Dataset Information

Novel screening assay for in vivo selection of Klebsiella pneumoniae genes promoting gastrointestinal colonisation.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Klebsiella pneumoniae is an important opportunistic pathogen causing pneumonia, sepsis and urinary tract infections. Colonisation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a key step in the development of infections; yet the specific factors important for K. pneumoniae to colonize and reside in the GI tract of the host are largely unknown. To identify K. pneumoniae genes promoting GI colonisation, a novel genomic-library-based approach was employed. RESULTS: Screening of a K. pneumoniae C3091 genomic library, expressed in E. coli strain EPI100, in a mouse model of GI colonisation led to the positive selection of five clones containing genes promoting persistent colonisation of the mouse GI tract. These included genes encoding the global response regulator ArcA; GalET of the galactose operon; and a cluster of two putative membrane-associated proteins of unknown function. Both ArcA and GalET are known to be involved in metabolic pathways in Klebsiella but may have additional biological actions beneficial to the pathogen. In support of this, GalET was found to confer decreased bile salt sensitivity to EPI100. CONCLUSIONS: The present work establishes the use of genomic-library-based in vivo screening assays as a valuable tool for identification and characterization of virulence factors in K. pneumoniae and other bacterial pathogens.

SUBMITTER: Boll EJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3463446 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Novel screening assay for in vivo selection of Klebsiella pneumoniae genes promoting gastrointestinal colonisation.

Boll Erik J EJ Nielsen Lene N LN Krogfelt Karen A KA Struve Carsten C

BMC microbiology 20120911

<h4>Background</h4>Klebsiella pneumoniae is an important opportunistic pathogen causing pneumonia, sepsis and urinary tract infections. Colonisation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract is a key step in the development of infections; yet the specific factors important for K. pneumoniae to colonize and reside in the GI tract of the host are largely unknown. To identify K. pneumoniae genes promoting GI colonisation, a novel genomic-library-based approach was employed.<h4>Results</h4>Screening of a K ...[more]

PMID: 22967317

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundExtended-spectrum cephalosporin resistance (ESC-R) in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae is a healthcare threat; high gastrointestinal carriage rates are reported from South-east Asia. Colonisation prevalence data in Cambodia are lacking. The aim of this study was to determine gastrointestinal colonisation prevalence of ESC-resistant E. coli (ESC-R-EC) and K. pneumoniae (ESC-R-KP) in Cambodian children/adolescents and associated socio-demographic risk factors; and to characterise relevant resistance genes, their genetic contexts, and the genetic relatedness of ESC-R strains using whole genome sequencing (WGS).ResultsFaeces and questionnaire data were obtained from individuals < 16 years in north-western Cambodia, 2012. WGS of cultured ESC-R-EC/KP was performed (Illumina). Maximum likelihood phylogenies were used to characterise relatedness of isolates; ESC-R-associated resistance genes and their genetic contexts were identified from de novo assemblies using BLASTn and automated/manual annotation. 82/148 (55%) of children/adolescents were ESC-R-EC/KP colonised; 12/148 (8%) were co-colonised with both species. Independent risk factors for colonisation were hospitalisation (OR: 3.12, 95% CI [1.52-6.38]) and intestinal parasites (OR: 3.11 [1.29-7.51]); school attendance conferred decreased risk (OR: 0.44 [0.21-0.92]. ESC-R strains were diverse; the commonest ESC-R mechanisms were blaCTX-M 1 and 9 sub-family variants. Structures flanking these genes were highly variable, and for blaCTX-M-15, - 55 and - 27 frequently involved IS26. Chromosomal blaCTX-M integration was common in E. coli.ConclusionsGastrointestinal ESC-R-EC/KP colonisation is widespread in Cambodian children/adolescents; hospital admission and intestinal parasites are independent risk factors. The genetic contexts of blaCTX-M are highly mosaic, consistent with rapid horizontal exchange. Chromosomal integration of blaCTX-M may result in stable propagation in these community-associated pathogens.

