Tractable Mammalian Cell Infections with Protozoan-primed Bacteria

Summary

This technique provides a method to harvest, normalize and quantify intracellular growth of bacterial pathogens that are pre-cultivated in natural protozoan host cells prior to infections of mammalian cells. This method can be modified to accommodate a wide variety of host cells for the priming stage as well as target cell types.

Abstract

Many intracellular bacterial pathogens use freshwater protozoans as a natural reservoir for proliferation in the environment. Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaires' pneumonia, gains a pathogenic advantage over in vitro cultured bacteria when first harvested from protozoan cells prior to infection of mammalian macrophages. This suggests that important virulence factors may not be properly expressed in vitro. We have developed a tractable system for priming L. pneumophila through its natural protozoan host Acanthamoeba castellanii prior to mammalian cell infection. The contribution of any virulence factor can be examined by comparing intracellular growth of a mutant strain to wild-type bacteria after protozoan priming. GFP-expressing wild-type and mutant L. pneumophila strains are used to infect protozoan monolayers in a priming step and allowed to reach late stages of intracellular growth. Fluorescent bacteria are then harvested from these infected cells and normalized by spectrophotometry to generate comparable numbers of bacteria for a subsequent infection into mammalian macrophages. For quantification, live bacteria are monitored after infection using fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and by colony plating. This technique highlights and relies on the contribution of host cell-dependent gene expression by mimicking the environment that would be encountered in a natural acquisition route. This approach can be modified to accommodate any bacterium that uses an intermediary host as a means for gaining a pathogenic advantage.

Introduction

Numerous bacterial pathogens have adapted generalized strategies to exploit host cells for survival and replication in an intracellular compartment. In many instances, pathogenic mechanisms are similar between protozoan and metazoan cells. However, these two microenvironments are very different and can result in differential expression of virulence factors^1-4. The Legionnaires' disease bacterium Legionella pneumophila is ubiquitously associated with freshwater environments worldwide⁵. Importantly, L. pneumophila cultivated in protozoan cells prior to infection of human monocytes gain a pathogenic advantage, suggesting that globa....

Protocol

1. Preparation of Legionella pneumophila Cultures for Priming Stage Infections

1. Transform all L. pneumophila strains used in the assay with the plasmid pAM239, encoding an isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) inducible green fluorescent protein (GFP)²⁸. Streak the bacterial strains onto iron and cysteine supplemented N-(2-Acetamido)-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid (ACES) buffered charcoal yeast extract agar (CYEA) containing 6.25 μg/ml chloramphenicol (CM) (for plasmid maintenance) and incubate for 72 hr at 37 °C.
2. Transfer an inoculum of the bacterial strain into supplemented ACES buffer....

Results

A typical result for the entire infection process is outlined in Figure 1. Live cell fluorescence micrographs depicting monolayers of A.castellanii infected with wild-type L. pneumophila during the priming stage is shown in Figure 1A. A successful measure of the priming step would lead to a population of approximately 90% of the host cells containing large vacuoles populated with GFP labeled bacteria at this MOI. At 18 hr post-infection, most A. castellanii cel.......

Discussion

Bacterial gene expression is tightly controlled through a combination of life cycle progression and response to signals in the surrounding microenvironment. Vacuolar pathogens such as L. pneumophila respond to a multitude of host cell-derived cues when compartmentalized in a phagosome. As a collective result of nutrient exhaustion in the host cell, the bacterium compensates by expressing factors required for successful dissemination to a subsequent host cell²⁵. L. pneumophila adapted to effic.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Reagent
chloramphenicol	Fisher Scientific	BP904-100	antibiotic
IPTG	Fisher Scientific	BP1755-10
ACES	Sigma	A9758-1KG	media component
ATCC medium: 712 PYG	ATCC		growth media for protozoans
1X PBS	Fisher Scientific	SH30256FS	phosphate buffered saline
activated charcoal	Fisher Scientific	C272-212	media component
yeast extract	Fisher Scientific	BP1422-500	media component
peptone	BD Diagnostics	211677	media component
agar	Fisher Scientific	BP1423-2	media component
L-cysteine, 99%+	Acros organics	173601000	media supplement
Ferric nitrate nonahydrate	Fisher Scientific	I110-100	media supplement
Equipment
EVOS fl	AMG	EVOS fl	fluorescence microscope
Smart Spec Plus	Bio-Rad	170-2525	spectrophotometer
5810 R centrifuge	Eppendorf	22627023	bench top centrifuge
Repeater plus	Eppendorf	22230201	repeating pipette
SpectraMax Gemini EM	Molecular Devices		microplate reader
Softmax Pro 5.3	Molecular Devices	0200-310	microplate reader software
5424 microfuge	Eppendorf	22620401	table top microcentrifuge
Fast-release pipette pump II	Scienceware	379111010	pipette aid
FACS Calibur	BD Bioscience		flow cytometer
FlowJo 7.6.1	FlowJo	license	flow cytometery software
15 ml tube	BD Falcon	352096	polypropylene conical tube
1.6 ml microfuge tube	Neptune	3745.X	microcentrifuge tubes