Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.

Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of the severe tropical disease melioidosis, which commonly presents as sepsis. The B. pseudomallei K96243 genome encodes eleven predicted autotransporters, a diverse family of secreted and outer membrane proteins often associated with virulence. In a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Natalie R Lazar Adler, Mark P Stevens, Rachel E Dean, Richard J Saint, Depesh Pankhania, Joann L Prior, Timothy P Atkins, Bianca Kessler, Arnone Nithichanon, Ganjana Lertmemongkolchai, Edouard E Galyov
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121271
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849726692078125056
author Natalie R Lazar Adler
Mark P Stevens
Rachel E Dean
Richard J Saint
Depesh Pankhania
Joann L Prior
Timothy P Atkins
Bianca Kessler
Arnone Nithichanon
Ganjana Lertmemongkolchai
Edouard E Galyov
author_facet Natalie R Lazar Adler
Mark P Stevens
Rachel E Dean
Richard J Saint
Depesh Pankhania
Joann L Prior
Timothy P Atkins
Bianca Kessler
Arnone Nithichanon
Ganjana Lertmemongkolchai
Edouard E Galyov
author_sort Natalie R Lazar Adler
collection DOAJ
description Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of the severe tropical disease melioidosis, which commonly presents as sepsis. The B. pseudomallei K96243 genome encodes eleven predicted autotransporters, a diverse family of secreted and outer membrane proteins often associated with virulence. In a systematic study of these autotransporters, we constructed insertion mutants in each gene predicted to encode an autotransporter and assessed them for three pathogenesis-associated phenotypes: virulence in the BALB/c intra-peritoneal mouse melioidosis model, net intracellular replication in J774.2 murine macrophage-like cells and survival in 45% (v/v) normal human serum. From the complete repertoire of eleven autotransporter mutants, we identified eight mutants which exhibited an increase in median lethal dose of 1 to 2-log10 compared to the isogenic parent strain (bcaA, boaA, boaB, bpaA, bpaC, bpaE, bpaF and bimA). Four mutants, all demonstrating attenuation for virulence, exhibited reduced net intracellular replication in J774.2 macrophage-like cells (bimA, boaB, bpaC and bpaE). A single mutant (bpaC) was identified that exhibited significantly reduced serum survival compared to wild-type. The bpaC mutant, which demonstrated attenuation for virulence and net intracellular replication, was sensitive to complement-mediated killing via the classical and/or lectin pathway. Serum resistance was rescued by in trans complementation. Subsequently, we expressed recombinant proteins of the passenger domain of four predicted autotransporters representing each of the phenotypic groups identified: those attenuated for virulence (BcaA), those attenuated for virulence and net intracellular replication (BpaE), the BpaC mutant with defects in virulence, net intracellular replication and serum resistance and those displaying wild-type phenotypes (BatA). Only BcaA and BpaE elicited a strong IFN-γ response in a restimulation assay using whole blood from seropositive donors and were recognised by seropositive human sera from the endemic area. To conclude, several predicted autotransporters contribute to B. pseudomallei virulence and BpaC may do so by conferring resistance against complement-mediated killing.
format Article
id doaj-art-91804450bb5c4f8d8ff972a17b41c5e0
institution DOAJ
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2015-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-91804450bb5c4f8d8ff972a17b41c5e02025-08-20T03:10:06ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01104e012127110.1371/journal.pone.0121271Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.Natalie R Lazar AdlerMark P StevensRachel E DeanRichard J SaintDepesh PankhaniaJoann L PriorTimothy P AtkinsBianca KesslerArnone NithichanonGanjana LertmemongkolchaiEdouard E GalyovBurkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of the severe tropical disease melioidosis, which commonly presents as sepsis. The B. pseudomallei K96243 genome encodes eleven predicted autotransporters, a diverse family of secreted and outer membrane proteins often associated with virulence. In a systematic study of these autotransporters, we constructed insertion mutants in each gene predicted to encode an autotransporter and assessed them for three pathogenesis-associated phenotypes: virulence in the BALB/c intra-peritoneal mouse melioidosis model, net intracellular replication in J774.2 murine macrophage-like cells and survival in 45% (v/v) normal human serum. From the complete repertoire of eleven autotransporter mutants, we identified eight mutants which exhibited an increase in median lethal dose of 1 to 2-log10 compared to the isogenic parent strain (bcaA, boaA, boaB, bpaA, bpaC, bpaE, bpaF and bimA). Four mutants, all demonstrating attenuation for virulence, exhibited reduced net intracellular replication in J774.2 macrophage-like cells (bimA, boaB, bpaC and bpaE). A single mutant (bpaC) was identified that exhibited significantly reduced serum survival compared to wild-type. The bpaC mutant, which demonstrated attenuation for virulence and net intracellular replication, was sensitive to complement-mediated killing via the classical and/or lectin pathway. Serum resistance was rescued by in trans complementation. Subsequently, we expressed recombinant proteins of the passenger domain of four predicted autotransporters representing each of the phenotypic groups identified: those attenuated for virulence (BcaA), those attenuated for virulence and net intracellular replication (BpaE), the BpaC mutant with defects in virulence, net intracellular replication and serum resistance and those displaying wild-type phenotypes (BatA). Only BcaA and BpaE elicited a strong IFN-γ response in a restimulation assay using whole blood from seropositive donors and were recognised by seropositive human sera from the endemic area. To conclude, several predicted autotransporters contribute to B. pseudomallei virulence and BpaC may do so by conferring resistance against complement-mediated killing.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121271
spellingShingle Natalie R Lazar Adler
Mark P Stevens
Rachel E Dean
Richard J Saint
Depesh Pankhania
Joann L Prior
Timothy P Atkins
Bianca Kessler
Arnone Nithichanon
Ganjana Lertmemongkolchai
Edouard E Galyov
Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.
PLoS ONE
title Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.
title_full Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.
title_fullStr Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.
title_full_unstemmed Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.
title_short Systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of Burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice, net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance.
title_sort systematic mutagenesis of genes encoding predicted autotransported proteins of burkholderia pseudomallei identifies factors mediating virulence in mice net intracellular replication and a novel protein conferring serum resistance
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0121271
work_keys_str_mv AT natalierlazaradler systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT markpstevens systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT racheledean systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT richardjsaint systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT depeshpankhania systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT joannlprior systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT timothypatkins systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT biancakessler systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT arnonenithichanon systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT ganjanalertmemongkolchai systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance
AT edouardegalyov systematicmutagenesisofgenesencodingpredictedautotransportedproteinsofburkholderiapseudomalleiidentifiesfactorsmediatingvirulenceinmicenetintracellularreplicationandanovelproteinconferringserumresistance