Deletion of IglH in virulent Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica FSC200 strain results in attenuation and provides protection against the challenge with the parental strain

The rLVS ΔcapB/iglABC vaccine provides potent protection in Fischer rats against inhalational tularemia caused by various virulent Francisella tularensis strains

Francisella tularensis is one of the several biothreat agents for which a licensed vaccine is needed. To ensure vaccine protection is achieved across a range of virulent F. tularensis strains, we assembled and characterized a panel of F. tularensis isolates to be utilized as challenge strains. A promising tularemia vaccine candidate is rLVS ΔcapB/iglABC (rLVS), in which the vector is the LVS strain with a deletion in the capB gene and which additionally expresses a fusion protein comprising immunodominant epitopes of proteins IglA, IglB, and IglC. Fischer rats were immunized subcutaneously 1-3 times at 3-week intervals with rLVS at various doses. The rats were exposed to a high dose of aerosolized Type A strain Schu S4 (FRAN244), a Type B strain (FRAN255), or a tick derived Type A strain (FRAN254) and monitored for survival. All rLVS vaccination regimens including a single dose of 107 CFU rLVS provided 100% protection against both Type A strains. Against the Type B strain, two doses of 107 CFU rLVS provided 100% protection, and a single dose of 107 CFU provided 87.5% protection. In contrast, all unvaccinated rats succumbed to aerosol challenge with all of the F. tularensis strains. A robust Th1-biased antibody response was induced in all vaccinated rats against all F. tularensis strains. These results demonstrate that rLVS ΔcapB/iglABC provides potent protection against inhalational challenge with either Type A or Type B F. tularensis strains and should be considered for further analysis as a future tularemia vaccine.

A study of innate immune kinetics reveals a role for a chloride transporter in a virulent Francisella tularensis type B strain

Tularemia is a zoonotic disease of global proportions. Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis (type A) and holarctica (type B) cause disease in healthy humans, with type A infections resulting in higher mortality. Repeated passage of a type B strain in the mid-20th century generated the Live Vaccine Strain (LVS). LVS remains unlicensed, does not protect against high inhalational doses of type A, and its exact mechanisms of attenuation are poorly understood. Recent data suggest that live attenuated vaccines derived from type B may cross-protect against type A. However, there is a dearth of knowledge regarding virulent type B pathogenesis and its capacity to stimulate the host's innate immune response. We therefore sought to increase our understanding of virulent type B in vitro characteristics using strain OR96-0246 as a model. Adding to our knowledge of innate immune kinetics in macrophages following infection with virulent type B, we observed robust replication of strain OR96-0246 in murine and human macrophages, reduced expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine genes from "wild type" type B-infected macrophages compared to LVS, and delayed macrophage cell death suggesting that virulent type B may suppress macrophage activation. One disruption in LVS is in the gene encoding the chloride transporter ClcA. We investigated the role of ClcA in macrophage infection and observed a replication delay in a clcA mutant. Here, we propose its role in acid tolerance. A greater understanding of LVS attenuation may reveal new mechanisms of pathogenesis and inform strategies toward the development of an improved vaccine against tularemia.

The Early Dendritic Cell Signaling Induced by Virulent Francisella tularensis Strain Occurs in Phases and Involves the Activation of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinases (ERKs) and p38 In the Later Stage

Dendritic cells (DCs) infected by Francisella tularensis are poorly activated and do not undergo classical maturation process. Although reasons of such unresponsiveness are not fully understood, their impact on the priming of immunity is well appreciated. Previous attempts to explain the behavior of Francisella-infected DCs were hypothesis-driven and focused on events at later stages of infection. Here, we took an alternative unbiased approach by applying methods of global phosphoproteomics to analyze the dynamics of cell signaling in primary DCs during the first hour of infection by Francisella tularensis Presented results show that the early response of DCs to Francisella occurs in phases and that ERK and p38 signaling modules induced at the later stage are differentially regulated by virulent and attenuated ΔdsbA strain. These findings imply that the temporal orchestration of host proinflammatory pathways represents the integral part of Francisella life-cycle inside hijacked DCs.

Differential Growth of Francisella tularensis, Which Alters Expression of Virulence Factors, Dominant Antigens, and Surface-Carbohydrate Synthases, Governs the Apparent Virulence of Ft SchuS4 to Immunized Animals

The gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis (Ft) is both a potential biological weapon and a naturally occurring microbe that survives in arthropods, fresh water amoeba, and mammals with distinct phenotypes in various environments. Previously, we used a number of measurements to characterize Ft grown in Brain-Heart Infusion (BHI) broth as (1) more similar to infection-derived bacteria, and (2) slightly more virulent in naïve animals, compared to Ft grown in Mueller Hinton Broth (MHB). In these studies we observed that the free amino acids in MHB repress expression of select Ft virulence factors by an unknown mechanism. Here, we tested the hypotheses that Ft grown in BHI (BHI-Ft) accurately displays a full protein composition more similar to that reported for infection-derived Ft and that this similarity would make BHI-Ft more susceptible to pre-existing, vaccine-induced immunity than MHB-Ft. We performed comprehensive proteomic analysis of Ft grown in MHB, BHI, and BHI supplemented with casamino acids (BCA) and compared our findings to published “omics” data derived from Ft grown in vivo. Based on the abundance of ~1,000 proteins, the fingerprint of BHI-Ft is one of nutrient-deprived bacteria that—through induction of a stringent-starvation-like response—have induced the FevR regulon for expression of the bacterium's virulence factors, immuno-dominant antigens, and surface-carbohydrate synthases. To test the notion that increased abundance of dominant antigens expressed by BHI-Ft would render these bacteria more susceptible to pre-existing, vaccine-induced immunity, we employed a battery of LVS-vaccination and S4-challenge protocols using MHB- and BHI-grown Ft S4. Contrary to our hypothesis, these experiments reveal that LVS-immunization provides a barrier to infection that is significantly more effective against an MHB-S4 challenge than a BHI-S4 challenge. The differences in apparent virulence to immunized mice are profoundly greater than those observed with primary infection of naïve mice. Our findings suggest that tularemia vaccination studies should be critically evaluated in regard to the growth conditions of the challenge agent.

Tularemia vaccines

Francisella tularensis is the causative agent of the potentially lethal disease tularemia. Due to a low infectious dose and ease of airborne transmission, Francisella is classified as a category A biological agent. Despite the possible risk to public health, there is no safe and fully licensed vaccine. A potential vaccine candidate, an attenuated live vaccine strain, does not fulfil the criteria for general use. In this review, we will summarize existing and new candidates for live attenuated and subunit vaccines.

Phenotypic characterization of the Francisella tularensis ΔpdpC and ΔiglG mutants

Several bacterial pathogens interact with their host through protein secretion effectuated by a type VI secretion system (T6SS). Francisella tularensis is a highly pathogenic intracellular bacterium that causes the disease tularemia. Proteins encoded by the Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI), which constitute a type VI secretion system, are essential for the virulence of the bacterium and a key mechanism behind this is the escape from the phagosome followed by productive cytosolic replication. It has been shown that T6SS in Francisella is distinct since all putative substrates of F. tularensis T6SS, except for VgrG, are unique to the species. Many of the FPI proteins are secreted into the macrophage cytosol and this is dependent on the functional components of DotU, VgrG, IglC and IglG. In addition, PdpC seems to have a regulatory role for the expression of iglABCD. Since previous results showed peculiar phenotypes of the ΔpdpC and ΔiglG mutants in mouse macrophages, their unique behavior was characterized in human monocyte-derived macrophages (HMDM) in this study. Our results show that both ΔpdpC and ΔiglG mutants of the live vaccine strain (LVS) of F. tularensis did not replicate within HMDMs. The ΔpdpC mutant did not escape from the Francisella containing phagosome (FCP), neither caused cytopathogenicity in primary macrophages and was attenuated in a mouse model. Interestingly, the ΔiglG mutant escaped from the HMDMs FCP and also caused pathological changes in the spleen and liver tissues of intradermally infected C57BL/6 mice. The ΔiglG mutant, with its unique phenotype, is a potential vaccine candidate.

