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Originally published In Press as doi:10.1074/jbc.M701454200 on March 19, 2007

J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 282, Issue 21, 15569-15577, May 25, 2007
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Secondary Acylation of Klebsiella pneumoniae Lipopolysaccharide Contributes to Sensitivity to Antibacterial Peptides*

Abigail Clements{ddagger}§1, Dedreia Tull, Adam W. Jenney{ddagger}§, Jacinta L. Farn{ddagger}§, Sang-Hyun Kim||, Russell E. Bishop||, Joseph B. McPhee**, Robert E. W. Hancock**, Elizabeth L. Hartland{ddagger}{ddagger}§, Martin J. Pearse§§, Odilia L. C. Wijburg{ddagger}§2, David C. Jackson{ddagger}, Malcolm J. McConville34, and Richard A. Strugnell{ddagger}§45

From the {ddagger}CRC for Vaccine Technology in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia, §§CSL Ltd. Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia, the ||Department of Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Ontario M5S1A8, Canada, the **Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T1Z4, Canada, the {ddagger}{ddagger}CRC for Vaccine Technology in the Department of Microbiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia, and the §Australian Bacterial Pathogenesis Program in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia

Received for publication, February 20, 2007


   ABSTRACT
TOP
 ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Klebsiella pneumoniae is an important cause of nosocomial Gram-negative sepsis. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is considered to be a major virulence determinant of this encapsulated bacterium and most mutations to the lipid A anchor of LPS are conditionally lethal to the bacterium. We studied the role of LPS acylation in K. pneumoniae disease pathogenesis by using a mutation of lpxM (msbB/waaN), which encodes the enzyme responsible for late secondary acylation of immature lipid A molecules. A K. pneumoniae B5055 (K2:O1) lpxM mutant was found to be attenuated for growth in the lungs in a mouse pneumonia model leading to reduced lethality of the bacterium. B5055{Delta}lpxM exhibited similar sensitivity to phagocytosis or complement-mediated lysis than B5055, unlike the non-encapsulated mutant B5055nm. In vitro, B5055{Delta}lpxM showed increased permeability of the outer membrane and an increased susceptibility to certain antibacterial peptides suggesting that in vivo attenuation may be due in part to sensitivity to antibacterial peptides present in the lungs of BALB/c mice. These data support the view that lipopolysaccharide acylation plays a important role in providing Gram-negative bacteria some resistance to structural and innate defenses and especially the antibacterial properties of detergents (e.g. bile) and cationic defensins.


   INTRODUCTION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Klebsiella pneumoniae is a common cause of nosocomial pneumonia, septicemia, and urinary tract infections; a recent US study found the bacterium to be the third most commonly isolated organism from intensive care wards and the most common species identified in blood cultures (1), with a similar trend reported among European hospitals (2). This rising prevalence combined with the extensive spread of antibiotic-resistant strains, especially extended spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing strains, will drive the search for alternative treatments and/or an effective vaccine against the bacterium.

K. pneumoniae is known to express a number of virulence determinants, including a thick polysaccharide capsule. The capsule protects the bacterium from phagocytosis by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (3) and is thought to prevent killing of the bacterium by bactericidal serum factors (4). Other, well studied virulence factors of K. pneumoniae include the pili/fimbriae and lipopolysaccharide (LPS).6 LPS consists of an outer membrane-embedded lipid A molecule, partially conserved inner core carbohydrate structure, attached to an outer core (of which there are at least two variants, conferred by the waa operon (5)), and a repeated polysaccharide or O-antigen (O-Ag). The O-Ag region specifically is thought to play a role in resistance to complement killing (6) and to contribute to bacteremia and lethality during murine pneumonia infections (7) although this contribution is still disputed (8). The comparatively small number of Klebsiella LPS or O-types (9 serotypes) compared with capsule or K-types (>77 serotypes) suggests that LPS could be utilized for vaccination. However any LPS-based vaccines would need to be detoxified before use in humans.

