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Edwardsiella tarda Alter Their Protein Expression Profiles at Permissive Human Temperatures and Control the Host Cytoskeleton for their Benefit
Author(s) -
Tenkink Byron Joel,
Noort Rebecca,
Siame Bupe Anthony,
Guttman Julian Andrew,
Leung Ka Yin
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.26.1_supplement.522.2
Subject(s) - edwardsiella tarda , effector , secretion , biology , pathogenesis , pathogen , cytoskeleton , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , cell , gene , genetics , biochemistry
Edwardsiella tarda is an emerging enteric pathogen that infects both warm‐water fish and humans. While it is known that E. tarda utilizes syringe‐like type III and type VI secretion systems to deliver effector proteins into fish host cells during infection, little is known about E. tarda pathogenesis in humans at the sub‐cellular level. To investigate the pathogenic strategies employed by E. tarda we tested two hypotheses; (1) E. tarda alter the expression of secreted proteins at 37°C and (2) E. tarda hijack the host cytoskeletal system in human cells as part of their pathogenesis. To test these hypotheses we grew E. tarda at 30°C and at 37°C and compared type III and type VI secretion system protein expression profiles at the two temperatures. Some strains of E. tarda produced more secreted proteins at 37°C than at 30°C, which suggests greater activity from the pathogen's secretion systems at human body temperature. When E. tarda infections in HeLa cells were examined microscopically, we found cytoskeletal and organellar alterations in infected cells as compared to uninfected controls, demonstrating effector‐driven sub‐cellular alterations. Taken together our results indicate that E. tarda hone their protein expression machinery to their environment and control crucial aspects of their host cells during their infectious processes. Grant Funding Source : Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada