scholarly journals The Pseudomonas aeruginosa PrrF Small RNAs Regulate Iron Homeostasis during Acute Murine Lung Infection

2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandria A. Reinhart ◽  
Angela T. Nguyen ◽  
Luke K. Brewer ◽  
Justin Bevere ◽  
Jace W. Jones ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that requires iron for virulence. Iron homeostasis is maintained in part by the PrrF1 and PrrF2 small RNAs (sRNAs), which block the expression of iron-containing proteins under iron-depleted conditions. The PrrF sRNAs also promote the production of the Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS), a quorum sensing molecule that activates the expression of several virulence genes. The tandem arrangement of the prrF genes allows for expression of a third sRNA, PrrH, which is predicted to regulate gene expression through its unique sequence derived from the prrF1-prrF2 intergenic (IG) sequence (the PrrHIG sequence). Previous studies showed that the prrF locus is required for acute lung infection. However, the individual functions of the PrrF and PrrH sRNAs were not determined. Here, we describe a system for differentiating PrrF and PrrH functions by deleting the PrrHIG sequence [prrF(ΔHIG)]. Our analyses of this construct indicate that the PrrF sRNAs, but not PrrH, are required for acute lung infection by P. aeruginosa. Moreover, we show that the virulence defect of the ΔprrF1-prrF2 mutant is due to decreased bacterial burden during acute lung infection. In vivo analysis of gene expression in lung homogenates shows that PrrF-mediated regulation of genes for iron-containing proteins is disrupted in the ΔprrF1-prrF2 mutant during infection, while the expression of genes that mediate PrrF-regulated PQS production are not affected by prrF deletion in vivo. Combined, these studies demonstrate that regulation of iron utilization plays a critical role in P. aeruginosa's ability to survive during infection.

mSystems ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Whitney E. England ◽  
Ted Kim ◽  
Rachel J. Whitaker

ABSTRACTViruses that infect the widespread opportunistic pathogenPseudomonas aeruginosahave been shown to influence physiology and critical clinical outcomes in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. To understand how CRISPR-Cas immune interactions may contribute to the distribution and coevolution ofP. aeruginosaand its viruses, we reconstructed CRISPR arrays from a highly sampled longitudinal data set from CF patients attending the Copenhagen Cystic Fibrosis Clinic in Copenhagen, Denmark (R. L. Marvig, L. M. Sommer, S. Molin, and H. K. Johansen, Nat Genet 47:57–64, 2015,https://doi.org/10.1038/ng.3148). We show that new spacers are not added to or deleted from CRISPR arrays over time within a single patient but do vary among patients in this data set. We compared assembled CRISPR arrays from this data set to CRISPR arrays extracted from 726 additional publicly availableP. aeruginosasequences to show that local diversity in this population encompasses global diversity and that there is no evidence for population structure associated with location or environment sampled. We compare over 3,000 spacers from our global data set to 98 lytic and temperate viruses and proviruses and find a subset of related temperate virus clusters frequently targeted by CRISPR spacers. Highly targeted viruses are matched by different spacers in different arrays, resulting in a pattern of distributed immunity within the global population. Understanding the multiple immune contexts thatP. aeruginosaviruses face can be applied to study ofP. aeruginosagene transfer, the spread of epidemic strains in cystic fibrosis patients, and viral control ofP. aeruginosainfection.IMPORTANCEPseudomonas aeruginosais a widespread opportunistic pathogen and a major cause of morbidity and mortality in cystic fibrosis patients. Microbe-virus interactions play a critical role in shaping microbial populations, as viral infections can kill microbial populations or contribute to gene flow among microbes. Investigating howP. aeruginosauses its CRISPR immune system to evade viral infection aids our understanding of how this organism spreads and evolves alongside its viruses in humans and the environment. Here, we identify patterns of CRISPR targeting and immunity that indicateP. aeruginosaand its viruses evolve in both a broad global population and in isolated human “islands.” These data set the stage for exploring metapopulation dynamics occurring within and between isolated “island” populations associated with CF patients, an essential step to inform future work predicting the specificity and efficacy of virus therapy and the spread of invasive viral elements and pathogenic epidemic bacterial strains.


2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 1638-1647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziyu Sun ◽  
Jing Shi ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Yongxin Jin ◽  
Kewei Li ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPseudomonas aeruginosais an opportunistic pathogen that causes acute and chronic infections in humans. Pyocins are bacteriocins produced byP. aeruginosathat are usually released through lysis of the producer strains. Expression of pyocin genes is negatively regulated by PrtR, which gets cleaved under SOS response, leading to upregulation of pyocin synthetic genes. Previously, we demonstrated that PrtR is required for the expression of type III secretion system (T3SS), which is an important virulence component ofP. aeruginosa. In this study, we demonstrate that mutation inprtRresults in reduced bacterial colonization in a mouse acute pneumonia model. Examination of bacterial and host cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from infected mice revealed that expression of PrtR is induced by reactive oxygen species (ROS) released by neutrophils. We further demonstrate that treatment with hydrogen peroxide or ciprofloxacin, known to induce the SOS response and pyocin production, resulted in an elevated PrtR mRNA level. Overexpression of PrtR by atacpromoter repressed the endogenousprtRpromoter activity, and electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed that PrtR binds to its own promoter, suggesting an autorepressive mechanism of regulation. A high level of PrtR expressed from a plasmid resulted in increased T3SS gene expression during infection and higher resistance against ciprofloxacin. Overall, our results suggest that the autorepression of PrtR contributes to the maintenance of a relatively stable level of PrtR, which is permissive to T3SS gene expression in the presence of ROS while increasing bacterial tolerance to stresses, such as ciprofloxacin, by limiting pyocin production.


2014 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 863-875 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandria A. Reinhart ◽  
Daniel A. Powell ◽  
Angela T. Nguyen ◽  
Maura O'Neill ◽  
Louise Djapgne ◽  
...  

Pseudomonas aeruginosais an opportunistic pathogen that requires iron to cause infection, but it also must regulate the uptake of iron to avoid iron toxicity. The iron-responsive PrrF1 and PrrF2 small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) are part ofP. aeruginosa'siron regulatory network and affect the expression of at least 50 genes encoding iron-containing proteins. The genes encoding the PrrF1 and PrrF2 sRNAs are encoded in tandem inP. aeruginosa, allowing for the expression of a distinct, heme-responsive sRNA named PrrH that appears to regulate genes involved in heme metabolism. Using a combination of growth, mass spectrometry, and gene expression analysis, we showed that the ΔprrF1,2mutant, which lacks expression of the PrrF and PrrH sRNAs, is defective for both iron and heme homeostasis. We also identifiedphuS, encoding a heme binding protein involved in heme acquisition, andvreR, encoding a previously identified regulator ofP. aeruginosavirulence genes, as novel targets ofprrF-mediated heme regulation. Finally, we showed that theprrFlocus encoding the PrrF and PrrH sRNAs is required forP. aeruginosavirulence in a murine model of acute lung infection. Moreover, we showed that inoculation with a ΔprrF1,2deletion mutant protects against future challenge with wild-typeP. aeruginosa. Combined, these data demonstrate that theprrF-encoded sRNAs are critical regulators ofP. aeruginosavirulence.


2012 ◽  
Vol 194 (23) ◽  
pp. 6617-6617 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Ryan Withers ◽  
Shannon L. Johnson ◽  
Hongwei D. Yu

ABSTRACTPseudomonas aeruginosais an opportunistic pathogen that establishes a chronic lung infection in individuals afflicted with cystic fibrosis. Here, we announce the draft genome ofP. aeruginosastrain PAO579, an alginate-overproducing derivative of strain PAO381.


2016 ◽  
Vol 84 (10) ◽  
pp. 2995-3006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex H. Gifford ◽  
Sven D. Willger ◽  
Emily L. Dolben ◽  
Lisa A. Moulton ◽  
Dana B. Dorman ◽  
...  

