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Journal of Bacteriology, June 2008, p. 4281-4290, Vol. 190, No. 12
0021-9193/08/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JB.01875-07
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Alina Tirsoaga,2,3,
Didier Blanot,4
Rachel Fernandez,1 and
Martine Caroff2*
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1Z3,1 Equipe Endotoxines, UMR 8619 du CNRS, Institut de Biochimie et Biophysique Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Universite de Paris-Sud, Orsay, France,2 Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Bucharest, 030018 Bucharest, Romania,3 Laboratoire des Enveloppes Bactériennes et Antibiotiques, Institut de Biochimie et Biophysique Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Universite de Paris-Sud, Orsay, France4
Received 29 November 2007/ Accepted 26 March 2008
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The LPS molecular architecture has three regions: a hydrophobic moiety called lipid A, a core oligosaccharide containing 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonoic acid (Kdo), and a serospecific O polysaccharide composed of repeating oligosaccharide units. Lipid A is the LPS anchor in the outer leaflet of the external bacterial membrane. LPS is a so-called pathogen-associated molecular pattern. Unique to bacteria, fungi, and viruses, pathogen-associated molecular patterns are ligands of a family of mammalian transmembrane Toll-like receptors (TLRs), which play a major role in pathogen recognition by the host (34). LPS is a ligand of the TLR4-MD2-CD14 complex (51), and stimulation of this receptor complex leads to activation of signaling pathways, resulting in induction of antimicrobial genes and release of cytokines, thereby initiating inflammatory and immune defense responses. Although most of the biological activities have been associated with the LPS lipid moiety, the role of the polysaccharide moiety is not negligible (42). Indeed, LPS consisting of lipid A carrying only two Kdo residues induces stronger biological activities than isolated or synthetic lipid A (16, 52). The conformation of at least part of lipid A is modified by the Kdos and their charges (8). Furthermore, lipid A itself can be modified via mechanisms such as acylation, deacylation, hydroxylation, and phosphate group substitution with aminoarabinose, galactosamine (GalN), or phosphoethanolamine (51). These modifications can play a significant role in modulating host responses to infection (23).
The Bordetella genus currently contains nine species, most of which are respiratory tract pathogens: Bordetella pertussis causes whooping cough in humans; B. bronchiseptica is commonly found associated with atrophic rhinitis in pigs, snuffles in rabbits, and kennel cough in dogs; and B. avium causes bordetellosis in birds (49, 64).
The LPS structures of six of the Bordetella species (B. pertussis [12, 14, 40, 41, 44, 46], B. parapertussis [22, 45, 58], B. bronchiseptica [22, 45, 58], B. hinzii [5], B. avium [39], and B. trematum [73]) have been reported. As we have shown, Bordetella lipid A structures have a common bisphosphorylated β-1,6 glucosamine (GlcN) disaccharide backbone with two amide-linked C14-OH substituents (4, 17, 24, 79). The nature and distribution of ester-linked fatty acids have so far proved to be species or strain specific. One of the unusual features of Bordetella lipid A compared to those of most other lipids A is the absence of symmetry at the C-3 and C-3' positions. Hypoacylation and the presence of short-chain fatty acids (C10-OH) observed only in the two human Bordetella pathogens further add to the less common structural properties of Bordetella lipid A (4, 11, 79). It is likely that this hypoacylation in the genus, which is known to reduce cytokine induction (38), is an adaptation reducing TLR4 activation and resulting responses.
On the other hand, B. bronchiseptica lipid A is palmitoylated (79), an acylation attributed to a late biosynthetic enzymatic step mediated by PagP. This modification is required for persistent colonization of the mouse respiratory tract (57) and for resistance to antibody-mediated complement lysis during B. bronchiseptica respiratory infection (56).
