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  • 1
    ISSN: 1365-2958
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: The hly-encoded listeriolysin O (LLO) is a major virulence factor secreted by the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, which plays a crucial role in the escape of bacteria from the phagosomal compartment. Here, we identify a putative PEST sequence close to the N-terminus of LLO and focus on the role of this motif in the biological activities of LLO. Two LLO variants were constructed: a deletion mutant protein, lacking the 19 residues comprising this sequence (residues 32–50), and a recombinant protein of wild-type size, in which all the P, E, S or T residues within this motif have been substituted. The two mutant proteins were fully haemolytic and were secreted in culture supernatants of L. monocytogenes in quantities comparable with that of the wild-type protein. Strikingly, both mutants failed to restore virulence to a hly-negative strain in vivo. In vitro assays showed that L. monocytogenes expressing the LLO deletion mutant was strongly impaired in its ability to escape from the phagosomal vacuole and, subsequently, to divide in the cytosol of infected cells. This work reveals for the first time that the N-terminal portion of LLO plays an important role in the development of the infectious process of L. monocytogenes.
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  • 2
    ISSN: 1365-2958
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: A putative PEST sequence was recently identified close to the N-terminus of listeriolysin O (LLO), a major virulence factor secreted by the pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes. The deletion of this motif did not affect the secretion and haemolytic activity of LLO, but abolished bacterial virulence. Here, we first tested whether the replacement of the PEST motif of LLO by two different sequences, with either a very high or no PEST score, would affect phagosomal escape, protein stability and, ultimately, the virulence of L. monocytogenes. Then, we constructed LLO mutants with an intact PEST sequence but carrying mutations on either side, or on both sides, of the PEST motif. The properties of these mutants prompted us to construct three LLO mutants carrying single amino acid substitutions in the distal portion of the PEST region (P49A, K50A and P52A; preprotein numbering). Our data demonstrate that the susceptibility of LLO to intracellular proteolytic degradation is not related to the presence of a high PEST score sequence and that the insertion of two residues immediately downstream of the intact PEST sequence is sufficient to impair phagosomal escape and abolish bacterial virulence. Furthermore, we show that single amino acid substitutions in the distal portion of the PEST motif are sufficient to attenuate bacterial ­virulence significantly, unravelling the critical role of this region of LLO in the pathogenesis of L. ­monocytogenes.
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  • 3
    ISSN: 1365-2958
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: We identified, in the facultative intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, a previously unknown Clp ATPase, unique among the HSP100 proteins because of the presence of a short N-terminal region with a potential zinc finger motif. This protein of 726 amino acids is highly homologous to ClpE of Bacillus subtilis, and is a member of a new subfamily of HSP100/Clp ATPases. The clpE gene is transcribed as a monocistronic mRNA from a typical consensus σA promoter. clpE is not stimulated by various stresses, but is upregulated in a clpC mutant. This is the first example of cross-regulation between Clp ATPases. By constructing a clpE mutant of L. monocytogenes, we found that ClpE is required for prolonged survival at 42°C and is involved in the virulence of this pathogen. A double mutant deficient in both ClpE and ClpC was avirulent in a mouse model and completely eliminated in the liver. Electron microscopy studies did not show any morphological alterations in clpE or clpC mutants. In the clpE–clpC double mutant, however, cell division was affected, indicating that ClpE acts synergistically with ClpC in cell septation. These results show that the Clp chaperones play a crucial role in both cell division and virulence of L. monocytogenes.
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  • 4
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Oxford BSL : Blackwell Science Ltd
    Molecular microbiology 24 (1997), S. 0 
    ISSN: 1365-2958
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: A crucial step in converting an actively growing Bacillus subtilis cell into a dormant spore is the formation of a cell within a cell. This unusual structure is created by a phagocytosis-like process in which the larger mother cell progressively engulfs the adjacent smaller forespore. Only mutations blocking engulfment at an early stage and affecting genes expressed in the mother cell have been identified. Here we describe a new locus, spoIIQ, which is transcribed in the forespore and which encodes a membrane-bound protein required at a late stage of engulfment. Immunofluorescence microscopy analysis have shown that SpoIIQ is initially targeted to the septum at the boundary between the two cells and then spreads around the entire membrane of the forespore. Septum targeting requires only the first 52 residues of SpoIIQ as well as unidentified forespore-specific components. Electron-microscopy studies of cells engineered to activate the mother-cell program of gene expression independently of the forespore indicate that other as yet uncharacterized genes are involved in engulfment and that this morphological process is driven from both sides of the forespore envelope.
