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Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of pneumonia, wherein infection of respiratory mucosa drives a robust influx of neutrophils. We have previously shown that S. pneumoniae infection of the respiratory epithelium induces the production of the 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX)–dependent lipid inflammatory mediator hepoxilin A3, which promotes recruitment of neutrophils into the airways, tissue damage, and lethal septicemia. Pneumolysin (PLY), a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC) family, is a major S. pneumoniae virulence factor that generates ∼25-nm diameter pores in eukaryotic membranes and promotes acute inflammation, tissue damage, and bacteremia. We show that a PLY-deficient S. pneumoniae mutant was impaired in triggering human neutrophil transepithelial migration in vitro. Ectopic production of PLY endowed the nonpathogenic Bacillus subtilis with the ability to trigger neutrophil recruitment across human-cultured monolayers. Purified PLY, several other CDC family members, and the α-toxin of Clostridium septicum, which generates pores with cross-sectional areas nearly 300 times smaller than CDCs, reproduced this robust neutrophil transmigration. PLY non–pore-forming point mutants that are trapped at various stages of pore assembly did not recruit neutrophils. PLY triggered neutrophil recruitment in a 12-LOX–dependent manner in vitro. Instillation of wild-type PLY but not inactive derivatives into the lungs of mice induced robust 12-LOX–dependent neutrophil migration into the airways, although residual inflammation induced by PLY in 12-LOX–deficient mice indicates that 12-LOX–independent pathways also contribute to PLY-triggered pulmonary inflammation. These data indicate that PLY is an important factor in promoting hepoxilin A3–dependent neutrophil recruitment across pulmonary epithelium in a pore-dependent fashion.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of pneumonia wherein infection of respiratory mucosa drives a robust influx of neutrophils. We have previously shown that S. pneumoniae infection of the respiratory epithelium induces the production of the 12-lipoxygenase- (12-LOX-) dependent lipid inflammatory mediator hepoxilin A3 (HXA(3)), which promotes recruitment of neutrophils into the airways, tissue damage and lethal septicemia. Pneumolysin (PLY), a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC) family, is a major S. pneumoniae virulence factor that generates ~25 nm diameter pores in eukaryotic membranes and promotes acute inflammation, tissue damage, and bacteremia. We show that a PLY-deficient S. pneumoniae mutant was impaired in triggering human neutrophil transepithelial migration in vitro. Ectopic production of PLY endowed the nonpathogenic Bacillus subtilis with the ability to trigger neutrophil recruitment across human cultured monolayers. Purified PLY, several other CDC family members, and the α-toxin of Clostridium septicum, which generates pores with cross-sectional areas nearly 300-times smaller than CDCs, reproduced this robust neutrophil transmigration. PLY non-pore forming point mutants that are trapped at various stages of pore assembly did not recruit neutrophils. PLY triggered neutrophil recruitment in a 12-LOX-dependent manner in vitro. Instillation of wild type PLY, but not inactive derivatives, into the lungs of mice induced robust 12-LOX-dependent neutrophil migration into the airways, although residual inflammation induced by PLY in 12-LOX deficient mice indicates that 12-LOX-independent pathways also contribute to PLY-triggered pulmonary inflammation. These data indicate that PLY is an important factor in promoting HXA(3)-dependent neutrophil recruitment across pulmonary epithelium in a pore-dependent fashion.

Delivery of Ag to inductive sites, such as nasal-associated lymphoid tissue (NALT) or GALT, is thought to promote mucosal immunity. Host and microbial factors that contribute to this process were investigated during model murine airway colonization by the pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae. Colonization led to the deposition of released bacterial capsular Ag in the NALT in a manner consistent with trafficking through M cells. This Ag was derived from processing of bacteria in the lumen of the paranasal spaces rather than through invasion or sampling of intact bacteria. Neutrophils, which are recruited to the paranasal spaces where they associate with and may degrade bacteria, were required for efficient Ag delivery. Maximal Ag delivery to the NALT also required expression of the bacterial toxin pneumolysin. Pneumolysin and pneumolysin-expressing bacteria lysed neutrophils through pore formation in vitro. Accordingly, a pneumolysin-dependent loss of neutrophils, which correlated with the increased release of bacterial products, was observed in vivo. Thus, delivery of Ag to the NALT was enhanced by neutrophil-mediated generation of bacterial products together with bacterial-induced lysis of neutrophils. The impaired Ag delivery of pneumolysin-deficient bacteria was associated with diminished clearance from the mucosal surface. This study demonstrates how microbial-host interactions affect Ag delivery and the effectiveness of mucosal immunity.

