The broad objective of this application is to understand how host cells defend themselves against pore-forming toxins made by pathogenic bacteria. The long term objective is to use this information for development of novel therapeutics that protects humans against bacterial infection by boosting cellular defenses against pore-forming toxins. Pore-forming toxins are the largest single group of bacterial virulence factors, comprising >25% of all protein toxins made by bacteria. They are important for the in vivo virulence of many major bacterial pathogens of humans, including Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococci. Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as an important genetically-tractable in vivo system for studying how animal cells defend against pore-forming toxins in a manner relevant to mammals. c-JUN N-terminal Kinase (JNK) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) is a central regulator of induced cellular defenses to pore-forming toxins in C. elegans, regulating half of all PFT-induced defenses.
Specific Aim I will use forward and reverse genetics, genetic and biochemical tests, quantitative intoxication assays, and expression analyses to assemble as completely as possible the C. elegans JNK PFT-induced defense pathway, heading both upstream of JNK towards initial pore-formation and downstream of JNK into regulated defense subpathways.
Specific Aim II involves the use of mammalian cells treated with a medically relevant pore-forming toxin to ascertain how well C. elegans defenses are conserved in mammalian cells.
Specific Aim III uses a unique and powerful set of assays developed in C. elegans to study the actual mechanisms by which the JNK PFT-induced defense pathway protects cells against PFT attack. An additional goal of Specific Aim III is to uncover new cellular mechanisms for PFT defenses.

Public Health Relevance

During infection, many disease-causing bacteria secrete pore-forming toxins that punch holes in cell membranes as a means towards damaging and disabling our cells. In this application, we will study how our cells fight back and protect themselves against these toxins. Our goal is to use this information to design new drugs that boost our own defenses against bacterial toxins and disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01GM071603-06
Application #
8306931
Study Section
Innate Immunity and Inflammation Study Section (III)
Program Officer
Maas, Stefan
Project Start
2006-05-01
Project End
2015-04-30
Budget Start
2012-05-01
Budget End
2013-04-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$287,139
Indirect Cost
$81,399
Name
University of California San Diego
Department
Biology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
804355790
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92093
Dementiev, Alexey; Board, Jason; Sitaram, Anand et al. (2016) The pesticidal Cry6Aa toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis is structurally similar to HlyE-family alpha pore-forming toxins. BMC Biol 14:71
Franks, Sarah E; Ebrahimi, Celia; Hollands, Andrew et al. (2014) Novel role for the yceGH tellurite resistance genes in the pathogenesis of Bacillus anthracis. Infect Immun 82:1132-40
Los, Ferdinand C O; Randis, Tara M; Aroian, Raffi V et al. (2013) Role of pore-forming toxins in bacterial infectious diseases. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 77:173-207
Los, Ferdinand C O; Ha, Christine; Aroian, Raffi V (2013) Neuronal Go? and CAPS regulate behavioral and immune responses to bacterial pore-forming toxins. PLoS One 8:e54528
Kao, Cheng-Yuan; Los, Ferdinand C O; Huffman, Danielle L et al. (2011) Global functional analyses of cellular responses to pore-forming toxins. PLoS Pathog 7:e1001314
Kho, Melanie F; Bellier, Audrey; Balasubramani, Venkatasamy et al. (2011) The pore-forming protein Cry5B elicits the pathogenicity of Bacillus sp. against Caenorhabditis elegans. PLoS One 6:e29122
Los, Ferdinand C O; Kao, Cheng-Yuan; Smitham, Jane et al. (2011) RAB-5- and RAB-11-dependent vesicle-trafficking pathways are required for plasma membrane repair after attack by bacterial pore-forming toxin. Cell Host Microbe 9:147-57
Chen, Chang-Shi; Bellier, Audrey; Kao, Cheng-Yuan et al. (2010) WWP-1 is a novel modulator of the DAF-2 insulin-like signaling network involved in pore-forming toxin cellular defenses in Caenorhabditis elegans. PLoS One 5:e9494
Bellier, Audrey; Chen, Chang-Shi; Kao, Cheng-Yuan et al. (2009) Hypoxia and the hypoxic response pathway protect against pore-forming toxins in C. elegans. PLoS Pathog 5:e1000689
Bischof, Larry J; Kao, Cheng-Yuan; Los, Ferdinand C O et al. (2008) Activation of the unfolded protein response is required for defenses against bacterial pore-forming toxin in vivo. PLoS Pathog 4:e1000176