Project description:Background: Community-associated methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is a drug-resistant bacterium prevalent in community settings, characterized by high pathogenicity and transmission potential. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) represent the first line of defense in innate immunity and are activated to phagocytose MRSA. However, MRSA, once phagocytosed by PMNs, induces necroptosis within the neutrophils, which is a key mechanism contributing to host damage.CA-MRSA releases virulence factors that enhance its pathogenicity by disrupting the host's innate immune response, particularly impairing the phagocytic function of PMNs. Steamed Panax notoginseng (S-PN) has demonstrated immune-regulatory and anti-inflammatory properties, showing promising therapeutic effects in alleviating the severe inflammatory responses induced by pathogenic microbial infections. Objective: This study aims to investigate the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of S-PN in attenuating CA-MRSA-induced necroptosis of PMNs, and to explore the impact of PMN necroptosis on the inflammatory response. Methods: A co-culture model of MRSA USA300 strain and PMNs isolated from healthy human blood was established to observe the changes in necroptosis marker HMGB1, PMNs counts, ROS, chemokine MCP-1 and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-8, TNF-α. RNA-seq was employed to analyze the effects of S-PN on the transcriptional expression of pathogenesis-related genes of MRSA. RT-PCR was utilized to validate the expression of S-PN on MRSA virulence factors and PMNs necroptosis related genes. Results: S-PN significantly inhibited HMGB1, ROS, MCP-1, IL-1β and IL-8 in MRSA-PMN co-cultures, the PMN count in the S-PN group was higher than that in the model group. S-PN down-regulated MRSA pathogenic-associated Staphylococcus aureus infection and quorum sensing signaling pathways, and significantly reduced the virulence factors PSM and PVL. S-PN suppressed the expression of genes associated with necroptosis ripk1, ripk3, and mlkl in PMNs. Conclusion: S-PN inhibited CA-MRSA-induced necroptosis of PMNs, as well as the excessive inflammatory response and ROS accumulation accompanying this process. The mechanism involves the inhibition of the expression of MRSA virulence factor PSM and necroptosis pathway genes. These findings underscore the significant potential of S-PN in the treatment of CA-MRSA infections.
Project description:Previous studies have documented the diversity of genetic background of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains associated with healthcare (HA-MRSA), community (CA-MRSA) and livestock (LA-MRSA). The accessory and core-variable genome content of those strains remain largely unknown. To compare the composition of accessory and core-variable genome of Belgian MRSA strains according to host, population setting and genetic background, representative strains of HA- (n=21), CA- (n = 13) and ST398 LA-MRSA (n = 18) were characterized by a DNA-microarray (StaphVar Array) composed of oligonucleotide probes targeting ~400 resistance, adhesion and virulence associated genes.ST398 strains displayed very homogenous hybridization profiles (>94% gene content homology) irrespective of their host origin. This “ST398-specific” genomic profile was not distantly demarked from those of certain human-associated lineages but lacked several virulence- and colonization-associated genes harbored by strains of human origin, such as genes encoding proteases, haemolysins or adhesins. No enterotoxin gene was found among ST398 strains. In conclusion, our findings are consistent with a non-human origin of this ST398 lineage but suggest that it might have the potential to adapt further to the human host.
Project description:A strategy for the high-throughput screening of a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) encoded peptide library to allow the identification of MRSA and MSSA selective peptides including AMPs. This novel screening approach allows simultaneous screening of cell selective peptides with different uptake mechanisms including lytic peptides and non-lytic CPPs. MRSA and MSSA were incubated with Library-18 (50 uM; corresponding to 39 nM of each library member) under short incubation times (30 min) to ensure collection of both live and apoptotic cells, which allowed selection of lytic peptides as well as non-lytic CPPs. Incubation was followed by washing and lysis and the intracellular and membrane associated library members were extracted and purified by filter centrifugation (between 3,000 and 10,000 Da). The extracted PNA tags were hybridized onto custom designed microarrays. Each microarray consisted of 4 sub-arrays of 44,000 features each with 33 replicates of each oligonucleotide complementary to each member of the library as well as 1232 non-coding negative controls. Microarray scanning and data analysis (BlueFuse, BlueGenome) was used to extract the intensity of the FAM label, thereby giving the relative amount of PNA hybridized to each spot and the identity of the peptide.
Project description:Functionality of the accessory gene regulator (agr) quorum sensing system is an important switch promoting either acute or chronic infections, mediated by the notorious opportunistic human and veterinary pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. Spontaneous alterations of the agr system are known to frequently occur in human healthcare-associated S. aureus lineages. However, data on agr integrity and function are sparse regarding other major lineages. Here we report on the agr system functionality and activity level in mecC-carrying methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) of various animal origins (n=33) in Europe together with closely related isolates of human patients (n=12). Whole genome analysis assigned all isolates to four clonal complexes (CC) with distinct agr types (CC599 agr I, CC49 agr II, CC130 agr III and CC1943 agr IV). Different levels of agr functionality were detected by use of different phenotype assays and proteomics for isolates of each CC, including completely non-functional variants. Genomic comparison of the agr I-IV encoding regions revealed that variants of AgrA and AgrC were associated with these phenotype changes, especially among the isolates of pet- and wild animal origin. Since a role in adaptation is most likely when genomic changes occur independently in divergent lineages, agr variation might foster viability and niche adjustment capacities of rare MRSA lineages.
