Extracellular polysaccharide production by Klebsiella pneumoniae and its relationship to virulence

1985 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 472-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Domenico ◽  
Dana L. Diedrich ◽  
David C. Straus

Klebsiella pneumoniae serotype 1 and serotype 2 and their capsular variants were examined for production of cell-associated capsular polysaccharides and extracellular capsular polysaccharides. The virulence of these organisms in experimental animals was examined via intraperitoneal injection in mice and transtracheal inoculation into the lungs of rats. It was found that the production of either polysaccharide component correlated with the observed virulence. The extracellular polysaccharides were purified by ethanol precipitation, electrodialysis, extraction with quaternary ammonium salts, and gel filtration. These purification steps allowed for the separation and purification of both the extracellular lipopolysaccharide and the extracellular capsular polysaccharide. Purified extracellular capsular polysaccharide and extracellular lipopolysaccharide were co-injected with K. pneumoniae intraperitoneally into mice to determine if either of these substances would produce an effect on the natural course of infection in these animals. These studies showed that only purified extracellular lipopolysaccharide enhanced the virulence of K. pneumoniae when co-injected into mice, and this virulence enhancement correlated with the content of extracellular lipopolysaccharide, but not extracellular capsular polysaccharide in mixtures of these polysaccharides. Saponification of K. pneumoniae serotype 1 extracellular polysaccharides significantly decreased their virulence-enhancing capabilities in mice, further suggesting that extracellular lipopolysaccharide may play a role in these infections.

mSphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasturi Banerjee ◽  
Michael P. Motley ◽  
Elizabeth Diago-Navarro ◽  
Bettina C. Fries

ABSTRACT Capsular polysaccharide (CPS) heterogeneity within carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-Kp) strain sequence type 258 (ST258) must be considered when developing CPS-based vaccines. Here, we sought to characterize CPS-specific antibody responses elicited by CR-Kp-infected patients. Plasma and bacterial isolates were collected from 33 hospital patients with positive CR-Kp cultures. Isolate capsules were typed by wzi sequencing. Reactivity and measures of efficacy of patient antibodies were studied against 3 prevalent CR-Kp CPS types (wzi29, wzi154, and wzi50). High IgG titers against wzi154 and wzi50 CPS were documented in 79% of infected patients. Patient-derived (PD) IgGs agglutinated CR-Kp and limited growth better than naive IgG and promoted phagocytosis of strains across the serotype isolated from their donors. Additionally, poly-IgG from wzi50 and wzi154 patients promoted phagocytosis of nonconcordant CR-Kp serotypes. Such effects were lost when poly-IgG was depleted of CPS-specific IgG. Additionally, mice infected with wzi50, wzi154, and wzi29 CR-Kp strains preopsonized with wzi50 patient-derived IgG exhibited lower lung CFU than controls. Depletion of wzi50 antibodies (Abs) reversed this effect in wzi50 and wzi154 infections, whereas wzi154 Ab depletion reduced poly-IgG efficacy against wzi29 CR-Kp. We are the first to report cross-reactive properties of CPS-specific Abs from CR-Kp patients through both in vitro and in vivo models. IMPORTANCE Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae is a rapidly emerging public health threat that can cause fatal infections in up to 50% of affected patients. Due to its resistance to nearly all antimicrobials, development of alternate therapies like antibodies and vaccines is urgently needed. Capsular polysaccharides constitute important targets, as they are crucial for Klebsiella pneumoniae pathogenesis. Capsular polysaccharides are very diverse and, therefore, studying the host’s capsule-type specific antibodies is crucial to develop effective anti-CPS immunotherapies. In this study, we are the first to characterize humoral responses in infected patients against carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae expressing different wzi capsule types. This study is the first to report the efficacy of cross-reactive properties of CPS-specific Abs in both in vitro and in vivo models.


Microbiology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 152 (6) ◽  
pp. 1807-1818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Fresno ◽  
Natalia Jiménez ◽  
Luis Izquierdo ◽  
Susana Merino ◽  
Maria Michela Corsaro ◽  
...  

