain poorly defined. Here we revisit the available evidence related to bacterial nutrient Cu trafficking and identify gaps in knowledge. Particularly intriguing is the evidence that bacterial cuproenzymes do not always require auxiliary metallochaperones to insert nutrient Cu into their active sites. This review outlines our effort to consolidate the available experimental data using an established energy-driven model for metalation.
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Optimization of secretion and surface localization of heterologous OVA protein in mycobacteria by using LipY as a carrier.
Burggraaf, MJ, Ates, LS, Speer, A, van der Kuij, K, Kuijl, C, Bitter, W
Microbial cell factories. 2019;(1):44
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is not only used as a vaccine against tuberculosis but also protects against leprosy and is used as part of bladder cancer treatment to induce a protective immune response. However, protection by BCG vaccination is not optimal. To improve vaccine efficacy, recombinant BCG expressing heterologous antigens has been put forward to elicit antigen-specific cellular and humoral responses. Cell surface localized or secreted antigens induce better immune responses than their cytosolic counterparts. Optimizing secretion of heterologous proteins or protein fragments holds therefore unexplored potential for improving the efficacy of recombinant BCG vaccine candidates. Secretion of heterologous antigens requires crossing the mycobacterial inner and outer membrane. Mycobacteria have specialized ESX or type VII secretion systems that enable translocation of proteins across both membranes. Probing this secretion system could therefore be a valid approach to surface localize heterologous antigens. RESULTS We show that ESX-5 substrate LipY, a lipase, can be used as a carrier for heterologous secretion of an ovalbumin fragment (OVA). LipY contains a PE domain and a lipase domain, separated by a linker region. This linker domain is processed upon secretion. Fusion of the PE and linker domains of LipY to OVA enabled ESX-5-dependent secretion of the fusion construct LipY-OVA in M. marinum, albeit with low efficiency. Subsequent random mutagenesis of LipY-OVA and screening for increased secretion resulted in mutants with improved heterologous secretion. Detailed analysis identified two mutations in OVA that improved secretion, i.e. an L280P mutation and a protein-extending frameshift mutation. Finally, deletion of the linker domain of LipY enhanced secretion of LipY-OVA, although this mutation also reduced surface association. Further analysis in wild type LipY showed that the linker domain is required for surface association. CONCLUSION We show that the ESX-5 system can be used for heterologous secretion. Furthermore, minor mutations in the substrate can enhance secretion. Especially the C-terminal region seems to be important for this. The linker domain of LipY is involved in surface association. These findings show that non-biased screening approaches aid in optimization of heterologous secretion, which can contribute to heterologous vaccine development.
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Targeting the Proteostasis Network for Mycobacterial Drug Discovery.
Lupoli, TJ, Vaubourgeix, J, Burns-Huang, K, Gold, B
ACS infectious diseases. 2018;(4):478-498
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases and urgently requires new antibiotics to treat drug-resistant strains and to decrease the duration of therapy. During infection, Mtb encounters numerous stresses associated with host immunity, including hypoxia, reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, mild acidity, nutrient starvation, and metal sequestration and intoxication. The Mtb proteostasis network, composed of chaperones, proteases, and a eukaryotic-like proteasome, provides protection from stresses and chemistries of host immunity by maintaining the integrity of the mycobacterial proteome. In this Review, we explore the proteostasis network as a noncanonical target for antibacterial drug discovery.
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Metallothionein: a Potential Link in the Regulation of Zinc in Nutritional Immunity.
Rahman, MT, Karim, MM
Biological trace element research. 2018;(1):1-13
Abstract
Nutritional immunity describes mechanisms for withholding essential transition metals as well as directing the toxicity of these metals against infectious agents. Zinc is one of these transition elements that are essential for both humans and microbial pathogens. At the same time, Zn can be toxic both for man and microbes if its concentration is higher than the tolerance limit. Therefore a "delicate" balance of Zn must be maintained to keep the immune cells surveilling while making the level of Zn either to starve or to intoxicate the pathogens. On the other hand, the invading pathogens will exploit the host Zn pool for its survival and replication. Apparently, different sets of protein in human and bacteria are involved to maintain their Zn need. Metallothionein (MT)-a group of low molecular weight proteins, is well known for its Zn-binding ability and is expected to play an important role in that Zn balance at the time of active infection. However, the differences in structural, functional, and molecular control of biosynthesis between human and bacterial MT might play an important role to determine the proper use of Zn and the winning side. The current review explains the possible involvement of human and bacterial MT at the time of infection to control and exploit Zn for their need.
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Epitopes identified in GAPDH from Clostridium difficile recognized as common antigens with potential autoimmunizing properties.