Project description:Klebsiella pneumoniae is a leading cause of nosocomial and community acquired infections, making K. pneumoniae the pathogen that is associated with the second largest number of deaths attributed to any antibiotic resistant infection. K. pneumoniae colonizes the nasopharynx and the gastrointestinal tract in an asymptomatic manner without dissemination to other tissues. Importantly, gastrointestinal colonization is a requisite for infection. Our understanding of K. pneumoniae colonization is still based on interrogating mouse models in which animals are pretreated with antibiotics to disturb the colonization resistance imposed by the gut microbiome. In these models, infections disseminate to other tissues. Here, we report a murine model to allow for the study of the gastrointestinal colonization of K. pneumoniae without tissue dissemination. Hypervirulent and antibiotic resistant strains stably colonize the gastrointestinal tract of in an inbred mouse population without antibiotic treatment. The small intestine is the primary site of colonization and is followed by a transition to the colon over time, without dissemination to other tissues. Our model recapitulates the disease dynamics of the metastatic K. pneumoniae strains that are able to disseminate from the gastrointestinal tract to other sterile sites. Colonization is associated with mild to moderate histopathology, no significant inflammation, and no effect on the richness of the microbiome. Our model sums up the clinical scenario in which antibiotic treatment disturbs the colonization of K. pneumoniae and results in dissemination to other tissues. Finally, we establish that the capsule polysaccharide is necessary for the colonization of the large intestine, whereas the type VI secretion system contributes to colonization across the gastrointestinal tract. IMPORTANCE Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the pathogens that is sweeping the world in the antibiotic resistance pandemic. Klebsiella colonizes the nasopharynx and the gut of healthy subjects in an asymptomatic manner, making gut colonization a requisite for infection. This makes it essential to understand the gastrointestinal carriage in preventing Klebsiella infections. Current research models rely on the perturbation of the gut microbiome by antibiotics, resulting in an invasive infection. Here, we report a new model of K. pneumoniae gut colonization that recapitulates key features of the asymptomatic human gastrointestinal tract colonization. In our model, there is no need to disturb the microbiota to achieve stable colonization, and there is no dissemination to other tissues. Our model sums up the clinical scenario in which antibiotic treatment triggers invasive infection. We envision that our model will be an excellent platform upon which to investigate factors enhancing colonization and invasive infections and to test therapeutics to eliminate Klebsiella asymptomatic colonization.

Project description:The screening of a cDNA derived expression library of Klebsiella pneumoniae MGH 78578 expressed in E.coli using a fusion construct and specific HaloTag interaction to a modified surface is shown. Thus, 1536 different clones were screened including positive (ompA, mdh) and negative (pyrC, gapA) reference proteins. The goal of the screening was to identify potential novel immunogenic proteins from K. pneumoniae by selecting clones showing a high signal intensity in comparison to the known antigens used as positve markers. Afterwards, the most promising clones were sequenced to identify the gene and corresponding protein and these proteins were then investigated further. Consequently, 14 novel immunogenic proteins could be identified. In total 1536 (4 x 384) different lysates were spotted on different microarray slides. Each slides contained 3600 distinct spots, seperated into two compartments of 1800 spots each. Each compartment comprised quadruplicate replicates of each sample lysate with controls being analysed with more replicates. As controls we used: ompA1, ompA2 and mdh (3 x 40 replicates) as positive reference proteins, as they have been described as immunogenic before. gapA and pyrC (2 x 40 replicates) as negative reference proteins, additionally two sets of E.coli cell lysates without fusionprotein expressed, namely Acella electrocompetent cells (40 replicates) and KRX (32 replicates). Last but not least a buffer control (24 replicates) was included. Therefore, each set of replicate slides contained 376 different samples and 8 controls. Each screening was performed with three replicate slides. Consequently, a total number of 12 slides were screened (4 sets of samples x 3 replicates). For identification rabbit polyclonal antibody to K. pneumoniae (Acris AP00792PU-N) as primary and Goat polyclonal to Rabbit IgG conjugated with ChromeoTM-546 (Abcam ab60317) as secondary antibody were used. The top compartment was incubated first with primary antibody, while the bottom compartment was incubated with PBS at the same time. Afterwards both compartments were incubated with secondary antibody.

Dataset Information

Novel screening assay for in vivo selection of Klebsiella pneumoniae genes promoting gastrointestinal colonisation.

Publications

Novel screening assay for in vivo selection of Klebsiella pneumoniae genes promoting gastrointestinal colonisation.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets