Listeria monocytogeneslisteriolysin O and phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C affect adherence to epithelial cells

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (9) ◽  
pp. 745-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agata Krawczyk-Balska ◽  
Jacek Bielecki

Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborn intracellular animal and human pathogen, produces several exotoxins contributing to virulence. Among these are listeriolysin O (LLO), a pore-forming cholesterol-dependent hemolysin, and a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC). LLO is known to play an important role in the escape of bacteria from the primary phagocytic vacuole of macrophages, and PI-PLC supports this process. Evidence is accumulating that LLO and PI-PLC are multifunctional virulence factors with many important roles in the host-parasite interaction other than phagosomal membrane disruption. LLO and PI-PLC may induce a number of host cell responses by modulating signal transduction of infected cells via intracellular Ca2+levels and the metabolism of phospholipids. This would result in the activation of host phospholipase C and protein kinase C. In the present study, using Bacillus sub tilis strains expressing LLO, PI-PLC, and simultaneously LLO and PI-PLC, we show that LLO and PI-PLC enhance bacterial binding to epithelial cells Int407, with LLO being necessary and PI-PLC playing an accessory role. The results of this work suggest that these two listerial proteins act on epithelial cells prior to internalization.Key words: Listeria monocytogenes, listeriolysin O, phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C, Bacillus subtilis, adherence.

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (21) ◽  
pp. 6295-6307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Gründling ◽  
Mark D. Gonzalez ◽  
Darren E. Higgins

ABSTRACT In this study, we investigated the requirement of the Listeria monocytogenes broad-range phospholipase C (PC-PLC) during infection of human epithelial cells. L. monocytogenes is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen of humans and a variety of animal species. After entering a host cell, L. monocytogenes is initially surrounded by a membrane-bound vacuole. Bacteria promote their escape from this vacuole, grow within the host cell cytosol, and spread from cell to cell via actin-based motility. Most infection studies with L. monocytogenes have been performed with mouse cells or an in vivo mouse model of infection. In all mouse-derived cells tested, the pore-forming cytolysin listeriolysin O (LLO) is absolutely required for lysis of primary vacuoles formed during host cell entry. However, L. monocytogenes can escape from primary vacuoles in the absence of LLO during infection of human epithelial cell lines Henle 407, HEp-2, and HeLa. Previous studies have shown that the broad-range phospholipase C, PC-PLC, promotes lysis of Henle 407 cell primary vacuoles in the absence of LLO. Here, we have shown that PC-PLC is also required for lysis of HEp-2 and HeLa cell primary vacuoles in the absence of LLO expression. Furthermore, our results indicated that the amount of PC-PLC activity is critical for the efficiency of vacuolar lysis. In an LLO-negative derivative of L. monocytogenes strain 10403S, expression of PC-PLC has to increase before or upon entry into human epithelial cells, compared to expression in broth culture, to allow bacterial escape from primary vacuoles. Using a system for inducible PC-PLC expression in L. monocytogenes, we provide evidence that phospholipase activity can be increased by elevated expression of PC-PLC or Mpl, the enzyme required for proteolytic activation of PC-PLC. Lastly, by using the inducible PC-PLC expression system, we demonstrate that, in the absence of LLO, PC-PLC activity is not only required for lysis of primary vacuoles in human epithelial cells but is also necessary for efficient cell-to-cell spread. We speculate that the additional requirement for PC-PLC activity is for lysis of secondary double-membrane vacuoles formed during cell-to-cell spread.


2006 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. S186
Author(s):  
Johannes Hampl ◽  
Shruti Mathur ◽  
Weiqun Liu ◽  
Peter Lauer ◽  
Thomas Dubensky ◽  
...  

Nanomaterials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2196
Author(s):  
Maria Ammendolia ◽  
Barbara De Berardis ◽  
Linda Maurizi ◽  
Catia Longhi

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) are widely used in a variety of consumer products. Cellular exposure to TiO2 NPs results in complex effects on cell physiology that could impact biological systems. We investigated the behavior of Listeria monocytogenes in intestinal epithelial cells pre-treated with either a low or high (1 and 20 µg/cm2) dose of TiO2 NPs. Our results indicate that the pre-treated cells with a low dose became more permissive to listeria infection; indeed, both adhesion and invasion were significantly increased compared to control. Increased invasion seems to be correlated to cytoskeletal alterations induced by nanoparticles, and higher bacterial survival might be due to the high levels of listeriolysin O that protects L. monocytogenes from reactive oxygen species (ROS). The potential risk of increased susceptibility to L. monocytogenes infection related to long-term intake of nanosized TiO2 at low doses should be considered.


2006 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Marie Yeung ◽  
Yoojin Na ◽  
Amanda J. Kreuder ◽  
Hélène Marquis

ABSTRACT Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterial pathogen that multiplies in the cytosol of host cells and spreads directly from cell to cell by using an actin-based mechanism of motility. The broad-range phospholipase C (PC-PLC) of L. monocytogenes contributes to bacterial escape from vacuoles formed upon cell-to-cell spread. PC-PLC is made as an inactive proenzyme whose activation requires cleavage of an N-terminal propeptide. During infection, PC-PLC is activated specifically in acidified vacuoles. To assess the importance of compartmentalizing PC-PLC activity during infection, we created a mutant that makes constitutively active PC-PLC (the plcBΔpro mutant). Results from intracellular growth and cell-to-cell spread assays showed that the plcBΔpro mutant was sensitive to gentamicin, suggesting that unregulated PC-PLC activity causes damage to host cell membranes. This was confirmed by the observation of a twofold increase in staining of live infected cells by a non-membrane-permeant DNA fluorescent dye. However, membrane damage was not sufficient to cause cell lysis and was dependent on bacterial cell-to-cell spread, suggesting that damage was localized to bacterium-containing filopodia. Using an in vivo competitive infection assay, we observed that the plcBΔpro mutant was outcompeted up to 200-fold by the wild-type strain in BALB/c mice. Virulence attenuation was greater when mice were infected orally than when they were infected intravenously, presumably because the plcBΔpro mutant was initially outcompeted in the intestines, reducing the number of mutant bacteria reaching the liver and spleen. Together, these results emphasize the importance for L. monocytogenes virulence of compartmentalizing the activity of PC-PLC during infection.


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.


1999 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 1770-1778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra J. Wadsworth ◽  
Howard Goldfine

ABSTRACT Listeria monocytogenes secretes several proteins that have been shown to contribute to virulence. Among these is listeriolysin O (LLO), a pore-forming hemolysin that is absolutely required for virulence. Two other virulence factors are phospholipases: a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC [plcA]) and a broad-range PLC (plcB). Although mutations in plcA or plcB resulted in small increases in mouse 50% lethal dose (LD50), deletions in both genes resulted in a 500-fold increase in LD50. We have examined the role of these secreted proteins in host intracellular signaling in the J774 macrophage-like cell line. Measurements of cytosolic free calcium ([Ca2+]i) have revealed a rapid spike upon exposure of these cells to wild-typeL. monocytogenes. This is followed by a second peak at 5 min and a third prolonged peak with a maximal [Ca2+]i of 800 to 1,000 nM. The pattern of calcium changes was greatly altered by deletion of any of the three virulence factors. An LLO mutant produced none of these elevations in [Ca2+]i; however, a transient elevation was observed whenever these bacteria entered the cell. A PI-PLC mutant produced a diminished single elevation in [Ca2+]i at 15 to 30 min. A broad-range PLC mutant produced only the first calcium spike. Studies with inhibitors suggested that the first elevation arises from influx of calcium from the extracellular medium through plasma membrane channels and that the second and third elevations come from release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores. We observed that internalization of wild-type bacteria and the broad-range PLC mutant was delayed for 5 to 10 min, but the LLO and PI-PLC mutants were internalized rapidly upon infection. Inhibitors that affected calcium signaling changed the kinetics of association of wild-type bacteria with J774 cells, the kinetics of entry, and the efficiency of escape from the primary phagosome.


