scholarly journals Bacterial outer membrane vesicles provide an alternative pathway for trafficking of type III secreted effectors into epithelial cells

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Sirisaengtaksin ◽  
Eloise J. O’Donoghue ◽  
Sara Jabbari ◽  
Andrew J. Roe ◽  
Anne Marie Krachler

ABSTRACTOuter membrane vesicles (OMVs) are proteo-liposomes universally shed by Gram-negative bacteria. Their secretion is significantly enhanced by the transition into the intra-host milieu and OMVs have been shown to play critical roles during pathogenesis. EnterohemorrhagicEscherichia coliO157 (EHEC), causes diarrheal disease in humans, and soluble toxins including Shiga-like toxins that contribute to disease severity and clinical complications including hemolytic uremic syndrome, have been shown to be OMV associated. In addition to Shiga-like toxins, EHEC produces a type III secretion system (T3SS), and T3SS effectors are associated with colonization and disease severityin vivo. Here, we show that type III secreted substrates including translocators and effectors are incorporated into OMVs independent of type III secretion activity. EHEC strains with non-functional type III secretion systems shed more OMVs and vesicles enter host cells with accelerated kinetics compared to vesicles shed from wild type EHEC. The T3SS effector translocated intimin receptor (Tir) is trafficked from OMVs into host cells and localizes to the membrane. However, its clustering on the host membrane and co-localization with bacterial pedestals is intimin-dependent. We further show that OMV-delivered Tir can cross-complement an effector-deficient EHEC strain, demonstrating that OMV-associated effectors reach the host cell in a biologically intact form. Finally, we observe that the non-LEE encoded E3 ubiquitin ligase effector NleL is also trafficked to host cells via OMVs, where it ubiquitinylates its target kinase JNK. Together, these data demonstrate that trafficking of OMV-associated effectors is a novel and T3SS-independent pathway for the delivery of active effectors to host cells.

Microbiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciara M. Shaver ◽  
Alan R. Hauser

The effector proteins of the type III secretion systems of many bacterial pathogens act in a coordinated manner to subvert host cells and facilitate the development and progression of disease. It is unclear whether interactions between the type-III-secreted proteins of Pseudomonas aeruginosa result in similar effects on the disease process. We have previously characterized the contributions to pathogenesis of the type-III-secreted proteins ExoS, ExoT and ExoU when secreted individually. In this study, we extend our prior work to determine whether these proteins have greater than expected effects on virulence when secreted in combination. In vitro cytotoxicity and anti-internalization activities were not enhanced when effector proteins were secreted in combinations rather than alone. Likewise in a mouse model of pneumonia, bacterial burden in the lungs, dissemination and mortality attributable to ExoS, ExoT and ExoU were not synergistically increased when combinations of these effector proteins were secreted. Because of the absence of an appreciable synergistic increase in virulence when multiple effector proteins were secreted in combination, we conclude that any cooperation between ExoS, ExoT and ExoU does not translate into a synergistically significant enhancement of disease severity as measured by these assays.


2011 ◽  
Vol 79 (6) ◽  
pp. 2182-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunjin Yoon ◽  
Charles Ansong ◽  
Joshua N. Adkins ◽  
Fred Heffron

ABSTRACTSalmonella entericaserovar Typhimurium, an intracellular pathogen and leading cause of food-borne illness, encodes a plethora of virulence effectors.Salmonellavirulence factors are translocated into host cells and manipulate host cellular activities, providing a more hospitable environment for bacterial proliferation. In this study, we report a new set of virulence factors that is translocated into the host cytoplasm via bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMV). PagK (or PagK1), PagJ, and STM2585A (or PagK2) are small proteins composed of ∼70 amino acids and have high sequence homology to each other (>85% identity).Salmonellalacking all three homologues was attenuated for virulence in a mouse infection model, suggesting at least partial functional redundancy among the homologues. While each homologue was translocated into the macrophage cytoplasm, their translocation was independent of all threeSalmonellagene-encoded type III secretion systems (T3SSs)–Salmonellapathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1) T3SS, SPI-2 T3SS, and the flagellar system. Selected methods, including direct microscopy, demonstrated that the PagK-homologous proteins were secreted through OMV, which were enriched with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and outer membrane proteins. Vesicles produced by intracellular bacteria also contained lysosome-associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP1), suggesting the possibility of OMV convergence with host cellular components during intracellular trafficking. This study identified novelSalmonellavirulence factors secreted via OMV and demonstrated that OMV can function as a vehicle to transfer virulence determinants to the cytoplasm of the infected host cell.