The lipid A (endotoxic) region of LPS has been studied as a possible virulence determinant in a number of Gram-negative bacteria (9–11) but has not yet been studied in detail in K. pneumoniae in vivo. Lipid A is thought to be the primary inflammatory component of LPS because of specific and sensitive recognition by the innate immune system (12). The structure of K. pneumoniae lipid A differs from the classical lipid A form (i.e. Escherichia coli) only by the presence of a secondary myristoyl residue mainly taking the place of the lauroyl group, resulting in two secondary myristoyl chains for K. pneumoniae (13), see Fig. 1. Lipid A is generally considered essential for normal growth of Gram-negative bacteria albeit an LPS-deficient mutant of Neisseria meningitidis has been constructed which shows a reduced growth rate (14). There are only a small number of mutations that can be made in the lipid A molecule that do not affect the growth of the bacterium. One mutation that has been studied in a number of Enterobacteriacceae is in lpxM (formally msbB or waaN) which encodes the enzyme responsible for the addition of one of the secondary acyl chains (10, 15). Mutation of lpxM has had varying and inconclusive effects in animal models for different pathogens: attenuation of an lpxM mutant in a mouse model of Salmonella enterica var Typhimurium (10) was consequently attributed to secondary mutations induced by the lpxM defect (16); Shigella flexneri lpxM mutants showed attenuated inflammation in a rabbit ligation loop model (11), while N. meningitidis lpxM mutants showed defects in assembly and incorporation of the lipid A into the outer membrane thereby precluding in vivo analysis (17). The only attenuation in a murine model of infection directly linked to the lpxM mutation has been in a clinical isolate of E. coli, however secondary effects such as capsule reduction and filament formation were also seen in this bacterium (9) making data interpretation difficult. The effect of underacylated lipid A on human cells is better understood as purified pentaacyl and tetraacyl LPS has been shown to act as an endotoxin antagonist in the induction of cytokines because of differential recognition by human MD2·TLR4 complexes (18). However, this is not the case for murine cells as mouse MD2:TLR4 do not appear to differentiate between acylation states of lipid A (18).


Figure 1
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  		FIGURE 1.
Characterization of lpxM from K. pneumoniae. A, ClustalX protein alignment of lpxM from S. typhimurium, E. coli K12, and K. pneumoniae MGH78578 showing significant sequence homology. B, PCR amplification of lpxM from wild type B5055 and the lpxM mutant B5055{Delta}lpxM (142 bp removed; cat cassette inserted). C, visualization of silver-stained LPS prepared from B5055, B5055{Delta}lpxM, and B5055{Delta}lpxM complemented (pGEM-lpxM) and separated by SDS-PAGE. D, visualization of capsule by Maneval's stain of B5055, B5055{Delta}lpxM, and B5055nm (non-mucoid mutant).

 
The aim of this study was therefore to analyze an lpxM mutant of K. pneumoniae for in vivo attenuation and to understand the mechanisms leading to any observed attenuation, with a view to increasing our global understanding of the role of LPS.


   EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Bacterial Strains and Plasmids—The K. pneumoniae strain used was B5055, a mouse virulent clinical isolate (serotype K2:O1) or non-encapsulated mutant designated B5055 nm, produced by Tania Uren and Adam Jenney through the inactivation of wza and wzb, data not shown. E. coli JM109 and the plasmid pGEM T-Easy or pBR322 (Promega) were used for cloning work (Table 1). The temperature-sensitive plasmid pKD46 (19) was used to induce {lambda} red recombinase production in the host cell to enhance homologous recombination. Bacteria were grown in Luria broth (LB) or on Luria agar (LA) at 37 °C (except for induction of {lambda} red recombinase when bacteria were cultured at 30 °C). Antibiotics were used at the following concentrations: ampicillin at 100 µg/ml, kanamycin at 60 µg/ml, and chloramphenicol at 30 µg/ml.


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  		TABLE 1
Bacterial strains and plasmids

 
Generation of the K. pneumoniae lpxM Mutant—The lpxM gene of K. pneumoniae was identified by homology to E. coli K12 lpxM/msbB (AAC74925 [GenBank] ) and S. enterica var Typhimurium (AAL20805 [GenBank] ). The entire gene plus 500 bp at either end of the open reading frame was cloned from B5055 using oligonucleotide primers (5'-GTCACACTAGTGTCCAGTTCGACAACGTGGAAG and 5'-CTAGTGGGCCCGGTAAGGATTACTATGCCATCC, which include the underlined restriction enzyme sites SpeI and ApaI, respectively. The gene was ligated using these sites into pGEM T-EASY (to form pGEM-lpxM) and digested with BssHII and SphI to remove a central 142-bp fragment. A chloramphenicol resistance cassette (cat) from pACYC184 was amplified with primers 5'-ACTGTGCATGCCGTAAGAGGTTCCAACTTTCAC and 5'-GATCAGCGCGCGTAGCAGCACCAGGCGTTTAAGGG and cloned into pGEM-lpxM using the underlined SphI and BssHII sites (to form pGEM-lpxM/Chl). pKD46 was electroporated into B5055 (2.5 kV, 25 µF, 200 {Omega}) and grown at 30 °C with L-arabinose to induce {lambda} red recombinase production. The lpxM-Chl fragment was then amplified as a 2755-bp linear fragment, gel-purified, and digested with NotI to remove any residual intact plasmid. The linear DNA fragment was then electroporated into B5055 + pKD46 or B5055nm + pKD46 and grown at 37 °C on chloramphenicol to remove pKD46 and select for recombinants, respectively. The anticipated disrupted lpxM gene size was confirmed by PCR and confirmed recombinants designated B5055{Delta}lpxM and B5055nm{Delta}lpxM (for capsulated and unencapsulated strains, respectively). pGEM-lpxM and pBR-lpxM (lpxM gene amplified with SalI and EcoRI sites and ligated into pBR322 using these sites) were used as high and low copy number constructs for complementation studies.

