scholarly journals Identification of Nasal Gammaproteobacteria with Potent Activity against Staphylococcus aureus: Novel Insights into the “Noncarrier” State

mSphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy L. Cole ◽  
Meera Sundar ◽  
Ana Lopez ◽  
Anna Forsman ◽  
Shibu Yooseph ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus nasal carriage provides the bacterial reservoir for opportunistic infection. In comparing the nasal microbiomes of culture-defined persistent S. aureus carriers versus noncarriers, we detected S. aureus DNA in all noses, including those with an established history of S. aureus negativity based on culture. Colonization with Gammaproteobacteria, including Klebsiella aerogenes, Citrobacter koseri, Moraxella lincolnii, and select Acinetobacter spp., was associated with S. aureus noncarriage. We next developed physiological competition assays for testing anti-S. aureus activity of isolated nasal species, utilizing medium modeling the nutrient-limited fluid of the nasal mucosa, polarized primary nasal epithelia, and nasal secretions. K. aerogenes from the nose of an S. aureus noncarrier demonstrated >99% inhibition of S. aureus recovery in all assays, even when S. aureus was coincubated in 9-fold excess. Secreted S. aureus inhibitory proteins from K. aerogenes and M. lincolnii were heat-stable and <30 kDa, fitting the profile of antimicrobial peptides. C. koseri, Acinetobacter haemolyticus, Acinetobacter junii, and Acinetobacter schindleri inhibited S. aureus recovery on nasal epithelia in a contact-dependent manner, while several other species either had no effect or promoted S. aureus growth. Collectively, this project is one of the first to identify resident nasal microbial species that impede S. aureus survival, and it implies that detectable nasal S. aureus results from shifts in microbial community composition. IMPORTANCE Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus is a risk factor for infection, but it is not yet understood why some individuals carry nasal S. aureus persistently, intermittently, or seemingly not at all when tested via culture methods. This study compared the nasal microbiomes of established S. aureus carriers and noncarriers, identified species associated with noncarriage, and tested them for anti-S. aureus activity using assays developed to model the nutrient-limited nasal mucosa. We determined that all nostril swabs contain S. aureus DNA, even swabs from hosts considered to be long-term noncarriers. Select members of the Gammaproteobacteria class were more prevalent in noncarrier than carrier nostrils and demonstrated potent activity against multiple strains of S. aureus. The results described here provide a better understanding of how the nasal microbiome controls S. aureus growth and viability and may be useful in the design of improved S. aureus decolonization strategies.

2013 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 2070-2075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan K. Archer ◽  
Janette M. Harro ◽  
Mark E. Shirtliff

ABSTRACTThe anterior nares of humans are the major reservoir forStaphylococcus aureuscolonization. Approximately 20% of the healthy human population is persistently and 80% is intermittently colonized withS. aureusin the nasal cavity. Previous studies have shown a strong causal connection betweenS. aureusnasal carriage and increased risk of nosocomial infection, as well as increased carriage due to immune dysfunction. However, the immune responses that permit persistence or mediate clearance ofS. aureuson the nasal mucosa are fundamentally undefined. In this study, we developed a carriage model in C57BL/6J mice and showed that clearance begins 14 days postinoculation. In contrast, SCID mice that have a deficient adaptive immune response are unable to eliminateS. aureuseven after 28 days postinoculation. Furthermore, decolonization was found to be T cell mediated but B cell independent by evaluating carriage clearance in T-cell receptor β/δ (TCR-β/δ) knockout (KO) and IgH-μ KO mice, respectively. Upregulation of the cytokines interleukin 1β (IL-1β), KC (also termed CXC ligand 1 [CXCL1]), and IL-17A occurred following inoculation with intranasalS. aureus. IL-17A production was crucial for clearance, since IL-17A-deficient mice were unable to effectively eliminateS. aureuscarriage. Subsequently, cell differential counts were evaluated from nasal lavage fluid obtained from wild-type and IL-17A-deficient colonized mice. These counts displayed IL-17A-dependent neutrophil migration. Antibody-mediated depletion of neutrophils in colonized mice caused reduced clearance compared to that in isotype-treated controls. Our data suggest that the Th17-associated immune response is required for nasal decolonization. This response is T cell dependent and mediated via IL-17A production and neutrophil influx. Th17-associated immune responses may be targeted for strategies to mitigate distal infections originating from persistentS. aureuscarriage in humans.


2019 ◽  
Vol 201 (15) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ameya A. Mashruwala ◽  
Brian J. Eilers ◽  
Amanda L. Fuchs ◽  
Javiera Norambuena ◽  
Carly A. Earle ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThestaphylococcalrespiratoryregulator (SrrAB) modulates energy metabolism inStaphylococcus aureus. Studies have suggested that regulated protein catabolism facilitates energy homeostasis. Regulated proteolysis inS. aureusis achieved through protein complexes composed of a peptidase (ClpQ or ClpP) in association with an AAA+family ATPase (typically, ClpC or ClpX). In the present report, we tested the hypothesis that SrrAB regulates a Clp complex to facilitate energy homeostasis inS. aureus. Strains deficient in one or more Clp complexes were attenuated for growth in the presence of puromycin, which causes enrichment of misfolded proteins. A ΔsrrABstrain had increased sensitivity to puromycin. Epistasis experiments suggested that the puromycin sensitivity phenotype of the ΔsrrABstrain was a result of decreased ClpC activity. Consistent with this, transcriptional activity ofclpCwas decreased in the ΔsrrABmutant, and overexpression ofclpCsuppressed the puromycin sensitivity of the ΔsrrABstrain. We also found that ClpC positively influenced respiration and that it did so upon association with ClpP. In contrast, ClpC limited fermentative growth, while ClpP was required for optimal fermentative growth. Metabolomics studies demonstrated that intracellular metabolic profiles of the ΔclpCand ΔsrrABmutants were distinct from those of the wild-type strain, supporting the notion that both ClpC and SrrAB affect central metabolism. We propose a model wherein SrrAB regulates energy homeostasis, in part, via modulation of regulated proteolysis.IMPORTANCEOxygen is used as a substrate to derive energy by the bacterial pathogenStaphylococcus aureusduring infection; however,S. aureuscan also grow fermentatively in the absence of oxygen. To successfully cause infection,S. aureusmust tailor its metabolism to take advantage of respiratory activity. Different proteins are required for growth in the presence or absence of oxygen; therefore, when cells transition between these conditions, several proteins would be expected to become unnecessary. In this report, we show that regulated proteolysis is used to modulate energy metabolism inS. aureus. We report that the ClpCP protein complex is involved in specifically modulating aerobic respiratory growth but is dispensable for fermentative growth.


mBio ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola K. Párraga Solórzano ◽  
Jiangwei Yao ◽  
Charles O. Rock ◽  
Thomas E. Kehl-Fie

ABSTRACT During infection, bacteria use two-component signal transduction systems to sense and adapt to the dynamic host environment. Despite critically contributing to infection, the activating signals of most of these regulators remain unknown. This also applies to the Staphylococcus aureus ArlRS two-component system, which contributes to virulence by coordinating the production of toxins, adhesins, and a metabolic response that enables the bacterium to overcome host-imposed manganese starvation. Restricting the availability of essential transition metals, a strategy known as nutritional immunity, constitutes a critical defense against infection. In this work, expression analysis revealed that manganese starvation imposed by the immune effector calprotectin or by the absence of glycolytic substrates activates ArlRS. Manganese starvation imposed by calprotectin also activated the ArlRS system even when glycolytic substrates were present. A combination of metabolomics, mutational analysis, and metabolic feeding experiments revealed that ArlRS is activated by alterations in metabolic flux occurring in the latter half of the glycolytic pathway. Moreover, calprotectin was found to induce expression of staphylococcal leukocidins in an ArlRS-dependent manner. These studies indicated that ArlRS is a metabolic sensor that allows S. aureus to integrate multiple environmental stresses that alter glycolytic flux to coordinate an antihost response and to adapt to manganese starvation. They also established that the latter half of glycolysis represents a checkpoint to monitor metabolic state in S. aureus. Altogether, these findings contribute to understanding how invading pathogens, such as S. aureus, adapt to the host during infection and suggest the existence of similar mechanisms in other bacterial species. IMPORTANCE Two-component regulatory systems enable bacteria to adapt to changes in their environment during infection by altering gene expression and coordinating antihost responses. Despite the critical role of two-component systems in bacterial survival and pathogenesis, the activating signals for most of these regulators remain unidentified. This is exemplified by ArlRS, a Staphylococcus aureus global regulator that contributes to virulence and to resisting host-mediated restriction of essential nutrients, such as manganese. In this report, we demonstrate that manganese starvation and the absence of glycolytic substrates activate ArlRS. Further investigations revealed that ArlRS is activated when the latter half of glycolysis is disrupted, suggesting that S. aureus monitors flux through the second half of this pathway. Host-imposed manganese starvation also induced the expression of pore-forming toxins in an ArlRS-dependent manner. Cumulatively, this work reveals that ArlRS acts as a sensor that links nutritional status, cellular metabolism, and virulence regulation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (7) ◽  
pp. 2474-2476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meghan F. Davis ◽  
Patrick Baron ◽  
Lance B. Price ◽  
D'Ann L. Williams ◽  
Selvi Jeyaseelan ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTStaphylococcus aureusin home environments may serve as a reservoir for human colonization, making sampling of indoor surfaces relevant to exposure assessment. Using laboratory experiments and application to homes of asthmatic children in Barbados, we characterize microbiological methods adapted for settings with transportation delays between sampling and initiation of culture.


