Project description:Streptococcus suis serotype 2 is an important pathogen of pigs, and the disease it causes is characterized by meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia with high mortality. The pathogen is also an emerging zoonotic agent and threatens humans that are exposed to pigs or their by-products. We investigated the response of PBMC (Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell), brain and lung tissues to infection with S. suis 2 strain SC19 by using the Affymetrix Porcine Genome Array.
Project description:Streptococcus suis serotype 2 is an important pathogen of pigs, and the disease it causes is characterized by meningitis, septicaemia and pneumonia with high mortality. The pathogen is also an emerging zoonotic agent and threatens humans that are exposed to pigs or their by-products. We investigated the response of PBMC (Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell), brain and lung tissues to infection with S. suis 2 strain SC19 by using the Affymetrix Porcine Genome Array. Six piglets free of S. suis 2 were allocated randomly to the infected group and the uninfected group. Each piglet of the infected group was intravenous injection with Streptococcus suis 2 strain SC19 at a dose of 3Ã105 colony-forming units (CFU). Each piglet of the noninfected group was treated similarly with an identical volume of PBS as control. At 24 h after challenge, the pigs were slaughtered and their brains, lungs and PBMC were collected with RNase-free equipment for microarray analysis.
Project description:Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis and sepsis in both pigs and humans. In this study,we evaluated the genetic difference of 40 Streptococcus suis strains belonging to various sequence types by comparative genomic hybridization to identify genes associated with the variation in pathogenicity using NimbleGen’s tilling microarray platform. Application of Comparative Phylogenomics to Identify Genetic Differences Relating to Pathogenicity of Streptococcus suis
Project description:Identification of Genes and Genomic Islands Correlated with High Pathogenicity through Tilling Microarray-Based Comparative Genomics in S. suis. Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis and sepsis in both pigs and humans. S. suis isolates have been categorized into groups of different levels of pathogenicity, with sequence type (ST) ST1 clonal complex strains having a higher degree of virulence than other STs. However, the genetic basis of the differences in pathogenicity is still poorly understood. In this study, a comprehensive genomic comparison of 31 S. suis strains from different clinical sources with the genome sequence of the high pathogenicity (HP) strain GZ1 was conducted using NimbleGen’s tilling microarray platform.
Project description:Streptococcus suis is a major pig pathogen as well as an emerging zoonotic pathogen. Previous work has demonstrated that the S. suis extracellular amylopullulanase enzyme (ApuA) that degrades {alpha}-glucans also functions as an adhesin for porcine epithelial cells. To identify the mechanisms linking carbohydrate metabolism and virulence, we first compared the transcriptome of S. suis in minimal medium supplemented with glucose to minimal medium containing a complex carbohydrate pullulan as a carbon source. The relative expression of eighteen virulence genes including suilysin and apuA was increased during growth in presence of pullulan, compared to growth in glucose. Increased virulence potential of S. suis grown in pullulan was demonstrated using hemolytic assays and increased adhesion and invasion of porcine epithelial cells in vitro. A metabolic map of S. suis was generated and combined with transcriptome data to visualize the metabolic adaption of S. suis during adhesion and invasion of the porcine epithelial cells representing an in vitro model of infection. The role of carbon catabolite control in virulence gene regulation was investigated and the molecular mechanism of transcriptional regulation was elucidated for apuA. We demonstrate that relief of CcpA repression is a crucial transcriptional control mechanism linking carbohydrate mechanism and virulence. The model for the transcriptional regulation of two important virulence factors apuA and suilysin was verified by qPCR analysis of gene expression in S. suis recovered from the organs and blood of infected pigs.
