scholarly journals Host cell amplification of nutritional stress contributes to persistence in Chlamydia trachomatis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick D. Pokorzynski ◽  
REY CARABEO

Persistence, a viable, but non-replicating state has been implicated in diseases caused by Chlamydia trachomatis. Multiple nutritional stressors produce a superficially similar "persistent" state, yet no systematic comparison has been made to determine their likeness. We employed host-pathogen dual RNA-sequencing under both iron- and tryptophan-starved conditions to gain insight into chlamydial persistence and identify contributions by the host cell. Analysis of the transcriptome of iron- or tryptophan-starved Chlamydia revealed a common "core" component and a stress-specific "accessory" subset. Despite the overall transcriptomic differences of host cells starved for either iron or tryptophan, both stressors induced persistence. A common metabolic consequence of the stressors was a reduction in intracellular GTP levels. Mizoribine inhibition of IMDPH1, which catalyzes the rate-limiting step in de novo guanine nucleotide synthesis reproduced to a similar extent GTP depletion, and inhibited chlamydial growth as expected for a pathogen that is auxotrophic for GTP. Thus, the reduction of guanine nucleotide synthesis manifests amplification of either iron or tryptophan starvation contributing to persistence. These findings illustrate that a nutritionally stressed host cell remains effective in arresting growth of Chlamydia by targeting metabolic pathways required by the pathogen.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. e201800161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mainak Bose ◽  
Susanta Chatterjee ◽  
Yogaditya Chakrabarty ◽  
Bahnisikha Barman ◽  
Suvendra N Bhattacharyya

microRNAs are short regulatory RNAs in metazoan cells. Regulation of miRNA activity and abundance is evident in human cells where availability of target messages can influence miRNA biogenesis by augmenting the Dicer1-dependent processing of precursors to mature microRNAs. Requirement of subcellular compartmentalization of Ago2, the key component of miRNA repression machineries, for the controlled biogenesis of miRNPs is reported here. The process predominantly happens on the polysomes attached with the endoplasmic reticulum for which the subcellular Ago2 trafficking is found to be essential. Mitochondrial tethering of endoplasmic reticulum and its interaction with endosomes controls Ago2 availability. In cells with depolarized mitochondria, miRNA biogenesis gets impaired, which results in lowering of de novo–formed mature miRNA levels and accumulation of miRNA-free Ago2 on endosomes that fails to interact with Dicer1 and to traffic back to endoplasmic reticulum for de novo miRNA loading. Thus, mitochondria by sensing the cellular context regulates Ago2 trafficking at the subcellular level, which acts as a rate-limiting step in miRNA biogenesis process in mammalian cells.


2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susmita Ghosh ◽  
Elizabeth A. Ruelke ◽  
Joshua C. Ferrell ◽  
Maria D. Bodero ◽  
Kenneth A. Fields ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The translocated actin recruiting phosphoprotein (Tarp) is a multidomain type III secreted effector used by Chlamydia trachomatis. In aggregate, existing data suggest a role of this effector in initiating new infections. As new genetic tools began to emerge to study chlamydial genes in vivo, we speculated as to what degree Tarp function contributes to Chlamydia’s ability to parasitize mammalian host cells. To address this question, we generated a complete tarP deletion mutant using the fluorescence-reported allelic exchange mutagenesis (FRAEM) technique and complemented the mutant in trans with wild-type tarP or mutant tarP alleles engineered to harbor in-frame domain deletions. We provide evidence for the significant role of Tarp in C. trachomatis invasion of host cells. Complementation studies indicate that the C-terminal filamentous actin (F-actin)-binding domains are responsible for Tarp-mediated invasion efficiency. Wild-type C. trachomatis entry into HeLa cells resulted in host cell shape changes, whereas the tarP mutant did not. Finally, using a novel cis complementation approach, C. trachomatis lacking tarP demonstrated significant attenuation in a murine genital tract infection model. Together, these data provide definitive genetic evidence for the critical role of the Tarp F-actin-binding domains in host cell invasion and for the Tarp effector as a bona fide C. trachomatis virulence factor.


Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei-Ling Cheng ◽  
Kun-Yi Chien ◽  
Chien-Hsueh Lai ◽  
Guan-Jie Li ◽  
Jui-Fen Lin ◽  
...  

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) infection is an endemic disease in Southeast Asia and China. We have previously shown that EV71 virus causes functional changes in mitochondria. It is speculative whether EV71 virus alters the host cell metabolism to its own benefit. Using a metabolomics approach, we demonstrate that EV71-infected Vero cells had significant changes in metabolism. Glutathione and its related metabolites, and several amino acids, such as glutamate and aspartate, changed significantly with the infectious dose of virus. Other pathways, including glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle, were also altered. A change in glutamine/glutamate metabolism is critical to the viral infection. The presence of glutamine in culture medium was associated with an increase in viral replication. Dimethyl α-ketoglutarate treatment partially mimicked the effect of glutamine supplementation. In addition, the immunoblot analysis revealed that the expression of glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and trifunctional carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 2, aspartate transcarbamylase, and dihydroorotase (CAD) increased during infection. Knockdown of expression of glutaminase (GLS), GDH and CAD drastically reduced the cytopathic effect (CPE) and viral replication. Furthermore, we found that CAD bound VP1 to promote the de novo pyrimidine synthesis. Our findings suggest that virus may induce metabolic reprogramming of host cells to promote its replication through interactions between viral and host cell proteins.


1983 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bahieldin I. Magboul ◽  
David A. Bender

1. In order to test the suggestion that a dietary excess of leucine may be a precipitating factor in pellagra, rats were fed on diets that provided 15 g leucine/kg in excess of requirements for 7 weeks from weaning. This led to a significant reduction in the concentrations of nicotinamide nucleotides in liver and blood. The effect was only apparent when the diets provided less than a minimally adequate amount of nicotinamide, so that the animals were dependent on the synthesis of nicotinamide nucleotides from tryptophan to meet all or part of their requirements.2. Urinary excretion of N1-methyl nicotinamide was not a useful indicator of tissue concentrations of nicotinamide nucleotides, and seemed not to be adequately sensitive to differentiate between minimal adequacy and marginal deficiency, as demonstrated by changes in concentrations of nicotinamide nucleotides in liver and blood.3. The addition of leucine to incubation media for the measurement of enzyme activity in tissue homogenates at concentrations within the physiological range, led to a significant activation of tryptophan oxygenase (L-tryptophan: oxygen oxidoreductase (decyclizing), EC 1.13.11.11) and significant inhibition of kynureninase (L-kynurenine hydrolase, EC 3.7.1.3). The effect on tryptophan oxygenase may not be physiologically significant, in view of the considerable range of activity of this enzyme under normal conditions. However, the inhibition of kynureninase, which was primarily competitive with respect to the substrate, probably is physiologically significant, and was enough for this enzyme to become a probable rate-limiting step in tryptophan metabolism and nicotinamide nucleotide synthesis. Other enzymes of the tryptophan – nicotinamide nucleotide pathway were not affected by the addition of leucine to the incubation medium.4. Feeding 15 g leucine/kg diet in excess of minimum requirements had no effect on the activities of tryptophan oxygenase or kynureninase in liver homogenates. This may reflect the reversible competitive nature of the inhibition of kynureninase by leucine, and hence be an artefact of the incubation procedure. Rats fed on the high-leucine diets excreted significantly more kynurenine than did control animals, which is evidence of inhibition of kynureninase in vivo.5. It appears that a dietary excess of leucine, of the order of 15 g/kg above requirements, may be a precipitating factor in pellagra when there is reliance on the synthesis of nicotinamide nucleotides from tryptophan to meet a part or all of the requirements, but not when minimally adequate niacin is available from the diet.


Author(s):  
Yao Li ◽  
Li Yi ◽  
Sipeng Cheng ◽  
Yongshan Wang ◽  
Jiongjiong Wang ◽  
...  

