Salmonella, E. coli, and Citrobacter Type III Secretion System Effector Proteins that Alter Host Innate Immunity

Author(s):  
Samir El Qaidi ◽  
Miaomiao Wu ◽  
Congrui Zhu ◽  
Philip R. Hardwidge
2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (23) ◽  
pp. 8164-8171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Ideses ◽  
Uri Gophna ◽  
Yossi Paitan ◽  
Roy R. Chaudhuri ◽  
Mark J. Pallen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The type III secretion system (T3SS) is an important virulence factor used by several gram-negative bacteria to deliver effector proteins which subvert host cellular processes. Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157 has a well-defined T3SS involved in attachment and effacement (ETT1) and critical for virulence. A gene cluster potentially encoding an additional T3SS (ETT2), which resembles the SPI-1 system in Salmonella enterica, was found in its genome sequence. The ETT2 gene cluster has since been found in many E. coli strains, but its in vivo role is not known. Many of the ETT2 gene clusters carry mutations and deletions, raising the possibility that they are not functional. Here we show the existence in septicemic E. coli strains of an ETT2 gene cluster, ETT2sepsis, which, although degenerate, contributes to pathogenesis. ETT2sepsis has several premature stop codons and a large (5 kb) deletion, which is conserved in 11 E. coli strains from cases of septicemia and newborn meningitis. A null mutant constructed to remove genes coding for the putative inner membrane ring of the secretion complex exhibited significantly reduced virulence. These results are the first demonstration of the importance of ETT2 for pathogenesis.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Mühlen ◽  
Viktor Zapolskii ◽  
Ursula Bilitewski ◽  
Petra Dersch

Infections with enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) cause severe diarrhea in children. The non-invasive bacteria adhere to enterocytes of the small intestine and use a type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject effector proteins into host cells to modify and exploit cellular processes in favor of bacterial survival and replication. Several studies have shown that the T3SSs of bacterial pathogens are essential for virulence. Furthermore, the loss of T3SS-mediated effector translocation results in increased immune recognition and clearance of the bacteria. The T3SS is, therefore, considered a promising target for antivirulence strategies and novel therapeutics development. Here, we report the results of a high-throughput screening assay based on the translocation of the EPEC effector protein Tir. Using this assay, we screened more than 13,000 small molecular compounds of six different compound libraries and identified three substances which showed a significant dose-dependent effect on translocation without adverse effects on bacterial or eukaryotic cell viability. Additionally, these substances reduced bacterial binding to host cells, effector-dependent cell detachment and abolished A/E lesion formation without affecting the expression of components of the T3SS or associated effector proteins. Moreover, no effects of the inhibitors on bacterial motility or Shiga-toxin expression were observed. In summary, we have identified three new compounds that strongly inhibit T3SS-mediated translocation of effectors into mammalian cells, which could be valuable as lead substances for treating EPEC and EHEC infections.


2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 430-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Raymond ◽  
Joanna C. Young ◽  
Mitchell Pallett ◽  
Robert G. Endres ◽  
Abigail Clements ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Clarke ◽  
Rongman Cai ◽  
David J. Studholme ◽  
David S. Guttman ◽  
Boris A. Vinatzer

Pseudomonas syringae is best known as a plant pathogen that causes disease by translocating immune-suppressing effector proteins into plant cells through a type III secretion system (T3SS). However, P. syringae strains belonging to a newly described phylogenetic subgroup (group 2c) are missing the canonical P. syringae hrp/hrc cluster coding for a T3SS, flanking effector loci, and any close orthologue of known P. syringae effectors. Nonetheless, P. syringae group 2c strains are common leaf colonizers and grow on some tested plant species to population densities higher than those obtained by other P. syringae strains on nonhost species. Moreover, group 2c strains have genes necessary for the production of phytotoxins, have an ice nucleation gene, and, most interestingly, contain a novel hrp/hrc cluster, which is only distantly related to the canonical P. syringae hrp/hrc cluster. This hrp/hrc cluster appears to encode a functional T3SS although the genes hrpK and hrpS, present in the classical P. syringae hrp/hrc cluster, are missing. The genome sequence of a representative group 2c strain also revealed distant orthologues of the P. syringae effector genes avrE1 and hopM1 and the P. aeruginosa effector genes exoU and exoY. A putative life cycle for group 2c P. syringae is discussed.


2003 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 2404-2413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachiko Miyata ◽  
Monika Casey ◽  
Dara W. Frank ◽  
Frederick M. Ausubel ◽  
Eliana Drenkard

ABSTRACT Nonvertebrate model hosts represent valuable tools for the study of host-pathogen interactions because they facilitate the identification of bacterial virulence factors and allow the discovery of novel components involved in host innate immune responses. In this report, we determined that the greater wax moth caterpillar Galleria mellonella is a convenient nonmammalian model host for study of the role of the type III secretion system (TTSS) in Pseudomonas aeruginosa pathogenesis. Based on the observation that a mutation in the TTSS pscD gene of P. aeruginosa strain PA14 resulted in a highly attenuated virulence phenotype in G. mellonella, we examined the roles of the four known effector proteins of P. aeruginosa (ExoS, ExoT, ExoU, and ExoY) in wax moth killing. We determined that in P. aeruginosa strain PA14, only ExoT and ExoU play a significant role in G. mellonella killing. Strain PA14 lacks the coding sequence for the ExoS effector protein and does not seem to express ExoY. Moreover, using ΔexoU ΔexoY, ΔexoT ΔexoY, and ΔexoT ΔexoU double mutants, we determined that individual translocation of either ExoT or ExoU is sufficient to obtain nearly wild-type levels of G. mellonella killing. On the other hand, data obtained with a ΔexoT ΔexoU ΔexoY triple mutant and a ΔpscD mutant suggested that additional, as-yet-unidentified P. aeruginosa components of type III secretion are involved in virulence in G. mellonella. A high level of correlation between the results obtained in the G. mellonella model and the results of cytopathology assays performed with a mammalian tissue culture system validated the use of G. mellonella for the study of the P. aeruginosa TTSS.


