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pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles

The vagina of healthy women is predominantly colonized by lactobacilli but it also harbors a limited proportion of certain anaerobes such as Gardnerella vaginalis. An increase in G. vaginalis along with other anaerobes on account of perturbation in the vaginal microbiota is associated with bacterial...

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Autores principales: Shishpal, Parul, Patel, Vainav, Singh, Dipty, Bhor, Vikrant M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8593039/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34795647
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.723909
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author Shishpal, Parul
Patel, Vainav
Singh, Dipty
Bhor, Vikrant M.
author_facet Shishpal, Parul
Patel, Vainav
Singh, Dipty
Bhor, Vikrant M.
author_sort Shishpal, Parul
collection PubMed
description The vagina of healthy women is predominantly colonized by lactobacilli but it also harbors a limited proportion of certain anaerobes such as Gardnerella vaginalis. An increase in G. vaginalis along with other anaerobes on account of perturbation in the vaginal microbiota is associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV). Although strategies adopted by G. vaginalis for survival and pathogenesis in a conducive environment (i.e., high vaginal pH, characteristic of BV) have been previously studied, the approaches potentially employed for adaptation to the low pH of the healthy vagina are unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effect of acidic stress on the modulation of the production and function of membrane vesicles (MVs) of G. vaginalis. pH stress led to a distortion of the bacterial cell morphology as well as an altered biogenesis of MVs, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Both qualitative and quantitative differences in protein content of MVs produced in response to pH stress were observed by flow cytometry. A significant change in the protein composition characterized by presence of chaperones despite a reduction in number of proteins was also noted in the stress induced MVs. Further, these changes were also reflected in the reduced cytotoxic potential toward vaginal epithelial cells. Although, these findings need to be validated in the in vivo settings, the modulation of G. vaginalis MV biogenesis, composition and function appears to reflect the exposure to acidic conditions prevailing in the host vaginal mileu in the absence of vaginal infection.
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spelling pubmed-85930392021-11-17 pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles Shishpal, Parul Patel, Vainav Singh, Dipty Bhor, Vikrant M. Front Microbiol Microbiology The vagina of healthy women is predominantly colonized by lactobacilli but it also harbors a limited proportion of certain anaerobes such as Gardnerella vaginalis. An increase in G. vaginalis along with other anaerobes on account of perturbation in the vaginal microbiota is associated with bacterial vaginosis (BV). Although strategies adopted by G. vaginalis for survival and pathogenesis in a conducive environment (i.e., high vaginal pH, characteristic of BV) have been previously studied, the approaches potentially employed for adaptation to the low pH of the healthy vagina are unknown. In the present study, we investigated the effect of acidic stress on the modulation of the production and function of membrane vesicles (MVs) of G. vaginalis. pH stress led to a distortion of the bacterial cell morphology as well as an altered biogenesis of MVs, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Both qualitative and quantitative differences in protein content of MVs produced in response to pH stress were observed by flow cytometry. A significant change in the protein composition characterized by presence of chaperones despite a reduction in number of proteins was also noted in the stress induced MVs. Further, these changes were also reflected in the reduced cytotoxic potential toward vaginal epithelial cells. Although, these findings need to be validated in the in vivo settings, the modulation of G. vaginalis MV biogenesis, composition and function appears to reflect the exposure to acidic conditions prevailing in the host vaginal mileu in the absence of vaginal infection. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-11-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8593039/ /pubmed/34795647 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.723909 Text en Copyright © 2021 Shishpal, Patel, Singh and Bhor. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Shishpal, Parul
Patel, Vainav
Singh, Dipty
Bhor, Vikrant M.
pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles
title pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles
title_full pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles
title_fullStr pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles
title_full_unstemmed pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles
title_short pH Stress Mediated Alteration in Protein Composition and Reduction in Cytotoxic Potential of Gardnerella vaginalis Membrane Vesicles
title_sort ph stress mediated alteration in protein composition and reduction in cytotoxic potential of gardnerella vaginalis membrane vesicles
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8593039/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34795647
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.723909
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