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Infection and Immunity, February 2002, p. 1006-1009, Vol. 70, No. 2
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.2.1006-1009.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
DNA Adenine Methylase Overproduction in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Alters YopE Expression and Secretion and Host Immune Responses to Infection
Steven M. Julio, Douglas M. Heithoff, Robert L. Sinsheimer, David A. Low, and Michael J. Mahan*
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
Received 2 August 2001/
Returned for modification 16 October 2001/
Accepted 31 October 2001

ABSTRACT
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis mutants that overproduce the DNA
adenine methylase (Dam) are highly attenuated, confer fully
protective immune responses, and secrete several
Yersinia virulence
proteins (
Yersinia outer proteins [Yops]) under conditions that
are nonpermissive for secretion in wild-type strains. We examined
here the effects of Dam overproduction on
Yersinia virulence
determinant expression and secretion, as well as the host immune
response to
Yersinia antigens. Western blot analysis with convalescent
antisera identified several low-calcium-responsive antigens
whose synthesis was affected by Dam overproduction. One of these
antigens was shown to be the type III secretion effector protein,
YopE, a cytotoxin involved in antiphagocytosis. Dam overproduction
disrupted both the thermal and calcium regulation of YopE synthesis
and relaxed the thermal but not the calcium dependence of YopE
secretion. Altered expression and/or secretion of
Yersinia proteins
in Dam-overproducing strains may contribute to the decreased
virulence and heightened immunity observed in vaccinated hosts
and may provide a means by which to deliver heterologous antigens
and/or immune modulators of the inflammatory response.

INTRODUCTION
Yersinia spp. are human and animal pathogens with a clear tropism
for lymphoid tissue.
Yersinia pestis is usually transmitted
by fleas and is the causative agent of plague, which is often
fatal (
4,
5).
Y. pseudotuberculosis and
Y. enterocolitica are
enteropathogens causing self-limiting infections in humans,
including gastroenteritis and mesenteric adenitis.
Yersinia spp. pathogenesis is dependent on virulence proteins called
Yops (for
Yersinia outer proteins) (
7,
9,
11,
30) which, upon
host contact, are injected directly into the host cell cytoplasm
via type III secretion machinery, where they act as effectors
to inhibit phagocytosis and proinflammatory cytokine release
(
3,
5,
6,
8,
12,
25,
26,
29,
31,
35). The secretion of Yops
is under strict regulatory control by the low calcium response,
whereby Yop secretion only occurs in vitro under conditions
of low calcium (Ca
2+) and high temperature (37°C[
32,
33]).
We recently showed that overproduction of Dam in
Y. pseudotuberculosis relaxed the temperature but not the low calcium dependence of
Yop secretion (
18). Moreover, such Dam-overproducing
Yersinia strains were avirulent and elicited protective immune responses
in vaccinated mice. Here we examined the effects of Dam overproduction
on protein expression and secretion, as well as the humoral
response to
Yersinia antigens.

Yersinia spp. overproducing Dam efficiently colonize mucosal but not systemic tissues.
To understand the mechanism by which Dam-overproducing
Yersinia spp. are attenuated for virulence yet elicit protective immune
responses, the survival rates of wild-type (Dam
+) and Dam-overproducing
yersiniae were compared in mouse tissue sites after oral infection.
Dam-overproducing yersiniae survive near wild-type levels in
Peyers patches of the mouse small intestine and mesenteric
lymph nodes for at least 24 h. However, at day 5, >10
5-fold
fewer Dam-overproducing yersiniae were observed in the Peyers
patches and mesenteric lymph nodes, and 10
3- to 10
6-fold fewer
Dam-overproducing yersiniae were observed in the liver and spleen,
respectively, compared to Dam
+ bacteria (Fig.
1). These data
suggest that Dam-overproducing yersiniae are proficient in the
targeting and colonization of mucosal but not deep systemic
tissues, which may result in the elicitation of host immune
responses without acute disease manifestations.