Razim, A, Pacyga, K, Aptekorz, M, Martirosian, G, Szuba, A, Pawlak-Adamska, E, Brzychczy-Włoch, M, Myc, A, Gamian, A, Górska, S
Scientific reports. 2018;(1):13946
Abstract
Clostridium difficile (CD) infections are a growing threat due to the strain resistance to antibiotic treatment and the emergence of hypervirulent strains. One solution to this problem is the search for new vaccine antigens, preferably surface-localized that will be recognized by antibodies at an early stage of colonization. The purpose of the study was to assess the usefulness of novel immunoreactive surface proteins (epitopes) as potential vaccine antigens. Such approach might be tough to pursue since pathogens have acquired strategies to subvert adaptive immune response to produce humoral response against non-essential proteins for their survival. In this study CD surface proteins were isolated, immunoreactive proteins identified and mapped to select potential epitopes. The results of the study exclude the use of CD glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase as a vaccine antigen, especially as a whole protein. Sequences P9 (201AAGNIVPNTTGAAKAI218) and P10 (224KGKLDGAAQRVPVVTG241) recognized by patients sera are conserved and widespread among CD strains. They show cross-reactivity with sera of people suffering from other bacterial infections and are recognized by sera of autoimmune disease patients. Our study documents that special care in analyzing the sequence of new epitope should be taken to avoid side effects prior to consider it as a vaccine antigen.
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Increased seroreactivity to proinsulin and homologous mycobacterial peptides in latent autoimmune diabetes in adults.
Niegowska, M, Delitala, A, Pes, GM, Delitala, G, Sechi, LA
PloS one. 2017;(5):e0176584
Abstract
Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults (LADA) is a slowly progressing form of immune-mediated diabetes that combines phenotypical features of type 2 diabetes (T2D) with the presence of islet cell antigens detected in type 1 diabetes (T1D). Heterogeneous clinical picture have led to the classification of patients based on the levels of antibodies against glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GADA) that correlate with clinical phenotypes closer to T1D or T2D when GADA titers are high or low, respectively. To date, LADA etiology remains elusive despite numerous studies investigating on genetic predisposition and environmental risk factors. To our knowledge, this is the first study aimed at evaluation of a putative role played by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) as an infective agent in LADA pathogenesis. MAP is known to cause chronic enteritis in ruminants and has been associated with autoimmune disorders in humans. We analyzed seroreactivity of 223 Sardinian LADA subjects and 182 healthy volunteers against MAP-derived peptides and their human homologs of proinsulin and zinc transporter 8 protein. A significantly elevated positivity for MAP/proinsulin was detected among patients, with the highest prevalence in the 32-41-year-old T1D-like LADA subgroup, supporting our hypothesis of a possible MAP contribution in the development of autoimmunity.
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Spatial Organization of Cell Wall-Anchored Proteins at the Surface of Gram-Positive Bacteria.
Dramsi, S, Bierne, H
Current topics in microbiology and immunology. 2017;:177-201
Abstract
Bacterial surface proteins constitute an amazing repertoire of molecules with important functions such as adherence, invasion, signalling and interaction with the host immune system or environment. In Gram-positive bacteria, many surface proteins of the "LPxTG" family are anchored to the peptidoglycan (PG) by an enzyme named sortase. While this anchoring mechanism has been clearly deciphered, less is known about the spatial organization of cell wall-anchored proteins in the bacterial envelope. Here, we review the question of the precise spatial and temporal positioning of LPxTG proteins in subcellular domains in spherical and ellipsoid bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus agalactiae and Enterococcus faecalis) and in the rod-shaped bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Deposition at specific sites of the cell wall is a dynamic process tightly connected to cell division, secretion, cell morphogenesis and levels of gene expression. Studying spatial occupancy of these cell wall-anchored proteins not only provides information on PG dynamics in responses to environmental changes, but also suggests that pathogenic bacteria control the distribution of virulence factors at specific sites of the surface, including pole, septa or lateral sites, during the infectious process.
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The LasB Elastase of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Acts in Concert with Alkaline Protease AprA To Prevent Flagellin-Mediated Immune Recognition.
Casilag, F, Lorenz, A, Krueger, J, Klawonn, F, Weiss, S, Häussler, S
Infection and immunity. 2016;(1):162-71
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Abstract
The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa is capable of establishing severe and persistent infections in various eukaryotic hosts. It encodes a wide array of virulence factors and employs several strategies to evade immune detection. In the present study, we screened the Harvard Medical School transposon mutant library of P. aeruginosa PA14 for bacterial factors that modulate interleukin-8 responses in A549 human airway epithelial cells. We found that in addition to the previously identified alkaline protease AprA, the elastase LasB is capable of degrading exogenous flagellin under calcium-replete conditions and prevents flagellin-mediated immune recognition. Our results indicate that the production of two proteases with anti-flagellin activity provides a failsafe mechanism for P. aeruginosa to ensure the maintenance of protease-dependent immune-modulating functions.