scholarly journals A Single Mechanosensitive Channel ProtectsFrancisella tularensissubsp.holarcticafrom Hypoosmotic Shock and Promotes Survival in the Aquatic Environment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Williamson ◽  
Kalyan K. Dewan ◽  
Tanmay Patel ◽  
Catherine M. Wastella ◽  
Gang Ning ◽  
...  

AbstractFrancisella tularensissubspeciesholarcticais found throughout the northern hemisphere and causes the disease tularemia in humans and animals. An aquatic cycle has been described for this subspecies, which has caused water-borne outbreaks of tularemia in at least 10 countries. In this study, we sought to identify mechanosensitive channel(s) required for the bacterium to survive the transition from mammalian hosts to freshwater, which is likely essential for transmission of the bacterium between susceptible hosts. A singlemechanosensitivechannel MscS (FTL_1753), among the smallest members of the mechanosensitive channel superfamily, was found to protect subsp.holarctiafrom hypoosmotic shock. Deletion of this channel did not affect virulence within the mammalian host, howevermscSwas required to survive the transition from the host niche to fresh water. Deletion ofmscSdid not alter the sensitivity ofF. tularensissubspeciesholarcticato detergents, H2O2, or antibiotics, suggesting that the role of MscS is specific to protection from hypoosmotic shock. Interestingly, deletion ofmscSalso led to reduced average cell size without altering gross cell morphology. The small mechanosensitive channel identified and characterized in this study likely contributes to the transmission of tularemia between hosts by allowing the bacterium to survive the transition from mammalian hosts to fresh water.

2017 ◽  
Vol 84 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Williamson ◽  
Kalyan K. Dewan ◽  
Tanmay Patel ◽  
Catherine M. Wastella ◽  
Gang Ning ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTFrancisella tularensissubsp.holarcticais found in North America and much of Europe and causes the disease tularemia in humans and animals. An aquatic cycle has been described for this subspecies, which has caused waterborne outbreaks of tularemia in at least 10 countries. In this study, we sought to identify the mechanosensitive channel(s) required for the bacterium to survive the transition from mammalian hosts to freshwater, which is likely essential for the transmission of the bacterium between susceptible hosts. A single 165-amino-acid MscS-type mechanosensitive channel (FtMscS) was found to protectF. tularensissubsp.holarcticafrom hypoosmotic shock, despite lacking much of the cytoplasmic vestibule domain found in well-characterized MscS proteins from other organisms. The deletion of this channel did not affect virulence within the mammalian host; however,FtMscS was required to survive the transition from the host niche to freshwater. The deletion ofFtMscS did not alter the sensitivity ofF. tularensissubsp.holarcticato detergents, H2O2, or antibiotics, suggesting that the role ofFtMscS is specific to protection from hypoosmotic shock. The deletion ofFtMscS also led to a reduced average cell size without altering gross cell morphology. The mechanosensitive channel identified and characterized in this study likely contributes to the transmission of tularemia between hosts by allowing the bacterium to survive the transition from mammalian hosts to freshwater.IMPORTANCEThe contamination of freshwater byFrancisella tularensissubsp.holarcticahas resulted in a number of outbreaks of tularemia. Invariably, the contamination originates from the carcasses or excreta of infected animals and thus involves an abrupt osmotic downshock as the bacteria enter freshwater. HowF. tularensissurvives this drastic change in osmolarity has not been clear, but here we report that a single mechanosensitive channel protects the bacterium from osmotic downshock. This channel is functional despite lacking much of the cytoplasmic vestibule domain that is present in better-studied organisms such asEscherichia coli; this report builds on previous studies that have suggested that parts of this domain are dispensable for downshock protection. These findings extend our understanding of the aquatic cycle and ecological persistence ofF. tularensis, with further implications for mechanosensitive channel biology.


1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 255-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradford S. Hamilton ◽  
Kazuo Nakamura ◽  
Daniel A. K. Roncari

Paralyzed flagellar mutants pf-1, pf-2, pf-7, and pf-18 of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Dangeard) were shown to store a significantly greater amount of starch than the motile wild type 137c+. The increase in starch storage was significant relative to protein, chlorophyll, and cell number. Analysis of average cell size revealed that the paralyzed mutants were larger than the wild type. This increase in storage molecule accumulation supports an inverse relationship between chemical energy storage and energy utilization for biomechanical/motile cellular functions. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii provides a useful model for studies of the role of cytoskeletal activity in the energy relationship and balance of organisms.Key words: Chlamydomonas, cytoskeleton, paralyzed flagella, starch, bioenergetics.