2012 ◽  
Vol 80 (12) ◽  
pp. 4089-4098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdi Elmi ◽  
Eleanor Watson ◽  
Pamela Sandu ◽  
Ozan Gundogdu ◽  
Dominic C. Mills ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTCampylobacter jejuniis the most prevalent cause of food-borne gastroenteritis in the developed world; however, the molecular basis of pathogenesis is unclear. Secretion of virulence factors is a key mechanism by which enteric bacterial pathogens interact with host cells to enhance survival and/or damage the host. However,C. jejunilacks the virulence-associated secretion systems possessed by other enteric pathogens. Many bacterial pathogens utilize outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) for delivery of virulence factors into host cells. In the absence of prototypical virulence-associated secretion systems, OMVs could be an important alternative for the coordinated delivery ofC. jejuniproteins into host cells. Proteomic analysis ofC. jejuni11168H OMVs identified 151 proteins, including periplasmic and outer membrane-associated proteins, but also many determinants known to be important in survival and pathogenesis, including the cytolethal distending toxin (CDT).C. jejuniOMVs contained 16N-linked glycoproteins, indicating a delivery mechanism by which these periplasm-located yet immunogenic glycoproteins can interact with host cells.C. jejuniOMVs possess cytotoxic activity and induce a host immune response from T84 intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), which was not reduced by OMV pretreatment with proteinase K or polymyxin B prior to coincubation with IECs. Pretreatment of IECs with methyl-beta-cyclodextrin partially blocks OMV-induced host immune responses, indicating a role for lipid rafts in host cell plasma membranes during interactions withC. jejuniOMVs. OMVs isolated from aC. jejuni11168HcdtAmutant induced interleukin-8 (IL-8) to the same extent as did wild-type OMVs, suggesting OMV induction of IL-8 is independent of CDT.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 4823
Author(s):  
María Fernanda González ◽  
Paula Díaz ◽  
Alejandra Sandoval-Bórquez ◽  
Daniela Herrera ◽  
Andrew F. G. Quest

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived vesicles important in intercellular communication that play an essential role in host-pathogen interactions, spreading pathogen-derived as well as host-derived molecules during infection. Pathogens can induce changes in the composition of EVs derived from the infected cells and use them to manipulate their microenvironment and, for instance, modulate innate and adaptive inflammatory immune responses, both in a stimulatory or suppressive manner. Gastric cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide and infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is considered the main risk factor for developing this disease, which is characterized by a strong inflammatory component. EVs released by host cells infected with H. pylori contribute significantly to inflammation, and in doing so promote the development of disease. Additionally, H. pylori liberates vesicles, called outer membrane vesicles (H. pylori-OMVs), which contribute to atrophia and cell transformation in the gastric epithelium. In this review, the participation of both EVs from cells infected with H. pylori and H. pylori-OMVs associated with the development of gastric cancer will be discussed. By deciphering which functions of these external vesicles during H. pylori infection benefit the host or the pathogen, novel treatment strategies may become available to prevent disease.


Toxins ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Nice ◽  
Nataliya Balashova ◽  
Scott Kachlany ◽  
Evan Koufos ◽  
Eric Krueger ◽  
...  