The complete structures of LPS core types 1 and 2 from Klebsiella pneumoniae have been described by other authors. They are characterized by a lack of phosphoryl residues, but they contain galacturonic acid (GalA) residues, which contribute to the necessary negative charges. The presence of a capsule was determined in core-LPS non-polar mutants from strains 52145 (O1 : K2), DL1 (O1 : K1) and C3 (O8 : K66). O-antigen ligase (waaL) mutants produced a capsule. Core mutants containing the GalA residues were capsulated, while those lacking the residues were non capsulated. Since the proteins involved in the transfer of GalA (WabG) and glucosamine residues (WabH) are known, the chemical basis of the capsular-K2–cell-surface association was studied. Phenol/water extracts from K. pneumoniae 52145ΔwabH waaL and 52145ΔwaaL mutants, but not those from from K. pneumoniae 52145ΔwabG waaL mutant, contained both LPS and capsular polysaccharide, even after hydrophobic chromatography. The two polysaccharides were dissociated by gel-filtration chromatography, eluting with detergent and metal-ion chelators. From these results, it is concluded that the K2 capsular polysaccharide is associated by an ionic interaction to the LPS through the negative charge provided by the carboxyl groups of the GalA residues.


Author(s):  
Tomasz K. Olszewski ◽  
Anna Brol

An effective protocol for quaternization of simple 1-aminoalkylphosphonic acids under basic conditions and using Me2SO4 as convenient alkylating agent is reported. In the course of reaction phosphonic acid quaternary ammonium...


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 335
Author(s):  
Novaria Sari Dewi Panjaitan ◽  
Yu-Tze Horng ◽  
Chih-Ching Chien ◽  
Hung-Chi Yang ◽  
Ren-In You ◽  
...  

Capsular polysaccharide (CPS) is a crucial virulence factor for Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. We demonstrated an association of CPS production with two phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase systems (PTSs). Deficiency of crr, encoding enzyme IIA of PTS, in K. pneumoniae enhanced the transcriptional activities of galF, wzi and gnd, which are in the cps gene cluster, leading to high CPS production. A crr mutant exhibited a higher survival rate in 1% hydrogen peroxide than the wild-type. The crr mutant showed less sensitivity to engulfment by macrophage (RAW 264.7) than the wild-type by observing the intracellular bacteria using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and by calculating the colony-forming units (CFU) of intracellular bacteria. After long-term incubation, the survival rate of the intracellular crr mutant was higher than that of the wild-type. Deficiency of crr enhanced the transcriptional activities of etcABC which encodes another putative enzyme II complex of a PTS. Deletion of etcABC in the crr mutant reduced CPS production and the transcriptional activities of galF compared to those of the crr mutant. These results indicated that one PTS component, Crr, represses CPS production by repressing another PTS component, EtcABC, in K. pneumoniae. In addition, PTS plays a role in bacterial resistance to macrophage phagocytosis.