SDS-PAGE Analysis of the Mutant—Crude LPS preparations were made by pelleting cells from 3 ml of overnight (o/n) cultures. The pellets were resuspended in Laemmli buffer (2.3% SDS, 0.8% Tris, 10% glycerol, 5% dithiothreitol) and samples boiled for 10 min. Samples were digested with proteinase K (0.417 µg/µl) for 2 h at 56°C. SDS-PAGE was performed on 15% polyacrylamide gels (20) and stained with alkaline silver stain to visualize LPS (21).

Extraction and Quantification of Capsule—Cell-associated capsule was extracted from mid-log and static cultures by the phenol-extraction method (22). Briefly, 5-ml samples were centrifuged (5000 x g, 15 min, 4 °C), washed, resuspended in 500 µl of dH2O, and viable counts determined. Samples were then incubated at 68 °C for 2 min before addition of 500 µl of phenol, incubation was then continued for 30 min. Mixture was cooled, and 500 µl of chloroform added, centrifuged, and aqueous phase taken. Capsular material was precipitated at -20 °C for 20 min and resuspended in 500 µl of dH2O.

Uronic acid content was determined as previously described (23). Briefly, 1.2 ml of 12.5 mM tetraborate in concentrated H2SO4 was added to 200 µl of sample and vortexed vigorously. Samples were then boiled for 5 min and cooled before addition of 20 µl of 0.15% 3-hydroxydiphenol in 0.5% NaOH. Absorbance was measured at 520 nm. Standard curves were constructed with glucuronic acid. Bacterial capsules were also visualized by Maneval's stain (24).

Thin Layer Chromatography of 32P-labeled Lipid A—Strains were grown to mid-log with 5 µCi/ml 32Pi in the presence and absence of EDTA to activate pagP (25). Lipid A was extracted from cells by the mild acid hydrolysis method as described in Ref. 26 with slight modifications: initial single phase Bligh/Dyer incubation was at room temperature for 10 min rather than 60 min and the lipid A recovered after two-phase Bligh/Dyer was washed only once with fresh two-phase Bligh/Dyer mixture. 1000 cpm of each lipid preparation was applied to the origin of a Silica Gel 60 TLC. The plate was developed using the solvent chloroform:pyridine:88% formic acid:water (50:50:16:5, v/v) and exposed to a PhosPhorImage Screen overnight for visualization.

MALDI-MS Analysis of Lipid A—Lipid A samples were resuspended in chloroform/methanol (4:1 v/v) and analyzed by MALDI-TOF-MS. Mass spectra were acquired on a Voyager-DE STR mass spectrometer (PerSpective Biosystems) in the negative reflector mode, scanning over a mass/charge range of 1000–3000, and using an extraction delay time of 92 ns and an accelerating voltage of 21 kV. Saturated {alpha}-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (Sigma) in 60% 1-propyl alcohol was used as the matrix, and free glycosylphosphatidylinositols of known molecular weights (27) were used as standards.

GC-MS Analysis of Lipid A—Lipid A samples containing scyllo inositol standard (1 nM) were resuspended in methanol, dried under vacuum, and then subjected to methanolysis in 0.5 M methanolic HCl (50 µl, Sigma) at 80 °C for 16 h. The samples were N-acetylated with pyridine (10 µl) and acetic anhydride (10 µl) for 15 min at 25 °C, dried under vacuum, and derivatized with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide + 1% trichloromethylsilane (50 µl; Pierce) for 1 h at 25 °C. Samples were injected directly onto the GC-MS and analyzed as previously described (27).

To investigate modification of lipid A with amino-arabinose, dried lipid A samples were resuspended in either water (200 µl) or 10 mM HCl (200 µl) and incubated at 100 °C for 10 min. The mixture was subjected to biphasic 1-butyl alcohol:water (1:1 v/v) partitioning. The lipid A species recovered in the butanol fraction were dried under vacuum, subjected to methanolysis, and GC-MS analysis as described above.

