Helicobacter pylori HP0231 Influences Bacterial Virulence and Is Essential for Gastric Colonization

PLoS One. 2016 May 3;11(5):e0154643. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154643. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

The Dsb protein family is responsible for introducing disulfide bonds into nascent proteins in prokaryotes, stabilizing the structure of many proteins. Helicobacter pylori HP0231 is a Dsb-like protein, shown to catalyze disulfide bond formation and to participate in redox homeostasis. Notably, many H. pylori virulence factors are stabilized by the formation of disulfide bonds. By employing H. pylori HP0231 deficient strains we analyzed the effect of lack of this bacterial protein on the functionality of virulence factors containing putative disulfide bonds. The lack of H. pylori HP0231 impaired CagA translocation into gastric epithelial cells and reduced VacA-induced cellular vacuolation. Moreover, H. pylori HP0231 deficient bacteria were not able to colonize the gastric mucosa of mice, probably due to compromised motility. Together, our data demonstrate an essential function for H. pylori HP0231 in gastric colonization and proper function of bacterial virulence factors related to gastric pathology.

MeSH terms

  • Antigens, Bacterial / metabolism
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism
  • Cell Line
  • Helicobacter pylori / metabolism
  • Helicobacter pylori / pathogenicity*
  • Helicobacter pylori / physiology
  • Protein Transport
  • Stomach / microbiology*
  • Vacuoles / microbiology
  • Virulence

Substances

  • Antigens, Bacterial
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • cagA protein, Helicobacter pylori

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Polish National Science Centre, 2012/05/B/NZ1/00039, https://www.ncn.gov.pl (to EKJK), and the China Scholarship Council, 2011630085, http://en.csc.edu.cn/ (to YZ). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.