Epigenetic reprogramming of innate immunity during uropathogenic E. coli infection in surrogate insect model
Final Report Abstract
Uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) are the main agents responsible for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in humans and have evolved into strains that behave like commensals in the human urinary tract, thus causing asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU). UPEC pathogenesis causes the strong induction of innate immunity-related genes that are usually suppressed by ABU strains. Epigenetic mechanisms control gene expression, and may thus influence innate immunity during ABU and UPEC infections. To address this hypothesis, we infected the model insect host Galleria mellonella with UPEC or ABU strains. Larval survival was determined by the pathogenicity of the strains, revealing a correlation between strain-specific innate immunity-related gene expression, histone acetylation and DNA methylation. Our data confirm that differential epigenetic mechanisms in G. mellonella larvae regulate the transcriptional activation of innate immunity genes to distinguish between UPEC and ABU strains. This may improve our understanding of the corresponding mechanisms in the human urinary tract.
Publications
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Epigenetic mechanisms regulate innate immunity against uropathogenic and commensal-like Escherichia coli in the surrogate insect model Galleria mellonella. Infection and Immunity, 2017 Jul 24
Heitmueller M, Billion A, Dobrindt U, Vilcinskas A, Mukherjee K