In Vivo Growth—B5055 and B5055{Delta}lpxM were grown to mid-log and washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline and diluted to ~104 cfu/dose. BALB/c mice (6–8 week old) were inoculated intravenously with 200 µl, or intranasally with 50 µl of bacterial suspension. Five mice for each bacterial strain tested were euthanased at 4, 24, and 72 h time points, and lungs, livers, and spleens were aseptically removed. Organs were homogenized in sterile phosphate-buffered saline and plated on LA with appropriate antibiotics at several dilutions to obtain a viable count.

Complement-mediated Lysis Assay—Complement-mediated lysis assay was performed as described previously (6). Briefly, 400 µl of human sera (Sigma-Aldrich) was added to ~106 cfu/100 µl of bacteria (mid-log phase) and incubated at 37 °C, with rotation. Samples were taken every 30 min and plated for counts. Heat-inactivated sera (56 °C, 30 min) was used as a negative control for all strains.

Whole Blood Phagocytosis Assay—300 µl of fresh (used within 30 min of removal) whole mouse or human blood was mixed with ~107 cfu/100 µl of B5055, B5055nm, B5055{Delta}lpxM, and B5055nm{Delta}lpxM (grown to mid-log phase) and incubated for 3 h with rotation at 37 °C. Bacterial dilutions were plated to obtain viable counts. The bacterial counts recovered were divided by the initial counts to give a survival index, with <1 indicating a susceptible organism (i.e. bacteria killed) and >1 indicating a resistant organism (i.e. bacteria proliferated).

Outer Membrane Permeability Assay—All strains were transformed with pGEM T-EASY and pBR322 (except complemented strains) to enable beta-lactamase production. beta-lactamase leakage from the periplasm into the culture supernatant was measured using a nitrocephin (Oxoid) spectrophotometric assay exactly as described previously (28, 29).

Sensitivity to Antimicrobial Peptides and Antibiotics—MICs for B5055, B5055{Delta}lpxM, and the complemented mutant (B5055{Delta}lpxM + pGEM-lpxM) were determined for a range of antimicrobial peptides and antibiotics as described previously (30). Briefly, 96-well microtiter plates containing 0.125–64 µg/ml peptides or antibiotics were prepared by 2-fold dilution in LB and wells inoculated with ~5 x 105 cfu/ml of mid-log bacterial cultures. Growth was scored after 18–24 h. Peptides were synthesized by standard f-moc chemistry at the Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis Unit, University of British Columbia and reconstituted in deionized water at 2 mg/ml.

C18G Sensitivity Assay—Mid-log bacterial cultures were diluted to ~5 x 104 cfu/ml, and 50 µl of bacteria added to 250 µl of normal human sera plus C18G (synthesized by Jackson Laboratory, University of Melbourne from published sequence (31)) at 0, 50, 100, or 200 µg. Samples were rotated at 37 °C for 3 h, and aliquots diluted to obtain viable counts.


   RESULTS
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
DISCUSSION
 REFERENCES
 
Construction and Analysis of a K. pneumoniae lpxM Mutant
The lpxM gene was identified in the sequenced K. pneumoniae MGH75878 genome by homology to the lpxM genes from E. coli (AAC74925 [GenBank] ) and S. enterica var Typhimurium (AAL20805 [GenBank] ). 76% nucleotide homology exists between E. coli and K. pneumonaie lpxM genes with a probability score of 4.4e-119. ClustalW protein analysis is shown in Fig. 1A. A second region of homology (55% nucleotide homology, p = 2.6e-8) was found to have higher homology to lpxL (71%, p = 1.2e-93) and is therefore believed to be one of two lpxL homologs present in MGH75878. Primers were designed from the MGH75878 sequence to amplify the lpxM gene from K. pneumoniae B5055 (K2:O1). The gene was disrupted by removal of an internal 142 bp and addition of a cat (chloramphenicol acetyl transferase) gene and then re-introduced into B5055 and B5055nm (a non-encapsulated mutant of B5055 containing a deletion in wza-wzc). Mutants with the disrupted gene (B5055{Delta}lpxM or B5055nm{Delta}lpxM) incorporated were selected on chloramphenicol plates and resultant colonies confirmed by PCR (Fig. 1B) and Southern blotting.

Wild type and B5055{Delta}lpxM cells synthesized equivalent levels of LPS, as shown by SDS-PAGE (Fig. 1C) and monosaccharide analysis of total cell extracts (data not shown). Analysis of uronic acids levels in the wild type and the B5055{Delta}lpxM mutant indicated that both strains synthesized a cell-associated capsule. Total capsule uronic acid in the mutant was approximately half that of the wild type (12.61 ± 0.43 ng/106 cfu versus 21.13 ± 4.6 ng/106 cfu), but much higher than in the non-encapsulated B5055nm mutant (p < 0.0001). The cell-associated capsule of B5055{Delta}lpxM appeared ultrastructurally similar to the capsule of wild type cells when stained with Maneval's stain (Fig. 1D) and appeared to be functionally intact as shown by the resistance of the lpxM mutant to innate immune mechanisms for which the capsule is required (Figs. 5 and 6).


Figure 2
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  		FIGURE 2.
Thin layer chromatography of 32P-labeled lipid A species extracted from K. pneumoniae wild type and lpxM mutant grown in the presence (lanes 2 and 4) or absence (lanes 1 and 3) of EDTA. Species 1 is hexaacyl lipid A and 2 is pentaacyl lipid A; palmitoylated variations are prefixed with pal (i.e. Pal-1 is palmitoylated hexaacyl lipid A and Pal-2 is palmitoylated pentaacyl lipid A. 1-OH, 1-O-P, and 1-O-PP contain 0, 1, or 2 phosphate groups at the reducing termini of the lipid A chitobiose core (see Fig. 3 for structure).

 
Deletion of the lpxM gene is expected to result in altered acylation of the lipid A moiety of LPS. This was confirmed by TLC analysis of the 32P-labeled lipid A moieties, GC-MS and MALDI-MS. (Fig. 3) and thin layer chromatography (TLC) of 32P-labeled lipid A (Fig. 2). The TLC analysis showed that the lipid A of wild type LPS was primarily hexaacylated (see species labeled 1(1-OH), 1(1-O-P), and 1(1-O-PP)), while the majority of the lpxM mutant was predominantly pentaacylated (species labeled 2(1-OH), 2(1-O-P), and 2(1-O-PP) (Fig. 2). The lipid A moieties from both wild type and mutant cells were similarly phosphorylated at the reducing termini of the chitobiose backbone. A significant pool of lipid A in the mutant contained molecular species that corresponded to palmitoylated pentaacyl-lipid A (Pal-2 (1-OH). The abundance of this species and several other species with the expected migration position of palmitoylated pentaacyl-lipid A increased dramatically when cultures were treated with EDTA prior to harvesting, conditions known to induce palmitoylation of the lipid A by pagP (25). A pagP homolog has not been published for K. pneumoniae however BLAST analysis revealed a region of homology to pagP from E. coli K12 (GI: 946360) in MGH78578. ClustalW analysis shows the translated genes to have 72% amino acid homology, with the C-terminal half showing higher amino acid homology (86%) than the N-terminal half (58%). The absence of heptaacylated lipid A in the EDTA-treated lpxM mutant, indicated that very little, if any of the lipid A in this mutant is hexacylated.

To confirm the TLC-based assignments of lipid A structure, the lipid A moieties of wild type and lpxM mutant LPS was analyzed by MALDI-TOF (Fig. 3). The negative ion MALDI-TOF mass spectrum of wild type lipid A contained a series of prominent molecular ions that indicated hexaacylated, bisphosphoylated structure with a variable 2' secondary acyl chain. The secondary acyl chain comprised (in order of abundance) myristate (m/z 1822), laurate (m/z 1794), or hydroxymyristate (m/z 1838), consistent with previous reports for K. pneumoniae lipid A (13, 32). Minor lipid A species containing an additional palmitate (m/z 2062) or aminoarabinose (m/z 1952) were also detected. In contrast, the lipid A from the lpxM mutant was separated by MALDI-MS into two major clusters; pentaacylated, bisphosphorylated lipid A (with a variable 2' secondary acyl substitution) or hexacylated bisphosphorylated lipid A (with a variable 2' secondary acyl substitution and a secondary palmitate addition). These analyses are consistent with the TLC analyses, in indicating that the lipid A moiety of the lpxM mutant is under-acylated compared with the wild type lipid A, due to loss of the conserved myristate group. They also reveal that loss of myristate is partially compensated for by increased palmitoylation of the lipid A. The deletion of the lpxM gene had no apparent effects on other modification, such as substitution with aminoarabinose, as shown by GC-MS analysis of the lipid A fractions (33–35) (data not shown).

In Vivo Growth of lpxM Mutant
The in vivo growth of the lpxM mutant was initially assessed by bacterial counts in organs (Fig. 4A) of BALB/c mice after intravenous inoculation. The spleen counts in animals infected intravenously with the parent bacterium, B5055, were indicative of a fulminant bacteremia with mice reaching counts of 109 cfu/spleen before being euthanased on day 3, however no significant difference was observed between wild type and mutant counts in the spleen at any time point (data not shown). The only significant difference in counts was observed in the lungs 24 h after inoculation when the mutant showed decreased proliferation compared with wild type K. pneumoniae (Fig. 4A). When inoculated intranasally, a 30% reduction in lethality was observed for the lpxM mutant after 7 days of infection (Fig. 4B). To determine whether this was due to a reduction in bacterial load, mice were inoculated intranasally with B5055, B5055{Delta}lpxM and the complemented mutant and organs harvested at three time points. Statistically significant differences in counts were observed at all timepoints in the lungs (Fig. 4C), (all p <= 0.01) as well as at the final time point in the spleen (Fig. 4D). Both infection routes suggest that an early innate immune mechanism in the lungs is able to limit growth of an lpxM mutant but not wild type bacteria. In the intranasal infection model, reduction of the bacterial load in the spleen could be due either to killing in the spleen or a secondary effect of the reduced bacterial load in the lungs.