Project description:Streptococcus suis is an important pathogen in pigs and can also cause severe infections in humans. However, little is known about proteins associated with cell growth and virulence of S. suis. In this study, a GTPase MnmE homologue was identified in a Chinese isolate (SC19) that drives a tRNA modification reaction. A mnmE deletion strain (ΔmnmE) and a complementary strain (CΔmnmE) were constructed to systematically decode the characteristics and the function of MnmE by applying in vitro and in vivo studies, and proteomic analysis. Phenotypic analysis revealed that the ΔmnmE strain displayed deficient growth, attenuated pathogenicity, perturbed arginine metabolic pathway mediated by arginine deiminase system (ADS). Consistently, TMT-based quantitative proteomics analysis confirmed that 491 proteins were differentially expressed (238 up- and 253 down-regulated) between strains ΔmnmE and SC19. Many proteins associated with DNA replication, cell division, and virulence were down-regulated. Particularly, the core enzymes of ADS were significantly down-regulated in strain ΔmnmE. These data also provided putative molecular mechanisms for MnmE in cell growth and survival in an acidic environment. Therefore, MnmE is a central regulator that plays an important role in cell growth and virulence, as well as arginine metabolism.
Project description:Streptococcus suis is a major swine pathogen that can be transmitted to humans causing severe symptoms. A large human outbreak was described in China, where approximately 25% out of 215 infected humans developed an unusual streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS). Albeit increased expression of inflammatory mediators following infection by the Chinese S. suis strain was suggested as responsible for STSLS case severity, the mechanisms involved are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the host innate immune response to infection by either one of 3 strains of S. suis: 89-1591 (Canadian, intermediate virulence), P1/7 (European, high virulence), and SC84 (Chinese, epidemic strain). Using Illumina microarray and validating those results with qPCR and Luminex assay, infected mice showed elevated expression of mainly pro-inflammatory chemokine and cytokine genes. Generally, pro-inflammatory genes were expressed at a higher level in mice infected with S. suis strain SC84 > P1/7 > 89-1591. Interestingly, IFNγ was expressed at much higher levels only in mice infected with the S. suis strain SC84, which could potentially explain some of the STSLS symptoms. IFNγ-KO mice infected with SC84 showed better survival than WT mice while no differences was seen in mice infected with highly virulent P1/7 strain. Overall, our results show an important role of IFNγ in S. suis infections and might explain in part the increased virulence of SC84 responsible for a recent outbreak in China.
Project description:Identification of Genes and Genomic Islands Correlated with High Pathogenicity through Tilling Microarray-Based Comparative Genomics in S. suis. Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis and sepsis in both pigs and humans. S. suis isolates have been categorized into groups of different levels of pathogenicity, with sequence type (ST) ST1 clonal complex strains having a higher degree of virulence than other STs. However, the genetic basis of the differences in pathogenicity is still poorly understood. In this study, a comprehensive genomic comparison of 31 S. suis strains from different clinical sources with the genome sequence of the high pathogenicity (HP) strain GZ1 was conducted using NimbleGenM-bM-^@M-^Ys tilling microarray platform. Comparative genomic analysis on the 31 S. suis strains of different serotypes and ST types through tilling arrays.
Project description:Streptococcus suis is a major swine pathogen that can be transmitted to humans causing severe symptoms. A large human outbreak was described in China, where approximately 25% out of 215 infected humans developed an unusual streptococcal toxic shock-like syndrome (STSLS). Albeit increased expression of inflammatory mediators following infection by the Chinese S. suis strain was suggested as responsible for STSLS case severity, the mechanisms involved are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the host innate immune response to infection by either one of 3 strains of S. suis: 89-1591 (Canadian, intermediate virulence), P1/7 (European, high virulence), and SC84 (Chinese, epidemic strain). Using Illumina microarray and validating those results with qPCR and Luminex assay, infected mice showed elevated expression of mainly pro-inflammatory chemokine and cytokine genes. Generally, pro-inflammatory genes were expressed at a higher level in mice infected with S. suis strain SC84 > P1/7 > 89-1591. Interestingly, IFNγ was expressed at much higher levels only in mice infected with the S. suis strain SC84, which could potentially explain some of the STSLS symptoms. IFNγ-KO mice infected with SC84 showed better survival than WT mice while no differences was seen in mice infected with highly virulent P1/7 strain. Overall, our results show an important role of IFNγ in S. suis infections and might explain in part the increased virulence of SC84 responsible for a recent outbreak in China.