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Manipulation of the silkworm immune system by a metalloprotease from the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

ABSTRACT: Antimicrobial peptide (AMP) production and melanization are two key humoral immune responses in insects. Induced synthesis of AMPs results from Toll and IMD signal transduction whereas melanization depends on prophenoloxidase (PPO) activation system. During invasion, pathogens produce toxins and other virulent factors to counteract host immune responses. Here we show that the pathways leading to PPO activation and AMP synthesis in the silkworm Bombyx mori are affected by a metalloprotease, named elastase B, secreted by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAO1). The metalloprotease gene (lasB) was expressed shortly after PAO1 cells had been injected into the larval silkworm hemocoel, leading to an increase of elastase activity. Injection of the purified PAO1 elastase B into silkworm hemolymph compromised PPO activation. In contrast, the protease caused a level increase of gloverin, an AMP in the hemolymph. To verify our results obtained using the purified elastase B, we infected B. mori with PAO1 ?lasB mutant and found that PO activity in hemolymph of the PAO1 ?lasB-infected larvae was significantly higher than that in the wild type-infected. The mutant-inhabited hemolymph had lower levels of gloverin and antimicrobial activity. PAO1 ?lasB showed a decreased viability in the silkworm hemolymph whereas the host had a lower mortality. In addition, the effects caused by the ?lasB mutant were restored by a complementary strain. These data collectively indicated that the elastase B produced by PAO1 is an important virulent factor that manipulates the silkworm immune system during infection.

SUBMITTER: Ma L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6204220 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Manipulation of the silkworm immune system by a metalloprotease from the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Ma Li L Zhou Lizhen L Lin Jinshui J Ji Jiuyuan J Wang Yang Y Jiang Haobo H Shen Xihui X Lu Zhiqiang Z

Developmental and comparative immunology 20180924

Antimicrobial peptide (AMP) production and melanization are two key humoral immune responses in insects. Induced synthesis of AMPs results from Toll and IMD signal transduction whereas melanization depends on prophenoloxidase (PPO) activation system. During invasion, pathogens produce toxins and other virulent factors to counteract host immune responses. Here we show that the pathways leading to PPO activation and AMP synthesis in the silkworm Bombyx mori are affected by a metalloprotease, named ...[more]

PMID: 30261235

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Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a significant nosocomial pathogen and is associated with lung infections in cystic fibrosis (CF). Once established, P. aeruginosa infections persist and are rarely eradicated despite host immune cells producing antimicrobial oxidants, including hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and hypothiocyanous acid (HOSCN). There is limited knowledge as to how P. aeruginosa senses, responds to, and protects itself against HOCl and HOSCN and the contribution of such responses to its success as a CF pathogen. To investigate the P. aeruginosa response to these oxidants, we screened 707 transposon mutants, with mutations in regulatory genes, for altered growth following HOCl exposure. We identified regulators of antibiotic resistance, methionine biosynthesis, catabolite repression, and PA14_07340, the homologue of the Escherichia coli HOCl-sensor RclR (30% identical), which are required for protection against HOCl. We have shown that RclR (PA14_07340) protects specifically against HOCl and HOSCN stress and responds to both oxidants by upregulating the expression of a putative peroxiredoxin, rclX (PA14_07355). Transcriptional analysis revealed that while there was specificity in the response to HOCl (231 genes upregulated) and HOSCN (105 genes upregulated), there was considerable overlap, with 74 genes upregulated by both oxidants. These included genes encoding the type 3 secretion system, sulfur and taurine transport, and the MexEF-OprN efflux pump. RclR coordinates part of the response to both oxidants, including upregulation of pyocyanin biosynthesis genes, and, in the presence of HOSCN, downregulation of chaperone genes. These data indicate that the P. aeruginosa response to HOCl and HOSCN is multifaceted, with RclR playing an essential role.IMPORTANCE The bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes devastating infections in immunocompromised hosts, including chronic lung infections in cystic fibrosis patients. To combat infection, the host's immune system produces the antimicrobial oxidants hypochlorous acid (HOCl) and hypothiocyanous acid (HOSCN). Little is known about how P. aeruginosa responds to and survives attack from these oxidants. To address this, we carried out two approaches: a mutant screen and transcriptional study. We identified the P. aeruginosa transcriptional regulator, RclR, which responds specifically to HOCl and HOSCN stress and is essential for protection against both oxidants. We uncovered a link between the P. aeruginosa transcriptional response to these oxidants and physiological processes associated with pathogenicity, including antibiotic resistance and the type 3 secretion system.

Project description:P. aeruginosa is the leading cause of death in patients with cystic fibrosis patients and one of the most problematic bacterial pathogens responsible for hospital-acquired infections. This pathogen has a high capacity to form biofilms on inert and living surfaces. This lifestyle allows it to persist in various hospital niches or on medical device which become vectors of contamination. Chronic infections are extremely complicated to eradicate due to the remarkable antimicrobial resistance of biofilms leading to a persistence in the tissue and an immune system exhaustion. It is therefore becoming essential to understand the mechanisms of biofilm formation to find new therapeutic targets in order to develop effective antibiofilm strategies. We previously identified in P. aeruginosa PA01 biofilms an accumulation of a hypothetical protein named PA3731 and its deletion impacted the biofilm formation. Similarly, to PspA, a protein from the well-known Psp system of E. coli, PA3731 is a has a predicted structure mostly helical, a PspA/IM30 domain and was accumulated during an osmotic shock. In P. aeruginosa genome, PA3731 appears to form a cluster with 3 genes (PA3732 to PA3729) that we named BAC system for “Biofilm Associated Cluster”. Here we worked on the PA14 strain and focus our study on PA14_16140, the PA3732 homologue. Using a ∆16140 mutant and phenotypic approach, we confirmed the role of the BAC system in the virulence and biofilm formation. We added supplementary genes coding the BAC system and demonstrate that altogether they form an operonic structure regulates by RpoN. We get further insight the role PA14_16140 by proteomic quantitative approach revealing an accumulation of the BAC system proteins in ∆16140 biofilms suggesting its regulatory role of the bac operon. Moreover, we present here the first crystallographic structure of PA14_16140. To summarise, according to our studies, and although further analysis is still required, this newly discovered operon appears composed firstly of its regulator and then of a homologous PspA.

Dataset Information

Manipulation of the silkworm immune system by a metalloprotease from the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Publications

Manipulation of the silkworm immune system by a metalloprotease from the pathogenic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

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