scholarly journals Exploring the role of the CTL epitope region of listeriolysin O in the pathogenesis of Listeria monocytogenes

Microbiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 152 (5) ◽  
pp. 1287-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Annick Lety ◽  
Claude Frehel ◽  
Catherine Raynaud ◽  
Marion Dupuis ◽  
Alain Charbit

Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen responsible for severe opportunistic infections in humans and animals. The secreted cholesterol-dependent cytolysin, listeriolysin O (LLO), mediates phagosomal escape and allows bacterial growth in the cytosol of infected cells. In order to identify new LLO determinants participating in bacterial pathogenesis, this study focused on a major target of LLO proteolytic cleavage in vitro, the CTL epitope region (residues 91–99). Mutations were generated by site-directed mutagenesis in the epitope or in the two clusters of positive charges flanking the epitope. Two LLO mutants (a single mutation K103A and a double mutation R89G, K90G) were normally and stably secreted by L. monocytogenes. In contrast, a mutant carrying four amino acid substitutions in the epitope itself (Y92K, D94A, E97K, Y98F) was highly susceptible to proteolytic degradation. While these three LLO mutant proteins showed a reduced haemolytic activity, they all promoted efficient phagosomal escape and intracellular multiplication in different cell types, and were non-cytotoxic. The deletion of the epitope (Δ91–99), as well as the substitution of two, three or four of the four lysine residues (K103 to K106) by alanine residues did not lead to the production of a detectable protein. These results confirm the lack of correlation between haemolytic activity and phagosomal membrane disruption. They reveal the importance of the 91–99 region in the production of a stable and functional LLO. LD50 determinations in the mouse model suggest a possible link between LLO stability and virulence.

2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 132
Author(s):  
Bingxue Sun ◽  
Guangxue Zhu ◽  
Xuewen Xie ◽  
Ali Chai ◽  
Lei Li ◽  
...  

With the further application of succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHI), the resistance caused by double mutations in target gene is gradually becoming a serious problem, leading to a decrease of control efficacy. It is important to assess the sensitivity and fitness of double mutations to SDHI in Corynespora cassiicola and analysis the evolution of double mutations. We confirmed, by site-directed mutagenesis, that all double mutations (B-I280V+D-D95E/D-G109V/D-H105R, B-H278R+D-D95E/D-G109V, B-H278Y+D-D95E/D-G109V) conferred resistance to all SDHI and exhibited the increased resistance to at least one fungicide than single point mutation. Analyses of fitness showed that all double mutations had lower fitness than the wild type; most of double mutations suffered more fitness penalties than the corresponding single mutants. We also further found that double mutations (B-I280V+D-D95E/D-G109V/D-H105R) containing low SDHI-resistant single point mutation (B-I280V) exhibited higher resistance to SDHI and low fitness penalty than double mutations (B-H278Y+D-D95E/D-G109V) containing high SDHI-resistant single mutations (B-H278Y). Therefore, we may infer that a single mutation conferring low resistance is more likely to evolve into a double mutation conferring higher resistance under the selective pressure of SDHI. Taken together, our results provide some important reference for resistance management.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gen Li ◽  
Guizhen Wang ◽  
Meng Li ◽  
Li Li ◽  
Hongtao Liu ◽  
...  

2002 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 3035-3038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry G. Hall

ABSTRACT In an early example of DNA shuffling, Stemmer (W. P. C. Stemmer, Nature 370:389-390, 1994) demonstrated a dramatic improvement in the activity of the TEM-1 β-lactamase toward cefotaxime as the consequence of six amino acid substitutions. It has been pointed out (B. G. Hall, FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 178:1-6, 1999; M. C. Orencia, J. S. Yoon, J. E. Ness, W. P. Stemmer, and R. C. Stevens, Nat. Struct. Biol. 8:238-242, 2001) that the power of DNA shuffling might be applied to the problem of predicting evolution in nature from in vitro evolution in the laboratory. As a predictor of natural evolutionary processes, that power may be misleading because in nature mutations almost always arise one at a time, and each advantageous mutation must be fixed into the population by an evolutionary pathway that leads from the wild type to the fully evolved sequence. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to introduce each of Stemmer's six substitutions into TEM-1, the best single mutant was chosen, and each of the remaining five substitutions was introduced. Repeated rounds of site-directed mutagenesis and selection of the best mutant were used in an attempt to construct a pathway between the wild-type TEM-1 and Stemmer's mutant with six mutations. In the present study it is shown (i) that no such pathway exists between the wild-type TEM-1 and the supereffective cefotaxime-hydrolyzing mutant that was generated by six amino acid substitutions via DNA shuffling (Stemmer, Nature 370:389-390, 1994) but that a pathway to a fourfold more efficient enzyme resulting from four of the same substitutions does exist, and (ii) that the more efficient enzyme is likely to arise in nature as the result of a single mutation in the naturally occurring TEM-52 allele.


