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  • A genomic island in Brucell...
    Lopez, Paula; Guaimas, Francisco; Czibener, Cecilia; Ugalde, Juan E.

    Cellular microbiology, November 2020, 2020-11-00, 20201101, Letnik: 22, Številka: 11
    Journal Article

    Adhesion to host cells is the first step in the virulence cycle of any pathogen. In Gram‐negative bacteria, adhesion is mediated, among other virulence factors such as the lipopolysaccharides, by specific outer‐membrane proteins generally termed adhesins that belong to a wide variety of families and have different evolutionary origins. In Brucella, a widespread zoonotic pathogen of animal and human health concern, adhesion is central as it may determine the intracellular fate of the bacterium, an essential stage in its pathogenesis. In the present paper, we further characterised a genomic locus that we have previously reported encodes an adhesin (BigA) with a bacterial immunoglobulin‐like domain (BIg‐like). We found that this region encodes a second adhesin, which we have named BigB; and PalA, a periplasmic protein necessary for the proper display in the outer membrane of BigA and BigB. Deletion of bigB or palA diminishes the adhesion of the bacterium and overexpression of BigB dramatically increases it. Incubation of cells with the recombinant BIg‐like domain of BigB induced important cytoskeletal rearrangements and affected the focal adhesion sites indicating that the adhesin targets cell–cell or cell–matrix proteins. We additionally show that PalA has a periplasmic localisation and is completely necessary for the proper display of BigA and BigB, probably avoiding their aggregation and facilitating their transport to the outer membrane. Our results indicate that this genomic island is entirely devoted to the adhesion of Brucella to host cells. Adhesion to host cells is a central process in the initial steps of all infectious diseases. This activity is mediated by a wide range of surface exposed molecules, generally termed adhesins, that recognize host cell receptors and trigger internalization. Brucella, a widespread zoonotic pathogen, harbors a unique pathogenicity island that codes for at least two adhesins (BigA and BigB) that target the bacterium to the cell‐cell junction membrane or the focal adhesion sites. This locus also encodes a protein (PalA) necessary for the periplasmic stabilization and proper assembly of these adhesins in the outer membrane.