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Characterization of the genetic locus encoding Haemophilus influenzae type b surface fibrils.

ABSTRACT: Haemophilus influenzae is a common gram-negative pathogen that initiates infection by colonizing the upper respiratory tract epithelium. In previous work, we reported the isolation of a locus involved in expression of short, thin surface fibrils by H. influenzae type b and presented evidence that surface fibrils promote attachment to human epithelial cells. In the present study, we determined that the fibril locus is composed of one long open reading frame, designated hsf, which encodes a protein (Hsf) with a molecular mass of approximately 240 kDa. The derived amino acid sequence of the hsf product demonstrated 81% similarity and 72% identity to a recently identified nontypeable H. influenzae adhesin referred to as Hia. In experiments with a panel of eight cultured cell lines, the Hsf and Hia proteins were found to confer the same binding specificities, suggesting that hsf and hia are alleles of the same locus. Southern analysis and mutagenesis studies reinforced this conclusion. Further investigation revealed that an hsf homolog is ubiquitous among encapsulated H. influenzae strains and is present in a subset of nontypeable Haemophilus strains as well. We speculate that the hsf gene product plays an important role in the process of respiratory tract colonization by H. influenzae.

SUBMITTER: St Geme JW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC178501 | biostudies-other | 1996 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Characterization of the genetic locus encoding Haemophilus influenzae type b surface fibrils.

St Geme J W JW Cutter D D Barenkamp S J SJ

Journal of bacteriology 19961101 21

Haemophilus influenzae is a common gram-negative pathogen that initiates infection by colonizing the upper respiratory tract epithelium. In previous work, we reported the isolation of a locus involved in expression of short, thin surface fibrils by H. influenzae type b and presented evidence that surface fibrils promote attachment to human epithelial cells. In the present study, we determined that the fibril locus is composed of one long open reading frame, designated hsf, which encodes a protei ...[more]

PMID: 8892830

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Project description:Haemophilus influenzae has an absolute aerobic growth requirement for either heme, or iron in the presence of protoporphyrin IX. Both iron and heme in the mammalian host are strictly limited in their availability to invading microorganisms. Many bacterial species overcome iron limitation in their environment by the synthesis and secretion of small iron binding molecules termed siderophores, which bind iron and deliver it into the bacterial cell via specific siderophore receptor proteins on the bacterial cell surface. There are currently no reports of siderophore production or utilization by H. influenzae.Comparative genomics revealed a putative four gene operon in the recently sequenced nontypeable H. influenzae strain R2846 that encodes predicted proteins exhibiting significant identity at the amino acid level to proteins involved in the utilization of the siderophore ferrichrome in other bacterial species. No siderophore biosynthesis genes were identified in the R2846 genome. Both comparative genomics and a PCR based analysis identified several additional H. influenzae strains possessing this operon. In growth curve assays strains containing the genes were able to utilize ferrichrome as an iron source. H. influenzae strains lacking the operon were unable to obtain iron from ferrichrome. An insertional mutation in one gene of the operon abrogated the ability of strains to utilize ferrichrome. In addition transcription of genes in the identified operon were repressible by high iron/heme levels in the growth media.We have identified an iron/heme-repressible siderophore utilization locus present in several nontypeable H. influenzae strains. The same strains do not possess genes encoding proteins associated with siderophore synthesis. The siderophore utilization locus may enable the utilization of siderophores produced by other microorganisms in the polymicrobial environmental niche of the human nasopharynx colonized by H. influenzae. This is the first report of siderophore utilization by H. influenzae.

Dataset Information

Characterization of the genetic locus encoding Haemophilus influenzae type b surface fibrils.

Publications

Characterization of the genetic locus encoding Haemophilus influenzae type b surface fibrils.

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