Author(s):  
Ch. Ravi Teja ◽  
Abraham P. Karlapudi ◽  
Neeraja Vallur ◽  
K. Mamatha ◽  
D. John Babu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Extracellular polysaccharides (ECPs) produced by biofilm-producing marine bacterium have great applications in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, food engineering, bioremediation, and bio-hydrometallurgy industries. The ECP-producing strain was identified as Acinetobacter indicus M6 species by 16S rDNA analysis. The polymer produced by the isolate was quantified and purified and chemically analyzed, and antioxidant activities have been studied. The face-centered central composite design (FCCCD) was used to design the model. Results The results have clearly shown that the ECP was found to be endowed with significant antioxidative activities. The ECP showed 59% of hydroxyl radical scavenging activity at a concentration of 500 μg/mL, superoxide radical scavenging activity (72.4%) at a concentration of 300 μg/mL, and DPPH˙ radical scavenging activity (72.2%) at a concentration of 500 μg/mL, respectively. Further, HPLC and GC-MS results showed that the isolated ECP was a heteropolymer composed of glucose as a major monomer, and mannose and glucosamine were minor monomers. Furthermore, the production of ECP by Acinetobacter indicus M6 was increased through optimization of nutritional variables, namely, glucose, yeast extract, and MgSO4 by “Response Surface Methodology”. Moreover the production of ECP reached to 2.21 g/L after the optimization of nutritional variables. The designed model is statistically significant and is indicated by the R2 value of 0.99. The optimized medium improved the production of ECP and is two folds higher in comparison with the basal medium. Conclusions Acinetobacter indicus M6 bacterium produces a novel and unique extracellular heteropolysaccharide with highly efficient antioxidant activity. GC-MS analyses elucidated the presence of quite uncommon (1→4)-linked glucose, (1→4)-linked mannose, and (→4)-GlcN-(1→) glycosidic linkages in the backbone. The optimized medium improved the production of ECP and is two folds higher in comparison with the basal medium. The newly optimized medium could be used as a promising alternative for the overproduction of ECP.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 762
Author(s):  
Lucia Henrici De Angelis ◽  
Noemi Poerio ◽  
Vincenzo Di Pilato ◽  
Federica De Santis ◽  
Alberto Antonelli ◽  
...  

Phage therapy is now reconsidered with interest in the treatment of bacterial infections. A major piece of information for this application is the definition of the molecular targets exploited by phages to infect bacteria. Here, the genetic basis of resistance to the lytic phage φBO1E by its susceptible host Klebsiella pneumoniae KKBO-1 has been investigated. KKBO-1 phage-resistant mutants were obtained by infection at high multiplicity. One mutant, designated BO-FR-1, was selected for subsequent experiments, including virulence assessment in a Galleria mellonella infection model and characterization by whole-genome sequencing. Infection with BO-FR-1 was associated with a significantly lower mortality when compared to that of the parental strain. The BO-FR-1 genome differed from KKBO-1 by a single nonsense mutation into the wbaP gene, which encodes a glycosyltransferase involved in the first step of the biosynthesis of the capsular polysaccharide (CPS). Phage susceptibility was restored when BO-FR-1 was complemented with the constitutive wbaP gene. Our results demonstrated that φBO1E infects KKBO-1 targeting the bacterial CPS. Interestingly, BO-FR-1 was less virulent than the parental strain, suggesting that in the context of the interplay among phage, bacterial pathogen and host, the emergence of phage resistance may be beneficial for the host.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (13) ◽  
pp. 2424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tăbăcaru ◽  
Botezatu ◽  
Horincar ◽  
Furdui ◽  
Dinică

A family of fifteen quaternary ammonium salts (QAs), bearing the 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane core, were obtained using for the first time two different green methods, such as microwave (MW) and ultrasounds (US) irradiation, with very good yields and in much shorter times compared to the classical method, and an assay on their antimicrobial action against Escherichia coli (E. coli) was carried out. While 12 to 24 hours were required for complete alkylation of 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane by reactive halogenated derivatives in anhydrous solvent under reflux conditions, MW and US irradiation reduced the reaction time and the desired products were achieved in a few min. One of the aims of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial potential of the synthesized QAs against pathogenic bacteria, along with their impact on germination activity of wheat seeds (Triticum aestivum L.). The antibacterial activity of the QAs against Escherichia coli was explored by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The MIC values varied from 0.312 to 2.5 mg/mL, highlighting the lowest values attained for the derivatives containing methoxy, chlorine and benzofurane functional groups. The viability of aerobic bacteria was determined with the Tetrazolium/Formazan Test, a method that was found to be the best alternative approach with respect to the difuzimetric method. Seeds of Triticum aestivum L. were used for the evaluation of the germination indicators, such as seed germination (SG), the relative seed germination (RSG), the relative radicle growth (RRG), and the seed germination index (GI). The toxicity studies of QAs 1, 4 and 7, at two different concentrations, showed no inhibitory effect on seed germination.


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