Evidence of Brucella abortus OPS dictating uptake and restricting NF-kappaB activation in murine macrophages

Smooth Brucella abortus S2308 is virulent while rough derivatives are attenuated. Intracellular killing is often blamed for these differences. In the studies described, uptake kinetics and interaction of S2308 and S2308 manBA::Tn5 (CA180) rough mutants with macrophages were investigated. The results revealed that smooth B. abortus was rapidly internalized, achieving a maximum level in less than 5 min without additional uptake over the next 30 min. In contrast, continued uptake of the rough mutant was observed and only achieves a maximum level after 30 min. The results were confirmed by the differences in F-actin polymerization, lipid raft staining, early endosome colocalization and electron microscopic observations after smooth and rough Brucella infection. We also demonstrated for the first time that uptake of S2308, but not rough mutant CA180 was PI3-kinase and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) dependent. Differences in uptake were associated with differences in macrophage activation with regard to NF-kappaB translocation and cytokine production. These results provide evidence that the presence of B. abortus OPS dictates the interactions between Brucella and specific cell surface receptors minimizing macrophage activation and enhancing Brucella survival and/or persistence.