Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Frontiers Media
Résumé : "Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum" (Lso) has emerged as a serious threat world-wide. Five Lso haplotypes have been identified so far. Haplotypes A and B are present in the Americas and/or New Zealand, where they are vectored to solanaceous plants by the potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc) (Hemiptera: Triozidae). The fastidious nature of these pathogens has hindered the study of the interactions with their eukaryotic hosts (vector and plant). To understand the strategies used by these pathogens to infect their vector, the effects of each Lso haplotype (A or B) on psyllid fitness was investigated, and genome-wide transcriptomic and RT-qPCR analyses were performed to evaluate Lso gene expression in association with its vector. Results showed that psyllids infected with haplotype B had significantly lower percentage of nymphal survival compared to psyllids infected with haplotype A. Although overall gene expression across Lso genome was similar between the two Lso haplotypes, differences in the expression of key candidate genes were found. Among the 16 putative type IV effector genes tested, four of them were differentially expressed between Lso haplotypes, while no differences in gene expression were measured by qPCR or transcriptomic analysis for the rest of the genes. This study provides new information regarding the pathogenesis of Lso haplotypes in their insect vector.
ISSN: 2235-2988

hal-01512244
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01512244
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01512244/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01512244/file/Yao%202016%20Frontiers%20in%20Cellular%20and%20Infection%20Microbiology_%7BD6ACF6EB-9794-4F27-AB84-9EF4099B6D78%7D.pdf
DOI : 10.3389/fcimb.2016.00062

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Frontiers Media
Résumé : The disease, Heartwater, caused by the Anaplasmataceae E. ruminantium, represents a major problem for tropical livestock and wild ruminants. Up to now, no effective vaccine has been available due to a limited cross protection of vaccinal strains on field strains and a high genetic diversity of Ehrlichia ruminantium within geographical locations. To address this issue, we inferred the genetic diversity and population structure of 194 E. ruminantium isolates circulating worldwide using Multilocus Sequence Typing based on lipA, lipB, secY, sodB, and sucA genes. Phylogenetic trees and networks were generated using BEAST and SplitsTree, respectively, and recombination between the different genetic groups was tested using the PHI test for recombination. Our study reveals the repeated occurrence of recombination between E. ruminantium strains, suggesting that it may occur frequently in the genome and has likely played an important role in the maintenance of genetic diversity and the evolution of E. ruminantium. Despite the unclear phylogeny and phylogeography, E. ruminantium isolates are clustered into two main groups: Group 1 (West Africa) and a Group 2 (worldwide) which is represented by West, East, and Southern Africa, Indian Ocean, and Caribbean strains. Some sequence types are common between West Africa and Caribbean and between Southern Africa and Indian Ocean strains. These common sequence types highlight two main introduction events due to the movement of cattle: from West Africa to Caribbean and from Southern Africa to the Indian Ocean islands. Due to the long branch lengths between Group 1 and Group 2, and the propensity for recombination between these groups, it seems that the West African clusters of Subgroup 2 arrived there more recently than the original divergence of the two groups, possibly with the original waves of domesticated ruminants that spread across the African continent several thousand years ago.
ISSN: 2235-2988

hal-01594501
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01594501
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01594501/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01594501/file/paper_MLST_ER_2016_%7B51027B58-C2C7-41C8-9746-BD8A9F387C87%7D.pdf
DOI : 10.3389/fcimb.2016.00111

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of Institut Pasteur. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Ehrlichia is a large genus of obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria transmitted by ticks that cause several emerging infectious diseases in humans and are pathogenic on rodents, ruminants, and dogs. Ehrlichia spp. invade and replicate either in endothelial cells, white blood cells, or within midgut cells and salivary glands of their vector ticks. In this review, we discuss the insights that functional studies are providing on how this group of bacteria exploits their host by subverting host innate immunity and hijacking cellular processes.
ISSN: 1286-4579

hal-01512099
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01512099
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01512099/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01512099/file/Moumene%202016%20Microbes%20and%20Infection_%7BEFBE9395-9C1F-4C96-A09E-A017DC15F940%7D.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.micinf.2015.11.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
The outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Gram-negative bacteria play a crucial role in virulence and pathogenesis. Identification of these proteins represents an important goal for bacterial proteomics, because it aids in vaccine development. Here, we have developed such an approach for Ehrlichia ruminantium, the obligate intracellular bacterium that causes heartwater. A preliminary whole proteome analysis of elementary bodies, the extracellular infectious form of the bacterium, had been performed previously, but information is limited about OMPs in this organism and about their role in the protective immune response. Identification of OMPs is also essential for understanding Ehrlichia’s OM architecture, and how the bacterium interacts with the host cell environment. First, we developed an OMP extraction method using the ionic detergent sarkosyl, which enriched the OM fraction. Second, proteins were separated via one-dimensional electrophoresis, and digested peptides were analyzed via nano-liquid chromatographic separation coupled with mass spectrometry (LCMALDI-TOF/TOF). Of 46 unique proteins identified in the OM fraction, 18 (39%) were OMPs, including 8 proteins involved in cell structure and biogenesis, 4 in transport/virulence, 1 porin, and 5 proteins of unknown function. These experimental data were compared to the predicted subcellular localization of the entire E. ruminantium proteome, using three different algorithms. This work represents the most complete proteome characterization of the OM fraction in Ehrlichia spp. The study indicates that suitable subcellular fractionation experiments combined with straightforward computational analysis approaches are powerful for determining the predominant subcellular localization of the experimentally observed proteins.We identified proteins potentially involved in E. ruminantium athogenesis, which are good novel targets for candidate vaccines. Thus, combining bioinformatics and proteomics, we discovered new OMPs for E. ruminantium that are valuable data for those investigating new vaccines against this organism. In summary, we provide both pioneering data and novel insights into the pathogenesis of this obligate intracellular bacterium.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01203402
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01203402
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01203402/document
https://hal.univ-antilles.fr/hal-01203402/file/2015_Moumene_PLOSONE-1.pdf
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0116758