2012 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 877-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damien S. Bouchard ◽  
Lucie Rault ◽  
Nadia Berkova ◽  
Yves Le Loir ◽  
Sergine Even

ABSTRACTStaphylococcus aureusis a major pathogen that is responsible for mastitis in dairy herds.S. aureusmastitis is difficult to treat and prone to recurrence despite antibiotic treatment. The ability ofS. aureusto invade bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMEC) is evoked to explain this chronicity. One sustainable alternative to treat or prevent mastitis is the use of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as mammary probiotics. In this study, we tested the ability ofLactobacillus caseistrains to prevent invasion of bMEC by twoS. aureusbovine strains, RF122 and Newbould305, which reproducibly induce acute and moderate mastitis, respectively.L. caseistrains affected adhesion and/or internalization ofS. aureusin a strain-dependent manner. Interestingly,L. caseiCIRM-BIA 667 reducedS. aureusNewbould305 and RF122 internalization by 60 to 80%, and this inhibition was confirmed for two otherL. caseistrains, including one isolated from bovine teat canal. The protective effect occurred without affecting bMEC morphology and viability. Once internalized, the fate ofS. aureuswas not affected byL. casei. It should be noted thatL. caseiwas internalized at a low rate but survived in bMEC cells with a better efficiency than that ofS. aureusRF122. Inhibition ofS. aureusadhesion was maintained with heat-killedL. casei, whereas contact between liveL. caseiandS. aureusor bMEC was required to preventS. aureusinternalization. This first study of the antagonism of LAB towardS. aureusin a mammary context opens avenues for the development of novel control strategies against this major pathogen.


2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Orla M. Fleury ◽  
Maeve A. McAleer ◽  
Cécile Feuillie ◽  
Cécile Formosa-Dague ◽  
Emily Sansevere ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus skin infection is a frequent and recurrent problem in children with the common inflammatory skin disease atopic dermatitis (AD). S. aureus colonizes the skin of the majority of children with AD and exacerbates the disease. The first step during colonization and infection is bacterial adhesion to the cornified envelope of corneocytes in the outer layer, the stratum corneum. Corneocytes from AD skin are structurally different from corneocytes from normal healthy skin. The objective of this study was to identify bacterial proteins that promote the adherence of S. aureus to AD corneocytes. S. aureus strains from clonal complexes 1 and 8 were more frequently isolated from infected AD skin than from the nasal cavity of healthy children. AD strains had increased ClfB ligand binding activity compared to normal nasal carriage strains. Adherence of single S. aureus bacteria to corneocytes from AD patients ex vivo was studied using atomic force microscopy. Bacteria expressing ClfB recognized ligands distributed over the entire corneocyte surface. The ability of an isogenic ClfB-deficient mutant to adhere to AD corneocytes compared to that of its parent clonal complex 1 clinical strain was greatly reduced. ClfB from clonal complex 1 strains had a slightly higher binding affinity for its ligand than ClfB from strains from other clonal complexes. Our results provide new insights into the first step in the establishment of S. aureus colonization in AD patients. ClfB is a key adhesion molecule for the interaction of S. aureus with AD corneocytes and represents a target for intervention.


2015 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary R. Tranchemontagne ◽  
Ryan B. Camire ◽  
Vanessa J. O'Donnell ◽  
Jessfor Baugh ◽  
Kristin M. Burkholder

Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) causes invasive, drug-resistant skin and soft tissue infections. Reports thatS. aureusbacteria survive inside macrophages suggest that the intramacrophage environment may be a niche for persistent infection; however, mechanisms by which the bacteria might evade macrophage phagosomal defenses are unclear. We examined the fate of theS. aureus-containing phagosome in THP-1 macrophages by evaluating bacterial intracellular survival and phagosomal acidification and maturation and by testing the impact of phagosomal conditions on bacterial viability. Multiple strains ofS. aureussurvived inside macrophages, and in studies using the MRSA USA300 clone, the USA300-containing phagosome acidified rapidly and acquired the late endosome and lysosome protein LAMP1. However, fewer phagosomes containing live USA300 bacteria than those containing dead bacteria associated with the lysosomal hydrolases cathepsin D and β-glucuronidase. Inhibiting lysosomal hydrolase activity had no impact on intracellular survival of USA300 or otherS. aureusstrains, suggesting thatS. aureusperturbs acquisition of lysosomal enzymes. We examined the impact of acidification onS. aureusintramacrophage viability and found that inhibitors of phagosomal acidification significantly impaired USA300 intracellular survival. Inhibition of macrophage phagosomal acidification resulted in a 30-fold reduction in USA300 expression of the staphylococcal virulence regulatoragrbut had little effect on expression ofsarA,saeR, orsigB. Bacterial exposure to acidic pHin vitroincreasedagrexpression. Together, these results suggest thatS. aureussurvives inside macrophages by perturbing normal phagolysosome formation and that USA300 may sense phagosomal conditions and upregulate expression of a key virulence regulator that enables its intracellular survival.