Cationic antimicrobial peptides are believed to exert their primary activities on anionic bacterial cell membranes; however, this model does not adequately account for several important structure-activity relationships. These relationships are likely to be influenced by the bacterial response to peptide challenge. In order to characterize the genomic aspect of this response, transcription profiles were examined for Escherichia coli isolates treated with sublethal and lethal concentrations of the cationic antimicrobial peptide cecropin A. Transcript levels for 26 genes changed significantly following treatment with sublethal peptide concentrations, and half of the transcripts corresponded to protein products with unknown function. The pattern of response is distinct from that following treatment with lethal concentrations and is also distinct from the bacterial response to nutritional, thermal, osmotic, or oxidative stress. These results demonstrate that cecropin A induces a genomic response in E. coli apart from any lethal effects on the membrane and suggest that a complete understanding of its mechanism of action may require a detailed examination of this response.

Most isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae are mixed populations of transparent (T) and opaque (O) colony phenotypes. Differences in the production of capsular polysaccharide (CPS) between O and T variants were accentuated by changes in the environmental concentration of oxygen. O variants demonstrated a 5.2- to 10.6-fold increase in amounts of CPS under anaerobic compared to atmospheric growth conditions, while CPS production remained low under all conditions for T variants. Increased amounts of CPS in O compared to T pneumococci were associated with increased expression of cps -encoded proteins. The inhibitory effect of oxygen on expression of CPS in O variants correlated with decreased tyrosine phosphorylation of CpsD, a tyrosine kinase and regulator of CPS synthesis. Modulation of CpsD expression and its activity by tyrosine phosphorylation may allow the pneumococcus to adapt to the requirements of both colonization, where decreased CPS allows for adherence, and bacteremia, where increased CPS may be required to escape from opsonic clearance. In patients with invasive infection, paired isolates from the same patient were shown to have predominately a T colony phenotype without phosphotyrosine on CpsD when cultured from the nasopharynx, and an O phenotype that phosphorylates CpsD in response to oxygen when cultured from the blood. Differences in the availability of oxygen, therefore, may be a key factor in allowing for the selection of distinct phenotypes in these two host environments.

A new locus, csgA, has been identified in a search for developmental genes transcribed by EσG in Bacillus subtilis. csgA has the potential to encode three small proteins, CsgAA, CsgAB and CsgAC. The latter two would be encoded by overlapping ORFs. csgA is expressed in the spore chamber of the differentiating cell and is under the control of σG and the transcriptional regulatory protein SpoVT. Mutation of csgA did not affect spore formation but produced a subtle defect in the ability of the germinating spore to resume vegetative growth.

All fully sequenced strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae possess a version of the blp locus, which is responsible for bacteriocin production and immunity. Activation of the blp locus is stimulated by accumulation of the peptide pheromone, BlpC, following its secretion by the ABC transporter, BlpA. The blp locus is characterized by significant diversity in blpC type and in the region of the locus containing putative bacteriocin and immunity genes. In addition, the blpA gene can represent a single large open reading frame or be divided into several smaller fragments due to the presence of frameshift mutations. In this study, we use a collection of strains with blp-dependent inhibition and immunity to define the genetic changes that bring about phenotypic differences in bacteriocin production or immunity. We demonstrate that alterations in blpA, blpC, and bacteriocin/immunity content likely play an important role in competitive interactions between pneumococcal strains. Importantly, strains with a highly conserved frameshift mutation in blpA are unable to secrete bacteriocins or BlpC, but retain the ability to respond to exogenous peptide pheromone produced by cocolonizing strains, stimulating blp-mediated immunity. These “cheater” strains can only coexist with bacteriocin-producing strains that secrete their cognate BlpC and share the same immunity proteins. The variable outcome of these interactions helps to explain the heterogeneity of the blp pheromone, bacteriocin, and immunity protein content., IMPORTANCE Streptococcus pneumoniae resides in a polymicrobial environment and competes for limited resources by the elaboration of small antimicrobial peptides called bacteriocins. A conserved cluster of genes in the S. pneumoniae genome is involved in the production of bacteriocins and their associated protective immunity proteins through secretion of a signaling pheromone. In this study, we show that a significant number of strains have lost the ability to secrete bacteriocins and signaling pheromones due to a specific mutation in a dedicated transporter protein. Because the regulatory and immunity portion of the locus is retained, these “cheater” strains can survive in the face of invasion from a bacteriocin-producing strain without the cost of bacteriocin secretion. The outcome of such interactions depends on each strain’s repertoire of pheromone, immunity protein, and bacteriocin genes, such that intrastrain competition drives the diversity in bacteriocin, immunity protein, and pheromone content.

Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi), a common commensal of the human pharynx, is also an opportunistic pathogen if it becomes established in the lower respiratory tract (LRT). In comparison to colonizing isolates from the upper airway, LRT isolates, especially those associated with exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, have increased resistance to the complement- and antibody-dependent, bactericidal effect of serum. To define the molecular basis of this resistance, mutants constructed in a serum resistant strain using the mariner transposon were screened for loss of survival in normal human serum. The loci required for serum resistance contribute to the structure of the exposed surface of the bacterial outer membrane. These included loci involved in biosynthesis of the oligosaccharide component of lipooligosaccharide (LOS), and vacJ, which functions with an ABC transporter encoded by yrb genes in retrograde trafficking of phospholipids from the outer to inner leaflet of the cell envelope. Mutations in vacJ and yrb genes reduced the stability of the outer membrane and were associated with increased cell surface hyrophobicity and phospholipid content. Loss of serum resistance in vacJ and yrb mutants correlated with increased binding of natural immunoglobulin M in serum as well as anti-oligosaccharide mAbs. Expression of vacJ and the yrb genes was positively correlated with serum resistance among clinical isolates. Our findings suggest that NTHi adapts to inflammation encountered during infection of the LRT by modulation of its outer leaflet through increased expression of vacJ and yrb genes to minimize recognition by bactericidal anti-oligosaccharide antibodies., Author Summary Haemophilus influenzae generally colonizes the human upper respiratory tract. When isolated from the lower respiratory tract, this opportunistic pathogen is associated with inflammatory conditions such as pneumonia and exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Here we show that one of the adaptations made by H. influenzae isolated from the lower respiratory tract is increased resistance to the bactericidal effect of antibody and complement. To define the mechanism for increased resistance, mutants were screened to identify the complete set of genes required to inhibit killing by antibody and complement. These included multiple genes that all contribute to biosynthesis of the organism's surface oligosaccharide (lipooligosaccharide), which is targeted by bactericidal antibody. Our results also revealed a novel function for additional genes that maintain the lipid asymmetry of the surface membrane and thereby limit recognition of the pathogen by anti-oligosaccharide antibodies.

Airway infection by the Gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) leads to recruitment of neutrophils but limited bacterial killing by these cells. Co-colonization by Sp and a Gram-negative species, Haemophilus influenzae (Hi), provides sufficient stimulus to induce neutrophil and complement-mediated clearance of Sp from the mucosal surface in a murine model. Products from Hi, but not Sp, also promote killing of Sp by ex vivo neutrophil-enriched peritoneal exudate cells. Here we identify the stimulus from Hi as its peptidoglycan. Enhancement of opsonophagocytic killing was facilitated by signaling through nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-1 (Nod1), which is involved in recognition of γ-D-glutamyl-meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP) contained in cell walls of Hi but not Sp. Neutrophils from mice treated with Hi or compounds containing meso-DAP, including synthetic peptidoglycan fragments, showed increased Sp killing in a Nod1-dependent manner. Moreover, Nod1−/− mice showed reduced Hi-induced clearance of Sp during co-colonization. These observations offer insight into mechanisms of microbial competition and demonstrate the importance of Nod1 in neutrophil-mediated clearance of bacteria in vivo., Author Summary Pathogens are generally studied in the laboratory one species at a time. Most exist, however, in complex environments where they must adapt not only to their host but also to other members of the microbial flora. Using a mouse model of co-colonization, we have shown that one bacterial species (Haemophilus influenzae) can take advantage of the innate immune response of its host to outcompete and eliminate another species (Streptococcus pneumoniae) that resides in the same microenvironment of the upper respiratory tract. The molecular mechanism for this effect involves recognition of a cell wall fragment found on H. influenzae, but not on S. pneumoniae. The response to this immunostimulatory fragment requires Nod1, a host molecule that transmits inflammatory signals in response to specific peptides of the bacterial cell wall. This Nod1-mediated inflammatory stimulation triggers an increase in the ability of a type of white blood cell (neutrophil) to engulf and then kill S. pneumoniae, effectively removing it from its niche on the mucosal surface of the host airway. Our study, therefore, provides a demonstration of the importance of Nod1 in neutrophil-mediated clearance of bacterial infection. In addition, we have described a mechanism for interspecies competition between microbes that occurs through selective stimulation of host innate immune responses.

