scholarly journals Functional Characterization of Outer Membrane Proteins (OMPs) in Xenorhabdus nematophila and Photorhabdus luminescens through Insect Immune Defense Reactions

Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reyhaneh Darsouei ◽  
Javad Karimi ◽  
Gary B. Dunphy
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Outer Membrane ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Outer Membrane Proteins ◽  
Functional Characterization ◽  
Immune Defense ◽  
Post Injection ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Photorhabdus Luminescens ◽  
Xenorhabdus Nematophila

Xenorhabdus nematophila and Photorhabdus luminescens are entomopathogenic bacterial symbionts that produce toxic proteins that can interfere with the immune system of insects. Herein, we show that outer membrane proteins (OMPs) could be involved as bacterial virulence factors. Purified totals OMPs of both bacterial species were injected into fifth instar larvae of Spodoptera exigua Hübner. Larvae were surveyed for cellular defenses fluctuations in total haemocyte counts (THC) and granulocyte percentage and for the humoral defenses protease, phospholipase A2 (PLA2), and phenoloxidase (PO) activities at specific time intervals. Changes in the expression of the three inducible antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), cecropin, attacin, and spodoptericin, were also measured. Larvae treated with OMPs of both bacterial species had more haemocytes than did the negative controls. OMPs of X. nematophila caused more haemocyte destruction than did the OMPs of P. luminescens. The OMPs of both bacterial species initially activated insect defensive enzymes post-injection, the degree of activation varying with enzyme type. The AMPs, attacin, cecropin, and spodoptericin were up-regulated by OMP injections compared with the normal larvae. The expression of these three AMPs was maximal at four hours post injection (hpi) with P. luminescens OMPs treatment. Expression of the three AMPs in X. nematophila treated insects was irregular and lower than in the P. luminescens OMPs treatment. These findings provide insights into the role of OMPs of entomopathogenic nematode bacterial symbionts in countering the physiological defenses of insects.

scholarly journals Functional Characterization of Outer Membrane Proteins (OMPs) in Xenorhabdus nematophila and Photorhabdus luminescens through Insect Immune Defense Reactions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reyhaneh Darsouei ◽  
Javad Karimi ◽  
Gary Dunphy
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Outer Membrane ◽  
Entomopathogenic Nematode ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Outer Membrane Proteins ◽  
Functional Characterization ◽  
Immune Defense ◽  
Photorhabdus Luminescens ◽  
Xenorhabdus Nematophila ◽  
Negative Controls

Xenorhabdus nematophila and Photorhabdus luminescens are entomopathogenic symbionts that produce several toxic proteins that can interfere with the immune system of insects. Here, we showed that outer membrane proteins (OMPs) could be involved as virulence factors during bacterial symbiont pathogenesis. Purified OMPs from bacterial culture were injected fifth instar larvae of Spodoptera exigua Hübner. Larvae were surveyed for fluctuations in total haemocyte counts (THC), granulocyte percentage (cellular defence), protease, phospholipase A2 (PLA2), and phenoloxidase (PO) activities (humoral defence) at specific time intervals. Changes in the expression of the three antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), cecropin, attacin, and spodoptericin, were also measured. Larvae treated with both types of OMPs had more haemocytes than did the negative controls. OMPs of X. nematophila caused more haemocyte destruction than did the OMPs of P. luminescens. The OMPs of both bacterial species initially activated insect defensive enzymes post-injection, their activating fluctuated in different ways. Attacin, cecropin and spodoptericin were up-regulated by OMP injections more than in normal larvae. The expression of these three AMPs was maximal at four hpi with P. luminescens OMPs treatment. Expression of the three AMPs in X. nematophila treatment was irregular and lower than in the P. luminescens OMPs treatment. These findings provide insights into the role of OMPs of entomopathogenic nematode bacterial symbionts in countering the physiological defenses of insects.

scholarly journals The Conservation of Low Complexity Regions in Bacterial Proteins Depends on the Pathogenicity of the Strain and Subcellular Location of the Protein

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 451
Author(s):  
Pablo Mier ◽  
Miguel A. Andrade-Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Outer Membrane ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Outer Membrane Proteins ◽  
Subcellular Location ◽  
Low Complexity ◽  
Extracellular Proteins ◽  
Bacterial Strains ◽  
Bacterial Proteins ◽  
Protein Subcellular Location

