In vivo imaging of trypanosomes for a better assessment of host-parasite relationships and drug efficacy.

The advances in microscopy combined to the invaluable progress carried by the utilization of molecular, immunological or immunochemical markers and the implementation of more powerful imaging technologies have yielded great improvements to the knowledge of the interaction between microorganisms and their hosts, notably a better understanding of the establishment of infectious processes. Still today, the intricacies of the dialog between parasites, cells and tissues remain limited. Some improvements have been attained with the stable integration and expression of the green fluorescence protein or firefly luciferase and other reporter genes, which have allowed to better approach the monitoring of gene expression and protein localization in vivo, in situ and in real time. Aiming at better exploring the well-established models of murine infections with the characterized strains of Trypanosoma cruzi and Trypanosoma vivax, we revisited in the present report the state of the art about the tools for the imaging of Trypanosomatids in vitro and in vivo and show the latest transgenic parasites that we have engineered in our laboratory using conventional transfection methods. The targeting of trypanosomes presented in this study is a promising tool for approaching the biology of parasite interactions with host cells, the progression of the diseases they trigger and the screening of new drugs in vivo or in vitro.

CandidaDB: a genome database for Candida albicans pathogenomics.

CandidaDB is a database dedicated to the genome of the most prevalent systemic fungal pathogen of humans, Candida albicans. CandidaDB is based on an annotation of the Stanford Genome Technology Center C.albicans genome sequence data by the European Galar Fungail Consortium. CandidaDB Release 2.0 (June 2004) contains information pertaining to Assembly 19 of the genome of C.albicans strain SC5314. The current release contains 6244 annotated entries corresponding to 130 tRNA genes and 5917 protein-coding genes. For these, it provides tentative functional assignments along with numerous pre-run analyses that can assist the researcher in the evaluation of gene function for the purpose of specific or large-scale analysis. CandidaDB is based on GenoList, a generic relational data schema and a World Wide Web interface that has been adapted to the handling of eukaryotic genomes. The interface allows users to browse easily through genome data and retrieve information. CandidaDB also provides more elaborate tools, such as pattern searching, that are tightly connected to the overall browsing system. As the C.albicans genome is diploid and still incompletely assembled, CandidaDB provides tools to browse the genome by individual supercontigs and to examine information about allelic sequences obtained from complementary contigs. CandidaDB is accessible at http://genolist.pasteur.fr/CandidaDB.

New Mos1 mariner transposons suitable for the recovery of gene fusions in vivo and in vitro.

The Drosophila Mos1 element can be mobilized in species ranging from prokaryotes to protozoans and vertebrates, and the purified transposase can be used for in vitro transposition assays. In this report we developed a 'mini-Mos1' element and describe a number of useful derivatives suitable for transposon mutagenesis in vivo or in vitro. Several of these allow the creation and/or selection of tripartite protein fusions to a green fluorescent protein-phleomycin resistance (GFP-PHLEO) reporter/selectable marker. Such X-GFP-PHLEO-X fusions have the advantage of retaining 5' and 3' regulatory information and N- and C-terminal protein targeting domains. A Mos1 derivative suitable for use in transposon-insertion mediated linker insertion (TIMLI) mutagenesis is described, and transposons bearing selectable markers suitable for use in the protozoan parasite Leishmania were made and tested. A novel 'negative selection' approach was developed which permits in vitro assays of transposons lacking bacterial selectable markers. Application of this assay to several Mos1 elements developed for use in insects suggests that the large mariner pM[cn] element used previously in vivo is poorly active in vitro, while the Mos1-Act-EGFP transposon is highly active.

A set of independent selectable markers for transfection of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

Genomic information is rapidly accumulating for the human malaria pathogen, Plasmodium falciparum. Our ability to perform genetic manipulations to understand Plasmodium gene function is limited. Dihydrofolate reductase is the only selectable marker presently available for transfection of P. falciparum. Additional markers are needed for complementation and for expression of mutated forms of essential genes. We tested parasite sensitivity to different drugs for which selectable markers are available. Two of these drugs that were very effective as antiplasmodial inhibitors in culture, blasticidin and geneticin (G418), were selected for further study. The genes BSD, encoding blasticidin S deaminase of Aspergillus terreus, and NEO, encoding neomycin phosphotransferase II from transposon Tn 5, were expressed under the histidine-rich protein III (HRPIII) gene promoter and tested for their ability to confer resistance to blasticidin or G418, respectively. After transfection, blasticidin and G418-resistant parasites tested positive for plasmid replication and BSD or NEO expression. Cross-resistance assays indicate that these markers are independent. The plasmid copy number and the enzymatic activity depended directly on the concentration of the drug used for selection. These markers set the stage for new methods of functional analysis of the P. falciparum genome.

Characterization of BpH3, an H-NS-like protein in Bordetella pertussis.

This study describes the characterization of BpH3, a Bordetella pertussis DNA-binding protein. Sequence analysis reveals significant homology with the H-NS sequence of Escherichia coli and Haemophilus influenzae, particularly in the C-terminal part of the proteins. Our results provide evidence that H-NS and BpH3 display functional homology. First, expression of BpH3 in an hns mutant results in restoration of motility, an H-NS-dependent phenotype. This effect is dependent on the level of BpH3 expression and results from transcriptional activation of the flagellar master operon. Second, the high level of beta-glucosidase associated with hns mutations is reversed to the low wild-type level in the presence of BpH3. Third, BpH3 is able, like H-NS, to preferentially bind in vitro to curved DNA fragments, such as flhDC and bla promoter regions. Our results are the first demonstration that proteins homologous to H-NS exist in bacteria phylogenetically distant from H. influenzae and enterobacteria.

The Bordetella pertussis sigma subunit of RNA polymerase confers enhanced expression of fha in Escherichia coli.

We have cloned the rpoD gene coding for the major sigma factor of Bordetella pertussis. The deduced amino acid sequence reveals a protein of 733 residues which has extensive amino acid homology with the principal sigma factors of a number of divergent prokaryotes. It is larger than most sigma factors identified to date, having a molecular mass of 81.3 kDa. We have designated this factor sigma 80. In a heterologous complementation assay, B. pertussis rpoD was able to complement the Escherichia coli rpoD temperature-sensitive mutant UQ285. Furthermore, B. pertussis rpoD conferred better specificity to the E. coli RNA polymerase, allowing increased expression of the B. pertussis virulence-associated tha promoter, but could not activate the ptx and cya promoters in the E. coli UQ285 strains carrying the B. pertussis bvg locus. We discuss the implications of these results on the mechanisms involved in the activation of virulence-associated promoters.

Identification and characterization of BpH2, a novel histone H1 homolog in Bordetella pertussis.

A basic protein, BpH2, with an apparent molecular mass of 18 kDa was purified from Bordetella pertussis, and the corresponding gene, bph2, was cloned. Sequence analysis revealed some homology to the H1 class of eukaryotic histones and to AlgP protein of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. BpH2 binds both single- and double-stranded DNA in a nonspecific manner. Deletion of the corresponding gene in B. pertussis generated a BpH2 null mutant with an altered growth rate in which the expression of two virulence factors, adenylate cyclase-hemolysin (CyaA) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FhaB), was reduced. It is suggested that BpH2 may exhibit specific regulatory functions through its interaction with chromosomal DNA.

DNA binding of the Bordetella pertussis H1 homolog alters in vitro DNA flexibility.

BpH1, the Bordetella pertussis H1 homolog, interacts with chromosomal DNA. With DNase I protection assays, we demonstrate in this study that BpH1 binds DNA in a nonspecific manner and that it may cover DNA fragments from end to end. Although the binding was shown to be nonspecific, preferential binding sites and sites resistant to BpH1 binding were identified within and upstream of the pertussis toxin promoter sequence. In the presence of DNA ligase, BpH1 favored the formation of multimeric DNA fragments of various sizes and prevented ring closures, suggesting a diminished flexibility of the DNA fragments and thus indicating that BpH1 acts as a macromolecular crowding agent.

