Publication

The Opportunistic Pathogen Vibrio vulnificus Produces Outer Membrane Vesicles in a Spatially Distinct Manner Related to Capsular Polysaccharide

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Last modified
  • 05/22/2025
Type of Material
Authors
    Cheri M. Hampton, Emory UniversityRicardo C. Guerrero-Ferreira, Emory UniversityRachel E. Storms, Emory UniversityJeannette V. Taylor, Emory UniversityHong Yi, Emory UniversityPaul A. Gulig, University of FloridaElizabeth R. Wright, Emory University
Language
  • English
Date
  • 2017-11-07
Publisher
  • Frontiers Media
Publication Version
Copyright Statement
  • © 2017 Hampton, Guerrero-Ferreira, Storms, Taylor, Yi, Gulig and Wright.
License
Final Published Version (URL)
Title of Journal or Parent Work
ISSN
  • 1664-302X
Volume
  • 8
Issue
  • NOV
Start Page
  • 2177
End Page
  • 2177
Grant/Funding Information
  • This work was supported in part by Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Georgia Research Alliance to EW; the Center for AIDS Research at Emory University (P30 AI050409); HFSP grant RGP0051 to EW; public health service grant GM104540 to EW from the NIH/NIGMS, and NSF grant 0923395 to EW.
Supplemental Material (URL)
Abstract
  • Vibrio vulnificus, a bacterial species that inhabits brackish waters, is an opportunistic pathogen of humans. V. vulnificus infections can cause acute gastroenteritis, invasive septicemia, tissue necrosis, and potentially death. Virulence factors associated with V. vulnificus include the capsular polysaccharide (CPS), lipopolysaccharide, flagellum, pili, and outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). The aims of this study were to characterize the morphology of V. vulnificus cells and the formation and arrangement of OMVs using cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). cryo-EM and cryo-electron tomography imaging of V. vulnificus strains grown in liquid cultures revealed the presence of OMVs (diameters of ~45 nm for wild-type, ~30 nm for the unencapsulated mutant, and ~50 nm for the non-motile mutant) in log-phase growth. Production of OMVs in the stationary growth phase was limited and irregular. The spacing of the OMVs around the wild-type cells was in regular, concentric rings. In wild-type cells and a non-motile mutant, the spacing between the cell envelope and the first ring of OMVs was ~200 nm; this spacing was maintained between subsequent OMV layers. The size, arrangement, and spacing of OMVs in an unencapsulated mutant was irregular and indicated that the polysaccharide chains of the capsule regulate aspects of OMV production and order. Together, our results revealed the distinctive organization of V. vulnificus OMVs that is affected by expression of the CPS.
Author Notes
Keywords
Research Categories
  • Biology, Molecular
  • Biology, Microbiology

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