2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (10) ◽  
pp. 4371-4382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier A. Carrero ◽  
Boris Calderon ◽  
Hector Vivanco-Cid ◽  
Emil R. Unanue

ABSTRACT Listeriolysin O (LLO) is an essential virulence factor for the gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Our goal was to determine if altering the topology of LLO would alter the virulence and toxicity of L. monocytogenes in vivo. A recombinant strain was generated that expressed a surface-associated LLO (sLLO) variant secreted at 40-fold-lower levels than the wild type. In culture, the sLLO strain grew in macrophages, translocated to the cytosol, and induced cell death. However, the sLLO strain showed decreased infectivity, reduced lymphocyte apoptosis, and decreased virulence despite a normal in vitro phenotype. Thus, the topology of LLO in L. monocytogenes was a factor in the pathogenesis of the infection and points to a role of LLO secretion during in vivo infection. The sLLO strain was cleared by severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. Despite the attenuation of virulence, the sLLO strain was immunogenic and capable of eliciting protective T-cell responses.


2012 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 2221-2230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody A. Melton-Witt ◽  
Susannah L. McKay ◽  
Daniel A. Portnoy

ABSTRACTListeriolysin O (LLO) is a pore-forming toxin of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC) family and a primary virulence factor of the intracellular pathogenListeria monocytogenes. LLO mediates rupture of phagosomal membranes, thereby releasing bacteria into the growth-permissive host cell cytosol. Several unique features of LLO allow its activity to be precisely regulated in order to facilitate phagosomal escape, intracellular growth, and cell-to-cell spread. To improve our understanding of the multifaceted contribution of LLO to the pathogenesis ofL. monocytogenes, we developed a screen that combined saturation mutagenesis and signature tags, termedinvivoanalysis bysaturation mutagenesis andsignature tags (IVASS). We generated a library of LLO mutant strains, each harboring a single amino acid substitution and a signature tag, by using the previously described pPL2 integration vector. The signature tags acted as molecular barcodes, enabling high-throughput, parallel analysis of 40 mutants in a single animal and identification of attenuated mutants by negative selection. Using the IVASS technique we were able to screen over 90% of the 505 amino acids present in LLO and identified 60 attenuated mutants. Of these, 39 LLO residues were previously uncharacterized and potentially revealed novel functions of the toxin during infection. The mutants that were subsequently analyzedin vivoeach conferred a 2- to 4-orders of magnitude loss in virulence compared to wild type, thereby validating the screening methods. Phenotypic analysis of the LLO mutant library using commonin vitrotechniques suggested that the functional contributions of some residues could only have been revealed throughin vivoanalysis.


2007 ◽  
Vol 75 (8) ◽  
pp. 3791-3801 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideki Hara ◽  
Ikuo Kawamura ◽  
Takamasa Nomura ◽  
Takanari Tominaga ◽  
Kohsuke Tsuchiya ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Listeria monocytogenes evades the antimicrobial mechanisms of macrophages by escaping from the phagosome into the cytosolic space via a unique cytolysin that targets the phagosomal membrane, listeriolysin O (LLO), encoded by hly. Gamma interferon (IFN-γ), which is known to play a pivotal role in the induction of Th1-dependent protective immunity in mice, appears to be produced, depending on the bacterial virulence factor. To determine whether the LLO molecule (the major virulence factor of L. monocytogenes) is indispensable or the escape of bacteria from the phagosome is sufficient to induce IFN-γ production, we first constructed an hly-deleted mutant of L. monocytogenes and then established isogenic L. monocytogenes mutants expressing LLO or ivanolysin O (ILO), encoded by ilo from Listeria ivanovii. LLO-expressing L. monocytogenes was highly capable of inducing IFN-γ production and Listeria-specific protective immunity, while the hly-deleted mutant was not. In contrast, the level of IFN-γ induced by ILO-expressing L. monocytogenes was significantly lower both in vitro and in vivo, despite the ability of this strain to escape the phagosome and the intracellular multiplication at a level equivalent to that of LLO-expressing L. monocytogenes. Only a negligible level of protective immunity was induced in mice against challenge with LLO- and ILO-expressing L. monocytogenes. These results clearly show that escape of the bacterium from the phagosome is a prerequisite but is not sufficient for the IFN-γ-dependent Th1 response against L. monocytogenes, and some distinct molecular nature of LLO is indispensable for the final induction of IFN-γ that is essentially required to generate a Th1-dependent immune response.


