Quorum-sensing activity and related virulence factor expression in clinically pathogenic isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Respiratory isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa were collected from 58 critically-ill patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia. Expression of elastase and pyocyanin was assessed semi-quantitatively, while quorum-sensing activity was assessed by quantifying the levels of the autoinducers N-3-oxododecanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C12-HSL) and N-butanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C4-HSL). Correlations were sought between quorum-sensing activity and the expression of these two virulence factors, and all results were compared to those obtained with the laboratory reference strains PA103, a strain defective in quorum-sensing, and PAO1, a functional quorum-sensing strain. More than two-thirds of clinically pathogenic isolates had increased levels of elastase and/or pyocyanin, and high quorum-sensing activity, as assessed by autoinducer levels. However, a strong correlation between quorum-sensing activity and virulence factor production was revealed only for elastase and not for pyocyanin (C12-HSL/elastase, r = 0.7, p 2 x 10(-9); C4-HSL/elastase, r = 0.7, p 2 x 10(-9)). These data suggest that the pathogenicity of P. aeruginosa isolates from critically-ill patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia is caused, at least in part, by an increase in elastase production regulated by quorum-sensing, while increased pyocyanin production in these isolates may be regulated predominantly by mechanisms other than quorum-sensing.     

Understanding how Listeria monocytogenes targets and crosses host barriers

Human listeriosis is caused by the Gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. In humans, this pathogen has the ability to cross the intestinal, placental and blood-brain barriers, leading to gastroenteritis, maternofetal infections and meningoencephalitis, respectively. The entry of L. monocytogenes into cultured human epithelial cells is mediated by the interaction of an L. monocytogenes surface protein, internalin, with its human receptor, E-cadherin. The internalin-E-cadherin interaction is species-specific, and relies on the nature of a single amino-acid in the E-cadherin molecule, which is proline in permissive species such as humans, and glutamic acid in non-permissive species such as the mouse. In a transgenic mouse model that expresses human E-cadherin in enterocytes, internalin allows L. monocytogenes to cross the intestinal barrier. Epidemiological evidence also supports a role for internalin in human listeriosis, not only for crossing the intestinal barrier, but also for targeting and crossing the placental and blood-brain barriers. Consistent with these epidemiological data, infection with L. monocytogenes of trophoblastic cell lines, primary trophoblast cultures and human placental villous explants demonstrates that bacterial invasion of the syncytiotrophoblast barrier is mediated by the internalin-E-cadherin interaction, leading to histopathological lesions that mimic those seen in the placentas of women with listeriosis. Thus, the internalin-E-cadherin interaction that plays a key role in the crossing of the intestinal barrier in humans is also exploited by L. monocytogenes to target and cross the placental barrier. Further investigations are currently focusing on the molecular mechanisms by which L. monocytogenes targets and crosses the blood-brain barrier.     

HPI毒力岛缺失的EAggEC17-2突变菌株的构建及其功能研究

目的 构建HPI毒力岛缺失的EAggEC17-2突变株，初步研究EAggEC菌株携带的耶尔森菌HPI毒力岛合成铁载体Ybt的功能。方法以EAggEC17-2为出发菌株，irp8基因部分序列作为同源重组的一侧序列，irp5基因序列作为同源重组的另一侧序列，中间插入有氯霉素（Can）抗性基因（cat基因）标记。通过接合转移和同源重组，构建了缺失约24kb的HPI毒力岛功能核心区区域EAggEC17-2的仝岛缺失株EA85。应用流式细胞技术（FACS）检测指示菌株WA-CS irp1：：KN（pC3G3．3N）荧光强度的变化情况，对EA85缺失株和出发菌株进行了合成Ybt的功能比较研究。结果成功构建了EAggEC17-2HPI全岛缺失株EA85。EAggEC17-2菌株具有表达Ybt的功能，而缺失株EA85丧失了合成Ybt的能力。结论EAggEC17-2HPI毒力岛的缺失，使Ybt的合成彻底阻断。EAggEC17-2具有的合成Ybt的功能是由其染色体携带的HPI毒力岛所决定的。