It has long been shown that lipid A structures differ not only between different genera but often also between species of the same genus as well as among strains of the same species (6, 11, 36, 43, 67). Moreover, a given strain may express different LPS species simultaneously with varying abundance (26, 59). All these variations may affect both the susceptibility to penetration by antibiotics and the immunostimulatory activities of the outer leaflets of gram-negative bacteria. The increasing number of LPS modifications that are being unveiled is partly due to the availability of more-sensitive methods for LPS extraction and analysis and also to the larger screening of different batches of strains.
ArnT (formerly PmrK) is a glycosyl transferase that has been shown to modify lipids A of Salmonella and Pseudomonas with aminoarabinose and those of Francisella with GalN (59). All the sequenced Bordetella strains have a gene encoding an ortholog of ArnT, but it was not known whether these orthologs are functional or whether they produce similarly modified lipids A. The lipid A structures of three B. bronchiseptica strains published earlier (79) were highly heterogeneous and variable among strains; the variability was mostly in the positioning of the fatty acids, but the phosphate groups were not substituted. However, using a recently developed microanalysis technique that is capable of rapid analysis of lipid A under mild conditions, we have shown that the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) spectrum from one batch of B. bronchiseptica strain 4650 lipid A displays additional peaks corresponding to a compound of 161 atomic mass units (amu), which we suggested is likely due to a hexosamine modification of the distal phosphate groups (68). In this report, we provide further characterization of this modification. We show that lipid A from B. bronchiseptica 4650 has a GlcN residue as a substituent on both distal phosphate groups, and we demonstrate that B. pertussis Tohama I lipid A is similarly modified. In addition, a transposon insertion within the B. pertussis arnT locus abolishes this modification. Furthermore, this locus is regulated by the Bordetella BvgAS two-component system, a master virulence regulatory system, suggesting that this ability to modify Bordetella lipid A is a virulence trait. The ability to modify the structure of its lipid A components may allow Bordetella to escape or alter TLR4-dependent host defense mechanisms (23, 51).
(Part of this work was presented at the 8th International Symposium Saga of the Genus Bordetella at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, 7 to 10 November 2006. It was also published, in part, in Alina Tirsoaga's doctoral thesis, Paris-Sud University, Orsay, France, 19 January 2007, and in part in Nico Marr's doctoral thesis, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany, 20 June 2007.)
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LPS and lipid A extraction, purification, and structural analysis. LPSs from B. bronchiseptica strain 4650 (batches 1 and 2) were extracted by a modified enzyme-phenol-water method (35). The preparations were obtained as precipitated gels by ultracentrifugation (105,000 x g, 4°C, 12 h) and then purified by extraction with solvents to remove phospholipids and free fatty acids. B. pertussis LPSs were extracted by an ammonium hydroxide isobutyrate method (24) and further purified. All preparations were treated with proteases and nucleases until thin-layer chromatography (TLC) and UV spectra showed no detectable contaminants (69).
B. pertussis lipids A were obtained by an ammonium hydroxide isobutyrate hydrolysis method (24) and further purified by solvent extractions.
Lipid A dephosphorylation. Lipid A samples (1 mg) isolated from BP338 and BPM2859 were suspended in aqueous hydrofluoric acid (0.4 ml) and kept under stirring in a Teflon tube at 4°C for 48 h as previously described (4, 5). After solvent removal under vacuum in a polypropylene desiccator with a NaOH trap, the residue was suspended in water (0.5 ml) and ultracentrifuged at 4°C and 200,000 x g for 45 min in a Beckman TL100 apparatus. The supernatants containing the free soluble compounds were lyophilized and subjected to hexosamine analysis. The pellet containing the dephosphorylated lipids A was recovered, hydrolyzed with 6 M HCl for 6 h at 95°C, and subjected to hexosamine analysis as well.
Hexosamine analysis. The hexosamine contents of samples were analyzed with a Hitachi L-8800 amino acid analyzer equipped with a 2620MSC-PS column (ScienceTec, Les Ulis, France). The elution protocol recommended by the manufacturer for the separation of amino acids and hexosamines was used. Under these conditions, GlcN, GalN, and mannosamine (ManN) were eluted at 58.8, 60.2, and 60.0 min, respectively, between phenylalanine and lysine (56.4 and 67.0 min, respectively).
TLC. TLC was done on aluminum-backed silica gel plates (Merck). Products were visualized by charring them (in an oven at 150°C for 5 min) after spraying them with 10% sulfuric acid in ethanol or by spraying them with ninhydrin solution. Ten micrograms of lipid A was deposited on the origin of a TLC plate and chromatographed in a solvent mixture of chloroform-methanol-water-triethylamine (12:6:1:0.04) (17).
Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel of LPS. Fifteen-percent polyacrylamide gels were prepared and loaded with samples of 0.2 to 0.5 µg of the starting LPS preparation and its silica gel fractions, electrophoresed as previously described, and then stained (72).
Reduction. Samples were reduced at room temperature with excess sodium tetrahydroborate. The reagent was destroyed with acetic acid and the mixture taken to dryness under reduced pressure.
Peracetylation. Samples were peracetylated with acetic anhydride-dry sodium acetate in sealed tubes at 100°C for 1 h. After drying (50°C, reduced pressure), the product was extracted three times with ethyl acetate.
N acetylation. Samples (1 mg) were suspended in 0.5 ml water mixed with 0.1 ml methanol. One drop of acetic anhydride was added and the mixture left under stirring at room temperature for 1/2 h. After evaporation under vacuum, the process was repeated twice.
Fatty acids. Fatty acids were analyzed after hydrolysis of LPS or lipids A with 4 M HCl for 2 h at 100°C, neutralization, treatment with 2 M NaOH for 2 h at 100°C (4), extraction with ethyl acetate, methylation of the extract by diazomethane, and identification by gas chromatographic (GC) retention time on an HP5 column (30 m by 0.32 mm; Hewlett Packard), using a temperature gradient of 150°C to 300°C at 6°C/min. GC-MS analyses were performed as previously described (67), using an internal standard of octadecanoic acid for quantification. Synthetic acyloxyacyl fatty acids provided by D. Charon were used as a reference.
Nitrous deamination. Nitrous deamination of O-deacylated lipid A (5 mg/ml) was performed as described previously (15). The reaction mixture was centrifuged at 200,000 x g for 1 h to separate these two fractions. After neutralization of the supernatant with sodium hydroxide, reduction with sodium tetrahydroborate was performed as described above. The pellet was analyzed by MALDI-MS, and the reduced and peracetylated supernatant was analyzed by GC-MS.
Identification of glycose absolute configurations. Lipids A (2 mg) were hydrolyzed with 0.5 ml of 4 M HCl at 100°C for 2 h. After cooling and extraction of fatty acids with ethyl acetate, the mixture was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure, and water was added and evaporated from the residue repeatedly until it became neutral. After N acetylation, the GlcN residue was treated with trifluoroacetic acid-R-(-)-2-butanol (3) and analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography on a BP10 (30 m by 0.32 mm; Scientific Glass Engineering) GC column, using a program of 160°C (1 min) to 220°C at 5°C min–1 and 0.6 kPa.
GC. Alditol acetates were analyzed by GC with an HP5 column (30 m by 0.32 mm), using a program of 180°C (2 min) to 240°C at 2°C min–1.
Fatty acid analysis. To determine the total lipid composition, fatty acids were released after hydrolysis of the LPS or lipids A with 4 M HCl for 2 h at 100°C, neutralization, treatment with 2 M NaOH for 2 h at 100°C, extraction with hexane, and methylation of the extract by diazomethane. Identification was performed by GC analysis on an HP5 column (30 m by 0.32 mm) with a program of 150°C to 300°C at 6°C/min. GC-MS was performed with a DB5ms capillary column (30 m) coupled to a Finnigan MAT 95.S MS.
SDS-promoted hydrolysis. Lipid A was prepared by hydrolyzing LPS in 20 mM sodium acetate (pH 4.5)-1% SDS at 100°C for 1 h, followed by lyophilization. Detergent was removed by repeated extraction with acidified ethanol, the LPS/lipid A was recovered by centrifugation and dried under a stream of N2, and the lipid A in the dried pellet was extracted with chloroform-methanol-water (12:6:1) (17).
Lipid A isolation from whole cells. As described by El Hamidi et al. (24), 10 mg of lyophilized, heat-killed bacteria of B. pertussis wild-type and mutant strains BP338 and BPM2859, respectively, were suspended in 400 µl of a mixture of isobutyric acid and 1 M ammonium hydroxide (5:3, vol/vol) and were kept for 2 h at 100°C in a screw-cap test tube under magnetic stirring. The mixture was cooled in ice water and centrifuged (2,000 x g for 15 min). The supernatant was diluted with water (1:1, vol/vol) and lyophilized. The sample was then washed twice with 400 µl of methanol and centrifuged (2,000 x g for 15 min). Finally, the insoluble lipid A was solubilized and extracted once in 100 to 200 µl of a mixture of chloroform-methanol-water (3:1.5:0.25, vol/vol/vol). For 1-mg samples, 100 µl of the different solvent mixtures was used at each step.
Sequential liberation of ester-linked fatty acids by mild-alkali treatment. As described previously (68), the following conditions were applied for the first-step liberation of primary ester-linked fatty acids. Lipid A (200 µg) was suspended at 1 mg/ml in 35% ammonium hydroxide and kept under stirring for 5 h at 50°C. For liberation of the secondary ester-linked fatty acids, lipid A was suspended in 41% methylamine and kept under stirring for 5 h at 37°C. The solutions were dried with a stream of nitrogen, and the residue was taken up in a mixture of chloroform-methanol-water (3:1.5:0.25, vol/vol), followed by TLC and analysis by MALDI-MS.
MALDI-MS. MALDI-MS was carried out in the linear mode under delayed-extraction conditions with a Perseptive Voyager STR (PE Biosystem, France) time-of-flight MS (IBBMC, Orsay, France). Gentisic acid (2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid) was used as a matrix; a suspension of lipid A in chloroform-methanol-water (12:6:1; 1 mg/ml) was desalted with a few grains of Dowex 50W-X8 (H+), and 1 µl was deposited on the target, mixed with 1 µl of the matrix, suspended at 10 mg/ml in water or in 0.1 M aqueous citric acid (66), and dried. Analyte ions were desorbed from the matrix with pulses from a 337-nm nitrogen laser. Spectra were obtained in the negative-ion mode at 20 kV with an average of 128 pulses.
MALDI PSD. MALDI postsource decay (PSD) time-of-flight MS experiments were performed to localize the HexN residues in O-deacylated molecular species. Samples were prepared as described above. The reflectron configuration with delayed-ion extraction was used to obtain the fragment-ion spectrum by metastable decomposition of a preselected ion. The laser power used was the minimum necessary to obtain adequate fragmentation, and the reflectron voltage was stepped down from 20 kV in five steps.
Sequencing of the Tn5lac insertion site. To amplify the flanking regions of the Tn5lac insertion site in B. pertussis mutant BPM2859, inverse PCR (53) was carried out. Genomic DNA was isolated using a DNeasy tissue kit (Qiagen) and digested with DdeI (New England Biolabs). The restriction enzymes were heat inactivated, and the digested DNA fragments were circularized using T4 DNA ligase (New England Biolabs).
A 2.5-µl volume of the ligation reactions was used as a template for a standard PCR with primers Tn5in (CTGGGCTAAATCTGTGTTCTCTTCG) and Tn5out (TCAGATCCTGGAAAACGGGAAAGG). The following cycles were used for the inverse PCR: an initial denaturation step of 3 min at 94°C; 5 cycles of 30 s at 94°C, 1 min at 65°C, and 3 min at 72°C; followed by 30 cycles of 30 s at 94°C, 1 min at 60°C, and 3 min at 72°C; and ending with a last delay of 5 min at 72°C. The PCR products were subjected to 1% agarose gel electrophoresis, excised from a Sybr Safe (Invitrogen)-stained agarose gel, purified by use of a QIAquick gel extraction kit (Qiagen), and sequenced by use of the primer Tn5out at the Nucleic Acid Protein Services (NAPS), University of British Columbia. The resulting sequences were used to query the B. pertussis genome sequence by using BLAST (78).
Semiquantitative reverse transcriptase PCR.
B. pertussis strains were grown in SS broth to mid-logarithmic phase or on BG agar and then harvested in SS broth to give optical densities at 600 nm of
0.3 to 0.6. Total RNA was isolated using an RNAqueous kit (Ambion), and contaminating genomic DNA was removed using a DNA-free kit (Ambion). Absence of contaminating genomic DNA was verified by PCR using >0.1 µg of total RNA and exactly the same conditions as for PCR amplification of cDNA. Reverse transcriptase (RT) PCR analysis of 1 to 2 µg total RNA was carried out by use of SuperScript II reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen) and random primers (Invitrogen). The cDNA generated from exactly 0.1 µg of total RNA was PCR amplified with the gene-specific primers BP0398fw1 (TTCTTCGTCCACCAGCATTTCG), BP0398rev1 (AGCTGCAGGTCGAACGGATAGG), BP0399fw1 (ATCTGTCTGGACGCCGACATGC), BP0399rev1 (CAGGTAACCGCCGTAGGACAGC), Vag8fw1 (CCCCAAGCTTCGTCCGAGCACGGTATCAACG), and Vag8rev1 (CGCTCTAGACACATAGATCCCGGCGACTTCC) and GC melt reagent (Clontech) at a 20% final concentration. Simultaneously, control PCRs were carried out by replacing the cDNA template with either 0.1 to 0.2 µg of total RNA, 0.1 µg of genomic DNA of B. pertussis strain BP338, or distilled H2O. The following cycles were used: an initial denaturation step of 2 min (for reactions with cDNA or total RNA or without a template) or 5 min (for reactions with genomic DNA) at 94°C; followed by 30 cycles of 45 s at 94°C, 45 s at 63°C, and 1 min at 72°C; and a last delay of 10 min at 72°C. PCR products were subjected to 1% agarose gel electrophoresis and visualized by Sybr Safe staining (Invitrogen).
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FIG. 1. MALDI negative-ion mass spectra of O-deacylated B. bronchiseptica strain 4650 batch 2 lipid A: direct time-of-flight spectrum (a), PSD spectrum of the 1,113-m/z precursor ions (b), and PSD spectrum of the 1,274-m/z precursor ions (c). (d) Negative-ion mass spectrum of N-acetylated (+Ac), O-deacylated B. bronchiseptica lipid A.
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The deesterified B. bronchiseptica strain 4650 lipid A was N acetylated and reanalyzed by MALDI-MS. Additional peaks were observed at +42 amu and +84 amu, indicating N acetylation of the two free amino groups present in this lipid A sample (Fig. 1d).
Identification of a B. pertussis arnT locus. Weiss et al. (77) identified mutants of B. pertussis deficient in BvgAS-regulated genes by use of the promoter fusion transposon Tn5lac. A later study (48) demonstrated that in one of these transposon mutants, BPM2859, Tn5lac maps to a previously uncharacterized genomic region of B. pertussis (locus tag BP0398), encoding a putative glycosyl transferase with significant homology to ArnT proteins of gram-negative bacteria, including those of Salmonella, Pseudomonas, and Francisella species (51, 59). The annotated genome sequence of B. pertussis Tohama I (54) revealed BP0398 to be part of an as-yet-uncharacterized putative glycosylation locus that comprises another predicted glycosyl transferase gene (locus tag BP0399) just upstream of BP0398 (Fig. 2A). The putative gene product of BP0399 is homologous to ArnC (formerly PmrF) as well as to GtrB proteins, which are also glycosyl transferases found in gram-negative bacteria (2, 10). These loci appear to be present and intact in all other Bordetella strains sequenced so far, including B. bronchiseptica RB50 (locus tags BB4269 and BB4268), B. parapertussis 12822 (locus tags BPP3825 and BPP3824), and B. avium 197N (locus tags BAV2928 and BAV2927) (54, 63).
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FIG. 2. (A) Schematic representation of the genomic organization of the glycosylation loci BP0399 and BP0398 in B. pertussis strain Tohama I. Orthologous genes are found in other bordetellae, including B. bronchiseptica RB50 (locus tags BB4269 and BB4268), B. parapertussis hu 12822 (locus tags BPP3825 and BPP3824), and B. avium 197N (locus tags BAV2928 and BAV2927) (54, 63). BP0399 and BP0398 encode putative glycosyl transferases belonging to CAZy families 2 and 83, respectively (1). BP0397 and BP0396 encode putative proteins of as-yet-unknown function. #, characters in capital indicate imperfect heptads identified by the BvgA binding site motif, and characters in lowercase indicate a base between the heptads (19). (B) Results of semiquantitative RT-PCR analysis (boxed) and PCR controls of BP0399, BP0398, and vag8 with B. pertussis strain BP338 (wild type) and its isogenic mutant BP347 (bvgS::Tn5) after growth in SS broth and on BG agar. , RT-PCRs using cDNA from 100 ng total RNA as a template; , control PCRs using 100 to 200 ng total RNA as a template; +, control PCRs using 100 ng genomic DNA as a template; –, control PCRs without a template.
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Comparison of LPS and lipid A structures isolated from B. pertussis wild-type and mutant strains. Given that bordetellae possess an ArnT ortholog, we hypothesized that lipid A from wild-type B. pertussis had a hexosamine modification, whereas the transposon mutant BPM2859, encoding a disrupted BP0398, did not. LPSs from B. pertussis wild-type strain BP338 and its isogenic transposon mutant BPM2859 were examined. LPS was extracted from lyophilized, heat-killed lysates of SS broth-grown bacteria by a mixture of isobutyric acid and 1 M ammonium hydroxide (5:3, vol/vol) (24). They were compared by TLC and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and no major migration difference was observed under these conditions (not shown). However, comparison of LPS MALDI mass spectra showed two additional peaks at +161 amu at m/z values of 1,720 and 4,216 in the wild-type strain BP338 (Fig. 3a) that were absent from mutant strain BPM2859 (Fig. 3b). The peak at an m/z of 1,720 (1,559 + 161) corresponded to the lipid fragment containing hexosamine substituents, whereas the second peak, at an m/z of 4,216 (4,055 + 161), was clearly identified in the region corresponding to B. pertussis LPS molecular species (Fig. 3b).
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FIG. 3. Comparison of negative-ion MALDI mass spectra of B. pertussis LPS and lipid A. Results are shown for LPS isolated from the mutant BPM2859 (a) and the wild-type BP338 (b) strains and lipid A isolated from the mutant BPM2859 (c) and the wild-type BP338 (d) strains. The crossed peaks at m/z values of 1,349 in panels c and d correspond to a contaminant.
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PSD MALDI analysis of the lipid A peaks at m/z values of 1,494, 1,720, and 1,881. All the extra peaks observed in B. pertussis wild-type lipid A were tested by PSD fragmentation (Fig. 4a, b, and c). The peak at an m/z of 1,881 generated the two other peaks, while peaks at m/z values of 1,720 and 1,494 gave peaks at m/z values of 1,559 and 1,333, respectively. This confirmed that all extra peaks were related to the free phosphate lipid A molecular species and corresponded to the newly described lipid A molecules.
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FIG. 4. PSD MALDI negative-ion mass spectra of the extra-HexN-containing molecular species of lipid A isolated from the B. pertussis wild-type strain BP338: 1,494-m/z (a), 1,720-m/z (b), and 1,881-m/z (c) precursor ions.
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FIG. 5. MALDI negative-ion mass spectra of O-deacylated lipid A from BPM2859 (a) and BP338 (b) strains. (c) PSD MALDI spectrum of the precursor ion from spectrum b at an m/z of 1,274.
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To confirm these data, the lipid A samples were subjected to nitrous deamination as previously described (12), and the hexosamines with free amino groups present in the lipid A were converted after reduction to 2,5-anhydro mannitol, easily detected and differentiated by GC. The presence of other sugars would have generated different compounds under these conditions, like glucitol or 2,5-anhydro-talitol from ManN or GalN residues, respectively (33). The deaminated lipid A residue was tested by MALDI-MS, and it was confirmed that both GlcNs had been removed from the phosphate groups by the process, a single peak at an m/z of 952 being observed (not shown).
To further substantiate that the HexN was indeed GlcN, lipids A isolated from the B. pertussis wild-type strain BP338 and mutant BPM2859 were treated with hydrofluoric acid and the soluble released substituents were injected into an amino acid analyzer (Fig. 6) (3). A peak retention time of 58.8 min, corresponding to GlcN (Fig. 6a), was seen in the wild-type supernatant sample (Fig. 6c), whereas no HexN peak was detected in the supernatant sample of the mutant strain (Fig. 6d). Both dephosphorylated lipid A residues present in the pellet were hydrolyzed with hydrochloric acid and tested under the same conditions. This revealed peaks corresponding to the standard GlcN retention time (not shown), as expected for the composition of the disaccharide lipid A backbone. Taken together, these data indicate that lipid A of Bordetella is modified by a GlcN at both phosphate groups.
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FIG. 6. Amino acid analyzer elution profiles of hydrofluoric acid-released lipid A substituents. (a) Standard GlcN; (b) standard GalN; (c) derivatives released from wild-type strain BP338 lipid A; (d) derivatives released from mutant strain BPM2859. Rt, retention time.
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linkage (17). The stability of the phosphate anomers on the B. pertussis lipid A sample was thus defined under mild-acidic conditions. The two amino groups in the newly isolated lipid A were acetylated (Fig. 1d), and the preparation was exposed to the acidic conditions that break β bonds. MALDI-MS analysis after the hydrolysis showed that the sample was unmodified, allowing us to conclude that both additional GlcNs present in the lipid A were
linked and to propose the structure presented in Fig. 7.
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FIG. 7. Proposed structure for strain BP338 B. pertussis lipid A penta-acyl molecular species representing both phosphate groups substituted with GlcNs. Dotted-line bonds indicate incompleteness of the substitutions, leading to structures with one or no substituting GlcNs (m/z = 1,720 or 1,559, respectively). MW, molecular weight.
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The GlcN modification of Bordetella lipid A described in this report is reminiscent of the L-Ara4N lipid A modifications seen in Salmonella and Pseudomonas and the GalN lipid A modification seen in Francisella (51, 59). The glycosyl transferase ultimately responsible for catalyzing the addition of a pentosamine/hexosamine to lipid A in these bacteria is ArnT (formerly PmrK) (71).
The genetic basis for a hexosamine modification on the phosphate moiety of lipid A has been determined for Salmonella, Pseudomonas, and Francisella. The seven- or eight-gene pmrF operon, which is regulated by PmrA/B, functions to synthesize and transfer L-Ara4N to Salmonella and Pseudomonas lipids A, thereby conferring resistance to polymyxin B (25). In vitro data suggest that the glycosyl transferase ArnC (formerly PmrF) catalyzes the formation of undecaprenyl phosphate (UndP)-β-sugar by use of activated UDP-sugar and the lipid carrier UndP as substrates (10), whereas the glycosyl transferase ArnT (formerly PmrK) transfers the sugar moiety (in the case of Salmonella, L-Ara4N) from bactoprenol (UndP-sugar) to lipid A, which is believed to proceed in the periplasm (71). The modified lipid A then transits to the outer membrane, where it is incorporated into the outer leaflet. More recently, Francisella tularensis subspecies novicida lipid A was shown to be modified by GalN, a process mediated by an ArnT ortholog (74). Here, we showed that the presence of positively charged substituents on the phosphate groups of lipid A of B. pertussis requires the expression of a Bvg-regulated gene with the locus tag BP0398, encoding a putative protein orthologous to ArnT of other gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, transcription analysis indicates that B. pertussis locus BP0398 is cotranscribed with an adjacent gene, locus BP0399, encoding a putative ArnC-like protein. This is in accordance with results of a previous study by Cummings et al. (19), who identified these genes as Bvg activated in B. pertussis and B. bronchiseptica by the use of whole-genome microarray analysis. We propose that the gene products of B. pertussis loci BP0398 and BP0399 as well as their counterparts in other bordetellae likely serve a function similar to that of ArnT and ArnC proteins of other gram-negative bacteria (Fig. 8).