The discovery of therapies that modulatePseudomonas aeruginosavirulence or that can eradicate chronicP. aeruginosalung infections associated with cystic fibrosis (CF) will be advanced by an improved understanding ofP. aeruginosabehaviorin vivo. We demonstrate the use of multiplexed Nanostring technology to monitor relative abundances ofP. aeruginosatranscripts across clinical isolates, in serial samples, and for the purposes of comparing microbial physiologyin vitroandin vivo. The expression of 75 transcripts encoded by genes implicated in CF lung disease was measured in a variety ofP. aeruginosastrains as well as RNA serial sputum samples from fourP. aeruginosa-colonized subjects with CF collected over 6 months. We present data on reproducibility, the results from different methods of normalization, and demonstrate high concordance between transcript relative abundance data obtained by Nanostring or transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis. Furthermore, we address considerations regarding sequence variation between strains during probe design. Analysis ofP. aeruginosagrownin vitroidentified transcripts that correlated with the different phenotypes commonly observed in CF clinical isolates.P. aeruginosatranscript profiles in RNA from CF sputum indicated alginate productionin vivo, and transcripts involved in quorum-sensing regulation were less abundant in sputum than strains grown in the laboratory.P. aeruginosagene expression patterns from sputum clustered closely together relative to patterns for laboratory-grown cultures; in contrast, laboratory-grownP. aeruginosashowed much greater transcriptional variation with only loose clustering of strains with different phenotypes. The clustering within and between subjects was surprising in light of differences in inhaled antibiotic and respiratory symptoms, suggesting that the pathways represented by these 75 transcripts are stable in chronic CFP. aeruginosalung infections.


2013 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 1221-1233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Harrison ◽  
Estevan A. Santana ◽  
Blake R. Szelestey ◽  
David E. Newsom ◽  
Peter White ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTNontypeableHaemophilus influenzae(NTHi) is a commensal microorganism of the human nasopharynx, and yet is also an opportunistic pathogen of the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Host microenvironments influence gene expression patterns, likely critical for NTHi persistence. The host sequesters iron as a mechanism to control microbial growth, and yet iron limitation influences gene expression and subsequent production of proteins involved in iron homeostasis. Careful regulation of iron uptake, via theferricuptakeregulator Fur, is essential in multiple bacteria, including NTHi. We hypothesized therefore that Fur contributes to iron homeostasis in NTHi, is critical for bacterial persistence, and likely regulates expression of virulence factors. Toward this end,furwas deleted in the prototypic NTHi clinical isolate, 86-028NP, and we assessed gene expression regulated by Fur. As expected, expression of the majority of genes that encode proteins with predicted roles in iron utilization was repressed by Fur. However, 14 Fur-regulated genes encode proteins with no known function, and yet may contribute to iron utilization or other biological functions. In a mammalian model of human otitis media, we determined that Fur was critical for bacterial persistence, indicating an important role for Fur-mediated iron homeostasis in disease progression. These data provide a profile of genes regulated by Fur in NTHi and likely identify additional regulatory pathways involved in iron utilization. Identification of such pathways will increase our understanding of how this pathogen can persist within host microenvironments, as a common commensal and, importantly, as a pathogen with significant clinical impact.


mBio ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Y. Nas ◽  
Jeffrey Gabell ◽  
Nicholas P. Cianciotto

