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Using a Bacterial Pathogen to Probe for Cellular and Organismic-level Host Responses
08:38

Using a Bacterial Pathogen to Probe for Cellular and Organismic-level Host Responses

Published on: February 22, 2019

Anaplasma phagocytophilum APH_1387 is expressed throughout bacterial intracellular development and localizes to the

Bernice Huang1, Matthew J Troese, Shaojing Ye

  • 1Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Molecular Medicine Research Building, 1220 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23298-0678, USA.

Infection and Immunity
|March 10, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Researchers identified APH_1387, a novel Anaplasma phagocytophilum protein, which is the first discovered to associate with the Anaplasma phagocytophilum-occupied vacuolar membrane (AVM). This protein actively modifies the host cell vacuole, crucial for pathogen survival.

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Cell Biology
  • Pathogen-host interactions

Background:

  • Obligate vacuolar pathogens create specialized vacuoles for survival.
  • Anaplasma phagocytophilum causes human granulocytic anaplasmosis, a serious emerging disease.
  • Understanding pathogen-derived proteins is key to host cell manipulation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify proteins produced by Anaplasma phagocytophilum that localize to the host vacuole.
  • To characterize the first identified A. phagocytophilum protein associated with the vacuolar membrane.
  • To provide evidence of active host vacuole modification by A. phagocytophilum.

Main Methods:

  • Protein identification and localization studies.
  • SDS-PAGE analysis to determine protein molecular weight.
  • Immunofluorescence microscopy to detect protein presence on bacterial and vacuolar membranes.

Main Results:

  • APH_1387 (P100) is the first identified A. phagocytophilum protein to associate with the Anaplasma phagocytophilum-occupied vacuolar membrane (AVM).
  • APH_1387 accumulates on the AVM throughout infection in various human and tick cell lines, and in mouse neutrophils.
  • The protein is detected on intravacuolar bacteria but not on extracellular bacteria.

Conclusions:

  • APH_1387 actively associates with and modifies the host cell-derived vacuole.
  • This finding provides direct evidence of A. phagocytophilum's strategy for creating a unique organelle for its survival.
  • APH_1387 is a key factor in the vacuolar pathogen's interaction with its host cell.

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