Canine distemper virus (CDV) is the aetiological agent that causes canine distemper (CD). Currently, no antiviral drugs have been approved for CD treatment. A77 1726 is the active metabolite of the anti-rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug leflunomide. It inhibits the activity of Janus kinases (JAKs) and dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHO-DHase), a rate-limiting enzyme in de novo pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis. A77 1726 also inhibits the activity of p70 S6 kinase (S6K1), a serine/threonine kinase that phosphorylates and activates carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase (CAD), a second rate-limiting enzyme in the de novo pathway of pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis. Our present study focuses on the ability of A77 1726 to inhibit CDV replication and its underlying mechanisms. Here we report that A77 1726 decreased the levels of the N and M proteins of CDV and lowered the virus titres in the conditioned media of CDV-infected Vero cells. CDV replication was not inhibited by Ruxolitinib (Rux), a JAK-specific inhibitor, but by brequinar sodium (BQR), a DHO-DHase-specific inhibitor, and PF-4708671, an S6K1-specific inhibitor. Addition of exogenous uridine, which restores intracellular pyrimidine nucleotide levels, blocked the antiviral activity of A77 1726, BQR and PF-4708671. A77 1726 and PF-4708671 inhibited the activity of S6K1 in CDV-infected Vero cells, as evidenced by the decreased levels of CAD and S6 phosphorylation. S6K1 knockdown suppressed CDV replication and enhanced the antiviral activity of A77 1726. These observations collectively suggest that the antiviral activity of A77 1726 against CDV is mediated by targeting pyrimidine nucleotide synthesis via inhibiting DHO-DHase activity and S6K1-mediated CAD activation.


1992 ◽  
Vol 262 (3) ◽  
pp. E344-E352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. A. Kim ◽  
M. T. King ◽  
W. E. Teague ◽  
G. A. Rufo ◽  
R. L. Veech ◽  
...  

The regulation of purine metabolism in rat liver has been examined under conditions that alter the flux through the pathway. Rats were given intraperitoneal injections of ethanol, sodium acetate, or sodium phosphate to attain body water concentrations of approximately 70, 20, and 10 mM, respectively. The livers were freeze-clamped after 30 min, and extracts were made for the analysis of metabolites, cofactors, purine bases, and nucleosides; homogenates were made for the measurement of the activities and kinetic parameters of seven enzymes that participate in purine salvage. The values of the equilibrium constants of nine reactions were determined in vitro and compared with the ratios of the reactants measured in liver. The changes in phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP), a key intermediate in both the de novo and salvage pathways of purine metabolism, were directly correlated with the changes in ribose 5-phosphate (ribose-5-P); ([PRPP] = 1.7[ribose-5-P] - 7.4 mumol/kg). Ribose-5-P concentrations in turn could be predicted from the liver content of fructose 6-phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate by calculation from the known equilibria. The maximum velocities in the tissue of the seven enzymes measured were calculated from the measured substrate values in the liver and with consideration of other effectors of enzyme activity. PRPP synthetase was the least active of the enzymes measured, indicating a possible rate-limiting step. The delta G of the enzyme steps differed from equilibrium values by factors ranging from 4 (nucleoside phosphorylase) to 10(5) (PRPP synthetase and purine transferase reactions). The regulation of purine salvage appeared to depend on the levels of PRPP and ribose-5-P.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb Karmel ◽  
John Hartwig

<p>The iridium-catalyzed silylation of aromatic C–H bonds has become a synthetically valuable reaction because it forms aryl silanes with high sterically derived regioselectivity with silane reagents that are produced and consumed on large scales. Many groups, including our own, have reported iridium complexes of phenanthroline or bipyridine ligands as catalysts for this reaction. Yet, little is known about the mechanism by which the iridium-catalyzed silylation of arenes occurs. Indeed, no iridium-silyl complexes have been prepared that react with C-H bonds to form C-Si bonds in a fashion that is chemically and kinetically competent to be part of the catalytic cycle. </p><p><br></p> <p>In this manuscript, we report the synthesis and reactivity of iridium-silyl compelexes of the 2,9-Me<sub>2</sub>Phen ligand that generates the most active known catalyst for the silylation of aromatic C-H bonds. We show by experiment and computation that the most stable and most reactive silyl complex of this ligand contains two silyl and one hydride ligands and by kinetic analysis of the catalytic reaction determine the rate-limiting step for arenes with varying electronic properties. Computational studies indicate that the steric encumberance of the phenanthroline ligand controls the number of silyl ligands bound to iridium and that the difference in the number of silyl ligands leads to large differences to the rates of the reaction. These studies provide insight into the origins of the high activity of the catalyst containing the 2,9-Me<sub>2</sub>Phen ligand.</p>