Francisella tularensis type B ΔdsbA mutant protects against type A strain and induces strong inflammatory cytokine and Th1-like antibody response in vivo

Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis is a highly virulent intracellular bacterial pathogen, causing the disease tularemia. However, a safe and effective vaccine for routine application against F. tularensis has not yet been developed. We have recently constructed the deletion mutants for the DsbA homolog protein (ΔdsbA/FSC200) and a hypothetical protein IglH (ΔiglH/FSC200) in the type B F. tularensis subsp. holarctica FSC200 strain, which exerted different protection capacity against parental virulent strain. In this study, we further investigated the immunological correlates for these different levels of protection provided by ΔdsbA/FSC200 and ΔiglH/FSC200 mutants. Our results show that ΔdsbA/FSC200 mutant, but not ΔiglH/FSC200 mutant, induces an early innate inflammatory response leading to strong Th1-like antibody response. Furthermore, vaccination with ΔdsbA/FSC200 mutant, but not with ΔiglH/FSC200, elicited protection against the subsequent challenge with type A SCHU S4 strain in mice. An immunoproteomic approach was used to map a spectrum of antigens targeted by Th1-like specific antibodies, and more than 80 bacterial antigens, including novel ones, were identified. Comparison of tularemic antigens recognized by the ΔdsbA/FSC200 post-vaccination and the SCHU S4 post-challenge sera then revealed the existence of 22 novel SCHU S4 specific antibody clones.

Putting the Jigsaw Together - A Brief Insight Into the Tularemia

Tularemia is a debilitating febrile and potentially fatal zoonotic disease of humans and other vertebrates caused by the Gram-negative bacterium Francisella tularensis. The natural reservoirs are small rodents, hares, and possibly amoebas in water. The etiological agent, Francisella tularensis, is a non-spore forming, encapsulated, facultative intracellular bacterium, a member of the γ-Proteobacteria class of Gram-negative bacteria. Francisella tularensis is capable of invading and replicating within phagocytic as well as non-phagocytic cells and modulate inflammatory response. Infection by the pulmonary, dermal, or oral routes, respectively, results in pneumonic, ulceroglandular, or oropharyngeal tularemia. The highest mortality rates are associated with the pneumonic form of this disease. All members of Francisella tularensis species cause more or less severe disease Due to their abilities to be transmitted to humans via multiple routes and to be disseminated via biological aerosol that can cause the disease after inhalation of even an extremely low infectious dose, Francisella tularensis has been classified as a Category A bioterrorism agent. The current standard of care for tularemia is treatment with antibiotics, as this therapy is highly effective if used soon after infection, although it is not, however, absolutely effective in all cases.

Changes in proteome of the Δhfq strain derived from Francisella tularensis LVS correspond with its attenuated phenotype

The posttranscriptional regulatory protein Hfq was shown to be an important determinant of the stress resistance and full virulence in the dangerous human pathogen Francisella tularensis. Transcriptomics brought rather limited clues to the precise contribution of Hfq in virulence. To reveal the molecular basis of the attenuation caused by hfq inactivation, we employed iTRAQ in the present study and compared proteomes of the parent and isogenic Δhfq strains. We show that Hfq modulates the level of 76 proteins. Most of them show decreased abundance in the ∆hfq mutant, thereby indicating that Hfq widely acts rather as a positive regulator of Francisella gene expression. Several key Francisella virulence factors including those encoded within the Francisella pathogenicity island were found among the downregulated proteins, which is in a good agreement with the attenuated phenotype of the Δhfq strain. To further validate the iTRAQ exploratory findings, we subsequently performed targeted LC-SRM analysis of selected proteins. This accurate quantification method corroborated the trends found in the iTRAQ data.