The occurrence of mutator phenotypes among laboratory-generated and clinical levofloxacin-resistant strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae was determined using fluctuation analysis. The in vitro selection for levofloxacin-resistant mutants of strain D39, each with point mutations in both gyrA and parC or parE , was not associated with a significant change in the mutation rate. Two of eight clinical isolates resistant to levofloxacin (MIC, >8 μg/ml) had estimated mutation rates of 1.2 × 10 −7 and 9.4 × 10 −8 mutations per cell division, indicating potential mutator phenotypes, compared to strain D39, which had an estimated mutation rate of 1.4 × 10 −8 mutations per cell division. The levofloxacin-resistant isolates with the highest mutation rates showed evidence of dysfunctional mismatch repair and contained missense mutations in mut genes at otherwise highly conserved sites. The association of hypermutability in levofloxacin-resistant S. pneumoniae clinical isolates with mutations in DNA mismatch repair genes provides further evidence that mismatch repair mutants may have a selective advantage in the setting of antibiotic pressure, facilitating the development of further antibiotic resistance.

Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae are human pathogens that often asymptomatically colonize the mucosal surface of the upper respiratory tract, but also occasionally cause invasive disease. The ability of these species to traverse the epithelium of the airway mucosa was modeled in vitro using polarized respiratory epithelial cells in culture. Migration across the epithelial barrier was preceded by loss of transepithelial resistance. Membrane products of S. pneumoniae that included lipoteichoic acid induced disruption of the epithelial barrier in a Toll-like receptor 2-dependent manner. This result correlates with a recent genetic study that associates increased TLR2 signaling with increased rates of invasive pneumococcal disease in humans. Loss of transepithelial resistance by the TLR2 ligand correlated with activation of p38 MAP kinase and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta signaling. Activation of p38 MAPK and TGF-beta signaling in epithelial cells upon nasal infection with S. pneumoniae was also demonstrated in vivo. Inhibition of either p38 MAPK or TGF-beta signaling was sufficient to inhibit the migration of S. pneumoniae or H. influenzae. Our data shows that diverse bacteria utilize common mechanisms, including MAPK and TGF-beta signaling pathways to disrupt epithelial barriers and promote invasion.

