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An outer membrane receptor of Neisseria meningitidis involved in zinc acquisition with vaccine potential.

ABSTRACT: Since the concentration of free iron in the human host is low, efficient iron-acquisition mechanisms constitute important virulence factors for pathogenic bacteria. In Gram-negative bacteria, TonB-dependent outer membrane receptors are implicated in iron acquisition. It is far less clear how other metals that are also scarce in the human host are transported across the bacterial outer membrane. With the aim of identifying novel vaccine candidates, we characterized in this study a hitherto unknown receptor in Neisseria meningitidis. We demonstrate that this receptor, designated ZnuD, is produced under zinc limitation and that it is involved in the uptake of zinc. Upon immunization of mice, it was capable of inducing bactericidal antibodies and we could detect ZnuD-specific antibodies in human convalescent patient sera. ZnuD is highly conserved among N. meningitidis isolates and homologues of the protein are found in many other Gram-negative pathogens, particularly in those residing in the respiratory tract. We conclude that ZnuD constitutes a promising candidate for the development of a vaccine against meningococcal disease for which no effective universal vaccine is available. Furthermore, the results suggest that receptor-mediated zinc uptake represents a novel virulence mechanism that is particularly important for bacterial survival in the respiratory tract.

SUBMITTER: Stork M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2895646 | biostudies-literature | 2010

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An outer membrane receptor of Neisseria meningitidis involved in zinc acquisition with vaccine potential.

Stork Michiel M Bos Martine P MP Jongerius Ilse I de Kok Natasja N Schilders Ingrid I Weynants Vincent E VE Poolman Jan T JT Tommassen Jan J

PLoS pathogens 20100701

Since the concentration of free iron in the human host is low, efficient iron-acquisition mechanisms constitute important virulence factors for pathogenic bacteria. In Gram-negative bacteria, TonB-dependent outer membrane receptors are implicated in iron acquisition. It is far less clear how other metals that are also scarce in the human host are transported across the bacterial outer membrane. With the aim of identifying novel vaccine candidates, we characterized in this study a hitherto unknow ...[more]

PMID: 20617164

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Project description:BackgroundOuter membrane vesicles (OMVs) are nanoparticles released by Gram-negative bacteria and can be used as vaccines. Often, detergents are used to promote release of OMVs and to remove the toxic lipopolysaccharides. Lipopolysaccharides can be detoxified by genetic modification such that vesicles spontaneously produced by bacteria can be directly used as vaccines. The use of spontaneous OMVs has the advantage that no separate extraction step is required in the purification process. However, the productivity of spontaneous OMVs by bacteria at optimal growth conditions is low. One of many methods for increasing OMV formation is to reduce the linkage of the outer membrane to the peptidoglycan layer by knocking out the rmpM gene. A previous study showed that for Neisseria meningitidis this resulted in release of more OMVs. Furthermore, cysteine depletion was found to trigger OMV release and at the same time cause reduced growth and oxidative stress responses. Here we study the effect of growth rate and oxidative stress on OMV release.ResultsFirst, we identified using chemostat and accelerostat cultures of N. meningitidis that increasing the growth rate from 0.03 to 0.18 h-1 has a limited effect on OMV productivity. Thus, we hypothesized that oxidative stress is the trigger for OMV release and that oxidative stress can be introduced directly by increasing the dissolved oxygen tension of bacterial cultures. Slowly increasing oxygen concentrations in a N. meningitidis changestat showed that an increase from 30 to 150% air saturation improved OMV productivity four-fold. Batch cultures controlled at 100% air saturation increased OMV productivity three-fold over batch cultures controlled at 30% air saturation.ConclusionIncreased dissolved oxygen tension induces the release of outer membrane vesicles in N. meningitidis cultures. Since oxygen concentration is a well-controlled process parameter of bacterial cultures, this trigger can be applied as a convenient process parameter to induce OMV release in bacterial cultures. Improved productivity of OMVs not only improves the production costs of OMVs as vaccines, it also facilitates the use of OMVs as adjuvants, enzyme carriers, or cell-specific drug delivery vehicles.

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An outer membrane receptor of Neisseria meningitidis involved in zinc acquisition with vaccine potential.

Publications

An outer membrane receptor of Neisseria meningitidis involved in zinc acquisition with vaccine potential.

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