Project description:This SuperSeries is composed of the following subset Series: GSE32241: Differentially regulated genes induced in Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis by in vitro acid-nitrosative multi-stress GSE32242: Differentially regulated genes induced in Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis by in vitro infection of THP-1 human macrophage cell line Refer to individual Series
Project description:Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), the causative agent of Johne's disease (JD) in cattle, has significant impacts on the livestock industry and has been implicated in the etiology of Crohn's disease. Macrophages play a key role in JD pathogenesis, which is driven by the manipulation of host immune mechanisms by MAP. A change in the macrophage microenvironment due to pathogenic or host-derived stimuli can lead to classical (M1) or alternative (M2) polarization of macrophages. In addition, prior exposure to antigenic stimuli has been reported to alter the response of macrophages to subsequent stimuli. However, macrophage polarization in response to MAP exposure and its possible implications have not been previously addressed. In this study, we have comprehensively examined monocyte/macrophage polarization and responsiveness to antigens from MAP-exposed and unexposed animals. At 3 years post-exposure, there was a heterogeneous macrophage activation pattern characterized by both classical and alternate phenotypes. Moreover, subsequent exposure of macrophages from MAP-exposed cattle to antigens from MAP and other mycobacterial species led to significant variation in the production of nitric oxide, interleukin-10 and tumour necrosis factor α. These results indicate the previously unreported possibility of changes in the activation state and responsiveness of circulating monocytes/macrophages from MAP-exposed cattle.
Project description:The survival of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis was studied by culture of fecal material sampled at intervals for up to 117 weeks from soil and grass in pasture plots and boxes. Survival for up to 55 weeks was observed in a dry fully shaded environment, with much shorter survival times in unshaded locations. Moisture and application of lime to soil did not affect survival. UV radiation was an unlikely factor, but infrared wavelengths leading to diurnal temperature flux may be the significant detrimental component that is correlated with lack of shade. The organism survived for up to 24 weeks on grass that germinated through infected fecal material applied to the soil surface in completely shaded boxes and for up to 9 weeks on grass in 70% shade. The observed patterns of recovery in three of four experiments and changes in viable counts were indicative of dormancy, a hitherto unreported property of this taxon. A dps-like genetic element and relA, which are involved in dormancy responses in other mycobacteria, are present in the M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis genome sequence, providing indirect evidence for the existence of physiological mechanisms enabling dormancy. However, survival of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the environment is finite, consistent with its taxonomic description as an obligate parasite of animals.
Project description:Pathogen processing by the intestinal epithelium involves a dynamic innate immune response initiated by pathogen-epithelial cell cross talk. Interactions between epithelium and Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis have not been intensively studied, and it is currently unknown how the bacterium-epithelial cell cross talk contributes to the course of infection. We hypothesized that M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis harnesses host responses to recruit macrophages to the site of infection to ensure its survival and dissemination. We investigated macrophage recruitment in response to M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis using a MAC-T bovine macrophage coculture system. We show that M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection led to phagosome acidification within bovine epithelial (MAC-T) cells as early as 10 min, which resulted in upregulation of interleukin-1? (IL-1?) at transcript and protein levels. Within 10 min of infection, macrophages were recruited to the apical side of MAC-T cells. Inhibition of phagosome acidification or IL-1? abrogated this response, while MCP-1/CCL-2 blocking had no effect. IL-1? processing was dependent upon Ca(2+) uptake from the extracellular medium and intracellular Ca(2+) oscillations, as determined by EGTA and BAPTA-AM [1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy) ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid tetrakis (acetoxymethyl ester)] treatments. Thus, M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis is an opportunist that takes advantage of extracellular Ca(2+)-dependent phagosome acidification and IL-1? processing in order to efficiently transverse the epithelium and enter its niche--the macrophage.