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  • 5
    ISSN: 1365-2958
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: Most bacteria contain one type I signal peptidase (Spase I) for cleavage of signal peptides from exported and secreted proteins. Here, we identified a locus encoding three contiguous Spase I genes in the genome of Listeria monocytogenes. The deduced Sip proteins (denoted SipX, SipY and SipZ) are significantly similar to SipS and SipT, the major SPase I proteins of Bacillus subtilis (38% to 44% peptidic identity). We studied the role of these multiple signal peptidases in bacterial pathogenicity by constructing a series of single- and double-chromosomal knock-out mutants. Inactivation of sipX did not affect intracellular multiplication of L. monocytogenes but significantly reduced bacterial virulence (∼ 100-fold). Inactivation of sipZ impaired the secretion of phospholipase C (PC-PLC) and listeriolysin O (LLO), restricted intracellular multiplication and almost abolished virulence (LD50 of 108.3), inactivation of sipY had no detectable effects. Most importantly, a mutant expressing only SipX was impaired in intracellular survival and strongly attenuated in the mouse (LD50 of 107.2), whereas, a mutant expressing only SipZ behaved like wild-type EGD in all the assays performed. The data establish that SipX and SipZ perform distinct functions in bacterial pathogenicity and that SipZ is the major Spase I of L. monocytogenes. This work constitutes the first report on the differential role of multiple Spases I in a pathogenic bacterium and suggests a possible post-translational control mechanism of virulence factors expression.
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  • 6
    ISSN: 1365-2958
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: The cell envelope of mycobacteria is a complex multilaminar structure that protects the cell from stresses encountered in the environment, and plays an important role against the bactericidal activity of immune system cells. The outermost layer of the mycobacterial envelope typically contains species-specific glycolipids. Depending on the mycobacterial species, the major glycolipid localized at the surface can be either a phenolglycolipid or a peptidoglycolipid (GPL). Currently, the mechanism of how these glycolipids are addressed to the cell surface is not understood. In this study, by using a transposon library of Mycobacterium smegmatis and a simple dye assay, six genes involved in GPLs synthesis have been characterized. All of these genes are clustered in a single genomic region of approximately 60 kb. We show by biochemical analyses that two non-ribosomal peptide synthetases, a polyketide synthase, a methyltransferase and a member of the MmpL family are required for the biosynthesis of the GPLs backbone. Furthermore, we demonstrate that a small integral membrane protein of 272 amino acids named Gap (gap: GPL addressing protein) is specifically required for the transport of the GPLs to the cell surface. This protein is predicted to contain six transmembrane segments and possesses homologues across the mycobacterial genus, thus delineating a new protein family. This Gap family represents a new paradigm for the transport of small molecules across the mycobacterial envelope, a critical determinant of mycobacterial virulence.
