Cellular Microbiology

The pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus neoformans must overcome iron limitation to cause disease in mammalian hosts. Previously, we reported a screen for insertion mutants with poor growth on haem as the sole iron source. In this study, we characterised one such mutant and found that the defective gene encoded a Vam6/Vps39/TRAP1 domain-containing protein required for robust growth on haem, an important iron source in host tissue. We designated this protein Vps3 based on reciprocal best matches with the corresponding protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major health threat causing 880,000 deaths each year. Available therapies control viral replication but do not cure HBV, leaving patients at risk to develop hepatocellular carcinoma. Here, we show that HBV envelope proteins (HBs)-besides their integration into endosomal membranes-become embedded in the plasma membrane where they can be targeted by redirected T-cells. HBs was detected on the surface of HBV-infected cells, in livers of mice replicating HBV and in HBV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma...

Based on epidemiology studies, Chlamydia trachomatis has been proposed as a co-factor for human papillomavirus (HPV) in the development of cervical cancer. These two intracellular pathogens have been independently reported to induce the production of extra centrosomes, or centrosome amplification, which is a hallmark of cancer cells. We developed a cell culture model to systematically measure the individual and combined effects of Chlamydia and HPV on the centrosome in the same host cell. We found that C. trachomatis caused centrosome amplification in a greater proportion of cells than HPV and that the effects of the two pathogens on the centrosome were additive...

Previously, we found that Ureaplasma parvum internalised into HeLa cells and cytosolic accumulation of galectin-3. U. parvum induced the host cellular membrane damage and survived there. Here, we conducted vesicular trafficking inhibitory screening in yeast to identify U. parvum vacuolating factor (UpVF). U. parvum triggered endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and upregulated the unfolded protein response-related factors, including BiP, P-eIF2 and IRE1 in the host cells, but it blocked the induction of the downstream apoptotic factors...

Lipid microdomains or lipid rafts are dynamic and tightly ordered regions of the plasma membrane. In mammalian cells, they are enriched in cholesterol, glycosphingolipids, Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored and signalling-related proteins. Several studies have suggested that mammalian pattern recognition receptors are concentrated or recruited to lipid domains during host-pathogen association to enhance the effectiveness of host effector processes. However, pathogens have also evolved strategies to exploit these domains to invade cells and survive...

Rickettsia conorii is a Gram-negative, cytosolic intracellular bacterium that has classically been investigated in terms of endothelial cell infection. However, R. conorii and other human pathogenic Rickettsia species have evolved mechanisms to grow in various cell types, including macrophages, during mammalian infection. During infection of these phagocytes, R. conorii shifts the host cell's overall metabolism towards an anti-inflammatory M2 response, metabolically defined by an increase in host lipid metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation...

Porphyromonas gingivalis is a major pathogen of human periodontitis and dysregulates innate immunity at the gingival epithelial surface. We previously reported that the bacterium specifically degrades junctional adhesion molecule 1 (JAM1), causing gingival epithelial barrier breakdown. However, the functions of other JAM family protein(s) in epithelial barrier dysregulation caused by P. gingivalis are not fully understood. The present results show that gingipains, Arg-specific or Lys-specific cysteine proteases produced by P...

Proteases are powerful enzymes, which cleave peptide bonds, leading most of the time to irreversible fragmentation or degradation of their substrates. Therefore they control many critical cell fate decisions in eukaryotes. Bacterial pathogens exploit this power and deliver protease effectors through specialised secretion systems into host cells. Research over the past years revealed that the functions of protease effectors during infection are diverse, reflecting the lifestyles and adaptations to specific hosts; however, only a small number of peptidase families seem to have given rise to most of these protease virulence factors by the evolution of different substrate-binding specificities, intracellular activation and subcellular targeting mechanisms...

Canid herpesvirus 1 (CHV-1) is a Varicellovirus that causes self-limiting infections in adult dogs but morbidity and mortality in puppies. Using a multipronged approach, we discovered the CHV-1 entry pathway into Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells. We found that CHV-1 triggered extensive host cell membrane lamellipodial ruffling and rapid internalization of virions in large, uncoated vacuoles, suggestive of macropinocytosis. Treatment with inhibitors targeting key macropinocytosis factors, including inhibitors of Na+ /H+ exchangers, F-actin, myosin light-chain kinase, protein kinase C, p21-activated kinase, phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase, and focal adhesion kinase, significantly reduced viral replication...

Zinc-dependent viral proteins rely on intracellular zinc homeostasis for successful completion of infectious life-cycle. Here, we report that the intracellular labile zinc levels were elevated at early stages of dengue virus (DENV) infection in hepatic cells and this increase in free zinc was abolished in cells infected with UV-inactivated virus or with a DENV replication inhibitor implicating a role for zinc homeostasis in viral RNA replication. This change in free zinc was mediated by zinc transporter, ZIP8, as siRNA-mediated knockdown of ZIP8 resulted in abrogation of increase in free zinc levels leading to significant reduction in DENV titers suggesting a crucial role for ZIP8 in early stages of DENV replication...

The human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans is a frequent cause of mucosal infections. Although the ability to transition from the yeast to the hypha morphology is essential for virulence, hypha formation and host cell invasion per se are not sufficient for the induction of epithelial damage. Rather, the hypha-associated peptide toxin, candidalysin, a product of the Ece1 polyprotein, is the critical damaging factor. While synthetic, exogenously added candidalysin is sufficient to damage epithelial cells, the level of damage does not reach the same level as invading C...

In this study, we provide evidence that galectin-3 (Gal-3) plays an important role in Brucella abortus infection. Our results showed increased Gal-3 expression and secretion in B. abortus infected macrophages and mice. Additionally, our findings indicate that Gal-3 is dispensable for Brucella-containing vacuoles disruption, inflammasome activation and pyroptosis. On the other hand, we observed that Brucella-induced Gal-3 expression is crucial for induction of molecules associated to type I IFN signalling pathway, such as IFN-β: Interferon beta (IFN-β), C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) and guanylate-binding proteins...

Syncollin is a 16-kDa protein found predominantly in the zymogen granules of pancreatic acinar cells, with expression at lower levels in intestinal epithelial cells and neutrophils. Here, we used Strep-tagged syncollin isolated from the supernatant of transiently transfected mammalian cells to test the hypothesis that syncollin has antibacterial properties, which might enable it to play a role in host defence in the gut and possibly elsewhere. We show that syncollin is an exceptionally thermostable protein with a circular dichroism spectrum consistent with a predominantly beta-sheet structure...

Candida albicans is a common opportunistic fungal pathogen that causes a wide range of infections from superficial mucosal to hematogenously disseminated candidiasis. The hyphal form plays an important role in the pathogenic process by invading epithelial cells and causing tissue damage. Notably, the secretion of the hyphal toxin candidalysin is essential for both epithelial cell damage and activation of mucosal immune responses. However, the mechanism of candidalysin-induced cell death remains unclear. Here, we examined the induction of cell death by candidalysin in oral epithelial cells...

Viruses of Archaea, arguably the most mysterious part of the virosphere due to their unique morphotypes and genome contents, exploit diverse mechanisms for releasing virus progeny from the host cell. These include virus release as a result of enzymatic degradation of cell wall or budding through it, common for viruses of Bacteria and Eukarya, as well as a unique mechanism of virus egress through small polygonal perforations on cell surface. The process of formation of these perforations includes the development of pyramidal structures on the membrane of infected cell, which gradually grow by expansion of their faces and eventually open like flower petals...

Biofilm plays an imoprtant role in fungal multidrug resistance (MDR). Our previous studies showed that BSC2 is involved in resistance to amphotericin B (AMB) through anti-oxidation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In the present study, overexpression of BSC2 and IRC23 induced strong MDR in S. cerevisiae. BSC2-overexpression affected cellular flocculation, cell surface hydrophobicity, biofilm formation, and invasive growth. However, it failed to induce caspofungin (CAS) resistance and affect the invasive growth in FLO mutant strains (FLO11Δ, FLO1Δ, FLO8Δ, and TUP1Δ)...

Aspergillus flavus is a leading cause of corneal infections in India and worldwide, resulting in severe visual impairment. We studied the host immune response towards A. flavus in immortalised human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC) and found increased expression of Toll-like receptors, antimicrobial peptides and proinflammatory cytokines like IL-6 and IL-8. Differential expressions of antimicrobial peptides were determined in corneal scrapings from A. flavus keratitis patients with significantly increased expression of LL-37, S100A12 and RNase 7...

The inner membrane complex (IMC) is a defining feature of apicomplexan parasites, which confers stability and shape to the cell, functions as a scaffolding compartment during the formation of daughter cells and plays an important role in motility and invasion during different life cycle stages of these single-celled organisms. To explore the IMC proteome of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum we applied a proximity-dependent biotin identification (BioID)-based proteomics approach, using the established IMC marker protein Photosensitized INA-Labelled protein 1 (PhIL1) as bait in asexual blood-stage parasites...

Predatory interactions among microbes are a major evolutionary driving force for biodiversity. The fungivorous amoeba Protostelium aurantium has a wide fungal food spectrum including foremost pathogenic members of the genus Candida. Here we show that upon phagocytic ingestion by the amoeba, C. parapsilosis is confronted with an oxidative burst and undergoes lysis within minutes of processing in acidified phagolysosomes. On the fungal side, a functional genomic approach identified copper and redox homeostasis as primary targets of amoeba predation, with the highly expressed copper exporter gene CRP1 and the peroxiredoxin gene PRX1 contributing to survival when encountered with P...

Zinc-finger proteins (ZFPs) are a large diverse family of proteins with one or more zinc finger domains in which zinc is important in stabilizing the domain. ZFPs can interact with DNA, RNA, lipids or even other proteins and therefore contribute to diverse cellular processes including transcriptional regulation, ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, mRNA decay and stability. In this review, we provide the first comprehensive classification of ZFPs of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and provide a state of knowledge on the main ZFPs in the parasite, which include the C2H2, CCCH, RING finger and the PHD finger proteins...