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Dive into the research topics where Marta Palusińska-Szysz is active.

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Featured researches published by Marta Palusińska-Szysz.


Archivum Immunologiae Et Therapiae Experimentalis | 2009

Pathogenicity of the family Legionellaceae

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Monika Cendrowska-Pinkosz

The Legionellae are Gram-negative bacteria able to survive and replicate in a wide range of protozoan hosts in natural environments, but they also occur in man-made aquatic systems, which are the major source of infection. After transmission to humans via aerosols, Legionella spp. can cause pneumonia (Legionnaires’ disease) or influenza-like respiratory infections (Pontiac fever). In children, Legionnaires’ disease is uncommon and is mainly diagnosed in children with immunosuppression. The clinical picture of Legionella pneumonia does not allow differentiation from pneumonia caused by others pathogens. The key to diagnosis is performing appropriate microbiological testing. The clinical presentation and the natural course of Legionnaires’ disease in children are not clear due to an insufficient number of samples, but morbidity and mortality caused by this infection are extremely high. The mortality rate for legionellosis depends on the promptness of an appropriate antibiotic therapy. Fluoroquinolones are the most efficacious drugs against Legionella. A combination of these drugs with macrolides seems to be promising in the treatment of immunosuppressed patients and individuals with severe legionellosis. Although all Legionella species are considered potentially pathogenic for humans, Legionella pneumophila is the etiological agent responsible for most reported cases of community-acquired and nosocomial legionellosis.


International Journal of Molecular Sciences | 2012

Anti-Legionella dumoffii activity of Galleria mellonella defensin and apolipophorin III.

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Agnieszka Zdybicka-Barabas; Bożena Pawlikowska-Pawlęga; Paweł Mak; Małgorzata Cytryńska

The gram-negative bacterium Legionella dumoffii is, beside Legionella pneumophila, an etiological agent of Legionnaires’ disease, an atypical form of pneumonia. The aim of this study was to determine the antimicrobial activity of Galleria mellonella defense polypeptides against L. dumoffii. The extract of immune hemolymph, containing a mixture of defense peptides and proteins, exhibited a dose-dependent bactericidal effect on L. dumoffii. The bacterium appeared sensitive to a main component of the hemolymph extract, apolipophorin III, as well as to a defense peptide, Galleria defensin, used at the concentrations 0.4 mg/mL and 40 μg/mL, respectively. L. dumoffii cells cultured in the presence of choline were more susceptible to both defense factors analyzed. A transmission electron microscopy study of bacterial cells demonstrated that Galleria defensin and apolipophorin III induced irreversible cell wall damage and strong intracellular alterations, i.e., increased vacuolization, cytoplasm condensation and the appearance of electron-white spaces in electron micrographs. Our findings suggest that insects, such as G. mellonella, with their great diversity of antimicrobial factors, can serve as a rich source of compounds for the testing of Legionella susceptibility to defense-related peptides and proteins.


Fems Microbiology Letters | 2008

Cellular envelope phospholipids from Legionella lytica

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Rafal Kalitynski; Ryszard Russa; Andrzej L. Dawidowicz; Wincenty J. Drozanski

The composition of phospholipids from the cellular envelope of Legionella lytica grown on artificial medium was determined by two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography. Phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphatidyl-N-monomethylethanolamine were the predominant phospholipids, while diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidyl-N,N-dimethylethanolamine were present at low concentrations. A trace amount of lipids carrying glycosyl residues was also observed. The fatty acids and their distribution in individual phospholipids were characterized using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS), matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight, and gas chromatography/MS methods. The characteristic feature of L. lytica phospholipids was the presence of an unbranched chain (which differentiates this bacterium from Legionella pneumophila) and branched iso and anteiso fatty acids as well as cis-9,10-methylenehexadecanoic acid. According to spectroscopic LC/MS data, the localization of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid residues on phosphorylglycerol was determined. Some aspects of the significance of phosphatidylcholine, one of the main phospholipids in L. lytica, are addressed and taxonomic implications of the data are discussed.


Microbiological Research | 2011

Legionella bozemanae synthesizes phosphatidylcholine from exogenous choline

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Monika Janczarek; Rafal Kalitynski; Andrzej L. Dawidowicz; Ryszard Russa

The phospholipid class and fatty acid composition of Legionella bozemanae were determined using thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry. Phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and diphosphatidylglycerol were the predominant phospholipids, while phosphatidyl-N-monomethylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and phosphatidyl-N,N-dimethylethanolamine were present at low concentrations. With the use of the LC/MS technique, PC16:0/15:0, PC17:/15:0, and PE16:1/15:0 were shown to be the dominant phospholipid constituents, which may be taxonomically significant. Two independent phosphatidylcholine synthesis pathways (the three-step methylation and the one-step CDP-choline pathway) were present and functional in L. bozemanae. In the genome of L. bozemanae, genes encoding two potential phosphatidylcholine forming enzymes, phospholipid N-methyl transferase (PmtA) and phosphatidylcholine synthase (Pcs), homologous to L. longbeachae, L. drancourtii, and L. pneumophila pmtA and pcs genes were identified. Genes pmtA and pcs from L. bozemanae were sequenced and analyzed on nucleotide and amino acid levels. Bacteria grown on an artificial medium with labelled choline synthesized phosphatidylcholine predominantly via the phosphatidylcholine synthase pathway, which indicates that L. bozemanae phosphatidylcholine, similarly as in other bacteria associated with eukaryotes, is an important determinant of host-microbe interactions.


