title: Pneumococcal wall teichoic acid is required for the pathogenesis of Streptococcus pneumoniae in murine models.
abstract: Pneumococcal asymptomatic colonization of the respiratory tracts is a major risk for invasive pneumococcal disease. We have previously shown that pneumococcal wall teichoic acid (WTA) was involved in pneumococcal infection of sepsis and adherence to epithelial and endothelial cells. In this study, we investigated the contribution of pneumococcal WTA to bacterial colonization and dissemination in murine models. The result showed that nasopharynx colonizing D39 bacterial cells have a distinct phenotype showing an increased exposure of teichoic acids relative to medium-grown bacteria. The WTA-deficient mutants were impaired in their colonization to the nasopharynx and lungs, and led to a mild inflammation in the lungs at 36 h post-inoculation. Pretreatment of the murine nares with WTA reduced the ability of wild type D39 bacteria to colonize the nasopharynx. In addition, the WTA-deficient strain was impaired in its ability to invade the blood and brain following intranasal administration. WTA-deficient D39 strain was reduced in C3 deposition but was more susceptible to the killing by the neutrophils as compared with its parent strain. Our results also demonstrated that the WTA enhanced pneumococcal colonization and dissemination independently of the host strains. These results indicate that WTA plays an important role in pneumococcal pathogenesis, both in colonization and dissemination processes.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Diagnostic Medicine designated by the Ministry of Education, College of Laboratory Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Libin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yanqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Jianmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wenchun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yibing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Kaifeng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003176:Complement C3 / Q000276:immunology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D008168:Lung / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009154:Mutation; D009305:Nasopharynx / Q000382:microbiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D013682:Teichoic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D014774:Virulence
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003176:Complement C3; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D013682:Teichoic Acids; C009900:lipoteichoic acid