Project description:Currently, paratuberculosis vaccines are comprised of crude whole-cell preparations of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Although effective in reducing clinical disease and fecal shedding, these vaccines have severe disadvantages as well, including seroconversion of vaccinated animals and granulomatous lesions at the site of vaccination. DNA vaccines can offer an alternative approach that may be safer and elicit more protective responses. In an effort to identify protective M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis sequences, a genomic DNA expression library was generated and subdivided into pools of clones (approximately 1,500 clones/pool). The clone pools were evaluated to determine DNA vaccine efficacy by immunizing mice via gene gun delivery and challenging them with live, virulent M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Four clone pools resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis recovered from mouse tissues compared to mice immunized with other clone pools and nonvaccinated, infected control mice. One of the protective clone pools was further partitioned into 10 clone arrays of 108 clones each, and four clone arrays provided significant protection from both spleen and mesenteric lymph node colonization by M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. The nucleotide sequence of each clone present in the protective pools was determined, and coding region functions were predicted by computer analysis. Comparison of the protective clone array sequences implicated 26 antigens that may be responsible for protection in mice. This study is the first study to demonstrate protection against M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis infection with expression library immunization.
Project description:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis is a host-adapted pathogen that evolved from the environmental bacterium M. avium subsp. hominissuis through gene loss and gene acquisition. Growth of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in the laboratory is enhanced by supplementation of the media with the iron-binding siderophore mycobactin J. Here we examined the production of mycobactins by related organisms and searched for an alternative iron uptake system in M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Through thin-layer chromatography and radiolabeled iron-uptake studies, we showed that M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis is impaired for both mycobactin synthesis and iron acquisition. Consistent with these observations, we identified several mutations, including deletions, in M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis genes coding for mycobactin synthesis. Using a transposon-mediated mutagenesis screen conditional on growth without myobactin, we identified a potential mycobactin-independent iron uptake system on a M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis-specific genomic island, LSP(P)15. We obtained a transposon (Tn) mutant with a disruption in the LSP(P)15 gene MAP3776c for targeted study. The mutant manifests increased iron uptake as well as intracellular iron content, with genes downstream of the transposon insertion (MAP3775c to MAP3772c [MAP3775-2c]) upregulated as the result of a polar effect. As an independent confirmation, we observed the same iron uptake phenotypes by overexpressing MAP3775-2c in wild-type M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. These data indicate that the horizontally acquired LSP(P)15 genes contribute to iron acquisition by M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis, potentially allowing the subsequent loss of siderophore production by this pathogen.Many microbes are able to scavenge iron from their surroundings by producing iron-chelating siderophores. One exception is Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis, a fastidious, slow-growing animal pathogen whose growth needs to be supported by exogenous mycobacterial siderophore (mycobactin) in the laboratory. Data presented here demonstrate that, compared to other closely related M. avium subspecies, mycobactin production and iron uptake are different in M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis, and these phenotypes may be caused by numerous deletions in its mycobactin biosynthesis pathway. Using a genomic approach, supplemented by targeted genetic and biochemical studies, we identified that LSP(P)15, a horizontally acquired genomic island, may encode an alternative iron uptake system. These findings shed light on the potential physiological consequence of horizontal gene transfer in M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis evolution.
Project description:Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (basonym M. paratuberculosis) is the etiologic agent of a severe gastroenteritis in ruminants known as Johne's disease. Economic losses to the cattle industry in the United States are staggering, reaching $1.5 billion annually. A potential pathogenic role in humans in the etiology of Crohn's disease is under investigation. In this article, we review the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnostics, and disease control measures of this important veterinary pathogen. We emphasize molecular genetic aspects including the description of markers used for strain identification, diagnostics, and phylogenetic analysis. Recent important advances in the development of animal models and genetic systems to study M. paratuberculosis virulence determinants are also discussed. We conclude with proposals for the applications of these models and recombinant technology to the development of diagnostic, control, and therapeutic measures.