Phosphorylated BvgA is sufficient for transcriptional activation of virulence-regulated genes in Bordetella pertussis.

In Bordetella pertussis the expression of virulence factors is coordinately regulated by the BvgS and BvgA proteins, members of the bacterial two-component signal transduction family, BvgS being the transmembrane sensor and BvgA the regulator. Activation of virulence gene expression requires phosphorylation of BvgA. On the basis of observed differences in the regulation of individual genes, the existence of accessory regulators has been postulated. They were supposed to be necessary for expression of genes encoding adenylate cyclase toxin (cya) and pertussis toxin (ptx), but not required for the expression of fha, encoding filamentous hemagglutinin. To clarify this issue we investigated the mechanism of activation of the BvgAS-controlled genes by performing in vitro run-off transcription experiments. We show, using purified RNA polymerase of B.pertussis, that phosphorylated BvgA is sufficient for transcriptional activation of the major virulence genes, thus providing good evidence that BvgA regulation operates directly with the transcription initiation machinery at the promoters of the virulence genes without a requirement for accessory activators. In addition, our results indicate that activation of the different promoters may involve distinct mechanisms. We suggest that the previously observed differences in regulation of individual virulence-associated genes reflect differences in the phosphorylation state of BvgA.

Mutations which result in constitutive expression of the Bordetella pertussis filamentous haemagglutinin gene.

The expression of the filamentous haemagglutinin (FhaB) of Bordetella pertussis is positively regulated by the bvg locus which encodes a transcriptional activator, BvgA, and a transmembrane sensor protein, BvgS. The gene encoding FhaB, fhaB alone, is not expressed in Escherichia coli, but the introduction of the bvg locus in trans can restore fhaB expression. Using fhaB::lacZY fusions, we have isolated, in E. coli, partially bvg-independent constitutive mutants. The corresponding mutations have been localized to the upstream region of the fhaB promoter at position -15, -16 and -42 from the transcription initiation site. In the absence of the bvg locus, the strength of the mutated promoters was 15 and 200 times higher than the wild-type promoter in the absence of the bvg locus. The expression of these mutated promoters was still enhanced by the presence of the bvg locus.

A novel chromatin-forming histone H1 homologue is encoded by a dispensable and growth-regulated gene in Bordetella pertussis.

We report the identification of a protein homologous to a histone H1 in Bordetella pertussis. The B. pertussis histone homologue, BpH1, varies in size in different strains from 182 to 206 amino acids. The variability of the size of the protein is due to gene variability by insertion or deletion of DNA modules. Insertion of a kanamycin cassette into the bpH1 gene generates a BpH1 null mutant with phenotypic properties and growth rate similar to those of the wild-type strain, showing that this gene is dispensable. In vitro, the BpH1 protein prevents chromosomal DNA degradation from DNase I and constrains supercoiled DNA. Transcription of the bpH1 gene is activated during exponential growth of the bacteria, whereas it is repressed during the stationary phase of growth. It is proposed that BpH1 plays a role in chromatin formation and condensation during DNA replication and that repression of transcription depends upon a reduced rate of DNA replication.

Mutations in the Bordetella pertussis bvgS gene that confer altered expression of the fhaB gene in Escherichia coli.

The bvg locus of Bordetella pertussis, required for coordinate regulation of virulence genes in response to environmental signals, encodes two proteins, BvgS and BvgA, that belong to the bacterial two-component signal transduction systems. We have isolated spontaneous mutations of the bvg locus in Escherichia coli and analyzed their effects on the expression of fhaB::lacZY transcriptional fusions. The mutations, localized in the linker and transmitter domain of BvgS, result in increased activation of fhaB and/or in insensitivity to a modulating agent, nicotinic acid.

Bordetella pertussis adenylate cyclase: a toxin with multiple talents.