2017 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hua Yao ◽  
Hong Zhang ◽  
Kai Lan ◽  
Hong Wang ◽  
Yufeng Su ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Insights into the host-microbial virulence factor interaction, especially the immune signaling mechanisms, could provide novel prevention and treatment options for pneumococcal diseases. Streptococcus pneumoniae endopeptidase O (PepO) is a newly discovered and ubiquitously expressed pneumococcal virulence protein. A PepO-mutant strain showed impaired adherence to and invasion of host cells compared with the isogenic wild-type strain. It is still unknown whether PepO is involved in the host defense response to pneumococcal infection. Here, we demonstrated that PepO could enhance phagocytosis of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus by peritoneal exudate macrophages (PEMs). Further studies showed that PepO stimulation upregulated the expression of microRNA-155 (miR-155) in PEMs in a time- and dose-dependent manner. PepO-induced enhanced phagocytosis was decreased in cells transfected with an inhibitor of miR-155, while it was increased in cells transfected with a mimic of miR-155. We also revealed that PepO-induced upregulation of miR-155 in PEMs was mediated by Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)–NF-κB signaling and that the increased expression of miR-155 downregulated expression of SHIP1. Taken together, these results indicate that PepO induces upregulation of miR-155 in PEMs, contributing to enhanced phagocytosis and host defense response to pneumococci and Staphylococcus aureus.


2018 ◽  
Vol 200 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin L. Batte ◽  
Gyan S. Sahukhal ◽  
Mohamed O. Elasri

ABSTRACTStaphylococcus aureushas a complex regulatory network for controlling the production of capsule polysaccharide. InS. aureus, capsule production is controlled by several regulators in response to various environmental stimuli. Previously, we described MsaB as a new regulator that specifically binds to thecappromoter in a growth phase- or nutrient-dependent manner. In addition to MsaB, several other regulators have also been shown to bind the same region. In this study, we examined the interactions between MsaB and other nutrient-sensing regulators (CodY and CcpE) with respect to binding to thecappromoter in a nutrient-dependent manner. We observed thatmsaABCRandccpEinteract in a complex fashion to regulate capsule production. However, we confirmed thatccpEdoes not bindcapdirectly. We also defined the regulatory relationship betweenmsaABCRand CodY. When nutrients (branched-chain amino acids) are abundant, CodY binds to the promoter region of thecapoperon and represses its transcription. However, when nutrient concentrations decrease, MsaB, rather than CodY, binds to thecappromoter. Binding of MsaB to thecappromoter activates transcription of thecapoperon. We hypothesize that this same mechanism may be used byS. aureusto regulate other virulence factors.IMPORTANCEFindings from this study define the mechanism of regulation of capsule production inStaphylococcus aureus. Specifically, we show that two key regulators, MsaB and CodY, coordinate their functions to control the expression of capsule in response to nutrients.S. aureusfine-tunes the production of capsule by coordinating the activity of several regulators and by sensing nutrient levels. This study demonstrates the importance of incorporating multiple inputs prior to the expression of costly virulence factors, such as capsule.


2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 1251-1256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Espinosa-Gongora ◽  
Jan Dahl ◽  
Anders Elvstrøm ◽  
Willem J. van Wamel ◽  
Luca Guardabassi

ABSTRACTPrevious research onStaphylococcus aureusin pigs focused on livestock-associated methicillin-resistantS. aureus(MRSA) and had a qualitative cross-sectional design. This study aimed to elucidate the frequency, load, and stability ofS. aureusnasal carriage in pigs over time and investigated possible associations between carriage and immune response. Nasal swabs were collected three times weekly from 480 tagged adult pigs in 20 Danish production farms.S. aureusand MRSA were quantified on selective media by the most-probable-number method. The levels of IgG against 10S. aureusantigens in serum were quantified in selected pigs by a Luminex assay. All the farms were positive forS. aureusand 15 for MRSA, leading to overall prevalences of persistent and intermittent carriers and noncarriers of 24, 52, and 23%, respectively. Carriage frequency and nasal loads were significantly higher on MRSA-positive farms. Logistic-regression modeling revealed the presence of individual pigs characterized by high nasal loads (≥10,000 CFU per swab) and stable carriage regardless of farm- and pen-associated factors. On the other hand, the humoral response was strongly influenced by these environmental factors. The existence of a minority of shedders contributing to maintenance ofS. aureuswithin farms opens up new perspectives on the control of MRSA in pig farming.


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