2014 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA KUREK ◽  
KATARZYNA MARKOWSKA ◽  
ANNA M. GRUDNIAK ◽  
WIRGINIA JANISZOWSKA ◽  
KRYSTYNA I. WOLSKA

Oleanolic acid and ursolic acid are pentacyclic triterpenoids isolated from a variety of medicinal plants, which have antibacterial activity. Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive facultative pathogen, being the causative agent of listeriosis. The present study was carried out to evaluate the in vitro effect of sub-inhibitory concentrations of both triterpene acids on the pathogenicity determinants of L. monocytogenes: their hemolytic activity and biofilm forming ability. Oleanolic and ursolic acids inhibited listeriolysin O activity without influencing toxin secretion. Biofilm formation, and the viability of L. monocytogenes cells in biofilms was diminished by both compounds. Thus, both acids affected L. monocytogenes virulence. It was also demonstrated that oleanolic acid bound to the peptidoglycan of L. monocytogenes and this interaction was influenced by teichoic acids.


2007 ◽  
Vol 408 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Béatrice Laudet ◽  
Caroline Barette ◽  
Vincent Dulery ◽  
Olivier Renaudet ◽  
Pascal Dumy ◽  
...  

X-ray crystallography studies, as well as live-cell fluorescent imaging, have recently challenged the traditional view of protein kinase CK2. Unbalanced expression of catalytic and regulatory CK2 subunits has been observed in a variety of tissues and tumours. Thus the potential intersubunit flexibility suggested by these studies raises the likely prospect that the CK2 holoenzyme complex is subject to disassembly and reassembly. In the present paper, we show evidence for the reversible multimeric organization of the CK2 holoenzyme complex in vitro. We used a combination of site-directed mutagenesis, binding experiments and functional assays to show that, both in vitro and in vivo, only a small set of primary hydrophobic residues of CK2β which contacts at the centre of the CK2α/CK2β interface dominates affinity. The results indicate that a double mutation in CK2β of amino acids Tyr188 and Phe190, which are complementary and fill up a hydrophobic pocket of CK2α, is the most disruptive to CK2α binding both in vitro and in living cells. Further characterization of hotspots in a cluster of hydrophobic amino acids centred around Tyr188–Phe190 led us to the structure-based design of small-peptide inhibitors. One conformationally constrained 11-mer peptide (Pc) represents a unique CK2β-based small molecule that was particularly efficient (i) to antagonize the interaction between the CK2 subunits, (ii) to inhibit the assembly of the CK2 holoenzyme complex, and (iii) to strongly affect its substrate preference.


2004 ◽  
Vol 383 (3) ◽  
pp. 517-527 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh A. NAGEGOWDA ◽  
Thomas J. BACH ◽  
Mee-Len CHYE

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG)-CoA synthase (HMGS; EC 2.3.3.10) is the second enzyme in the cytoplasmic mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis, and catalyses the condensation of acetyl-CoA with acetoacetyl-CoA (AcAc-CoA) to yield S-HMG-CoA. In this study, we have first characterized in detail a plant HMGS, Brassica juncea HMGS1 (BjHMGS1), as a His6-tagged protein from Escherichia coli. Native gel electrophoresis analysis showed that the enzyme behaves as a homodimer with a calculated mass of 105.8 kDa. It is activated by 5 mM dithioerythreitol and is inhibited by F-244 which is specific for HMGS enzymes. It has a pH optimum of 8.5 and a temperature optimum of 35 °C, with an energy of activation of 62.5 J·mol−1. Unlike cytosolic HMGS from chicken and cockroach, cations like Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and Co2+ did not stimulate His6–BjHMGS1 activity in vitro; instead all except Mg2+ were inhibitory. His6–BjHMGS1 has an apparent Km-acetyl-CoA of 43 μM and a Vmax of 0.47 μmol·mg−1·min−1, and was inhibited by one of the substrates (AcAc-CoA) and by both products (HMG-CoA and HS-CoA). Site-directed mutagenesis of conserved amino acid residues in BjHMGS1 revealed that substitutions R157A, H188N and C212S resulted in a decreased Vmax, indicating some involvement of these residues in catalytic capacity. Unlike His6–BjHMGS1 and its soluble purified mutant derivatives, the H188N mutant did not display substrate inhibition by AcAc-CoA. Substitution S359A resulted in a 10-fold increased specific activity. Based on these kinetic analyses, we generated a novel double mutation H188N/S359A, which resulted in a 10-fold increased specific activity, but still lacking inhibition by AcAc-CoA, strongly suggesting that His-188 is involved in conferring substrate inhibition on His6–BjHMGS1. Substitution of an aminoacyl residue resulting in loss of substrate inhibition has never been previously reported for any HMGS.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document