The adenylate cyclase toxin of Bordetella pertussis is a secreted multifunctional protein, endowed with calmodulin-activated catalytic, haemolytic and cytotoxic activities. Residues and domains involved in different functions have been localized and several permissive sites, able to accommodate insertion of peptides without impairing the different functions of the toxin, have been identified. A 400-bp region in the promoter upstream region of the cyaA gene, encoding the toxin, has been defined as the target of transcriptional activation.

Functional analysis of the cya promoter of Bordetella pertussis.

The cyaA gene of Bordetella pertussis and of Bordetella bronchiseptica encodes a toxin which is a bifunctional protein exhibiting adenylate cyclase and haemolytic activities. In Bordetella, virulence factors are synthesized under the control of the bvg regulatory locus, in response to environmental signals. In Escherichia coli the cyaA gene is not expressed, nor is it activated by bvg indicating that the activation of cya by bvg is indirect. To characterize cis-acting regulatory regions required for the activation of the cyaA gene we constructed cyaA-lacZY fusions containing progressive deletions in the promoter upstream region and isolated promoter mutations by chemical and site-directed mutagenesis. Deletion analysis shows that a region extending from -569 to -136 bp upstream from the start site of transcription is required for transactivation by bvg, suggesting that multiple binding sites are involved in the activation of the cyaA promoter. No single or double mutations in the promoter upstream region were found which conferred inactive or bvg-independent Cya phenotype. A double mutation in positions +10 and +13, relative to the transcription start site, rendered the promoter bvg-independent and functional in E. coli. The constitutive mutations create a new transcription start site, 20 bp downstream from the wild-type site, by providing new -10 and -35 elements recognized by RNA polymerase alone.

An Escherichia coli insertion element (IS2) provides a functional promoter in Bordetella pertussis.

The adenylate cyclase (cyaA) gene of Bordetella pertussis is not expressed in Escherichia coli. Using cya-lac fusions, high-expression spontaneous mutants were isolated and shown to have the insertion element IS2 in orientation II integrated into the reading frame of cyaA. Upon transfer of the IS2-activated cya-lac fusion into B. pertussis, we found that the IS2-provided promoter is as efficient in B. pertussis as it is in E. coli. These results provide evidence that an insertion element derived from the E. coli chromosome can activate gene expression in B. pertussis, a taxonomically distant organism.

Analysis of Bordetella pertussis cya operon regulation by use of cya-lac fusions.

In Bordetella pertussis virulence-associated genes, including adenylate cyclase toxin (Cya), are coordinately regulated in response to environmental signals by proteins coded by the bvg-locus. We have constructed cya-lac fusions in Escherichia coli and have shown that the cya operon is not expressed in E. coli, neither is it activated by bvg, when introduced in trans. The cya-lac fusion is fully active when returned to B. pertussis by homologous recombination and responds to bvg-dependent activation and environmental regulation. These results indicate that in B. pertussis the activation of the cya operon by bvg is indirect.

Identification of a common domain in calmodulin-activated eukaryotic and bacterial adenylate cyclases.

Bordetella pertussis and Bacillus anthracis, two taxonomically distinct bacteria, secrete adenylate cyclase toxins that are activated by the eukaryotic protein calmodulin. The two enzymes contain a well-conserved stretch of 24 amino acid residues [Escuyer et al. (1988) Gene 71, 293-298]. Antibodies have been obtained against two synthetic heptadecapeptides, covering part of the conserved sequences. The anti-peptide antibodies specifically reacted in Western blots with the rat brain adenylate cyclase as well as with the two bacterial enzymes. Anti-rat brain adenylate cyclase serum contained antibodies that were retained by the immobilized peptides, and the affinity-purified antibodies yielded the same recognition pattern of the eukaryotic enzyme as did the unfractionated serum. These results indicate that the eukaryotic adenylate cyclase contains an epitope closely related to that specified by the conserved bacterial sequence. The synthetic peptides and the bacterial adenylate cyclases appeared to compete for ATP (KD of the ATP-peptide complex ca. 0.2 mM), suggesting that the conserved sequence may be part of the substrate binding site in these two enzymes.