The Gram-negative bacterium, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, has been associated with localized aggressive periodontitis (LAP). In particular, highly leukotoxic strains of A. actinomycetemcomitans have been more closely associated with this disease, suggesting that LtxA is a key virulence factor for A. actinomycetemcomitans. LtxA is secreted across both the inner and outer membranes via the Type I secretion system, but has also been found to be enriched within outer membrane vesicles (OMVs), derived from the bacterial outer membrane. We have characterized the association of LtxA with OMVs produced by the highly leukotoxic strain, JP2, and investigated the interaction of these OMVs with host cells to understand how LtxA is delivered to host cells in this OMV-associated form. Our results demonstrated that a significant fraction of the secreted LtxA exists in an OMV-associated form. Furthermore, we have discovered that in this OMV-associated form, the toxin is trafficked to host cells by a cholesterol- and receptor-independent mechanism in contrast to the mechanism by which free LtxA is delivered. Because OMV-associated toxin is trafficked to host cells in an entirely different manner than free toxin, this study highlights the importance of studying both free and OMV-associated forms of LtxA to understand A. actinomycetemcomitans virulence.


2008 ◽  
Vol 191 (2) ◽  
pp. 563-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas K. J. Veenendaal ◽  
Charlotta Sundin ◽  
Ariel J. Blocker

ABSTRACT Type III secretion systems (T3SSs) are essential virulence devices for many gram-negative bacteria that are pathogenic for plants, animals, and humans. They serve to translocate virulence effector proteins directly into eukaryotic host cells. T3SSs are composed of a large cytoplasmic bulb and a transmembrane region into which a needle is embedded, protruding above the bacterial surface. The emerging antibiotic resistance of bacterial pathogens urges the development of novel strategies to fight bacterial infections. Therapeutics that rather than kill bacteria only attenuate their virulence may reduce the frequency or progress of resistance emergence. Recently, a group of salicylidene acylhydrazides were identified as inhibitors of T3SSs in Yersinia, Chlamydia, and Salmonella species. Here we show that these are also effective on the T3SS of Shigella flexneri, where they block all related forms of protein secretion so far known, as well as the epithelial cell invasion and induction of macrophage apoptosis usually demonstrated by this bacterium. Furthermore, we show the first evidence for the detrimental effect of these compounds on T3SS needle assembly, as demonstrated by increased numbers of T3S apparatuses without needles or with shorter needles. Therefore, the compounds generate a phenocopy of T3SS export apparatus mutants but with incomplete penetrance. We discuss why this would be sufficient to almost completely block the later secretion of effector proteins and how this begins to narrow the search for the molecular target of these compounds.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibel Westerhausen ◽  
Melanie Nowak ◽  
Claudia Torres-Vargas ◽  
Ursula Bilitewski ◽  
Erwin Bohn ◽  
...  

AbstractThe elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of secretion through bacterial protein secretion systems is impeded by a lack of assays to quantitatively assess secretion kinetics. Also the analysis of the biological role of these secretion systems as well as the identification of inhibitors targeting these systems would greatly benefit from the availability of a simple, quick and quantitative assay to monitor principle secretion and injection into host cells. Here we present a versatile solution to this need, utilizing the small and very bright NanoLuc luciferase to assess secretion and injection through the type III secretion system encoded by Salmonella pathogenicity island 1. The NanoLuc-based secretion assay features a very high signal-to-noise ratio and sensitivity down to the nanoliter scale. The assay enables monitoring of secretion kinetics and is adaptable to a high throughput screening format in 384-well microplates. We further developed NanoLuc and split-NanoLuc-based assays that enable the monitoring of type III secretion-dependent injection of effector proteins into host cells.ImportanceThe ability to secrete proteins to the bacterial cell surface, to the extracellular environment, or even into target cells is one of the foundations of interbacterial as well as pathogen-host interaction. While great progress has been made in elucidating assembly and structure of secretion systems, our understanding of their secretion mechanism often lags behind, not last because of the challenge to quantitatively assess secretion function. Here, we developed a luciferase-based assay to enable the simple, quick, quantitative, and high throughput-compatible assessment of secretion and injection through virulence-associated type III secretion systems. The assay allows detection of minute amounts of secreted substrate proteins either in the supernatant of the bacterial culture or within eukaryotic host cells. It thus provides an enabling technology to elucidate the mechanisms of secretion and injection of type III secretion systems and is likely adaptable to assay secretion through other bacterial secretion systems.