Project description:Pathogenic mycobacteria including Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), the causative agent of Johne's disease, manipulate host macrophages to persist and cause disease. In mycobacterial infection, highly plastic macrophages, shift between inflammatory M1 and permissive M2 phenotypes which alter the disease outcome and allow bacteria to survive intracellularly. Here we examine the impact of MAP infection on polarised macrophages and how increased lipid availability alters macrophage phenotype and bacterial persistence. Further, we assess if host microRNA (miRNA) are sensitive to macrophage polarisation state and how MAP can drive their expression to overcome innate responses. Using in vitro MAP infection, we find that increasing lipid availability through supplementing culture media with exogenous lipid increases cellular nitric oxide production. Lipid-associated miRs -19a, -129, -24, and -24-3p are differentially expressed following macrophage polarisation and lipid supplementation and are further regulated during MAP infection. Collectively, our results highlight the importance of host lipid metabolism in MAP infection and demonstrate control of miRNA expression by MAP to favour intracellular persistence.
Project description:The genetic similarity between Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and other mycobacterial species has confounded the development of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis-specific diagnostic reagents. Random shotgun sequencing of the M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis genome in our laboratories has shown >98% sequence identity with Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium in some regions. However, an in silico comparison of the largest annotated M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis contigs, totaling 2,658,271 bp, with the unfinished M. avium subsp. avium genome has revealed 27 predicted M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis coding sequences that do not align with M. avium subsp. avium sequences. BLASTP analysis of the 27 predicted coding sequences (genes) shows that 24 do not match sequences in public sequence databases, such as GenBank. These novel sequences were examined by PCR amplification with genomic DNA from eight mycobacterial species and ten independent isolates of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. From these analyses, 21 genes were found to be present in all M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis isolates and absent from all other mycobacterial species tested. One region of the M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis genome contains a cluster of eight genes, arranged in tandem, that is absent in other mycobacterial species. This region spans 4.4 kb and is separated from other predicted coding regions by 1,408 bp upstream and 1,092 bp downstream. The gene upstream of this eight-gene cluster has strong similarity to mycobacteriophage integrase sequences. The GC content of this 4.4-kb region is 66%, which is similar to the rest of the genome, indicating that this region was not horizontally acquired recently. Southern hybridization analysis confirmed that this gene cluster is present only in M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Collectively, these studies suggest that a genomics approach will help in identifying novel M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis genes as candidate diagnostic sequences.
Project description:BackgroundMycobacterium avium subspecies avium (M. avium) is frequently encountered in the environment, but also causes infections in animals and immunocompromised patients. In contrast, Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (M. paratuberculosis) is a slow-growing organism that is the causative agent of Johne's disease in cattle and chronic granulomatous infections in a variety of other ruminant hosts. Yet we show that despite their divergent phenotypes and the diseases they present, the genomes of M. avium and M. paratuberculosis share greater than 97% nucleotide identity over large (25 kb) genomic regions analyzed in this study.ResultsTo characterize genome similarity between these two subspecies as well as attempt to understand their different growth rates, we designed oligonucleotide primers from M. avium sequence to amplify 15 minimally overlapping fragments of M. paratuberculosis genomic DNA encompassing the chromosomal origin of replication. These strategies resulted in the successful amplification and sequencing of a contiguous 11-kb fragment containing the putative Mycobacterium paratuberculosis origin of replication (oriC). This fragment contained 11 predicted open reading frames that showed a conserved gene order in the oriC locus when compared with several other Gram-positive bacteria. In addition, a GC skew analysis identified the origin of chromosomal replication which lies between the genes dnaA and dnaN. The presence of multiple DnaA boxes and the ATP-binding site in dnaA were also found in M. paratuberculosis. The strong nucleotide identity of M. avium and M. paratuberculosis in the region surrounding the origin of chromosomal replication led us to compare other areas of these genomes. A DNA homology matrix of 2 million nucleotides from each genome revealed strong synteny with only a few sequences present in one genome but absent in the other. Finally, the 16s rRNA gene from these two subspecies is 100% identical.ConclusionsWe present for the first time, a description of the oriC region in M. paratuberculosis. In addition, genomic comparisons between these two mycobacterial subspecies suggest that differences in the oriC region may not be significant enough to account for the diverse bacterial replication rates. Finally, the few genetic differences present outside the origin of chromosomal replication in each genome may be responsible for the diverse growth rates or phenotypes observed between the avium and paratuberculosis subspecies.