Systematic and Applied Microbiology | 2001

Cellular fatty acid composition from Sarcobium lyticum (Legionella lytica comb. nov.)--an intracellular bacterial pathogen of amoebae.

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Adam Choma; Ryszard Russa; Wincenty J. Drozanski

Legionella lytica comb. nov. an intracellular bacterial pathogen of small free-living amoebae was subjected to cellular fatty acid (FA) analysis employing base and acid catalyzed cleavage, gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Both unbranched and branched (iso and anteiso) FA of chains ranging from 14 to 30 carbon atoms occurred. The presence of two long-chain FA: 27-oxo-octacosanoic acid and heptacosane-1,27-dioic acid, characteristic for legionellae, was found. Nine amide-linked 3-hydroxy-FA were revealed. The main 3-hydroxy-fatty acids comprise: 3-OH-14:0, 3-OH-16:0, 3-OH-18:0, 3-OH-i18:0, 3-OH-15:OH, 3-OH-i16:0 amd 3-OH-i17:0. The profile of hydroxy FAs permits allocation of L. lytica to group 3 of legionellae which comprise blue-white fluorescent species.


PLOS ONE | 2014

Identification of unusual phospholipid fatty acyl compositions of Acanthamoeba castellanii.

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Magdalena Kania; Anna Turska-Szewczuk; Witold Danikiewicz; Ryszard Russa; Beate Fuchs

Acanthamoeba are opportunistic protozoan pathogens that may lead to sight-threatening keratitis and fatal granulomatous encephalitis. The successful prognosis requires early diagnosis and differentiation of pathogenic Acanthamoeba followed by aggressive treatment regimen. The plasma membrane of Acanthamoeba consists of 25% phospholipids (PL). The presence of C20 and, recently reported, 28- and 30-carbon fatty acyl residues is characteristic of amoeba PL. A detailed knowledge about this unusual PL composition could help to differentiate Acanthamoeba from other parasites, e.g. bacteria and develop more efficient treatment strategies. Therefore, the detailed PL composition of Acanthamoeba castellanii was investigated by 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, thin-layer chromatography, gas chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Normal and reversed phase liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometric detection was used for detailed characterization of the fatty acyl composition of each detected PL. The most abundant fatty acyl residues in each PL class were octadecanoyl (18∶0), octadecenoyl (18∶1 Δ9) and hexadecanoyl (16∶0). However, some selected PLs contained also very long fatty acyl chains: the presence of 28- and 30-carbon fatty acyl residues was confirmed in phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine, phosphatidic acid and cardiolipin. The majority of these fatty acyl residues were also identified in PE that resulted in the following composition: 28∶1/20∶2, 30∶2/18∶1, 28∶0/20∶2, 30∶2/20∶4 and 30∶3/20∶3. The PL of amoebae are significantly different in comparison to other cells: we describe here for the first time unusual, very long chain fatty acids with Δ5-unsaturation (30∶35,21,24) and 30∶221,24 localized exclusively in specific phospholipid classes of A. castellanii protozoa that could serve as specific biomarkers for the presence of these microorganisms.


International Journal of Molecular Sciences | 2014

Legionella dumoffii Utilizes Exogenous Choline for Phosphatidylcholine Synthesis

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Agnieszka Szuster-Ciesielska; Magdalena Kania; Monika Janczarek; Elżbieta Chmiel; Witold Danikiewicz

Phosphatidycholine (PC) is the major membrane-forming phospholipid in eukaryotes but it has been found in only a limited number of prokaryotes. Bacteria synthesize PC via the phospholipid N-methylation pathway (Pmt) or via the phosphatidylcholine synthase pathway (Pcs) or both. Here, we demonstrated that Legionella dumoffii has the ability to utilize exogenous choline for phosphatidylcholine (PC) synthesis when bacteria grow in the presence of choline. The Pcs seems to be a primary pathway for synthesis of this phospholipid in L. dumoffii. Structurally different PC species were distributed in the outer and inner membranes. As shown by the LC/ESI-MS analyses, PC15:0/15:0, PC16:0/15:0, and PC17:0/17:1 were identified in the outer membrane and PC14:0/16:0, PC16:0/17:1, and PC20:0/15:0 in the inner membrane. L. dumoffii pcsA gene encoding phosphatidylcholine synthase revealed the highest sequence identity to pcsA of L. bozemanae (82%) and L. longbeachae (81%) and lower identity to pcsA of L. drancourtii (78%) and L. pneumophila (71%). The level of TNF-α in THP1-differentiated cells induced by live and temperature-killed L. dumoffii cultured on a medium supplemented with choline was assessed. Live L. dumoffii bacteria cultured on the choline-supplemented medium induced TNF-α three-fold less efficiently than cells grown on the non-supplemented medium. There is an evident effect of PC modification, which impairs the macrophage inflammatory response.


