Moraxella catarrhalis phase-variable loci show differences in expression during conditions relevant to disease

PLoS One. 2020 Jun 18;15(6):e0234306. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234306. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Moraxella catarrhalis is a human-adapted, opportunistic bacterial pathogen of the respiratory mucosa. Although asymptomatic colonization of the nasopharynx is common, M. catarrhalis can ascend into the middle ear, where it is a prevalent causative agent of otitis media in children, or enter the lower respiratory tract, where it is associated with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in adults. Phase variation is the high frequency, random, reversible switching of gene expression that allows bacteria to adapt to different host microenvironments and evade host defences, and is most commonly mediated by simple DNA sequence repeats. Bioinformatic analysis of five closed M. catarrhalis genomes identified 17 unique simple DNA sequence repeat tracts that were variable between strains, indicating the potential to mediate phase variable expression of the associated genes. Assays designed to assess simple sequence repeat variation under conditions mimicking host infection demonstrated that phase variation of uspA1 (ubiquitous surface protein A1) from high to low expression occurs over 72 hours of biofilm passage, while phase variation of uspA2 (ubiquitous surface protein A2) to high expression variants occurs during repeated exposure to human serum, as measured by mRNA levels. We also identify and confirm the variable expression of two novel phase variable genes encoding a Type III DNA methyltransferase (modO), and a conserved hypothetical permease (MC25239_RS00020). These data reveal the repertoire of phase variable genes mediated by simple sequence repeats in M. catarrhalis and demonstrate that modulation of expression under conditions mimicking human infection is attributed to changes in simple sequence repeat length.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Adhesion / genetics
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Expression / genetics
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Microsatellite Repeats / genetics
  • Moraxella catarrhalis / genetics*
  • Moraxella catarrhalis / pathogenicity
  • Moraxellaceae Infections
  • Otitis Media / microbiology
  • Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / genetics

Substances

  • Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins
  • UspA protein, Moraxella catarrhalis

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) [Career Development Fellowship to KLS; Project Grant 1099279 to KLS, JMA], the Garnett Passe and Rodney Williams Memorial Foundation [Fellowship to AT and Grant in Aid Supplementation to KLS and JMA], and an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship to LVB. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or preparation of the manuscript. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/fundinghttps://gprwmf.org.au/https://www.education.gov.au/research-training-program