S. maltophilia is an increasingly important opportunistic pathogen. Inherently resistant to many antibiotics, S. maltophilia is often associated with lung infection, being, among other things, a complicating factor in cystic fibrosis patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 200 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayley H. Janssen ◽  
Manisha R. Diaz ◽  
Matthew Golden ◽  
Justin W. Graham ◽  
Wes Sanders ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPseudomonas aeruginosais a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen with distinct acute and chronic virulence phenotypes. Whereas acute virulence is typically associated with expression of a type III secretion system (T3SS), chronic virulence is characterized by biofilm formation. Many of the phenotypes associated with acute and chronic virulence are inversely regulated by RsmA and RsmF. RsmA and RsmF are both members of the CsrA family of RNA-binding proteins and regulate protein synthesis at the posttranscriptional level. RsmA activity is controlled by two small noncoding regulatory RNAs (RsmY and RsmZ). Bioinformatic analyses suggest that RsmY and RsmZ each have 3 or 4 putative RsmA binding sites. Each predicted binding site contains a GGA sequence presented in the loop portion of a stem-loop structure. RsmY and RsmZ regulate RsmA, and possibly RsmF, by sequestering these proteins from target mRNAs. In this study, we used selective 2′-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension and mutational profiling (SHAPE-MaP) chemistry to determine the secondary structures of RsmY and RsmZ and functional assays to characterize the contribution of each GGA site to RsmY/RsmZ activity. Our data indicate that RsmA has two preferential binding sites on RsmY and RsmZ, while RsmF has one preferential binding site on RsmY and two sites on RsmZ. Despite RsmF and RsmA sharing a common consensus site, RsmF binding properties are more restrictive than those of RsmA.IMPORTANCECsrA homologs are present in many bacteria. The opportunistic pathogenPseudomonas aeruginosauses RsmA and RsmF to inversely regulate factors associated with acute and chronic virulence phenotypes. RsmA has an affinity for RsmY and RsmZ higher than that of RsmF. The goal of this study was to understand the differential binding properties of RsmA and RsmF by using the RsmY and RsmZ regulatory small RNAs (sRNAs) as a model. Mutagenesis of the predicted RsmA/RsmF binding sites on RsmY and RsmZ revealed similarities in the sites required to control RsmA and RsmF activityin vivo. Whereas binding by RsmA was relatively tolerant of binding site mutations, RsmF was sensitive to disruption to all but two of the sites, further demonstrating that the requirements for RsmF binding activityin vivoandin vitroare more stringent than those for RsmA.


2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nyaradzo Dzvova ◽  
Jane A. Colmer-Hamood ◽  
John A. Griswold ◽  
Abdul N. Hamood

ABSTRACTThe opportunistic pathogenPseudomonas aeruginosais a major cause of sepsis in severely burned patients. If it is not eradicated from the wound, it translocates to the bloodstream, causing sepsis, multiorgan failure, and death. We recently described theP. aeruginosaheparinase-encoding gene,hepP, whose expression was significantly enhanced whenP. aeruginosastrain UCBPP_PA14 (PA14) was grown in whole blood from severely burned patients. Further analysis demonstrated thathepPcontributed to thein vivovirulence of PA14 in theCaenorhabditis elegansmodel. In this study, we utilized the murine model of thermal injury to examine the contribution ofhepPto the pathogenesis ofP. aeruginosaduring burn wound infection. Mutation ofhepPreduced the rate of mortality from 100% for mice infected with PA14 to 7% for mice infected with PA14::hepP. While comparable numbers of PA14 and PA14::hepPbacteria were recovered from infected skin, only PA14 was recovered from the livers and spleens of infected mice. Despite its inability to spread systemically, PA14::hepPformed perivascular cuffs around the blood vessels within the skin of the thermally injured/infected mice. Intraperitoneal inoculation of the thermally injured mice, bypassing the need for translocation, produced similar results. The rate of mortality for mice infected with PA14::hepPwas 0%, whereas it was 66% for mice infected with PA14. As before, only PA14 was recovered from the livers and spleens of infected mice. These results suggest thathepPplays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of PA14 during burn wound infection, most likely by contributing to PA14 survival in the bloodstream of the thermally injured mouse during sepsis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miao Zhao ◽  
Alexander J. Lepak ◽  
Karen Marchillo ◽  
David R. Andes

ABSTRACT Delafloxacin is a broad-spectrum anionic fluoroquinolone that has completed a phase 3 study for community-acquired bacterial pneumonia. We investigated the pharmacodynamic target for delafloxacin against 12 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 5 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains in the neutropenic murine lung infection model. The median 24-h free-drug area under the curve (fAUC)/MIC values associated with net stasis and 1-log kill were 28.6 and 64.1 for K. pneumoniae, respectively. The 24-h fAUC/MIC values associated with net stasis and 1-log kill for P. aeruginosa were 5.66 and 14.3, respectively.


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