2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (13) ◽  
pp. 2824-2830 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. WANG ◽  
X. LIU ◽  
X. XU ◽  
Y. ZHAO ◽  
D. YANG ◽  
...  

SUMMARYPathogens utilize type III secretion systems to deliver effector proteins, which facilitate bacterial infections. The Escherichia coli type III secretion system 2 (ETT2) which plays a crucial role in bacterial virulence, is present in the majority of E. coli strains, although ETT2 has undergone widespread mutational attrition. We investigated the distribution and characteristics of ETT2 in avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC) isolates and identified five different ETT2 isoforms, including intact ETT2, in 57·6% (141/245) of the isolates. The ETT2 locus was present in the predominant APEC serotypes O78, O2 and O1. All of the ETT2 loci in the serotype O78 isolates were degenerate, whereas an intact ETT2 locus was mostly present in O1 and O2 serotype strains, which belong to phylogenetic groups B2 and D, respectively. Interestingly, a putative second type III secretion-associated locus (eip locus) was present only in the isolates with an intact ETT2. Moreover, ETT2 was more widely distributed in APEC isolates and exhibited more isoforms compared to ETT2 in human extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli, suggesting that APEC might be a potential risk to human health. However, there was no distinct correlation between ETT2 and other virulence factors in APEC.


2019 ◽  
Vol 201 (22) ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh S. Sharp ◽  
Arne Rietsch ◽  
Simon L. Dove

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen that employs a type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject effector proteins into host cells. Using a protein depletion system, we show that the endoribonuclease RNase E positively regulates expression of the T3SS genes. We also present evidence that RNase E antagonizes the expression of genes of the type VI secretion system and limits biofilm production in P. aeruginosa. Thus, RNase E, which is thought to be the principal endoribonuclease involved in the initiation of RNA degradation in P. aeruginosa, plays a key role in controlling the production of factors involved in both acute and chronic stages of infection. Although the posttranscriptional regulator RsmA is also known to positively regulate expression of the T3SS genes, we find that RNase E does not appreciably influence the abundance of RsmA in P. aeruginosa. Moreover, we show that RNase E still exerts its effects on T3SS gene expression in cells lacking all four of the key small regulatory RNAs that function by sequestering RsmA. IMPORTANCE The type III secretion system (T3SS) is a protein complex produced by many Gram-negative pathogens. It is capable of injecting effector proteins into host cells that can manipulate cell metabolism and have toxic effects. Understanding how the T3SS is regulated is important in understanding the pathogenesis of bacteria with such systems. Here, we show that RNase E, which is typically thought of as a global regulator of RNA stability, plays a role in regulating the T3SS in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Depleting RNase E results in the loss of T3SS gene expression as well as a concomitant increase in biofilm formation. These observations are reminiscent of the phenotypes associated with the loss of activity of the posttranscriptional regulator RsmA. However, RNase E-mediated regulation of these systems does not involve changes in the abundance of RsmA and is independent of the known small regulatory RNAs that modulate RsmA activity.


mBio ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Netanel Elbaz ◽  
Yaakov Socol ◽  
Naama Katsowich ◽  
Ilan Rosenshine

ABSTRACT The transition from a planktonic lifestyle to a host-attached state is often critical for bacterial virulence. Upon attachment to host cells, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) employs a type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject into the host cells ∼20 effector proteins, including Tir. CesT, which is encoded from the same operon downstream of tir, is a Tir-bound chaperone that facilitates Tir translocation. Upon Tir translocation, the liberated CesT remains in the bacterial cytoplasm and antagonizes the posttranscriptional regulator CsrA, thus eliciting global regulation in the infecting pathogen. Importantly, tight control of the Tir/CesT ratio is vital, since an uncontrolled surge in free CesT levels may repress CsrA in an untimely manner, thus abrogating colonization. We investigated how fluctuations in Tir translation affect the regulation of this ratio. By creating mutations that cause the premature termination of Tir translation, we revealed that the untranslated tir mRNA becomes highly unstable, resulting in a rapid drop in cesT mRNA levels and, thus, CesT levels. This mechanism couples Tir and CesT levels to ensure a stable Tir/CesT ratio. Our results expose an additional level of regulation that enhances the efficacy of the initial interaction of EPEC with the host cell, providing a better understanding of the bacterial switch from the planktonic to the cell-adherent lifestyle. IMPORTANCE Host colonization by extracellular pathogens often entails the transition from a planktonic lifestyle to a host-attached state. Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), a Gram-negative pathogen, attaches to the intestinal epithelium of the host and employs a type III secretion system (T3SS) to inject effector proteins into the cytoplasm of infected cells. The most abundant effector protein injected is Tir, whose translocation is dependent on the Tir-bound chaperon CesT. Upon Tir injection, the liberated CesT binds to and inhibits the posttranscriptional regulator CsrA, resulting in reprogramming of gene expression in the host-attached bacteria. Thus, adaptation to the host-attached state involves dynamic remodeling of EPEC gene expression, which is mediated by the relative levels of Tir and CesT. Fluctuating from the optimal Tir/CesT ratio results in a decrease in EPEC virulence. Here we elucidate a posttranscriptional circuit that prevents sharp variations from this ratio, thus improving host colonization.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document