2004 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanaa Fadel ◽  
Adrian Eley

Sulphated glycosaminoglycans, such as heparan sulphate, have been shown to be essential for the infectivity of many organisms. The aims of this study were to verify the role of sulphated glycosaminoglycans in chlamydial infection and to investigate whether they are present on chlamydia or chlamydial host cells. The effect of undersulphation of host cells and chlamydial elementary bodies was examined using sodium chlorate. Also studied was whether any inhibitory effect was reversible. The results strongly suggest that Chlamydia trachomatis does not produce heparan sulphate and that heparan sulphate of the host cell is necessary and sufficient to mediate chlamydial infection. The essential role played by the sulphate constituents of the host-cell glycosaminoglycan in the infectivity of LGV serovars, and to a lesser extent of serovar E, was also confirmed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_6) ◽  
pp. vi128-vi128
Author(s):  
Jason Miska ◽  
Catalina Lee Chang ◽  
Aida Rashidi ◽  
Yu Han ◽  
Aurora Lopez-Rosas ◽  
...  

Abstract Tumor-associated myeloid cells, which consist of tumor associated macrophages and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), make up a majority of cellular infiltrates in glioma. Glioma infiltrating MDSCs highly express arginase-1 (Arg-1), a catabolic enzyme thought to deplete arginine from the tumor microenvironment. Despite being a well-known marker of immunosuppressive cells, the metabolic reasons for this choice are not clear. Examination of MDSC phenotype in murine glioma models using: RNA-seq, bulk metabolomics, and Carbon-13 arginine flux revealed that two separate pathways of arginine catabolism converge on the generation of ornithine. Ornithine is the prerequisite substrate for the de-novo generation of polyamines, a group of nitrogen-rich metabolites with foundational importance to all mammalian, bacterial, and plant biology. Importantly, we found that the rate-limiting step of polyamine generation, ornithine decarboxylase 1 (ODC1), is dramatically upregulated by glioma infiltrating MDSCs, suggesting de-novo polyamine generation is important for MDSC function. Treatment with a specific inhibitor of de-novo polyamine synthesis, difluoromethylornithine (DMFO), inhibited the immunosuppressive function of in-vitro generated glioma associated MDSCs. However, DFMO only exerted effects before differentiation, as DFMO treatment post-generation did not change their suppressive functions. This suggests that the generation of the polyamine pool is critical to immune suppression by MDSCs. Interestingly the expression of the rate limiting step of polyamine degradation (SAT1) is inversely correlated with (ODC1) during MDSC differentiation, suggesting that utilization of this polyamine pool may be required for the suppressive functions of these cells. Inhibition of SAT1 after MDSC generation blunted MDSC mediated T-cell suppression. The results of this study show that the role of arginine metabolism in tumor infiltrating MDSCs is to generate pools of polyamines which maintain MDSC function in glioma. Therapeutic targeting of this pathway may be a novel and powerful tool to combat immunosuppression in glioma.


2016 ◽  
Vol 473 (5) ◽  
pp. 651-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata A.G. Reis ◽  
Patricia Ferreira ◽  
Milagros Medina ◽  
M. Cristina Nonato

Leishmania major dihydro-orotate dehydrogenase (DHODHLm) oxidizes dihydro-orotate to orotate (ORO) in the de novo pyrimidine biosynthetic pathway. The enzyme reaction mechanism was elucidated by steady- and pre-steady-state kinetics. ORO release was found to be the rate-limiting step in the overall catalysis.


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