2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (52) ◽  
pp. E12370-E12377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Luganini ◽  
Giovanna Di Nardo ◽  
Luca Munaron ◽  
Gianfranco Gilardi ◽  
Alessandra Fiorio Pla ◽  
...  

The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) US12 gene family comprises a set of 10 contiguous genes (US12 to US21) with emerging roles in the regulation of virus cell tropism, virion composition, and immunoevasion. Of all of the US12 gene products, pUS21 shows the highest level of identity with two cellular transmembrane BAX inhibitor motif-containing (TMBIM) proteins: Bax inhibitor-1 and Golgi anti-apoptotic protein, both of which are involved in the regulation of cellular Ca2+ homeostasis and adaptive cell responses to stress conditions. Here, we report the US21 protein to be a viral-encoded ion channel that regulates intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis and protects cells against apoptosis. Indeed, we show pUS21 to be a 7TMD protein expressed with late kinetics that accumulates in ER-derived vesicles. Deletion or inactivation of the US21 gene resulted in reduced HCMV growth, even in fibroblasts, due to reduced gene expression. Ratiometric fluorescence imaging assays revealed that expression of pUS21 reduces the Ca2+ content of intracellular ER stores. An increase in cell resistance to intrinsic apoptosis was then observed as an important cytobiological consequence of the pUS21-mediated alteration of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. Moreover, a single point mutation in the putative pore of pUS21 impaired the reduction of ER Ca2+ concentration and attenuated the antiapoptotic activity of pUS21wt, supporting a functional link with its ability to manipulate Ca2+ homeostasis. Together, these results suggest pUS21 of HCMV constitutes a TMBIM-derived viroporin that may contribute to HCMV’s overall strategy to counteract apoptosis in infected cells.


2000 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 5735-5741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Goldfine ◽  
Sandra J. Wadsworth ◽  
Norah C. Johnston

ABSTRACT Infection of the J774 murine macrophage-derived cell line withListeria monocytogenes results in several elevations of intracellular calcium during the first 15 min of infection. These appear to result from the actions of secreted bacterial proteins, including phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC), a broad-range phospholipase C, and listeriolysin O (LLO) (S. J. Wadsworth and H. Goldfine, Infect. Immun. 67:1770–1778, 1999). We have measured hydrolysis of host PI and the activation of host polyphosphoinositide-specific PLC and host phospholipase D (PLD) during infection with wild-type and mutant L. monocytogenes. Elevated hydrolysis of host PI occurred within the first 10 min of infection and was dependent on both bacterial PI-PLC and LLO, both of which were required for the earliest elevations of intracellular calcium in the host cell. A more rapid hydrolysis of host PI was observed at 30 min after infection, at the time when wild-type bacteria have been internalized. Activation of host PLC, also occurred in the first 10 min of infection but was not dependent on the presence of bacterial PI-PLC. Similar observations were made in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages. In J774 cells, activation of host PLD was observed after 20 min of infection and was dependent on bacterial LLO. Mutants in the bacterial phospholipases produced levels of PLD activation similar to those produced by the wild type. Phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) also activated host PLD, while long-term treatment with PMA resulted in loss of the ability of L. monocytogenes to activate host PLD, suggesting an involvement of protein kinase C (PKC) in the activation of PLD. Rottlerin, an inhibitor of PKC δ in J774 cells, also inhibited the activation of PLD, but hispidin, an inhibitor of PKC βI and βII, did not. Pretreatment of J774 cells with the PLD inhibitor, 2,3-diphosphoglycerate partially inhibited escape of the bacteria from the primary phagocytic vacuole.


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