Namkang Sriwattanarothai. The relationship between Burkholderia Pseudomallei RpoS and OxyR expressions in the intracellular environment of human neutrophils. Master's Degree(Biochemistry ). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2006.
The relationship between Burkholderia Pseudomallei RpoS and OxyR expressions in the intracellular environment of human neutrophils
Abstract:
The intracellular survival of Burkholderia pseudomallei is important in the
pathogenesis of infection. B. pseudomallei can persist in a dormant stage for months or
years. Relapse after apparent cure and recurrences of infection make treating this
disease difficult. One important factor which helps them survive during and after
infection is the microbial oxidative stress response. The regulation of RpoS and OxyR
regulons is also in this category. In this study, it is hypothesized that these 2 regulatory
systems may be involved in B. pseudomallei survival inside the human neutrophils
under an oxidative stress condition. First, the condition for phagocytosed process was
determined. The appropriate ratio between B. pseudomallei rpoS expression in human
neutrophils are 10:1 and 15:1. The optimal coincubation time is 90 minutes. To prove
whether conditions inside neutrophils are stressful for B. pseudomallei, the β-
galactosidase production of intracellular rpoSp lac Z transcription fusion was
measured. The result showed that B. pseudomallei rpoS intracellular ratios of 10:1 and
15:1 increased 2- and 3- fold more than the control, respectively. Therefore, the
intracellular environment of human neutrophils produced stress factors which affected
rpoS expression. By this method, the harvested cells of B. pseudomallei were too low
for other applications. The developing method was performed by coincubation of the
whole white blood cells lysate with B. pseudomallei (so called in situ condition). The
results showed the B. pseudomallei rpoS expression at 90 minutes was 3- fold more
than control. This in situ process can be used to imitate the intracellular environment
of human neutrophils. To determine the relationship between RpoS and OxyR
regulatory systems after in situ conditions, the oxyR, dpsA and sodB expression
detected by RT-PCR was determined. The results showed that the expression levels of
dpsA and sodB were 1.3 and 1.9 times higher than control, respectively; whereas, the
oxyR remained unchanged. The findings suggest that the B. pseudomallei RpoS
regulon is involved in the intracellular environment of human neutrophils, while OxyR
regulon involvement is inconclusive