Homeostatic control of an iron repressor in a GI tract resident
Abstract
The transition metal iron plays a crucial role in living cells. However, high levels of iron are potentially toxic through the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), serving as a deterrent to the commensal fungus Candida albicans for colonization in the iron-rich gastrointestinal (GI) tract. We observe that the mutant lacking an iron-responsive transcription factor Hap43 is hyper-fit for colonization in murine gut. We demonstrate that high iron specifically triggers multiple post-translational modifications (PTMs) and proteasomal degradation of Hap43, a vital process guaranteeing the precision of intestinal ROS detoxification. Reduced levels of Hap43 de-repress the expression of antioxidant genes and therefore alleviate the deleterious ROS derived from iron metabolism. Our data reveal that Hap43 functions as a negative regulator for oxidative stress-adaptation of C. albicans to gut colonization and thereby provide a new insight into understanding the interplay between iron homeostasis and fungal commensalism.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting file; Source Data files have been provided for all Figures.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
The MOST Key R&D Program of China (2022YFC2303200)
- Changbin Chen
The National Natural Science Foundation (31600119)
- Xinhuang Huang
The Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (20ZR1463800)
- Xinhuang Huang
The Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (15ZR1444400)
- Xinhuang Huang
The MOST Key R&D Program of China (2022YFC2304700)
- Lin Zhong
The National Natural Science Foundation (32170195)
- Changbin Chen
The Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (2019SHZDZX02)
- Changbin Chen
The Open Project of the State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Third Military Medical University (SKLKF201803)
- Changbin Chen
The Special Program of PLA (19SWAQ18)
- Huaping Liang
National Postdoctoral Fellowship (No.312780)
- Yuanyuan Wang
Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellence Program (No.2022647)
- Yuanyuan Wang
The National Natural Science Foundation (32070146)
- Xinhuang Huang
The funders had role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Reviewing Editor
- Antonis Rokas, Vanderbilt University, United States
Ethics
Animal experimentation: All animal experiments were carried out in strict accordance with the regulations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China. All efforts were made to minimize suffering. The protocol was approved by IACUC at the Institut Pasteur of Shanghai, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Permit Number: A160291).
Version history
- Received: January 10, 2023
- Preprint posted: January 30, 2023 (view preprint)
- Accepted: May 24, 2023
- Accepted Manuscript published: May 25, 2023 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: June 8, 2023 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2023, Wang et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Further reading
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- Microbiology and Infectious Disease
The agr quorum-sensing system links Staphylococcus aureus metabolism to virulence, in part by increasing bacterial survival during exposure to lethal concentrations of H2O2, a crucial host defense against S. aureus. We now report that protection by agr surprisingly extends beyond post-exponential growth to the exit from stationary phase when the agr system is no longer turned on. Thus, agr can be considered a constitutive protective factor. Deletion of agr resulted in decreased ATP levels and growth, despite increased rates of respiration or fermentation at appropriate oxygen tensions, suggesting that Δagr cells undergo a shift towards a hyperactive metabolic state in response to diminished metabolic efficiency. As expected from increased respiratory gene expression, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulated more in the agr mutant than in wild-type cells, thereby explaining elevated susceptibility of Δagr strains to lethal H2O2 doses. Increased survival of wild-type agr cells during H2O2 exposure required sodA, which detoxifies superoxide. Additionally, pretreatment of S. aureus with respiration-reducing menadione protected Δagr cells from killing by H2O2. Thus, genetic deletion and pharmacologic experiments indicate that agr helps control endogenous ROS, thereby providing resilience against exogenous ROS. The long-lived ‘memory’ of agr-mediated protection, which is uncoupled from agr activation kinetics, increased hematogenous dissemination to certain tissues during sepsis in ROS-producing, wild-type mice but not ROS-deficient (Cybb−/−) mice. These results demonstrate the importance of protection that anticipates impending ROS-mediated immune attack. The ubiquity of quorum sensing suggests that it protects many bacterial species from oxidative damage.
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- Medicine
- Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Background:
End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients experience immune compromise characterized by complex alterations of both innate and adaptive immunity, and results in higher susceptibility to infection and lower response to vaccination. This immune compromise, coupled with greater risk of exposure to infectious disease at hemodialysis (HD) centers, underscores the need for examination of the immune response to the COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccines.
Methods:
The immune response to the COVID-19 BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine was assessed in 20 HD patients and cohort-matched controls. RNA sequencing of peripheral blood mononuclear cells was performed longitudinally before and after each vaccination dose for a total of six time points per subject. Anti-spike antibody levels were quantified prior to the first vaccination dose (V1D0) and 7 d after the second dose (V2D7) using anti-spike IgG titers and antibody neutralization assays. Anti-spike IgG titers were additionally quantified 6 mo after initial vaccination. Clinical history and lab values in HD patients were obtained to identify predictors of vaccination response.
Results:
Transcriptomic analyses demonstrated differing time courses of immune responses, with prolonged myeloid cell activity in HD at 1 wk after the first vaccination dose. HD also demonstrated decreased metabolic activity and decreased antigen presentation compared to controls after the second vaccination dose. Anti-spike IgG titers and neutralizing function were substantially elevated in both controls and HD at V2D7, with a small but significant reduction in titers in HD groups (p<0.05). Anti-spike IgG remained elevated above baseline at 6 mo in both subject groups. Anti-spike IgG titers at V2D7 were highly predictive of 6-month titer levels. Transcriptomic biomarkers after the second vaccination dose and clinical biomarkers including ferritin levels were found to be predictive of antibody development.
Conclusions:
Overall, we demonstrate differing time courses of immune responses to the BTN162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in maintenance HD subjects comparable to healthy controls and identify transcriptomic and clinical predictors of anti-spike IgG titers in HD. Analyzing vaccination as an in vivo perturbation, our results warrant further characterization of the immune dysregulation of ESRD.
Funding:
F30HD102093, F30HL151182, T32HL144909, R01HL138628. This research has been funded by the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) award UL1TR002003.