• Expression of the MexXY aminoglycoside efflux pump and presence of an aminoglycoside modifying enzyme in clinical isolates are highly correlated.

      Seupt, Alexander; Schniederjans, Monika; Tomasch, Jürgen; Häussler, Susanne; HZI,Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH, Inhoffenstr. 7,38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (ASM, 2020-10-12)
      The impact of MexXY efflux pump expression on aminoglycoside resistance in clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates has been debated. In this study, we found that in general, elevated mexXY gene expression levels in clinical P. aeruginosa isolates confer to slight increases in aminoglycoside MIC levels, however those levels rarely lead to clinically relevant resistance phenotypes. The main driver of resistance in the clinical isolates studied here was the acquisition of aminoglycoside modifying enzymes (AMEs). Nevertheless, acquisition of an AME was strongly associated with mexY overexpression. In line with this observation, we demonstrate that the introduction of a gentamicin acetyl-transferase confers to full gentamicin resistance levels in a P. aeruginosa type strain only if the MexXY efflux pump was active. We discuss that increased mexXY activity in clinical AME harboring P. aeruginosa isolates might affect ion fluxes at the bacterial cell membrane and thus might play a role in the establishment of enhanced fitness that extends beyond aminoglycoside resistance.
    • Regulation of Flagellum Biosynthesis in Response to Cell Envelope Stress in Serovar Typhimurium.

      Spöring, Imke; Felgner, Sebastian; Preuße, Matthias; Eckweiler, Denitsa; Rohde, M; Häussler, Susanne; Weiss, Siegfried; Erhardt, Marc (2018-05-01)
      Flagellum-driven motility of serovar Typhimurium facilitates host colonization. However, the large extracellular flagellum is also a prime target for the immune system. As consequence, expression of flagella is bistable within a population of , resulting in flagellated and nonflagellated subpopulations. This allows the bacteria to maximize fitness in hostile environments. The degenerate EAL domain protein RflP (formerly YdiV) is responsible for the bistable expression of flagella by directing the flagellar master regulatory complex FlhDC with respect to proteolytic degradation. Information concerning the environmental cues controlling expression of and thus about the bistable flagellar biosynthesis remains ambiguous. Here, we demonstrated that RflP responds to cell envelope stress and alterations of outer membrane integrity. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) truncation mutants of Typhimurium exhibited increasing motility defects due to downregulation of flagellar gene expression. Transposon mutagenesis and genetic profiling revealed that σ (RpoE) and Rcs phosphorelay-dependent cell envelope stress response systems sense modifications of the lipopolysaccaride, low pH, and activity of the complement system. This subsequently results in activation of RflP expression and degradation of FlhDC via ClpXP. We speculate that the presence of diverse hostile environments inside the host might result in cell envelope damage and would thus trigger the repression of resource-costly and immunogenic flagellum biosynthesis via activation of the cell envelope stress response. Pathogenic bacteria such as Typhimurium sense and adapt to a multitude of changing and stressful environments during host infection. At the initial stage of gastrointestinal colonization, uses flagellum-mediated motility to reach preferred sites of infection. However, the flagellum also constitutes a prime target for the host's immune response. Accordingly, the pathogen needs to determine the spatiotemporal stage of infection and control flagellar biosynthesis in a robust manner. We found that uses signals from cell envelope stress-sensing systems to turn off production of flagella. We speculate that downregulation of flagellum synthesis after cell envelope damage in hostile environments aids survival of during late stages of infection and provides a means to escape recognition by the immune system.
    • Optimizing Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium for bacteria-mediated tumor therapy.

      Felgner, Sebastian; Kocijancic, Dino; Frahm, Michael; Curtiss, Roy; Erhardt, Marc; Weiss, Siegfried; Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2016)
      Bacteria-mediated tumor therapy using Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is a therapeutic option with great potential. Numerous studies explored the potential of Salmonella Typhimurium for therapeutic applications, however reconciling safety with vectorial efficacy remains a major issue. Recently we have described a conditionally attenuated Salmonella vector that is based on genetic lipopolysaccharide modification. This vector combines strong attenuation with appropriate anti-tumor properties by targeting various cancerous tissues in vivo. Therefore, it was promoted as an anti-tumor agent. In this addendum, we summarize these findings and demonstrate additional optimization steps that may further improve the therapeutic efficacy of our vector strain.
    • A brewing understanding of the regulation of Bax function by Bcl-xL and Bcl-2.

      Renault, Thibaud T; Dejean, Laurent M; Manon, Stéphen; Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH. Inhoffenstr.7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2017-01)
      Bcl-2 family members form a network of protein-protein interactions that regulate apoptosis through permeabilization of the mitochondrial outer membrane. Deciphering this intricate network requires streamlined experimental models, including the heterologous expression in yeast. This approach had previously enabled researchers to identify domains and residues that underlie the conformational changes driving the translocation, the insertion and the oligomerization of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax at the level of the mitochondrial outer membrane. Recent studies that combine experiments in yeast and in mammalian cells have shown the unexpected effect of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-xL on the priming of Bax. As demonstrated with the BH3-mimetic molecule ABT-737, this property of Bcl-xL, and of Bcl-2, is crucial to elaborate about how apoptosis could be reactivated in tumoral cells.
    • Engineered Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium overcomes limitations of anti-bacterial immunity in bacteria-mediated tumor therapy

      Felgner, Sebastian; Kocijancic, Dino; Frahm, Michael; Heise, Ulrike; Rohde, Manfred; Zimmermann, Kurt; Falk, Christine; Erhardt, Marc; Weiss, Siegfried; Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH, Inhoffenstr.7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.; et al. (2017-09-29)
    • YopN and TyeA Hydrophobic Contacts Required for Regulating Ysc-Yop Type III Secretion Activity by Yersinia pseudotuberculosis.

      Amer, Ayad A A; Gurung, Jyoti M; Costa, Tiago R D; Ruuth, Kristina; Zavialov, Anton V; Forsberg, Åke; Francis, Matthew S; Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung GmbH, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2016)
      Yersinia bacteria target Yop effector toxins to the interior of host immune cells by the Ysc-Yop type III secretion system. A YopN-TyeA heterodimer is central to controlling Ysc-Yop targeting activity. A + 1 frameshift event in the 3-prime end of yopN can also produce a singular secreted YopN-TyeA polypeptide that retains some regulatory function even though the C-terminal coding sequence of this YopN differs greatly from wild type. Thus, this YopN C-terminal segment was analyzed for its role in type III secretion control. Bacteria producing YopN truncated after residue 278, or with altered sequence between residues 279 and 287, had lost type III secretion control and function. In contrast, YopN variants with manipulated sequence beyond residue 287 maintained full control and function. Scrutiny of the YopN-TyeA complex structure revealed that residue W279 functioned as a likely hydrophobic contact site with TyeA. Indeed, a YopN W279G mutant lost all ability to bind TyeA. The TyeA residue F8 was also critical for reciprocal YopN binding. Thus, we conclude that specific hydrophobic contacts between opposing YopN and TyeA termini establishes a complex needed for regulating Ysc-Yop activity.
    • Tumour-targeting bacteria-based cancer therapies for increased specificity and improved outcome.

      Felgner, Sebastian; Pawar, Vinay; Kocijancic, Dino; Erhardt, Marc; Weiss, Siegfried; Helmholtz Centre for infection research, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2017-08-03)
    • A flagellum-specific chaperone facilitates assembly of the core type III export apparatus of the bacterial flagellum.

      Fabiani, Florian D; Renault, Thibaud T; Peters, Britta; Dietsche, Tobias; Gálvez, Eric J C; Guse, Alina; Freier, Karen; Charpentier, Emmanuelle; Strowig, Till; Franz-Wachtel, Mirita; et al. (2017-08)
      Many bacteria move using a complex, self-assembling nanomachine, the bacterial flagellum. Biosynthesis of the flagellum depends on a flagellar-specific type III secretion system (T3SS), a protein export machine homologous to the export machinery of the virulence-associated injectisome. Six cytoplasmic (FliH/I/J/G/M/N) and seven integral-membrane proteins (FlhA/B FliF/O/P/Q/R) form the flagellar basal body and are involved in the transport of flagellar building blocks across the inner membrane in a proton motive force-dependent manner. However, how the large, multi-component transmembrane export gate complex assembles in a coordinated manner remains enigmatic. Specific for most flagellar T3SSs is the presence of FliO, a small bitopic membrane protein with a large cytoplasmic domain. The function of FliO is unknown, but homologs of FliO are found in >80% of all flagellated bacteria. Here, we demonstrate that FliO protects FliP from proteolytic degradation and promotes the formation of a stable FliP-FliR complex required for the assembly of a functional core export apparatus. We further reveal the subcellular localization of FliO by super-resolution microscopy and show that FliO is not part of the assembled flagellar basal body. In summary, our results suggest that FliO functions as a novel, flagellar T3SS-specific chaperone, which facilitates quality control and productive assembly of the core T3SS export machinery.
    • Bacterial flagella grow through an injection-diffusion mechanism.