Fems Immunology and Medical Microbiology | 2014

Analysis of cell surface alterations in Legionella pneumophila cells treated with human apolipoprotein E.

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Agnieszka Zdybicka-Barabas; Małgorzata Cytryńska; Sylwia Wdowiak-Wróbel; Elżbieta Chmiel; Wiesław I. Gruszecki

Binding of human apolipoprotein E (apoE) to Legionella pneumophila lipopolysaccharide was analysed at the molecular level by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thereby providing biophysical evidence for apoE-L. pneumophila lipopolysaccharide interaction. Atomic force microscopy imaging of apoE-exposed L. pneumophila cells revealed alterations in the bacterial cell surface topography and nanomechanical properties in comparison with control bacteria. The changes induced by apoE binding to lipopolysaccharide on the surface of L. pneumophila cells may participate in: (1) impeding the penetration of host cells by the bacteria; (2) suppression of pathogen intracellular growth and eventually; and (3) inhibition of the development of infection.


Carbohydrate Research | 2012

Structural analysis of the O-specific polysaccharide from the lipopolysaccharide of Aeromonas veronii bv. sobria strain K49

Anna Turska-Szewczuk; Buko Lindner; Agnieszka Pękala; Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Adam Choma; Ryszard Russa; Otto Holst

The O-specific polysaccharide obtained by mild-acid degradation of the lipopolysaccharide from Aeromonas veronii bv. sobria strain K49 was studied by sugar and methylation analyses along with (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy. The sequence of the sugar residues was determined using (1)H,(1)H NOESY and (1)H,(13)C HMBC experiments. The O-specific polysaccharide was found to be a high molecular mass polysaccharide composed of repeating units of the structure: →2)-β-D-Quip3NAc-(1→3)-α-L-Rhap-(1→3)-α-L-Rhap-(1→2)-α-L-Rhap-(1→3)-α-D-FucpNAc-(1→ ESI MS confirmed the pentasaccharide structure of the repeating unit, as the molecular mass peaks seen in the spectrum differed by 812.34 u, a value corresponding to the calculated molecular mass of the O-unit.


Biochimica et Biophysica Acta | 2016

The lipid composition of Legionella dumoffii membrane modulates the interaction with Galleria mellonella apolipophorin III.

Marta Palusińska-Szysz; Agnieszka Zdybicka-Barabas; Emilia Reszczynska; Rafal Luchowski; Magdalena Kania; Nicolas Gisch; Franziska Waldow; Paweł Mak; Witold Danikiewicz; Wiesław I. Gruszecki; Małgorzata Cytryńska

Apolipophorin III (apoLp-III), an insect homologue of human apolipoprotein E (apoE), is a widely used model protein in studies on protein-lipid interactions, and anti-Legionella activity of Galleria mellonella apoLp-III has been documented. Interestingly, exogenous choline-cultured Legionella dumoffii cells are considerably more susceptible to apoLp-III than non-supplemented bacteria. In order to explain these differences, we performed, for the first time, a detailed analysis of L. dumoffii lipids and a comparative lipidomic analysis of membranes of bacteria grown without and in the presence of exogenous choline. (31)P NMR analysis of L. dumoffii phospholipids (PLs) revealed a considerable increase in the phosphatidylcholine (PC) content in bacteria cultured on choline medium and a decrease in the phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) content in approximately the same range. The interactions of G. mellonella apoLp-III with lipid bilayer membranes prepared from PLs extracted from non- and choline-supplemented L. dumoffii cells were examined in detail by means of attenuated total reflection- and linear dichroism-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Furthermore, the kinetics of apoLp-III binding to liposomes formed from L. dumoffii PLs was analysed by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy using fluorescently labelled G. mellonella apoLp-III. Our results indicated enhanced binding of apoLp-III to and deeper penetration into lipid membranes formed from PLs extracted from the choline-supplemented bacteria, i.e. characterized by an increased PC/PE ratio. This could explain, at least in part, the higher susceptibility of choline-cultured L. dumoffii to G. mellonella apoLp-III.

Collaboration


Dive into the Marta Palusińska-Szysz's collaboration.

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Ryszard Russa

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Agnieszka Zdybicka-Barabas

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Anna Turska-Szewczuk

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Małgorzata Cytryńska

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Monika Janczarek

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Paweł Mak

Jagiellonian University

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Wincenty J. Drozanski

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Adam Choma

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Elżbieta Chmiel

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University

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Magdalena Kania

Polish Academy of Sciences

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