Overexpression of Cu-Zn SOD in Brucella abortus suppresses bacterial intracellular replication via down-regulation of Sar1 activity

Xiaofeng Liu; Mi Zhou; Yanling Yang; Jing Wu; Qisheng Peng

doi:10.18632/oncotarget.24073

Overexpression of Cu-Zn SOD in Brucella abortus suppresses bacterial intracellular replication via down-regulation of Sar1 activity

Oncotarget. 2018 Jan 10;9(11):9596-9607. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.24073. eCollection 2018 Feb 9.

Authors

Xiaofeng Liu¹, Mi Zhou², Yanling Yang³, Jing Wu⁴, Qisheng Peng⁵

Affiliations

¹ Tumor Hospital of Jilin Province, Changchun 130021, China.
² Changchun Medical College, Changchun 130031, China.
³ Institute of Special Wild Animal and Plant Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun 130122, China.
⁴ School of Nursing, Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou 730000, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, China.

Abstract

Brucella Cu-Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu-Zn SOD) is a periplasmic protein, and immunization of mice with recombinant Cu-Zn SOD protein confers protection against Brucella abortus infection. However, the role of Cu-Zn SOD during the process of Brucella infection remains unknown. Here, we report that Cu-Zn SOD is secreted into culture medium and is translocated into host cells independent of type IV secretion systems (T4SS). Furthermore, co-immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence studies reveal that Brucella abortus Cu-Zn SOD interacts with the small GTPase Sar1. Overexpression of Cu-Zn SOD in Brucella abortus inhibits bacterial intracellular growth by abolishing Sar1 activity in a manner independent of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production.

Keywords: Brucella; SOD; Sar1.