      Renault, Thibaud T; Abraham, Anthony O; Bergmiller, Tobias; Paradis, Guillaume; Rainville, Simon; Charpentier, Emmanuelle; Guet, Călin C; Tu, Yuhai; Namba, Keiichi; Keener, James P; et al. (2017-03-06)
      The bacterial flagellum is a self-assembling nanomachine. The external flagellar filament, several times longer than a bacterial cell body, is made of a few tens of thousands subunits of a single protein: flagellin. A fundamental problem concerns the molecular mechanism of how the flagellum grows outside the cell, where no discernible energy source is available. Here, we monitored the dynamic assembly of individual flagella using in situ labelling and real-time immunostaining of elongating flagellar filaments. We report that the rate of flagellum growth, initially ∼1,700 amino acids per second, decreases with length and that the previously proposed chain mechanism does not contribute to the filament elongation dynamics. Inhibition of the proton motive force-dependent export apparatus revealed a major contribution of substrate injection in driving filament elongation. The combination of experimental and mathematical evidence demonstrates that a simple, injection-diffusion mechanism controls bacterial flagella growth outside the cell.
    • Microbiota Normalization Reveals that Canonical Caspase-1 Activation Exacerbates Chemically Induced Intestinal Inflammation.

      Błażejewski, Adrian J; Thiemann, Sophie; Schenk, Alexander; Pils, Marina C; Gálvez, Eric J C; Roy, Urmi; Heise, Ulrike; de Zoete, Marcel R; Flavell, Richard A; Strowig, Till; et al. (2017-06-13)
      Inflammasomes play a central role in regulating intestinal barrier function and immunity during steady state and disease. Because the discoveries of a passenger mutation and a colitogenic microbiota in the widely used caspase-1-deficient mouse strain have cast doubt on previously identified direct functions of caspase-1, we reassessed the role of caspase-1 in the intestine. To this end, we generated Casp1(-/-) and Casp11(-/-) mice and rederived them into an enhanced barrier facility to standardize the microbiota. We found that caspase-11 does not influence caspase-1-dependent processing of IL-18 in homeostasis and during DSS colitis. Deficiency of caspase-1, but not caspase-11, ameliorated the severity of DSS colitis independent of microbiota composition. Ablation of caspase-1 in intestinal epithelial cells was sufficient to protect mice against DSS colitis. Moreover, Casp1(-/-) mice developed fewer inflammation-induced intestinal tumors than control mice. These data show that canonical inflammasome activation controls caspase-1 activity, contributing to exacerbation of chemical-induced colitis.
    • Variability in bacterial flagella re-growth patterns after breakage.

      Paradis, Guillaume; Chevance, Fabienne F V; Liou, Willisa; Renault, Thibaud T; Hughes, Kelly T; Rainville, Simon; Erhardt, Marc; Helmholtz Centre for infection research, Inhoffenstr.7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2017-04-28)
      Many bacteria swim through liquids or crawl on surfaces by rotating long appendages called flagella. Flagellar filaments are assembled from thousands of subunits that are exported through a narrow secretion channel and polymerize beneath a capping scaffold at the tip of the growing filament. The assembly of a flagellum uses a significant proportion of the biosynthetic capacities of the cell with each filament constituting ~1% of the total cell protein. Here, we addressed a significant question whether a flagellar filament can form a new cap and resume growth after breakage. Re-growth of broken filaments was visualized using sequential 3-color fluorescent labeling of filaments after mechanical shearing. Differential electron microscopy revealed the formation of new cap structures on broken filaments that re-grew. Flagellar filaments are therefore able to re-grow if broken by mechanical shearing forces, which are expected to occur frequently in nature. In contrast, no re-growth was observed on filaments that had been broken using ultrashort laser pulses, a technique allowing for very local damage to individual filaments. We thus conclude that assembly of a new cap at the tip of a broken filament depends on how the filament was broken.
    • Strategies to Block Bacterial Pathogenesis by Interference with Motility and Chemotaxis.

