Dataset Information

Urethral exudates of men with Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections select a restricted lipooligosaccharide phenotype during transmission.

ABSTRACT: Neisseria gonorrhoeae lipooligosaccharides (LOSs) induce immunoglobulin G that protects men from experimental infection. This raises the possibility that an LOS vaccine might prevent gonorrhea. Gonococci make different LOS molecules, depending on whether 3 genes, lgtA, lgtC, and lgtD, are in frame (IF) or out of frame (OOF). Mispairing of polymeric guanine (polyG) tracts within each gene determines its frame during replication. We amplified lgtA, lgtC, and lgtD from diagnostic slides of urethral exudates and sequenced their polyG tracts. We found that lgtA in exudative bacteria is IF and that lgtC is OOF. The frame of lgtD varied widely: it was OOF in most but not all cases. This genotype would result in synthesis of polylactosamine ? chains that could be sialylated. Polylactosamine ? chains would enhance virulence, and their sialylation would enable gonococci to survive within polymorphonuclear cells; however, an active LgtD in a few bacteria could provide a survival advantage in other sites of infection.

SUBMITTER: McLaughlin SE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3448965 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Urethral exudates of men with Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections select a restricted lipooligosaccharide phenotype during transmission.

McLaughlin Stephanie E SE Cheng Hui H Ghanem Khalil G KG Yang Zhijie Z Melendez Johan J Zenilman Jonathan J Griffiss J McLeod JM

The Journal of infectious diseases 20120816 8

Neisseria gonorrhoeae lipooligosaccharides (LOSs) induce immunoglobulin G that protects men from experimental infection. This raises the possibility that an LOS vaccine might prevent gonorrhea. Gonococci make different LOS molecules, depending on whether 3 genes, lgtA, lgtC, and lgtD, are in frame (IF) or out of frame (OOF). Mispairing of polymeric guanine (polyG) tracts within each gene determines its frame during replication. We amplified lgtA, lgtC, and lgtD from diagnostic slides of urethral ...[more]

PMID: 22904337

Similar Datasets

Project description:Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) represent the most common agents of sexually transmitted rectal infections among men having sex with other men (MSM). In this study, we assessed the bacterial composition of the rectal microbiota associated with CT and/or NG infections in a cohort of men reporting unsafe rectal intercourse. A total of 125 rectal swabs were collected and four groups were compared: non-infected subjects (n = 53), patients with CT (n = 37), or NG rectal infection (n = 17) and patients with contemporary positivity for CT/NG (n = 18). CT and NG infections were detected by a real-time commercial test and the rectal microbiota composition was analyzed from rectal swabs through sequencing of the hypervariable V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene. The rectal microbiota of all subgroups was dominated by Prevotellaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, and Ruminococcaceae families. Irrespective of the analyzed subgroup, we found that the rectal environment of all the enrolled MSM was rich in Prevotella and Escherichia genera. Moreover, a shift in the bacterial composition between patients with sexually transmitted rectal infections and controls was noticed: infected patients were characterized by a depletion of Escherichia species, associated with an increase of anaerobic genera, including Peptoniphilus, Peptostreptococcus, and Parvimonas. Overall, the presence of rectal symptoms did not significantly modify the rectal microbiota profiles among the four groups of analyzed patients. We confirmed that HIV-positive patients are characterized by a lower bacterial richness than HIV-negative subjects. However, we found that the presence of HIV has a different impact on bacterial rectal communities compared to CT and NG infections, modifying the relative abundance of several genera, including Gardnerella, Lactobacillus, Corynebacterium, and Sutterella. Information about the rectal microbiota composition in CT and NG infections could shed light on the pathogenesis of these conditions and could contribute to the onset of new strategies for their control.

Project description:Niche-restricted pathogens are evolutionarily linked with the specific biological fluids that are encountered during infection. Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes the genital infection gonorrhea and is exposed to seminal fluid during sexual transmission. Treatment of N. gonorrhoeae with seminal plasma or purified semen proteins lactoferrin, serum albumin, and prostate-specific antigen each facilitated type IV pilus-mediated twitching motility of the bacterium. Motility in the presence of seminal plasma was characterized by high velocity and low directional persistence. In addition, infection of epithelial cells with N. gonorrhoeae in the presence of seminal plasma resulted in enhanced microcolony formation. Close association of multiple pili in the form of bundles was also disrupted after seminal plasma treatment leading to an increase in the number of single pilus filaments on the bacterial surface. Thus, exposure of N. gonorrhoeae to seminal plasma is proposed to alter bacterial motility and aggregation characteristics to influence the processes of transmission and colonization. IMPORTANCE There are greater than 100 million estimated new cases of gonorrhea annually worldwide. Research characterizing the mechanisms of pathogenesis and transmission of Neisseria gonorrhoeae is important for developing new prevention strategies, since antibiotic resistance of the organism is becoming increasingly prevalent. Our work identifies seminal plasma as a mediator of N. gonorrhoeae twitching motility and microcolony formation through functional modification of the type IV pilus. These findings provide insight into motility dynamics and epithelial cell colonization under conditions that are relevant to sexual transmission. Type IV pili are common virulence factors with diverse functions among bacterial pathogens, and this work identifies interactions between type IV pili and the host environment. Finally, this work illustrates the importance of the host environment and niche-specific fluids on microbial pathogenesis.

Dataset Information

Urethral exudates of men with Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections select a restricted lipooligosaccharide phenotype during transmission.

Publications

Urethral exudates of men with Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections select a restricted lipooligosaccharide phenotype during transmission.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure