Abstract
Bordetella holmesii can cause invasive infections but can also be isolated from the respiratory tract of patients with whooping-cough like symptoms. For the first time, we describe the lipid A structure of B. holmesii reference strain ATCC 51541 (alias NCTC12912 or CIP104394) and those of three French B. holmesii clinical isolates originating from blood (Bho1) or from respiratory samples (FR4020 and FR4101). They were investigated using chemical analyses, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–mass spectrometry (MALDI–MS). The analyses revealed a common bisphosphorylated β-(1→6)-linked d-glucosamine disaccharide with hydroxytetradecanoic acid in amide linkages. Similar to B. avium, B. hinzii and B. trematum lipids A, the hydroxytetradecanoic acid at the C-2′ position are carrying in secondary linkage a 2-hydroxytetradecanoic acid residue resulting of post-traductional biosynthesis modifications. The three clinical isolates displayed characteristic structural traits compared to the ATCC 51541 reference strain: the lipid A phosphate groups are more or less modified with glucosamine in the isolates and reference strain, but the presence of 10:0(3-OH) is only observed in the isolates. This trait was only described in B. pertussis and B. parapertussis strains, as well as in B. petrii isolates by the past. The genetic bases for most of the key structural elements of lipid A were analyzed and supported the structural data.
Highlights
The Bordetella genus contains at the moment a dozen species, of which at least five are responsible for respiratory diseases in humans and/or animals
Total fatty acid analyses performed by gas chromatography—mass spectrometry (GC–MS) revealed the presence of 3-hydroxytetradecanoic acid [14:0(3-OH)], 2-hydroxytetradecanoic acid 14:0(2-OH), 2-hydroxydodecanoic acid 12:0(2-OH), and 3-hydroxydecanoic acid 10:0(3-OH) as well as traces of tetradecanoic acid 14:0 and dodecanoic acid 12:0 in lipids A extracted from all tested strains and isolates
The B. holmesii lipid A structures established in the present study differ from one to the other: (i) Presence of free amino GlcN on the phosphate groups of lipid A structure: in Bho1 as in ATCC 51541, the failure of BvgA to function leads to a weaker substitution than in the two other isolates
Summary
The Bordetella genus contains at the moment a dozen species, of which at least five are responsible for respiratory diseases in humans and/or animals. In the past years, increasing reports of the presence of B. holmesii in the respiratory tract of patients with pertussis-like symptoms have been published [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. It is not known whether this bacterium is an opportunistic or a pathogenic one, able to induce pertussis-like symptoms in humans [14,15,16]
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