      Erhardt, Marc; Helmholtz Centre for infection research, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2016)
      Infections by motile, pathogenic bacteria, such as Campylobacter species, Clostridium species, Escherichia coli, Helicobacter pylori, Listeria monocytogenes, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella species, Vibrio cholerae, and Yersinia species, represent a severe economic and health problem worldwide. Of special importance in this context is the increasing emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Due to the shortage of effective antibiotics for the treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant, pathogenic bacteria, the targeting of novel, virulence-relevant factors constitutes a promising, alternative approach. Bacteria have evolved distinct motility structures for movement across surfaces and in aqueous environments. In this review, I will focus on the bacterial flagellum, the associated chemosensory system, and the type-IV pilus as motility devices, which are crucial for bacterial pathogens to reach a preferred site of infection, facilitate biofilm formation, and adhere to surfaces or host cells. Thus, those nanomachines constitute potential targets for the development of novel anti-infectives that are urgently needed at a time of spreading antibiotic resistance. Both bacterial flagella and type-IV pili (T4P) are intricate macromolecular complexes made of dozens of different proteins and their motility function relies on the correct spatial and temporal assembly of various substructures. Specific type-III and type-IV secretion systems power the export of substrate proteins of the bacterial flagellum and type-IV pilus, respectively, and are homologous to virulence-associated type-III and type-II secretion systems. Accordingly, bacterial flagella and T4P represent attractive targets for novel antivirulence drugs interfering with synthesis, assembly, and function of these motility structures.
    • RflM mediates target specificity of the RcsCDB phosphorelay system for transcriptional repression of flagellar synthesis in Salmonella enterica.

      Kühne, Caroline; Singer, Hanna M; Grabisch, Eva; Codutti, Luca; Carlomagno, Teresa; Scrima, Andrea; Erhardt, Marc; Helmholtz Centre for infection research, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124 Braunschweig. (2016-09)
      The bacterial flagellum enables directed movement of Salmonella enterica towards favorable conditions in liquid environments. Regulation of flagellar synthesis is tightly controlled by various environmental signals at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. The flagellar master regulator FlhD4 C2 resides on top of the flagellar transcriptional hierarchy and is under autogenous control by FlhD4 C2 -dependent activation of the repressor rflM. The inhibitory activity of RflM depends on the presence of RcsB, the response regulator of the RcsCDB phosphorelay system. In this study, we elucidated the molecular mechanism of RflM-dependent repression of flhDC. We show that RcsB and RflM form a heterodimer that coordinately represses flhDC transcription independent of RcsB phosphorylation. RcsB-RflM complex binds to a RcsB box downstream the P1 transcriptional start site of the flhDC promoter with increased affinity compared to RcsB in the absence of RflM. We propose that RflM stabilizes binding of unphosphorylated RcsB to the flhDC promoter in absence of environmental cues. Thus, RflM is a novel auxiliary regulatory protein that mediates target specificity of RcsB for flhDC repression. The cooperative action of the RcsB-RflM repressor complex allows Salmonella to fine-tune initiation of flagellar gene expression and adds another level to the complex regulation of flagellar synthesis.
    • Single molecule super-resolution imaging of proteins in living Salmonella enterica using self-labelling enzymes.

      Barlag, Britta; Beutel, Oliver; Janning, Dennis; Czarniak, Frederik; Richter, Christian P; Kommnick, Carina; Göser, Vera; Kurre, Rainer; Fabiani, Florian; Erhardt, Marc; et al. (2016)
      The investigation of the subcellular localization, dynamics and interaction of proteins and protein complexes in prokaryotes is complicated by the small size of the cells. Super-resolution microscopy (SRM) comprise various new techniques that allow light microscopy with a resolution that can be up to ten-fold higher than conventional light microscopy. Application of SRM techniques to living prokaryotes demands the introduction of suitable fluorescent probes, usually by fusion of proteins of interest to fluorescent proteins with properties compatible to SRM. Here we describe an approach that is based on the genetically encoded self-labelling enzymes HaloTag and SNAP-tag. Proteins of interest are fused to HaloTag or SNAP-tag and cell permeable substrates can be labelled with various SRM-compatible fluorochromes. Fusions of the enzyme tags to subunits of a type I secretion system (T1SS), a T3SS, the flagellar rotor and a transcription factor were generated and analysed in living Salmonella enterica. The new approach is versatile in tagging proteins of interest in bacterial cells and allows to determine the number, relative subcellular localization and dynamics of protein complexes in living cells.
    • Characterization of Novel Factors Involved in Swimming and Swarming Motility in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium.