During mucosal colonization, epithelial cells are concurrently exposed to numerous microbial species. Epithelial cytokine production is an early component of innate immunity and contributes to mucosal defence. We have previously demonstrated a synergistic response of respiratory epithelial cells to costimulation by two human pathogens, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. Here we define a molecular mechanism for the synergistic activation of epithelial signalling during polymicrobial colonization. H. influenzae peptidoglycan synergizes with the pore-forming toxin pneumolysin from S. pneumoniae. Radiolabelled peptidoglycan enters epithelial cells more efficiently in the presence of pneumolysin, consistent with peptidoglycan gaining access to the cytoplasm via toxin pores. Other pore-forming toxins (including anthrolysin O from Bacillus anthracis and Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin) can substitute for pneumolysin in the generation of synergistic responses. Consistent with a requirement for pore formation, S. pneumoniae expressing pneumolysin but not an isogenic mutant expressing a non-pore-forming toxoid prime epithelial responses. Nod1, a host cytoplasmic peptidoglycan-recognition molecule, is crucial to the epithelial response. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a role for cytosolic recognition of peptidoglycan in the setting of polymicrobial epithelial stimulation. We conclude that combinations of extracellular organisms can activate innate immune pathways previously considered to be reserved for the detection of intracellular microorganisms.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) is an aerotolerant, catalase-deficient streptococcal species that resides predominately on the surface of the human airway. This pathogen is characterized by an impressive degree of interstrain diversity, as demonstrated by the ability of different isolates to synthesize the 90 currently described types of capsular polysaccharide, its immunodominant antigen. In addition to this interstrain diversity, it displays intrastrain variation in expression of many of the factors that contribute to host-bacterial interaction, including surface proteins, teichoic acid, and the production of high levels of hydrogen peroxide (35, 46). The pneumococcus phase varies between two phenotypes, distinguished by differences in colony opacity, that allow the organism to either colonize the mucosal surface of the nasopharynx or infect the bloodstream (23, 45, 47). Recently, information on the complete genome sequences of two unrelated strains of S. pneumoniae has become available (19, 41). Comparison of the two complete pneumococcal genomes reveals a difference in size of 122,222 bp and 193 open reading frames with an overall level of nucleotide sequence similarity of 2% of the open reading frames with orthologous genes in other species are partial or truncated (19). This is finding was unexpected considering S. pneumoniae's relatively compact genome, which varies in size from 2.04 to 2.16 Mb in the completely sequenced strains (19, 41). It has been proposed that one source of incomplete genes might be frameshift mutations generated by slipped-strand mispairing within iterative DNA motifs referred to as “microsatellites,” as has been demonstrated in many other species that depend on phase variation as a mechanism of adaptation (31, 41, 42). Eighteen percent of the genes in the TIGR4 isolate were reported to contain short-sequence DNA repeats, although in few instances did these contain greater than nine tandem repeats (41). In other bacterial species, most of the previously characterized repetitive DNA sequences that vary at a detectable frequency contain considerably longer repeating units, although there are reports of short iterative sequences as short as 7 repeats that are subject to slippage (6, 16). There have been limited reports of this type of mechanism in any gram-positive species, and to our knowledge, there are no prior examples of phase variation generated by changes in the length of iterative sequences in the pneumococcus (25). The purpose of this study was to characterize factors other than transformation events that may contribute to the genetic instability of the pneumococcus. Our results demonstrate that spontaneous mutations occur at a high frequency and that many of these events involve rearrangements of short tandem or nontandem DNA repeats or oxidative damage caused largely by endogenous hydrogen peroxide production.

Choline, although not a nutritional requirement for Haemophilus influenzae, is taken up from the growth medium and incorporated into its lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Incorporated choline is in the form of phosphorylcholine (ChoP) based on the reactivity with the monoclonal antibody with specificity for this structure, TEPC-15. Incorporation of [3H]choline from the growth medium and expression of the TEPC-15 epitope undergo high-frequency phase variation, characteristic of other LPS structures in this species. The expression and phase variation of ChoP require a previously identified locus involved in LPS biosynthesis, lic1. The first gene in lic1, licA, contains a translational switch based on variation in the number of intragenic tandem repeats of the sequence 5'-CAAT-3'. The full-length LicA polypeptide resembles choline kinases of eucaryotes, suggesting that the pathway for choline incorporation into the H. influenzae glycolipid has similarities to the pathway for choline incorporation in eucaryotic lipid synthesis. The display of ChoP, a host-like structure, renders the organism more rather than less susceptible to the bactericidal activity of human serum. The increased serum sensitivity of variants with ChoP correlates with higher serum immunoglobulin G titers to LPS containing this structure. ChoP appears to be a cell surface feature common to a number of pathogens of the human respiratory tract, including Streptococcus pneumoniae and mycoplasmas. In the case of H. influenzae, its primary contribution to pathogenesis does not appear to be antigenic variation to evade host humoral clearance mechanisms.

The Bacillus subtilis SpoIVB protein is a critical component of the intercompartmental signal-transduction pathway that activates the sigma factor, delta K, in the mother cell of the sporulating cell. SpoIVB, synthesized in the forespore chamber, must act across two layers of phospholipid membrane to facilitate proteolytic processing of inactive pro-delta K to active delta K. We have used a genetic approach to dissect SpoIVB function and found that this protein has two distinct developmental functions. One function is that of intercompartmental signalling of pro-delta K processing. The other role is essential to spore formation and is illustrated by mutations of SpoIVB which allow cell-cell signalling of pro-delta K processing but prevent the formation of viable spores. Using localized and site-specific mutagenesis we have identified a functional domain of SpoIVB that is involved in its non-signalling role.