Éditeur(s) : Wiley-blackwell Publishing, Inc
Résumé : Vibrio splendidus, strain LGP32, is an oyster pathogen associated with the summer mortalities affecting the production of Crassostrea gigas oysters worldwide. Vibrio splendidus LGP32 was shown to resist to up to 10 mu M Cg-Def defensin and Cg-BPI bactericidal permeability increasing protein, two antimicrobial peptides/proteins (AMPs) involved in C. gigas immunity. The resistance to both oyster Cg-Def and Cg-BPI and standard AMPs (polymyxin B, protegrin, human BPI) was dependent on the ompU gene. Indeed, upon ompU inactivation, minimal bactericidal concentrations decreased by up to fourfold. AMP resistance was restored upon ectopic expression of ompU. The susceptibility of bacterial membranes to AMP-induced damages was independent of the ompU-mediated AMP resistance. Besides its role in AMP resistance, ompU proved to be essential for the adherence of V. splendidus LGP32 to fibronectin. Interestingly, in vivo, ompU was identified as a major determinant of V. spiendidus pathogenicity in oyster experimental infections. Indeed, the V. splendidus-induced oyster mortalities dropped from 56% to 11% upon ompU mutation (Kaplan Meier survival curves, P < 0.01). Moreover, in co-infection assays, the ompU mutant was out competed by the wild-type strain with competitive indexes in the range of 0.1-0.2. From this study, ompU is required for virulence of V. splendidus. Contributing to AMP resistance, conferring adhesive properties to V. splendidus, and being essential for in vivo fitness, the OmpU porin appears as an essential effector of the C. gigas/V. splendidus interaction.
Environmental Microbiology (1462-2912) (Wiley-blackwell Publishing, Inc), 2010-04 , Vol. 12 , N. 4 , P. 951-963

Droits : 2010 Society for Applied Microbiology and Blackwell Publishing Ltd
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00003/11421/8044.pdf
DOI:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2009.02138.x
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00003/11421/

Éditeur(s) : Amer Soc Biochemistry Molecular Biology Inc
Résumé : Scleractinian corals are the most basal eumetazoan taxon and provide the biological and physical framework for coral reefs, which are among the most diverse of all ecosystems. Over the past three decades and coincident with climate change, these phototrophic symbiotic organisms have been subject to increasingly frequent and severe diseases, which are now geographically widespread and a major threat to these ecosystems. Although coral immunity has been the subject of increasing study, the available information remains fragmentary, especially with respect to coral antimicrobial responses. In this study, we characterized damicornin from Pocillopora damicornis, the first scleractinian antimicrobial peptide (AMP) to be reported. We found that its precursor has a segmented organization comprising a signal peptide, an acidic proregion, and the C-terminal AMP. The 40-residue AMP is cationic, C-terminally amidated, and characterized by the presence of six cysteine molecules joined by three intramolecular disulfide bridges. Its cysteine array is common to another AMP and toxins from cnidarians; this suggests a common ancestor, as has been proposed for AMPs and toxins from arthropods. Damicornin was active in vitro against Gram-positive bacteria and the fungus Fusarium oxysporum. Damicornin expression was studied using a combination of immunohistochemistry, reverse phase HPLC, and quantitative RT-PCR. Our data show that damicornin is constitutively transcribed in ectodermal granular cells, where it is stored, and further released in response to nonpathogenic immune challenge. Damicornin gene expression was repressed by the coral pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus. This is the first evidence of AMP gene repression in a host-Vibrio interaction.
Journal Of Biological Chemistry (0021-9258) (Amer Soc Biochemistry Molecular Biology Inc), 2011-06 , Vol. 286 , N. 25 , P. 22688-22698

Droits : 2011 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00039/14996/12433.pdf
DOI:10.1074/jbc.M110.216358
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00039/14996/

Éditeur(s) : Elsevier Sci Ltd
Résumé : Diverse families of antimicrobial peptides and proteins have been described in oysters. We investigated here how antimicrobials are involved in the immune response against a pathogenic strain of Vibrio splendidus. Oyster antimicrobials were shown to display a wide variety of expression profiles in hemocyte populations and tissues. Oyster defensins are constitutively expressed in specific tissues such as mantle (Cg-Defm) or hemocytes (Cg-Defhs), while Cg-BPI is inducible and Cg-Prp appears down-regulated in hemocytes upon infection. The migratory behavior of hemocytes that express the different antimicrobials was found to be involved in the oyster response to a pathogenic Vibrio infection. Indeed, it contributes to colocalize several antimicrobials that were shown here to have synergistic activities. We propose that such a synergy, which was evidenced both within and between families of antimicrobials, might compensate for the low concentration of antimicrobials in oyster tissues. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Developmental And Comparative Immunology (0145-305X) (Elsevier Sci Ltd), 2012-07 , Vol. 37 , N. 3-4 , P. 363-370

Droits : 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00093/20382/18267.pdf
DOI:10.1016/j.dci.2012.01.004
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00093/20382/