Heterologous expression of pathogen-specific genes ligA and ligB in the saprophyte Leptospira biflexa confers enhanced adhesion to cultured cells and fibronectin

Cláudio Pereira Figueira (1) , Julio Croda (1, 2) , Henry Choy (3, 4) , David Haake (3, 4) , Mitermayer Reis (1) , Albert Ko (1, 5) , Mathieu Picardeau (6)

1 FIOCRUZ - Fundação Oswaldo Cruz / Oswaldo Cruz Foundation
2 Faculty of Health Sciences
3 Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Health Care System
4 Department of Medicine
5 Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
6 Biologie des Spirochètes / Biology of Spirochetes

Background
In comparison to other bacterial pathogens, our knowledge of the molecular basis of the pathogenesis of leptospirosis is extremely limited. An improved understanding of leptospiral pathogenetic mechanisms requires reliable tools for functional genetic analysis. Leptospiral immunoglobulin-like (Lig) proteins are surface proteins found in pathogenic Leptospira, but not in saprophytes. Here, we describe a system for heterologous expression of the Leptospira interrogans genes ligA and ligB in the saprophyte Leptospira biflexa serovar Patoc.
Results
The genes encoding LigA and LigB under the control of a constitutive spirochaetal promoter were inserted into the L. biflexa replicative plasmid. We were able to demonstrate expression and surface localization of LigA and LigB in L. biflexa. We found that the expression of the lig genes significantly enhanced the ability of transformed L. biflexa to adhere in vitro to extracellular matrix components and cultured cells, suggesting the involvement of Lig proteins in cell adhesion.
Conclusions
This work reports a complete description of the system we have developed for heterologous expression of pathogen-specific proteins in the saprophytic L. biflexa. We show that expression of LigA and LigB proteins from the pathogen confers a virulence-associated phenotype on L. biflexa, namely adhesion to eukaryotic cells and fibronectin in vitro. This study indicates that L. biflexa can serve as a surrogate host to characterize the role of key virulence factors of the causative agent of leptospirosis.

Domaines: Microbiologie et Parasitologie

Cláudio Pereira Figueira, Julio Croda, Henry Choy, David Haake, Mitermayer Reis, et al.. Heterologous expression of pathogen-specific genes ligA and ligB in the saprophyte Leptospira biflexa confers enhanced adhesion to cultured cells and fibronectin. BMC Microbiology, 2011, 11 (1), pp.129. ⟨10.1186/1471-2180-11-129⟩. ⟨pasteur-00629083⟩