2008 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 1825-1836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Galka ◽  
Sun Nyunt Wai ◽  
Harald Kusch ◽  
Susanne Engelmann ◽  
Michael Hecker ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Secretion of effector molecules is one of the major mechanisms by which the intracellular human pathogen Legionella pneumophila interacts with host cells during infection. Specific secretion machineries which are responsible for the subfraction of secreted proteins (soluble supernatant proteins [SSPs]) and the production of bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) both contribute to the protein composition of the extracellular milieu of this lung pathogen. Here we present comprehensive proteome reference maps for both SSPs and OMVs. Protein identification and assignment analyses revealed a total of 181 supernatant proteins, 107 of which were specific to the SSP fraction and 33 of which were specific to OMVs. A functional classification showed that a large proportion of the identified OMV proteins are involved in the pathogenesis of Legionnaires' disease. Zymography and enzyme assays demonstrated that the SSP and OMV fractions possess proteolytic and lipolytic enzyme activities which may contribute to the destruction of the alveolar lining during infection. Furthermore, it was shown that OMVs do not kill host cells but specifically modulate their cytokine response. Binding of immunofluorescently stained OMVs to alveolar epithelial cells, as visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy, suggested that there is delivery of a large and complex group of proteins and lipids in the infected tissue in association with OMVs. On the basis of these new findings, we discuss the relevance of protein sorting and compartmentalization of virulence factors, as well as environmental aspects of the vesicle-mediated secretion.


2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (17) ◽  
pp. 6075-6083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sasha M. Warren ◽  
Glenn M. Young

ABSTRACT Yersinia enterocolitica biovar 1B maintains three distinct type III secretion (TTS) systems, which independently operate to target proteins to extracellular sites. The Ysa and Ysc systems are prototypical contact-dependent TTS systems that translocate toxic effectors to the cytosols of targeted eukaryotic host cells during infection. The flagellar TTS system is utilized during the assembly of the flagellum and is required for secretion of the virulence-associated phospholipase YplA to the bacterial milieu. When ectopically produced, YplA is also a secretion substrate for the Ysa and Ysc TTS systems. In this study, we define elements that allow YplA recognition and export by the Ysa, Ysc, and flagellar TTS systems. Fusion of various amino-terminal regions of YplA to Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase (PhoA) lacking its native secretion signal demonstrated that the first 20 amino acids or corresponding mRNA codons of YplA were sufficient for export of YplA-PhoA chimeras by each TTS system. Export of native YplA by each of the three TTS systems was also found to depend on the integrity of its amino terminus. Introduction of a frameshift mutation or deletion of yplA sequences encoding the amino-terminal 20 residues negatively impacted YplA secretion. Deletion of other yplA regions was tolerated, including that resulting in the removal of amino acid residues 30 through 40 of the polypeptide and removal of the 5′ untranslated region of the mRNA. This work supports a model in which independent and distantly related TTS systems of Y. enterocolitica recognize protein substrates by a similar mechanism.


Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elnaz Rasti ◽  
Angela Brown

Cholera toxin (CT), the major virulence factor of Vibrio cholerae, is an AB5 toxin secreted through the type II secretion system (T2SS). Upon secretion, the toxin initiates endocytosis through the interaction of the B pentamer with the GM1 ganglioside receptor on small intestinal cells. In addition to the release of CT in the free form, the bacteria secrete CT in association with outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). Previously, we demonstrated that strain 569B releases OMVs that encapsulate CT and which interact with host cells in a GM1-independent mechanism. Here, we have demonstrated that OMV-encapsulated CT, while biologically active, does not exist in an AB5 form; rather, the OMVs encapsulate two enzymatic A-subunit (CTA) polypeptides. We further investigated the assembly and secretion of the periplasmic CT and found that a major fraction of periplasmic CTA does not participate in the CT assembly process and instead is continuously encapsulated within the OMVs. Additionally, we found that the encapsulation of CTA fragments in OMVs is conserved among several Inaba O1 strains. We further found that under conditions in which the amount of extracellularly secreted CT increases, the concentration of OMV-encapsulated likewise CTA increases. These results point to a secondary mechanism for the secretion of biologically active CT that does not depend on the CTB-GM1 interaction for endocytosis.


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