Revisiting <i>Ehrlichia ruminantium</i> Replication Cycle Using Proteomics: The Host and the Bacterium Perspectives

oleh: Isabel Marcelino, Philippe Holzmuller, Ana Coelho, Gabriel Mazzucchelli, Bernard Fernandez, Nathalie Vachiéry

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-05-01

Deskripsi

The Rickettsiales <i>Ehrlichia ruminantium</i>, the causal agent of the fatal tick-borne disease Heartwater, induces severe damage to the vascular endothelium in ruminants. Nevertheless, <i>E. ruminantium-</i>induced pathobiology remains largely unknown. Our work paves the way for understanding this phenomenon by using quantitative proteomic analyses (2D-DIGE-MS/MS, 1DE-nanoLC-MS/MS and biotin-nanoUPLC-MS/MS) of host bovine aorta endothelial cells (BAE) during the in vitro bacterium intracellular replication cycle. We detect 265 bacterial proteins (including virulence factors), at all time-points of the <i>E. ruminantium</i> replication cycle, highlighting a dynamic bacterium–host interaction. We show that <i>E. ruminantium</i> infection modulates the expression of 433 host proteins: 98 being over-expressed, 161 under-expressed, 140 detected only in infected BAE cells and 34 exclusively detected in non-infected cells. Cystoscape integrated data analysis shows that these proteins lead to major changes in host cell immune responses, host cell metabolism and vesicle trafficking, with a clear involvement of inflammation-related proteins in this process. Our findings led to the first model of <i>E. ruminantium</i> infection in host cells in vitro, and we highlight potential biomarkers of <i>E. ruminantium</i> infection in endothelial cells (such as ROCK1, TMEM16K, Albumin and PTPN1), which may be important to further combat Heartwater, namely by developing non-antibiotic-based strategies.