Characterization of tetratricopeptide repeat-like proteins in Francisella tularensis and identification of a novel locus required for virulence

Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterium that causes the potentially lethal disease tularemia. This extremely virulent bacterium is able to replicate in the cytosolic compartments of infected macrophages. To invade macrophages and to cope with their intracellular environment, Francisella requires multiple virulence factors, which are still being identified. Proteins containing tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR)-like domains seem to be promising targets to investigate, since these proteins have been reported to be directly involved in virulence-associated functions of bacterial pathogens. Here, we studied the role of the FTS_0201, FTS_0778, and FTS_1680 genes, which encode putative TPR-like proteins in Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica FSC200. Mutants defective in protein expression were prepared by TargeTron insertion mutagenesis. We found that the locus FTS_1680 and its ortholog FTT_0166c in the highly virulent Francisella tularensis type A strain SchuS4 are required for proper intracellular replication, full virulence in mice, and heat stress tolerance. Additionally, the FTS_1680-encoded protein was identified as a membrane-associated protein required for full cytopathogenicity in macrophages. Our study thus identifies FTS_1680/FTT_0166c as a new virulence factor in Francisella tularensis.

Identification of mechanisms for attenuation of the FSC043 mutant of Francisella tularensis SCHU S4

Previously, we identified a spontaneous, essentially avirulent mutant, FSC043, of the highly virulent strain SCHU S4 of Francisella tularensis subsp. tularensis. We have now characterized the phenotype of the mutant and the mechanisms of its attenuation in more detail. Genetic and proteomic analyses revealed that the pdpE gene and most of the pdpC gene were very markedly downregulated and, as previously demonstrated, that the strain expressed partially deleted and fused fupA and fupB genes. FSC043 showed minimal intracellular replication and induced no cell cytotoxicity. The mutant showed delayed phagosomal escape; at 18 h, colocalization with LAMP-1 was 80%, indicating phagosomal localization, whereas the corresponding percentages for SCHU S4 and the ΔfupA mutant were <10%. However, a small subset of the FSC043-infected cells contained up to 100 bacteria with LAMP-1 colocalization of around 30%. The unusual intracellular phenotype was similar to that of the ΔpdpC and ΔpdpC ΔpdpE mutants. Complementation of FSC043 with the intact fupA and fupB genes did not affect the phenotype, whereas complementation with the pdpC and pdpE genes restored intracellular replication and led to marked virulence. Even higher virulence was observed after complementation with both double-gene constructs. After immunization with the FSC043 strain, moderate protection against respiratory challenge with the SCHU S4 strain was observed. In summary, FSC043 showed a highly unusual intracellular phenotype, and based on our findings, we hypothesize that the mutation in the pdpC gene makes an essential contribution to the phenotype.

A method for functional trans-complementation of intracellular Francisella tularensis

Francisella tularensis is a highly infectious bacterial pathogen that invades and replicates within numerous host cell types. After uptake, F. tularensis bacteria escape the phagosome, replicate within the cytosol, and suppress cytokine responses. However, the mechanisms employed by F. tularensis to thrive within host cells are mostly unknown. Potential F. tularensis mutants involved in host-pathogen interactions are typically discovered by negative selection screens for intracellular replication or virulence. Mutants that fulfill these criteria fall into two categories: mutants with intrinsic intracellular growth defects and mutants that fail to modify detrimental host cell processes. It is often difficult and time consuming to discriminate between these two possibilities. We devised a method to functionally trans-complement and thus identify mutants that fail to modify the host response. In this assay, host cells are consistently and reproducibly infected with two different F. tularensis strains by physically tethering the bacteria to antibody-coated beads. To examine the efficacy of this protocol, we tested phagosomal escape, cytokine suppression, and intracellular replication for F. tularensis ΔripA and ΔpdpC. ΔripA has an intracellular growth defect that is likely due to an intrinsic defect and fails to suppress IL-1β secretion. In the co-infection model, ΔripA was unable to replicate in the host cell when wild-type bacteria infected the same cell, but cytokine suppression was rescued. Therefore, ΔripA intracellular growth is due to an intrinsic bacterial defect while cytokine secretion results from a failed host-pathogen interaction. Likewise, ΔpdpC is deficient for phagosomal escape, intracellular survival and suppression of IL-1β secretion. Wild-type bacteria that entered through the same phagosome as ΔpdpC rescued all of these phenotypes, indicating that ΔpdpC failed to properly manipulate the host. In summary, functional trans-complementation using bead-bound bacteria co-infections is a method to rapidly identify mutants that fail to modify a host response. Francisella tularensis is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen and is the causative agent of the disease tularemia. F. tularensis enters host cells through phagocytosis, escapes the phagosome, and replicates in the host cell cytosol while suppressing cytokine secretion [1]–[4]. Although substantial progress has been made in understanding the intracellular life cycle of F. tularensis, the F. tularensis proteins responsible for manipulating many host cell pathways are unknown. Identifying novel host-pathogen effector proteins is difficult because there is no rapid method to reliably distinguish between bacterial proteins that modify host processes and proteins that are involved in bacterial processes that are required for the bacteria to survive or replicate in the intracellular environment. The ability to identify mutants that are deficient for host-pathogen interactions is important because it can aid in prioritizing the investigation of genes of interest and in downstream experimental design. Moreover, certain mutant phenotypes, such as decreased phagosomal escape, hinder investigation of other potential phenotypes. A method to specifically complement these phenotypes would allow for further characterizations of certain F. tularensis mutants. Thus we sought to develop a method to easily identify and functionally complement mutants that are deficient for interactions with the host.

Generation of protection against Francisella novicida in mice depends on the pathogenicity protein PdpA, but not PdpC or PdpD

Previous results suggest that mutations in most genes in the Francisella pathogenicity island (FPI) attenuate the bacterium. Using a mouse model, here we determined the impact of mutations in pdpA, pdpC, and pdpD in Francisella novicida on in vitro replication in macrophages, and in vivo immunogenicity. In contrast to most FPI genes, deletion of pdpC (FnΔpdpC) and pdpD (FnΔpdpD) from F. novicida did not impact growth in mouse bone-marrow derived macrophages. Nonetheless, both FnΔpdpC and FnΔpdpD were highly attenuated when administered intradermally. Infected mice produced relatively normal anti-F. novicida serum antibodies. Further, splenocytes from infected mice controlled intramacrophage Francisella replication, indicating T cell priming, and mice immunized by infection with FnΔpdpC or FnΔpdpD survived secondary lethal parenteral challenge with either F. novicida or Francisella tularensis LVS. In contrast, deletion of pdpA (FnΔpdpA) ablated growth in macrophages in vitro. FnΔpdpA disseminated and replicated poorly in infected mice, accompanied by development of some anti-F. novicida serum antibodies. However, primed Th1 cells were not detected, and vaccinated mice did not survive even low dose challenge with either F. novicida or LVS. Taken together, these results suggest that successful priming of Th1 cells, and protection against lethal challenge, depends on expression of PdpA.

Genome sequence of Francisella tularensis subspecies holarctica strain FSC200, isolated from a child with tularemia

Here we report the complete, accurate 1.89-Mb genome sequence of Francisella tularensis subsp. holarctica strain FSC200, isolated in 1998 in the Swedish municipality Ljusdal, which is in an area where tularemia is highly endemic. This genome is important because strain FSC200 has been extensively used for functional and genetic studies of Francisella and is well-characterized.