Faculty Bibliography

Staphylococcus aureus infections are a growing health burden worldwide, and paramount to this bacterium's pathogenesis is the production of virulence factors, including pore-forming leukotoxins. Leukocidin A/B (LukAB) is a recently discovered toxin that kills primary human phagocytes, though the underlying mechanism of cell death is not understood. We demonstrate here that LukAB is a major contributor to the death of human monocytes. Using a variety of in vitro and ex vivo intoxication and infection models, we found that LukAB activates Caspase 1, promotes IL-1beta secretion and induces necrosis in human monocytes. Using THP1 cells as a model for human monocytes, we found that the inflammasome components NLRP3 and ASC are required for LukAB-mediated IL-1beta secretion and necrotic cell death. S. aureus was shown to kill human monocytes in a LukAB dependent manner under both extracellular and intracellular ex vivo infection models. Although LukAB-mediated killing of THP1 monocytes from extracellular S. aureus requires ASC, NLRP3 and the LukAB-receptor CD11b, LukAB-mediated killing from phagocytosed S. aureus is independent of ASC or NLRP3, but dependent on CD11b. Altogether, this study provides insight into the nature of LukAB-mediated killing of human monocytes. The discovery that S. aureus LukAB provokes differential host responses in a manner dependent on the cellular contact site is critical for the development of anti-infective/anti-inflammatory therapies that target the NLRP3 inflammasome.

Resistance and tolerance are two defense strategies employed by the host against microbial threats. Autophagy-mediated degradation of bacteria has been extensively described as a major resistance mechanism. Here we find that the dominant function of autophagy proteins during infections with the epidemic community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 is to mediate tolerance rather than resistance. Atg16L1 hypomorphic mice (Atg16L1HM), which have reduced autophagy, were highly susceptible to lethality in both sepsis and pneumonia models of USA300 infection. Autophagy confers protection by limiting the damage caused by alpha-toxin, particularly to endothelial cells. Remarkably, Atg16L1HM mice display enhanced survival rather than susceptibility upon infection with alpha-toxin-deficient S. aureus. These results identify an essential role for autophagy in tolerance to Staphylococcal disease and highlight how a single virulence factor encoded by a pathogen can determine whether a given host factor promotes tolerance or resistance.

Staphylococcus aureus is a significant cause of chronic biofilm infections on medical implants. We investigated the biofilm regulatory cascade and discovered that the repressor of toxins (Rot) is part of this pathway. A USA300 community-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) strain deficient in Rot was unable to form a biofilm using multiple different assays, and we found rot mutants in other strain lineages were also biofilm deficient. By performing a global analysis of transcripts and protein production controlled by Rot, we observed that all the secreted protease genes were upregulated in a rot mutant, and we hypothesized that this regulation could be responsible for the biofilm phenotype. To investigate this question, we determined that Rot bound to the protease promoters, and we observed that activity levels of these enzymes, in particular the cysteine proteases, were increased in a rot mutant. By inactivating these proteases, biofilm capacity was restored to the mutant, demonstrating they are responsible for the biofilm negative phenotype. Finally, we tested the rot mutant in a mouse catheter model of biofilm infection and observed a significant reduction in biofilm burden. Thus S. aureus uses the transcription factor Rot to repress secreted protease levels in order to build a biofilm.

We postulated that the activation of proinflammatory signaling by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain USA300 is a major factor in the pathogenesis of severe pneumonia and a target for immunomodulation. Local activation of T cells in the lung was a conserved feature of multiple strains of S. aureus, in addition to USA300. The pattern of Vbeta chain activation was consistent with known superantigens, but deletion of SelX or SEK and SEQ was not sufficient to prevent T-cell activation, indicating the participation of multiple genes. Using Rag2(-/-), Cd4(-/-), and Cd28(-/-) mice, we observed significantly improved clearance of MRSA from the airways and decreased lung pathology, compared with findings for wild-type controls. The improved outcome correlated with decreased production of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor, KC, interleukin 6, and interleukin 1beta). Our data suggest that T-cell-mediated hypercytokinemia induced by infection with MRSA strain USA300 contributes to pathogenesis and may be a therapeutic target for improving outcomes of this common infection in a clinical setting.

The acquisition and metabolism of iron (Fe) by the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus is critical for disease progression. S. aureus requires Fe to synthesize inorganic cofactors called iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters, which are required for functional Fe-S proteins. In this study we investigated the mechanisms utilized by S. aureus to metabolize Fe-S clusters. We identified that S. aureus utilizes the Suf biosynthetic system to synthesize Fe-S clusters and we provide genetic evidence suggesting that the sufU and sufB gene products are essential. Additional biochemical and genetic analyses identified Nfu as a Fe-S cluster carrier, which aids in the maturation of Fe-S proteins. We find that deletion of the nfu gene negatively impacts staphylococcal physiology and pathogenicity. A nfu mutant accumulates both increased intracellular non-incorporated Fe and endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting in DNA damage. In addition, a strain lacking Nfu is sensitive to exogenously supplied ROS and reactive nitrogen species. Congruous with ex vivo findings, a nfu mutant strain is more susceptible to oxidative killing by human polymorphonuclear leukocytes and displays decreased tissue colonization in a murine model of infection. We conclude that Nfu is necessary for staphylococcal pathogenesis and establish Fe-S cluster metabolism as an attractive antimicrobial target.

Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for a large number of diverse infections worldwide. In order to support its pathogenic lifestyle, S. aureus has to regulate the expression of virulence factors in a coordinated fashion. One of the central regulators of the S. aureus virulence regulatory networks is the transcription factor Repressor of Toxins (Rot). Rot plays a key role in regulating S. aureus virulence through activation or repression of promoters that control expression of a large number of critical virulence factors. However, the mechanism by which Rot-mediates gene regulation has remained elusive. Here, we have we determined the crystal structure of Rot and used this information to probe the contribution made by specific residues to Rot function. Rot was found to form a dimer, with each monomer harboring a Winged-Helix-Turn-Helix (WHTH) DNA binding motif. Despite an overall acidic pI, the asymmetric electrostatic charge profile suggests that Rot can orient the WHTH domain to bind DNA. Structure-based site-directed mutagenesis studies demonstrated that R91, at the tip of the wing, plays an important role in DNA-binding, likely through interaction with the minor groove. We also found that Y66, predicted to bind within the major groove, contributes to Rot interaction with target promoters. Evaluation of Rot binding to different activated and repressed promoters revealed that certain mutations on Rot exhibit promoter-specific effects, suggesting for the first time that Rot differentially interacts with target promoters. This work provides insight into a precise mechanism by which Rot controls virulence factor regulation in S. aureus.

Mutations that alter virulence and antibiotic susceptibility arise and persist during Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. However, an experimental system demonstrating transmission following bacteremia has been lacking, and thus implications of within-host adaptation for between-host transmission are unknown. We report that S. aureus disseminates to the gastrointestinal tract of mice following intravenous injection and readily transmits to cohoused naive mice. Both intestinal dissemination and transmission were linked to the production of virulence factors based on gene deletion studies of the sae and agr two-component systems. Furthermore, antimicrobial selection for antibiotic-resistant S. aureus displaced susceptible S. aureus from the intestine of infected hosts, which led to the preferential transmission and dominance of antibiotic-resistant bacteria among cohoused untreated mice. These findings establish an animal model to investigate gastrointestinal dissemination and transmission of S. aureus and suggest that adaptation during the course of systemic infection has implications beyond the level of a single host.

Establishment of long-lived cellular reservoirs of HIV-1 represents a major therapeutic challenge to virus eradication. In this study, we utilized a human primary cell model of HIV-1 latency to evaluate the requirements for efficient virus reactivation from, and the selective elimination of, latently infected human T cells. Ectopic expression of BCL2 supported the replication and spread of R5-tropic HIV-1 in activated CD4+ T cells. After IL-2 withdrawal, the HIV-1-infected T cells survived as resting cells for several months. Unexpectedly, these resting T cells continue to produce detectable levels of infectious virus, albeit at a lower frequency than cells maintained in IL-2. In the presence of HIV-1 inhibitors, reactivation of the resting T cells with gammac-cytokines and allogeneic dendritic cells completely extinguished HIV-1 infectivity. We also evaluated the ability of the bacterial LukED cytotoxin to target and kill CCR5-expressing cells. After gammac-cytokine stimulation, LukED treatment eliminated both HIV-1-infected resting cells and the non-infected CCR5+ cells. Importantly, complete clearance of in vitro HIV-1 reservoirs by LukED required a lower threshold of cytokine signals relative to HIV-1 inhibitors. Thus, the primary T cell-based HIV-1 latency model could facilitate the development of novel agents and therapeutic strategies that could effectively eradicate HIV-1.

Defense strategies against infectious threats can be divided into resistance and tolerance mechanisms. Resistance mechanisms involve reduction of pathogen burden and include many established examples, one of them being the destruction of intracellular pathogens through autophagy (xenophagy). Tolerance mechanisms protect the host from damage caused by the pathogen or the immune response independent of pathogen load. The role of autophagy in maintaining homeostasis in response to environmental stress suggests that this pathway is involved in tolerance to a variety of infectious agents. However, demonstrating that autophagy promotes tolerance independent of its role in resistance has been a challenge, especially during infection by clinically relevant pathogens. We have found that autophagy protects against Staphylococcus aureus infection by maintaining tolerance toward a pore forming toxin secreted by the bacteria, alpha-toxin.