Figure 3
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  		FIGURE 3.
Negative ion MALDI-TOF mass spectrum of lipid A from K. pneumoniae wild type and lpxM acyl chain mutant. The major molecular ions detected are consistent with variable 2' secondary chain modifications (bold aliphatic chain), substitution of the 3' myristate with palmitoyl group or modification of chitobiose core with aminoarabinose-phosphate (AraNH) (modifications by dashed lines).

 


Figure 4
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  		FIGURE 4.
ComparisonofinvivogrowthandlethalityofK. pneumoniaestrains. A, bacterial counts in lungs from mice infected intravenously with ~ 1–2 x 104 cfu wild type K. pneumoniae (n = 15), the lpxM mutant (n = 15), or the complemented mutant (n = 5), 24 h after inoculation. B, survival curve of mice infected intranasally with ~1–2 x 104 cfu of wild type K. pneumoniae, the lpxM mutant or the complemented mutant (n = 10). C and D, bacterial counts in lungs (C) and spleen (D) from mice infected intranasally with ~1–2 x 104 cfu and organs harvested at 4, 24, and 72 h (n = 10 for all strains). *, p < 0.01; **, p < 0.001; and ***, p < 0.0001 calculated by the Student's t test.

 
Phagocytosis of K. pneumoniae B5055 and B5055{Delta}lpxM in Vitro
Two assays were performed to determine whether the reduced in vivo growth rate of B5055{Delta}lpxM was caused by increased killing of the bacterium by the innate immune system. The complement-mediated lysis assay showed the B5055{Delta}lpxM had equivalent resistance to human complement compared with B5055 (Fig. 5). Both B5055 and B5055{Delta}lpxM counts increased over the 3-h time course indicating that these strains were resistant to the effect of human complement. By contrast, B5055nm decreased by ~100-fold over the same time period showing that the presence of capsule is necessary to resist complement-mediated lysis. B5055 nm{Delta}lpxM also decreased over time with an equivalent kinetics to B5055nm supporting the previous results that capsule, but not a fully acylated lipid A, is necessary for resistance to human complement. Bacterial growth in heat-inactivated sera was also analyzed for each strain and all strains increased in number over the three hours, ruling out differences in growth in sera as a possible reason for differences in sensitivity.

Phagocyte-mediated killing of B5055{Delta}lpxM was analyzed using the whole blood phagocytosis assay originally used to detect resistance conferred by M protein to phagocytosis of Group A Streptococci (36). This assay analyses the survival of bacteria in whole blood, measured by viable count, and was conducted using murine whole blood (Fig. 6). The assay showed that in murine blood, growth of both B5055 and B5055{Delta}lpxM increased 10-fold over the course of the experiment, while the number of B5055nm and B5055nm{Delta}lpxM decreased 10-fold, again showing that the capsule, rather than fully acylated lipid A, is necessary for K. pneumoniae to resist phagocytic killing by the murine innate immune system.


Figure 5
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  		FIGURE 5.
Complement-mediated lysis of K. pneumoniae mutant strains. 400 µl of human sera (Sigma-Aldrich) was added to ~106 cfu/100 µlofbacteria and incubated at 37 °C, shaking. Samples were taken every 30 min and plated for counts. Heat-inactivated sera was used as a negative control for all strains to confirm growth in sera. Presented are results of a single experiment, representative of duplicate experiments.

 


Figure 6
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  		FIGURE 6.
Whole blood phagocytosis of K. pneumoniae mutant strains. 300 µl of fresh whole (murine) blood was mixed with 107 cfu/100 µlofthe labeled bacterial strains and incubated for 3 h with rotation, 37 °C. The bacterial counts recovered were divided by the initial counts to give a survival index, with <1 indicating a susceptible organism (i.e. bacteria killed) and >1 indicating a resistant organism (i.e. bacteria proliferated). Presented are means and standard errors of duplicate samples, representative of duplicate experiments.

 
Outer Membrane Integrity of lpxM Mutant
Leakage of the Periplasmic Protein beta-Lactamase—Many K. pneumomiae strains have naturally acquired beta-lactamase genes, encoded either chromosomally or on plasmids, however B5055 remains sensitive to beta-lactam antibiotics. In Gram-negative bacteria TEM beta-lactamase is a periplasmic enzyme (37) and leakage of this enzyme into the culture supernatant can therefore be used as a measure of the integrity of the outer membrane. All strains were transformed with plasmids containing beta-lactamase to allow release of the enzyme into the culture medium to be measured. Analysis of wild type K. pneumoniae showed ~3% leakage of beta-lactamase into the culture medium (Table 2) while the acyl chain mutant showed an ~10-fold increased leakage of beta-lactamase into the culture supernatant, indicating increased permeability of the outer membrane in this mutant. The permeability was reduced to near wild type levels (~3% leakage) in the complemented mutant.


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  		TABLE 2
Outer membrane permeability of K. pneumoniae strains, indicated by leakage of the periplasmic protein TEM beta-lactamase into the culture supernatant

 
MICs of Antimicrobial Peptides and Antibiotics—Cationic antimicrobial peptides are a major component of innate immunity as they are released at mucosal and skin surfaces as part of the phagocytic vacuole microbicidal mechanism (38), and kill bacteria by permeabilization of lipid bilayers. The lpxM mutant showed increased sensitivity to three of the panel of peptides tested: polymyxin B, colistin, or polymyxin E, and CP28, (Table 3); as well as C18G (Fig. 7), which requires the presence of serum for optimal bactericidal effect (31). This demonstrates that the permeability of the outer membrane shown by beta-lactamase release is of physiological importance as it imparts increased susceptibility to a select number of antimicrobial peptides.


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  		TABLE 3
MICs of a number of antibiotics and antimicrobial peptides against wild type K. pneumoniae (B5055), a lipid A mutant (B5055{Delta}lpxM), and the complemented mutant (B5055{Delta}lpxM complemented) The modal MIC of at least four experiments is given.

 

   DISCUSSION
TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
 RESULTS
 DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
 
The viability of K. pneumoniae lpxM mutants and their ability to express known virulence determinants (capsule and LPS) at wild type levels allows a unique opportunity to study the role of lipid A in murine models of bacteremia and pneumonia. Although K. pneumoniae virulence is heavily dependent on the polysaccharide capsule (8, 39), the attenuation of in vivo growth of the acyl chain mutant indicated a role for lipid A in K. pneumoniae infection. The lpxM mutant showed an increased permeability of the outer membrane, which did not increase sensitivity of the bacterium to complement-mediated lysis or phagocytosis. Given that capsule and LPS O-polysaccharide have previously been shown to protect against complement-mediated killing (7, 40), and the lpxM mutant retains wild type levels of these virulence determinants, it is not surprising that innate resistance to complement and phagocytosis is retained. The sensitivity of the acyl chain mutant to a small selection of {alpha}-helical cationic antimicrobial peptides indicates that the capsule and LPS are unable to prevent these peptides from interacting with the outer membrane, as they appear to be able to do for complement factors. From this evidence it is hypothesized that increased sensitivity to cationic antimicrobials may be one mechanism through which growth of the K. pneumoniae lpxM mutant is attenuated in murine bacteremia and pneumonia models.


Figure 7
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  		FIGURE 7.
Increased sensitivity of K. pneumoniae lpxM mutant to the cationic peptide C18G. Increasing concentrations of the {alpha}-helical cationic peptide C18G were added to ~5 x 104 cfu/ml of B5055 or B5055{Delta}lpxM and rotated at 37 °C for 3 h after which viable counts were determined.

 
Lipid A has been shown to be an important virulence determinant of many Gram-negative pathogens and modifications in its structure have been specifically demonstrated in response to host defense mechanisms for a number of bacteria (Salmonella enterica var Typhimurium (41) Brucella abortus (42), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (43)). In Salmonella two two-component regulatory systems, PhoP/PhoQ and PmrA/PmrB, induce modifications to the lipid A backbone (aminoarabinose or phosphoethanolamine) as well as acyl chain substitutions (secondary chain myristate to 2-OH myristate) and additions (pagP-mediated palmitate addition at the 3' position) (41). Similarly, the B. abortus BvrS/BvrR system appears to alter acylation patterns as well as controlling outer membrane protein expression (42, 44). Mutants in these systems were found to increase the bacterium susceptibility to antimicrobial peptides, indicating a pivotal role for lipid A in antimicrobial peptide resistance. However, as these mutants had multiple outer membrane/lipid alterations, the antimicrobial peptide resistance could not be directly attributed to acyl chain modifications. Most of these changes could be attributed to charge alterations by changes to aminoarabinose and phosphoethanolamine additions. This was addressed by studying the salmonella pagP mutant (45) which prevented the addition of a seventh acyl chain, palmitoyl, to the lipid A moiety. This hexaacyl-restricted mutant had increased sensitivity to antimicrobial peptides, thus directly linking antimicrobial peptide resistance to acyl chain numbers.