Low complexity regions (LCRs) in proteins are characterized by amino acid frequencies that differ from the average. These regions evolve faster and tend to be less conserved between homologs than globular domains. They are not common in bacteria, as compared to their prevalence in eukaryotes. Studying their conservation could help provide hypotheses about their function. To obtain the appropriate evolutionary focus for this rapidly evolving feature, here we study the conservation of LCRs in bacterial strains and compare their high variability to the closeness of the strains. For this, we selected 20 taxonomically diverse bacterial species and obtained the completely sequenced proteomes of two strains per species. We calculated all orthologous pairs for each of the 20 strain pairs. Per orthologous pair, we computed the conservation of two types of LCRs: compositionally biased regions (CBRs) and homorepeats (polyX). Our results show that, in bacteria, Q-rich CBRs are the most conserved, while A-rich CBRs and polyA are the most variable. LCRs have generally higher conservation when comparing pathogenic strains. However, this result depends on protein subcellular location: LCRs accumulate in extracellular and outer membrane proteins, with conservation increased in the extracellular proteins of pathogens, and decreased for polyX in the outer membrane proteins of pathogens. We conclude that these dependencies support the functional importance of LCRs in host–pathogen interactions.

scholarly journals Putative β-Barrel Outer Membrane Proteins of the Bovine Digital Dermatitis-Associated Treponemes: Identification, Functional Characterization, and Immunogenicity

2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Staton ◽  
S. D. Carter ◽  
S. Ainsworth ◽  
J. Mullin ◽  
R. F. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Outer Membrane ◽  
Outer Membrane Proteins ◽  
Functional Characterization ◽  
Signal Peptidase ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Digital Dermatitis ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Signal Peptidase I

ABSTRACT Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD), an infectious disease of the bovine foot with a predominant treponemal etiology, is a leading cause of lameness in dairy and beef herds worldwide. BDD is poorly responsive to antimicrobial therapy and exhibits a relapsing clinical course; an effective vaccine is therefore urgently sought. Using a reverse vaccinology approach, the present study surveyed the genomes of the three BDD-associated Treponema phylogroups for putative β-barrel outer membrane proteins and considered their potential as vaccine candidates. Selection criteria included the presence of a signal peptidase I cleavage site, a predicted β-barrel fold, and cross-phylogroup homology. Four candidate genes were overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3), refolded, and purified. Consistent with their classification as β-barrel OMPs, circular-dichroism spectroscopy revealed the adoption of a predominantly β-sheet secondary structure. These recombinant proteins, when screened for their ability to adhere to immobilized extracellular matrix (ECM) components, exhibited a diverse range of ligand specificities. All four proteins specifically and dose dependently adhered to bovine fibrinogen. One recombinant protein was identified as a candidate diagnostic antigen (disease specificity, 75%). Finally, when adjuvanted with aluminum hydroxide and administered to BDD-naive calves using a prime-boost vaccination protocol, these proteins were immunogenic, eliciting specific IgG antibodies. In summary, we present the description of four putative treponemal β-barrel OMPs that exhibit the characteristics of multispecific adhesins. The observed interactions with fibrinogen may be critical to host colonization and it is hypothesized that vaccination-induced antibody blockade of these interactions will impede treponemal virulence and thus be of therapeutic value.

scholarly journals Amikacin and bacteriophage treatment modulates outer membrane proteins composition in Proteus mirabilis biofilm

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Maszewska ◽  
Magdalena Moryl ◽  
Junli Wu ◽  
Bin Liu ◽  
Lu Feng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Proteins ◽  
Outer Membrane ◽  
Proteus Mirabilis ◽  
Protein Biosynthesis ◽  
Outer Membrane Proteins ◽  
Wild Strain ◽  
Elongation Factor ◽  
Resistance Mechanisms ◽  
Trna Synthetases ◽  
Cytoplasmic Proteins

AbstractModification of outer membrane proteins (OMPs) is the first line of Gram-negative bacteria defence against antimicrobials. Here we point to Proteus mirabilis OMPs and their role in antibiotic and phage resistance. Protein profiles of amikacin (AMKrsv), phage (Brsv) and amikacin/phage (AMK/Brsv) resistant variants of P. mirabilis were compared to that obtained for a wild strain. In resistant variants there were identified 14, 1, 5 overexpressed and 13, 5, 1 downregulated proteins for AMKrsv, Brsv and AMK/Brsv, respectively. Application of phages with amikacin led to reducing the number of up- and downregulated proteins compared to single antibiotic treatment. Proteins isolated in AMKrsv are involved in protein biosynthesis, transcription and signal transduction, which correspond to well-known mechanisms of bacteria resistance to aminoglycosides. In isolated OMPs several cytoplasmic proteins, important in antibiotic resistance, were identified, probably as a result of environmental stress, e.g. elongation factor Tu, asparaginyl-tRNA and aspartyl-tRNA synthetases. In Brsv there were identified: NusA and dynamin superfamily protein which could play a role in bacteriophage resistance. In the resistant variants proteins associated with resistance mechanisms occurring in biofilm, e.g. polyphosphate kinase, flagella basal body rod protein were detected. These results indicate proteins important in the development of P. mirabilis antibiofilm therapies.

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