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  • 7
    ISSN: 1365-2958
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: In Listeria monocytogenes the promoter region of the svpA-srtB locus contains a well-conserved Fur box. We characterized the iron-regulation of this locus: real-time polymerase chain reaction analyses and anti-SvpA immunoblots showed that, in response to iron deprivation svpA transcription and SvpA production markedly increased (80-fold and 10-fold respectively), when initiated by either the addition of the iron chelator 2,2′-bipyridyl to BHI media, or by growth in iron-restricted minimal media. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter constructs also showed increased activity of the svpA-srtB promoter in Escherichia coli (37-fold) and in L. monocytogenes (two- to threefold) when the bacteria were grown in iron-deficient conditions. A Δfur mutant of L. monocytogenes constitutively synthesized SvpA, as well as GFP fused to the svpA-srtB promoter. Cellular fractionation data revealed that in iron-rich media wild-type SvpA was exclusively secreted to the culture supernatant. However, both the Δfur derivative and wild-type L. monocytogenes grown in iron-deficient media anchored a fraction of the SvpA proteins (∼5%) to peptidoglycan, and produced a lower-molecular weight, wholly secreted form of SvpA. Together these data establish that iron availability controls transcription of the svpA-srtB locus (through Fur-mediated regulation), and attachment of SvpA to the cell wall (through SrtB-mediated covalent linkage). SvpA bears homology to IsdC, a haemin-binding protein of Staphylococcus aureus, and haemin bound to SvpA in solution. However, site-directed deletions of four structural genes and the promoter of the svpA-srtB locus did not impair haemin, haemoglobin or ferrichrome utilization in nutrition tests. We did not find strong evidence to support the notion that the svpA-srtB locus participates in haemin acquisition, as was reported for the homologous isd operon of S. aureus. Furthermore, the svpA-srtB mutant strains showed no significant attenuation of virulence in an intravenous mouse model system, but we found that the mutations reduced the persistence of L. monocytogenes in murine liver, spleen and intestines after oral administration.
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  • 8
    ISSN: 1432-0991
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: Abstract Cytochemical characterization of mycobacterial surfaces was carried out on virulent (H37Rv) and avirulent (H37Ra) strains ofMycobacterium tuberculosis. The results were quantified and compared with those obtained with three colony types of the opportunistic pathogenMycobacterium avium. Mycobacterium aurum, a rapidly growing, nonpathogenic species, served as a model for the cytochemical methods. Concanavalin A (ConA) reacted with α-d-mannose and α-d-glucose residues, whereas negative charged residues were detected with either the ionized ferritin (CF) or the colloidal ferric hydroxide (CIH) method. Strongly acidic sulfate groups were detected by their selective blockage with alcian blue (AB) at pH 1 prior to the CIH labeling at pH 1.8. Weakly acidic groups were demonstrated by AB blockage at pH 2.5 prior to staining with CF stain. Except forM. aurum, all other strains showed a marked heterogeneity in regard to the abundance of their surface labeling. Accessible sulfate groups were present on the cell surface of the virulent H37Rv strain ofM. tuberculosis, but not on the avirulent strain H37Ra. Distribution of ConA receptors, on the other hand, was unrelated to the virulence or pathogenicity of the bacterial strain.
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  • 9
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Springer
    Current microbiology 13 (1986), S. 51-56 
    ISSN: 1432-0991
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: Abstract Ultrastructure of “Gordona aurantiaca”* M 296 (8128) was studied after the lead citrate coloration, whereas the cell envelope architecture was investigated by ruthenium red staining for outer wall acidic polysaccharides and the periodic-acid-thiocarbohydrazide-silver-proteinate cytochemical procedure (Thiéry method) for the detection of “α1-2 glycol bond containing polysaccharides.” The ultrastructural morphology of bacteria was distinct from both the mycobacteria and nocardia. The bacilli had a typical gram-positive cell wall that contained a thin, uniformly distributed, polysaccharide outer layer (POL) at its surface. The Thiéry cytochemical method stained only the cytoplasmic membrane, but not the cell wall, a feature that is common to the mycolic acid containing theCorynebacterium-Mycobacterium-Nocardia (CMN) group of organisms. The negative staining of the unfixed preparations of bacilli showed ribbonlike surface structures, common to the CMN group of organisms. The electron-microscopic preparations showed numerous lysing bacilli with bacteriophages indicating that the strain used was lysogenic.
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  • 10
    ISSN: 1432-0991
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
    Notes: Abstract An additional outer wall layer, composed mainly of acidic polysaccharides, was revealed in 18 species of mycobacteria by ruthenium red staining in electron microscopy. This report deals with the description of this additional layer. The ultrastructural implications at the level of the mycobacterial cell wall model and also the possible physiological role of this layer are briefly discussed.
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