Author(s):  
D. Caillard ◽  
J.L. Martin

The behaviour of the dislocation substructure during the steady stage regime of creep, as well as its contribution to the creep rate, are poorly known. In particular, the stability of the subboundaries has been questioned recently, on the basis of experimental observations |1||2| and theoretical estimates |1||3|. In situ deformation experiments in the high voltage electron microscope are well adapted to the direct observation of this behaviour. We report here recent results on dislocation and subboundary properties during stationary creep of an aluminium polycristal at 200°C.During a macroscopic creep test at 200°C, a cell substructure is developed with an average cell size of a few microns. Microsamples are cut out of these specimens |4| with the same tensile axis, and then further deformed in the microscope at the same temperature and stain rate. At 1 MeV, one or a few cells can be observed in the foil thickness |5|. Low electron fluxes and an image intensifier were used to reduce radiation damage effects.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0021955X2110137
Author(s):  
Yao Dou ◽  
Denis Rodrigue

In this study, foamed recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) parts were produced by rotational molding using different concentration (0 to 1% wt.) of a chemical blowing agent (CBA) based on azodicarbonamide. From the samples produced, a complete morphological, thermal and mechanical characterization was performed. The morphological analysis showed a gradual increase in the average cell size, while the cell density firstly increased and then decreased with increasing CBA content. As expected, increasing the CBA content decreased the foam density as well as the thermal conductivity. Although increasing the CBA content decreased both tensile and flexural properties, the impact strength showed a similar trend as the cell density with an optimum CBA content around 0.1% wt. Finally, neat rHDPE samples were also produced by compression molding. The results showed negligible differences between the rotomolded and compression molded properties indicating that optimal rotomolding conditions were selected. These results confirm the possibility of using 100% recycled polymers to produce rotomolded foam parts.


2021 ◽  
pp. 026248932110068
Author(s):  
Youming Chen ◽  
Raj Das ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Mark Battley

In this study, the microstructure of a SAN foam was imaged using a micro-CT scanner. Through image processing and analysis, variations in density, cell wall thickness and cell size in the foam were quantitatively explored. It is found that cells in the foam are not elongated in the thickness (or rise) direction of foam sheets, but rather equiaxed. Cell walls in the foam are significantly straight. Density, cell size and cell wall thickness all vary along the thickness direction of foam sheets. The low density in the vicinity of one face of foam sheets leads to low compressive stiffness and strength, resulting in the strain localization observed in our previous compressive tests. For M80, large open cells on the top face of foam sheets are likely to buckle in compressive tests, therefore being another potential contributor to the strain localization as well. The average cell wall thickness measured from 2D slice images is around 1.4 times that measured from 3D images, and the average cell size measured from 2D slice images is about 13.8% smaller than that measured from 3D images. The dispersions of cell wall thickness measured from 2D slice images are 1.16–1.20 times those measured from 3D images. The dispersions of cell size measured from 2D slice images are 1.12–1.36 times those measured from 3D images.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briana Zellner ◽  
Dominique Mengin‐Lecreulx ◽  
Brenden Tully ◽  
William T. Gunning ◽  
Robert Booth ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 2306-2311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie S. Duckett ◽  
Sofia Olmos ◽  
Douglas M. Durrant ◽  
Dennis W. Metzger

ABSTRACT Francisella tularensis is a gram-negative intracellular bacterium that can induce lethal respiratory infection in humans and rodents. However, little is known about the role of innate or adaptive immunity in protection from respiratory tularemia. In the present study, the role of interleukin-12 (IL-12) in inducing protective immunity in the lungs against intranasal infection of mice with the live vaccine strain (LVS) of F. tularensis was investigated. It was found that gamma interferon (IFN-γ) and IL-12 were strictly required for protection, since mice deficient in IFN-γ, IL-12 p35, or IL-12 p40 all succumbed to LVS doses that were sublethal for wild-type mice. Furthermore, exogenous IL-12 treatment 24 h before intranasal infection with a lethal dose of LVS (10,000 CFU) significantly decreased bacterial loads in the lungs, livers, and spleens of wild-type BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice and allowed the animals to survive infection; such protection was not observed in IFN-γ-deficient mice. The resistance induced by IL-12 to LVS infection was still observed in NK cell-deficient beige mice but not in CD8−/− mice. These results demonstrate that exogenous IL-12 delivered intranasally can prevent respiratory tularemia through a mechanism that is at least partially dependent upon the expression of IFN-γ and CD8 T cells.


2021 ◽  
pp. 0021955X2098715
Author(s):  
Cosimo Brondi ◽  
Ernesto Di Maio ◽  
Luigi Bertucelli ◽  
Vanni Parenti ◽  
Thomas Mosciatti

This study investigates the effect of liquid-type organofluorine additives (OFAs) on the morphology, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of rigid polyurethane (PU) and polyisocyanurate (PIR) foams. Foams were characterized in terms of their morphology (density, average cell size, anisotropy ratio, open cell content), thermal conductivity and compressive as well as flexural properties. Based on the results, we observed that OFAs efficiently reduced the average cell size of both PU and PIR foams, leading to improved thermal insulating and mechanical properties.


The biology of antigenic variation is discussed, and the problems that must be solved to provide a full understanding of antigenic variation are considered. These are (i) the induction of v.s.g. synthesis in the salivary glands of the tsetse fly; (ii) the nature of the restriction on v.s.g. genes that allows only some of them to be expressed in the salivary glands; (iii) the nature of ‘predominance’ in v.s.g. expression in the mammalian host, and the mechanism by which it operates; (iv) the repression of v.s.g. synthesis in the insect midgut; (v) the anamnestic response that produces expression of the ingested variant in the first patent parasitaemia in the mammalian host; (vi) the mechanism by which only one v.s.g. gene at a time is expressed; (vii) the relationship if any ofv.s.g. structure to v.s.g.-associated differences in growth rate and host range; (viii) the role of v.s.g. release within the life cycle and to pathogenesis.


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