Interestingly, the Salmonella pagP mutant showed increased sensitivity to antimicrobial peptides from a number of different classes ({alpha}-helical and beta-sheet structures). In the current study, the K. pneumoniae lpxM mutant was more sensitive to a restricted repertoire of peptides. For example, CP28 showed increased anti-bacterial activity while its derivative CP26 (46) showed no alteration in activity. The effective peptides were {alpha}-helical amphipathic peptides that are proposed to act subsequent to self promoted uptake, interacting with the LPS divalent cation binding sites on the outer membrane surface and competitively displacing these cations (47, 48). The exact mechanisms of lethality of these peptides are still disputed, whether through destabilization and permeabilization of the cytoplasmic membrane (49), or passage across the membrane to internal cytoplasmic targets (as proposed for the polymyxins although the exact targets have not been identified (50)). The two active antimicrobial peptides; CP28 and C18G, both contain 50% hydrophobic residues (51), which is a distinct property of these peptides among the panel tested. It is therefore suggested that very specific structural configurations and/or amphipathicity are necessary for activity against lpxM mutants. Remembering that pagP is present and inducible in K. pneumoniae in response to outer membrane stress (Fig. 2), it is possible that the restricted repertoire of peptides active against the lpxM mutant may be those specifically obstructed by heptaacylated lipid, while those active against the pagP mutant, but not the lpxM mutant, may be hindered by the presence of palmitate. Other differences between Salmonella and Klebsiella lipid structures cannot be ruled out in contributing to differential peptide sensitivities.

The K. pneumoniae lpxM mutant also showed increased susceptibility to polymyxins B and E (colistin). In Salmonella spp polymyxin resistance has been shown to be dependent on charge-altering modifications; aminoarabinose and ethanolamine additions to the lipid, and phosphate and ethanolamine additions to the core (52, 53). The K. pneumoniae core is not phosphorylated but constitutively contains galacturonic acid residues to maintain a negatively charged core (54). The absence of inducible modifications to the core may place more importance on the integrity of the lipid A for polymyxin resistance, as there are no modifications to divert the peptide from this lipid. The action of polymyxin relies on a number of processes. Those important for our work are the initial binding to the negative charges of the bacterial membrane (the cyclic peptide head group of polymyxin B has a net positive charge of 4) and secondly insertion of either the fatty acid tail or the head group into the membrane (the exact mechanism is undetermined (55, 56)). As the lpxM K. pneumoniae mutant does not appear to have any charge alterations it is proposed that the method of increased susceptibility of the lpxM mutant is not due to increased binding, but rather increased insertion of either the head group or fatty acid tail into the membrane due to the reduced acyl chain numbers.

K. pneumoniae resistance to polymyxin B (and a number of antimicrobial peptides) was previously shown to be mediated by capsule (57). In the current study capsule did not appear to play a role in resistance to antimicrobial peptides as B5055nm, a mutant with ~1/10th wild type capsule levels, showed no increase in sensitivity to polymyxin B (data not shown). Campos et al. did show that in the absence of capsule, O-polysaccharide was able to confer some resistance to polymyxin B which could explain the resistance of B5055nm (which has wild type O-polysaccharide levels) to polymyxins. However, a number of other studies have also shown that capsule does not contribute to resistance to antimicrobial peptides (58, 59) which is in agreement with the current observations, and these fundamental discrepancies need further investigation.

The role of the ubiquitous LPS molecule in the pathogenesis of Gram-negative bacteria remains somewhat enigmatic. LPS O-Ag is a major and effective target for the acquired immune system yet the lipid A region seems to provide protection against a widely conserved innate response as well as resistance to detergents and bile (60). The comparative role of each LPS region may vary greatly depending on the organism and infection route studied, making a global identification of its importance problematic.


   FOOTNOTES
 
* This research was supported in part by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) of Australia and the Cooperative Research Centre for Vaccine Technology. The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. Back

1 A NH&MRC Dora Lush Scholar. Back

2 A NH&MRC RD Wright Fellow. Back

3 A NH&MRC Principal Research Fellow. Back

4 Both authors made equal contributions as senior authors. Back

5 To whom correspondence should be addressed: Dept. of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010, Australia. Tel.: 61-3-8344-5712; Fax: 61-3-9347-1540; E-mail: rastru{at}unimelb.edu.au.

6 The abbreviations used are: LPS, lipopolysaccharide; MIC, minimal inhibitory concentrations; MALDI-TOF, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight. Back



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