Project description:The success of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) as pathogens is due to a combination of antibiotic resistance with high virulence. However, evolution of the exceptional virulence potential of CA-MRSA is not understood. Our previous study indicated that differential gene expression contributes substantially to this process. Thus, we here investigated the role of the pivotal virulence gene regulatory system agr in the most prevalent CA-MRSA strain USA300. Using a mouse subcutaneous infection model, we show that agr is essential for the development of CA-MRSA skin infections, the most frequent manifestation of disease caused by CA-MRSA. Furthermore, genome-wide analysis of gene expression revealed significant differences in agr-dependent virulence gene regulation between CA-MRSA, HA-MRSA, and laboratory strains. Our findings demonstrate that agr functionality is critical for CA-MRSA disease and indicate that an adaptation of the agr regulon to optimize expression of a broad set of virulence determinants may have contributed to the evolution of exceptionally pronounced virulence of CA-MRSA strains. Keywords: wild type vs mutant
Project description:Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major threat to human health. Rather than depend on creating new antibiotics (to which bacteria will eventually become resistant), we are employing antibiotic adjuvants that potentiate existing antibiotics. Based on our previous work, loratadine, the FDA-approvide antihistamine, effectively potentiates cell-wall active antibiotics in multiple strains of MRSA. Furthermore, loratadine and oxacillin helped disrupt preformed biofilms and stop them from initially forming in vitro. To gain biological insight into how this potentiation and biofilm inhibition occurs, we used RNA-seq on treated MRSA 43300 cultures to examine antibiotic adjuvant affects transcritome-wide.
Project description:Influenza-induced respiratory failure is substantially worsened by secondary bacterial infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The bidirectional interaction between the influenza-injured lung microenvironment and MRSA is poorly understood. By conditioning MRSA ex vivo in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid collected from mice at various timepoints of influenza infection, we found that influenza-injured lung microenvironment induces MRSA to increase cytotoxin expression while decreasing metabolic pathways. This overall increase in MRSA virulence was dependent upon SaeRS, a bacterial two-component system. Once expressed by MRSA, these influenza-induced toxins (such as Hla and LukAB) interact with host heparan sulfate (HS) fragments shed into the airspace. Highly-sulfated HS fragments augmented Hla- and LukAB-toxicity in vitro and in vivo. Our findings indicate that post-influenza MRSA pneumonia is shaped by bidirectional host-pathogen interactions: host injury triggers changes in bacterial expression of toxins, the activity of which are then shaped by host-derived HS fragments.
Project description:Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is an emerging threat to human health throughout the world. Rodent MRSA pneumonia models mainly focus on the early innate immune responses to MRSA infection. However, the molecular pattern and mechanisms of recovery from MRSA lung infection are largely unknown. In this study, a nonlethal mouse MRSA pneumonia model was employed to investigate events during lung recovery from MRSA infection. We compared lung bacterial clearance, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) characterization, lung histology, and gene expression profiling between Day 1 and Day 3 post-MRSA infection. Compared to Day 1 post-infection, bacterial colony counts and both BALF total cell number and protein concentration significantly decreased at Day 3 post-infection. Lung cDNA microarray analysis identified 47 significantly up-regulated and 35 down-regulated genes (p<0.01, 1.5-fold change [up and down]). Changes in eight genes were confirmed by real-time PCR. The pattern of gene expression suggests lung recovery is characterized by enhanced cell division, vascularization, and wound healing and by adjustment in host adaptive immune responses. Collectively, this data helps elucidate the molecular mechanisms of lung recovery after MRSA infection.
Project description:Halogenated 4-hydroxybenzylidene indolinones have been shown to re-sensitize methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant E. faecalis (VRE) to methicillin and vancomycin respectively. The mechanism of antibiotic re-sensitization was however not previously studied. Here, we present the global proteomics analysis of S. aureus treated with GW5074, a 4-hydroxybenzylidene indolinone compound. Global proteomics analysis revealed that GW5074 treatment resulted in the downregulation of AgrC (a quorum sensing-related histidine kinase), AgrA (a quorum sensing-related response regulator) as well as downstream targets, such as hemolysins, lipases and proteases in S. aureus. Significant downregulation of enzymes involved in the purine biosynthesis was also observed. S. aureus proteins involved in amino acid metabolism and peptide transport were observed to be downregulated. The most upregulated protein was the lytic transglycosylase, SceD. These findings shed insights into how 4-hydroxybenzylidene indolinones kill bacteria and also re-sensitize MRSA to other antibiotics.