Hunt Jonathan J, Larabee Jason L, Ballard Jimmy D
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.
mSphere. 2017 Aug 2;2(4). doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00268-17. eCollection 2017 Jul-Aug.
TcdB2 enters cells with a higher efficiency than TcdB1 and exhibits an overall higher level of toxicity. However, the TcdB2-specific sequences that account for more efficient cell entry have not been reported. In this study, we examined the contribution of carboxy-terminal sequence differences to TcdB activity by comparing the binding, uptake, and endosomal localization of TcdB1 and TcdB2 or selected recombinant fragments of these proteins. Our findings suggest that sequence differences in the amino acid 1753 to 1851 region proximal to the combined repetitive oligopeptide domain (CROP) support enhanced uptake of TcdB2 and localization of toxin in acidified endosomes. In the absence of this region, the CROP domains of both forms of the toxin exhibited similar levels of cell interaction, while the addition of amino acids 1753 to 1851 greatly increased toxin binding by only TcdB2. Moreover, the amino acid 1753 to 2366 fragment of TcdB2, but not TcdB1, accumulated to detectable levels in acidified endosomes. Unexpectedly, we discovered an unusual relationship between endocytosis and the efficiency of cell binding for TcdB1 and TcdB2 wherein inhibition of endocytosis by a chemical inhibitor or incubation at a low temperature resulted in a dramatic reduction in cell binding. These findings provide information on sequence variations that may contribute to differences in TcdB1 and TcdB2 toxicity and reveal a heretofore unknown connection between endocytosis and cell binding for this toxin. TcdB is a major virulence factor produced by , a leading cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Hypervirulent strains of encode a variant of TcdB (TcdB2) that is more toxic than toxin derived from historical strains (TcdB1). Though TcdB1 and TcdB2 exhibit 92% overall identity, a 99-amino-acid region previously associated with cell entry and spanning amino acids 1753 to 1851 has only 77% sequence identity. Results from the present study indicate that the substantial sequence variation in this region could contribute to the differences in cell entry between TcdB1 and TcdB2 and possibly explain TcdB2's heightened toxicity. Finally, during the course of these studies, an unusual aspect of TcdB cell entry was discovered wherein cell binding appeared to depend on endocytosis. These findings provide insight into TcdB's variant forms and their mechanisms of cell entry.
TcdB2进入细胞的效率高于TcdB1,且整体毒性水平更高。然而,尚未有关于TcdB2中导致更高效细胞进入的特定序列的报道。在本研究中,我们通过比较TcdB1和TcdB2或这些蛋白的选定重组片段的结合、摄取和内体定位,研究了羧基末端序列差异对TcdB活性的影响。我们的研究结果表明,在联合重复寡肽结构域(CROP)近端的氨基酸1753至1851区域的序列差异支持TcdB2的增强摄取以及毒素在酸化内体中的定位。在没有该区域的情况下,两种形式毒素的CROP结构域表现出相似水平的细胞相互作用,而添加氨基酸1753至1851仅极大地增加了TcdB2的毒素结合。此外,TcdB2的氨基酸1753至2366片段而非TcdB1的该片段在酸化内体中积累到可检测水平。出乎意料的是,我们发现TcdB1和TcdB2的内吞作用与细胞结合效率之间存在一种不寻常的关系,即化学抑制剂对内吞作用的抑制或在低温下孵育会导致细胞结合显著减少。这些发现提供了可能导致TcdB1和TcdB2毒性差异的序列变异信息,并揭示了这种毒素在内吞作用与细胞结合之间迄今未知的联系。TcdB是由[细菌名称]产生的主要毒力因子,[细菌名称]是抗生素相关性腹泻的主要病因。[细菌名称]的高毒力菌株编码一种TcdB变体(TcdB2),其毒性比历史菌株衍生的毒素(TcdB1)更强。尽管TcdB1和TcdB2的总体同一性为92%,但先前与细胞进入相关且跨越氨基酸1753至1851的99个氨基酸区域的序列同一性仅为77%。本研究结果表明,该区域的大量序列变异可能导致TcdB1和TcdB2在细胞进入方面的差异,并可能解释TcdB2毒性增强的原因。最后,在这些研究过程中,发现了TcdB细胞进入的一个不寻常方面,即细胞结合似乎依赖于内吞作用。这些发现为TcdB的变体形式及其细胞进入机制提供了见解。