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FIG. 8. Model for the catalytic reaction mediated by the gene products of BP0399 and BP0398 of B. pertussis Tohama I derivatives, representative of the orthologous proteins of other bordetellae. Hypothesized reactions are based on amino acid sequence similarities of the gene products of BP0399 and BP0398 to ArnC/GtrB and ArnT proteins, respectively. GlcN is symbolized by a hexagon. PP, periplasm; IM, inner membrane; CP, cytoplasm; Pi, phosphate (inorganic).
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None of the four B. pertussis strains analyzed earlier in this laboratory or samples received from other collaborators carried substituents on the lipid A phosphate groups, suggesting strain-specific variations in expression of the lipid A modification locus studied here. This is not unusual in Bordetella, as recent studies have demonstrated substantial transcriptional and genetic diversity among different isolates of the same Bordetella species (19, 20, 21). Little is known of how this affects virulence, but neutralization of phosphate groups is known to strengthen bacterial resistance to antibacterial peptides (30). It remains to be seen whether this is true for B. pertussis.
In the present work, in order to preserve the phosphate groups and their substituents during lipid A separation from the oligosaccharide, especially the one on GlcN I on account of its lability, we used SDS-promoted mild-acid hydrolysis or, alternatively, β elimination. The latter procedure also offers mild conditions when the glycosidic phosphate group and possible substituent have to be preserved. It requires more LPS and confirmation that the adjacent Kdo molecule has free OH groups at C-7 and C-8. When only small amounts of bacteria were available, LPS extraction or lipid A cleavage was performed directly on bacterial cells; this is why we applied these methods to the B. pertussis wild-type and mutant strains. This method was shown to be as mild as, if not milder than, the SDS-promoted hydrolysis. We do not believe that hydrolyses could be responsible for a total loss of GlcN substituents when present and be the reason for the absence of these elements in previous reports. GlcN at C-4 is acid resistant, and the one at C-1 could be only partially lost together with the phosphate group under classical mild-acid conditions.
The structural modification capacities of Bordetella lipids A now attain seven positions of a single molecule: (i) the characteristic fatty acid asymmetry and variability at C-3 and C-3', shown to be specific in B. pertussis and B. parapertussis but variable with B. bronchiseptica (79); (ii) the 2-hydroxylation of C14 in the acyloxyacyl position at C-2' with B. avium, B. trematum, and B. hinzii (4, 11) (unpublished data); and (iii) the additional substitution of a C16 in the secondary position at C-3', reported to occur in B. bronchiseptica and B. hinzii (57), and this newly described GlcN substitution of the phosphate groups in B. bronchiseptica and B. pertussis, also detected in other bordetellae (M. Caroff, unpublished data).
The participation of Alexey Novikov (IBBMC, Orsay, France) for MS experiments and work on figures was greatly appreciated. We thank Lando Robillo for help with the B. pertussis sample preparation.
Published ahead of print on 18 April 2008. ![]()
N. Marr and A. Tirsoaga contributed equally to this work. ![]()
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B through human toll-like receptor 4. Infect. Immun. 70:6043-6047.This article has been cited by other articles:
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