Dam-overproducer Y. pseudotuberculosis synthesizes and secretes YopE under conditions nonpermissive for the wild type.
Recently, we showed that the strict regulatory control of Yop
secretion is disrupted in Dam-overproducing
Yersinia mutants
(
15). These mutants secrete Yops at low Ca
2+ and low temperature,
which are nonpermissive conditions for Yop secretion in wild-type
Yersinia. Here we wanted to test whether the synthesis and cellular
localization of Yops was also disrupted in Dam overproducer
conditions. For these experiments, we focused our efforts on
YopE, a 23-kDa
Yersinia cytotoxin that is secreted under low-calcium
conditions (
1,
2,
34) and is also known to be antigenic (
16,
20).
In order to characterize the expression, localization, and secretion profiles of YopE in response to Dam overproduction, whole-cell, membrane, and supernatant fractions of Dam+ and Dam-overproducing cells grown under Yop-inducing and noninducing conditions were analyzed by immunoblotting. In contrast to the wild type, Dam-overproducing Yersinia strains synthesized YopE under all three nonpermissive conditions (high calcium and low temperature, high calcium and high temperature, and low calcium and low temperature) (Fig. 2, whole-cell fraction). However, the localization of YopE to the membrane or supernatant fractions required low calcium at either permissive or nonpermissive temperatures (Fig. 2). Thus, YopE is synthesized under all nonpermissive conditions in Dam-overproducing strains, but its export from the cytoplasm still requires a low calcium signal for secretion. These data suggest that Dam overproduction disrupts both thermal and calcium regulation of YopE synthesis and, in addition, relaxes the thermal but not the calcium dependence of YopE secretion. Alternatively, Dam overproduction may lead to YopE overexpression coupled with increased YopE secretion (only at low Ca2+ and a low temperature) simply as a consequence of an increased amount of protein in the cell. The proposed altered expression or secretion of YopE and the possible ectopic expression or secretion of other bacterial antigens may contribute to the heightened immune response in hosts vaccinated with Dam-overproducing Yersinia mutants.
The effect of Dam overproduction on YopE synthesis is comparable
to the phenotype of
Yersinia mutants defective in LcrQ, a negative
regulator of Yop synthesis (
27). Wild-type
Yersinia secretes
LcrQ out of the bacterial cell under the permissive conditions
of low calcium and high temperature, resulting in a decreased
intracellular concentration of LcrQ and increased expression
of Yops. LcrQ mutants are disrupted for the normally strict
thermal and calcium regulation of Yop synthesis; however, low
calcium is still required as a signal for the type III secretion-dependent
delivery of most Yops (
28). Similarly, Dam overproduction relaxes
the temperature and calcium regulation of YopE synthesis, but
export of YopE from the cytoplasm remains dependent on the low-calcium
secretion signal.

Analysis of the effect of Dam on expression of Y. pseudotuberculosis antigens.
To begin to characterize the humoral response conferred by
Yersinia Dam-overproducing strains, we examined protein expression profiles
of Dam
+ and Dam-overproducing strains (Table
1). Proteins derived
from Dam
+ and Dam-overproducing strains grown under laboratory
conditions (in vitro) were subjected to Western analysis with
convalescent-phase antisera derived from mice infected with
either wild-type (Fig.
3) or Dam-overproducing (Fig.
3B)
Y. pseudotuberculosis.
At least three groups of antigens were identified. Group 1 antigens
were produced by wild-type and Dam-overproducing strains in
vitro and were recognized by convalescent-phase antisera derived
from mice infected with wild type or Dam-overproducing strains
infected mice (Fig.
3, arrows labeled 1). Group 2 antigen was
produced by wild-type and Dam-overproducing strains in vitro
and was preferentially recognized by convalescent antisera derived
from wild type-infected mice (Fig.
3, arrows labeled 2). Group
3 antigens were expressed under Yop inducing conditions (low
Ca
2+ and high temperature) and were often preferentially expressed
by either wild-type or Dam-overproducing strains in vitro (Fig.
3, arrows labeled 3).
These data show that Dam overproduction affects the humoral response but not the in vitro synthesis of the group 2 antigen. This suggests that, although the group 2 antigen was produced at wild-type levels in Dam-overproducing cells in vitro, it is not produced in sufficient quantity or for sufficient duration, nor is it presented to the appropriate immune cells, during Dam-overproducing infection. Alternatively, Dam-overproducing cells may inhibit the humoral response to the group 2 antigen. Such differential expression of an in vivo-induced antigen or altered immune response to an in vivo expressed antigen can have profound effects on the immunity conferred by Dam-overproducing Yersinia strains.
The role of Dam in virulence and in the elicitation of protective immune responses may be attributed to its capacity as a global regulator of gene expression (10, 13, 14, 1719). Overproduction of Dam activity in Yersinia strains alters the expression and/or secretion of low-calcium-responsive proteins (Fig. 2 and 3) (15) and possibly other virulence functions required for pathogenesis. Additionally, Dam overproduction may contribute to the elicitation of protective responses by the elaboration of an expanded repertoire of antigens and/or immune modulators of host inflammatory activities. Although not known to be subject to Dam regulation, LcrV is a Yersinia virulence protein responsive to low calcium that suppresses inflammatory cytokines during infection (23, 24) and induces high levels of protection when delivered as a subunit vaccine (5, 22). Similarly, dysregulation of Dam activity may result in altered expression and/or secretion of functions required for virulence, immune modulation, and the elicitation of protection immune responses. Such a delivery strategy may also provide a means to deliver heterologous antigens and modulators of the inflammatory response (e.g., for suppression of inflammatory cytokines).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Greg Plano for the generous gift of YopE antibody and
Norris Allen and Robert Brubaker for critically reading the
mauscript.
This work was supported by private donations from Jim and Deanna Dehlsen, the University of California Biotech Program, the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital Research Program, a USDA grant, 2000-02539 (to M.J.M), a National Institutes of Health grant, AI23348 (to D.A.L.), and a postdoctoral grant from the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara (to D.M.H.).

FOOTNOTES
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106. Phone: (805) 893-7160. Fax: (805) 893-4724. E-mail:
mahan{at}lifesci.lscf.ucsb.edu.

Editor: A. D. OBrien

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Infection and Immunity, February 2002, p. 1006-1009, Vol. 70, No. 2
0019-9567/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.2.1006-1009.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
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