      Deditius, Julia Andrea; Felgner, Sebastian; Spöring, Imke; Kühne, Caroline; Frahm, Michael; Rohde, Manfred; Weiß, Siegfried; Erhardt, Marc; Helmholtz Centre for infection research, Inhoffenstr. 7, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2015)
      Salmonella enterica utilizes flagellar motility to swim through liquid environments and on surfaces. The biosynthesis of the flagellum is regulated on various levels, including transcriptional and posttranscriptional mechanisms. Here, we investigated the motility phenotype of 24 selected single gene deletions that were previously described to display swimming and swarming motility effects. Mutations in flgE, fliH, ydiV, rfaG, yjcC, STM1267 and STM3363 showed an altered motility phenotype. Deletions of flgE and fliH displayed a non-motile phenotype in both swimming and swarming motility assays as expected. The deletions of STM1267, STM3363, ydiV, rfaG and yjcC were further analyzed in detail for flagellar and fimbrial gene expression and filament formation. A ΔydiV mutant showed increased swimming motility, but a decrease in swarming motility, which coincided with derepression of curli fimbriae. A deletion of yjcC, encoding for an EAL domain-containing protein, increased swimming motility independent on flagellar gene expression. A ΔSTM1267 mutant displayed a hypermotile phenotype on swarm agar plates and was found to have increased numbers of flagella. In contrast, a knockout of STM3363 did also display an increase in swarming motility, but did not alter flagella numbers. Finally, a deletion of the LPS biosynthesis-related protein RfaG reduced swimming and swarming motility, associated with a decrease in transcription from flagellar class II and class III promoters and a lack of flagellar filaments.
    • Comparative analysis of the secretion capability of early and late flagellar type III secretion substrates.

      Singer, Hanna M; Erhardt, Marc; Hughes, Kelly T; Helmholtz Centre for ifection research, Innhoffenstr. 7, D38124 Braunschweig, Germany. (2014-08)
      A remarkable feature of the flagellar-specific type III secretion system (T3SS) is the selective recognition of a few substrate proteins among the many thousand cytoplasmic proteins. Secretion substrates are divided into two specificity classes: early substrates secreted for hook-basal body (HBB) construction and late substrates secreted after HBB completion. Secretion was reported to require a disordered N-terminal secretion signal, mRNA secretion signals within the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) and for late substrates, piloting proteins known as the T3S chaperones. Here, we utilized translational β-lactamase fusions to probe the secretion efficacy of the N-terminal secretion signal of fourteen secreted flagellar substrates in Salmonella enterica. We observed a surprising variety in secretion capability between flagellar proteins of the same secretory class. The peptide secretion signals of the early-type substrates FlgD, FlgF, FlgE and the late-type substrate FlgL were analysed in detail. Analysing the role of the 5'-UTR in secretion of flgB and flgE revealed that the native 5'-UTR substantially enhanced protein translation and secretion. Based on our data, we propose a multicomponent signal that drives secretion via the flagellar T3SS. Both mRNA and peptide signals are recognized by the export apparatus and together with substrate-specific chaperones allowing for targeted secretion of flagellar substrates.
    • ATPase-Independent Type-III Protein Secretion in Salmonella enterica.

      Erhardt, Marc; Mertens, Max E; Fabiani, Florian D; Hughes, Kelly T (2014-11)
      Type-III protein secretion systems are utilized by gram-negative pathogens to secrete building blocks of the bacterial flagellum, virulence effectors from the cytoplasm into host cells, and structural subunits of the needle complex. The flagellar type-III secretion apparatus utilizes both the energy of the proton motive force and ATP hydrolysis to energize substrate unfolding and translocation. We report formation of functional flagella in the absence of type-III ATPase activity by mutations that increased the proton motive force and flagellar substrate levels. We additionally show that increased proton motive force bypassed the requirement of the Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 virulence-associated type-III ATPase for secretion. Our data support a role for type-III ATPases in enhancing secretion efficiency under limited secretion substrate concentrations and reveal the dispensability of ATPase activity in the type-III protein export process.