Sharon G. Berk

Interactions between Food-Borne Pathogens and Protozoa Isolated from Lettuce and Spinach

ABSTRACT The survival of Salmonella enterica was recently shown to increase when the bacteria were sequestered in expelled food vacuoles (vesicles) of Tetrahymena. Because fresh produce is increasingly linked to outbreaks of enteric illness, the present investigation aimed to determine the prevalence of protozoa on spinach and lettuce and to examine their interactions with S. enterica, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes. Glaucoma sp., Colpoda steinii, and Acanthamoeba palestinensis were cultured from store-bought spinach and lettuce and used in our study. A strain of Tetrahymena pyriformis previously isolated from spinach and a soil-borne Tetrahymena sp. were also used. Washed protozoa were allowed to graze on green fluorescent protein- or red fluorescent protein-labeled enteric pathogens. Significant differences in interactions among the various protist-enteric pathogen combinations were observed. Vesicles were produced by Glaucoma with all of the bacterial strains, although L. monocytogenes resulted in the smallest number per ciliate. Vesicle production was observed also during grazing of Tetrahymena on E. coli O157:H7 and S. enterica but not during grazing on L. monocytogenes, in vitro and on leaves. All vesicles contained intact fluorescing bacteria. In contrast, C. steinii and the amoeba did not produce vesicles from any of the enteric pathogens, nor were pathogens trapped within their cysts. Studies of the fate of E. coli O157:H7 in expelled vesicles revealed that by 4 h after addition of spinach extract, the bacteria multiplied and escaped the vesicles. The presence of protozoa on leafy vegetables and their sequestration of enteric bacteria in vesicles indicate that they may play an important role in the ecology of human pathogens on produce.

Packaging of Live Legionella pneumophila into Pellets Expelled by Tetrahymena spp. Does Not Require Bacterial Replication and Depends on a Dot/Icm-Mediated Survival Mechanism

ABSTRACT The freshwater ciliate Tetrahymena sp. efficiently ingested, but poorly digested, virulent strains of the gram-negative intracellular pathogen Legionella pneumophila. Ciliates expelled live legionellae packaged in free spherical pellets. The ingested legionellae showed no ultrastructural indicators of cell division either within intracellular food vacuoles or in the expelled pellets, while the number of CFU consistently decreased as a function of time postinoculation, suggesting a lack of L. pneumophila replication inside Tetrahymena. Pulse-chase feeding experiments with fluorescent L. pneumophila and Escherichia coli indicated that actively feeding ciliates maintain a rapid and steady turnover of food vacuoles, so that the intravacuolar residence of the ingested bacteria was as short as 1 to 2 h. L. pneumophila mutants with a defective Dot/Icm virulence system were efficiently digested by Tetrahymena sp. In contrast to pellets of virulent L. pneumophila, the pellets produced by ciliates feeding on dot mutants contained very few bacterial cells but abundant membrane whorls. The whorls became labeled with a specific antibody against L. pneumophila OmpS, indicating that they were outer membrane remnants of digested legionellae. Ciliates that fed on genetically complemented dot mutants produced numerous pellets containing live legionellae, establishing the importance of the Dot/Icm system to resist digestion. We thus concluded that production of pellets containing live virulent L. pneumophila depends on bacterial survival (mediated by the Dot/Icm system) and occurs in the absence of bacterial replication. Pellets of virulent L. pneumophila may contribute to the transmission of Legionnaires’ disease, an issue currently under investigation.

Passage through Tetrahymena tropicalis Triggers a Rapid Morphological Differentiation in Legionella pneumophila

The intracellular bacterial pathogen Legionella pneumophila follows a developmental cycle in which replicative forms (RFs) differentiate into infectious stationary-phase forms (SPFs) in vitro and in vivo into highly infectious mature intracellular forms (MIFs). The potential relationships between SPFs and MIFs remain uncharacterized. Previously we determined that L. pneumophila survives, but does not replicate, while it transiently resides (for 1 to 2 h) in food vacuoles of the freshwater ciliate Tetrahymena tropicalis before being expelled as legionellae-laden pellets. We report here that SPFs have the ability to rapidly (<1 h) and directly (in the absence of bacterial replication) differentiate into MIFs while in transit through T. tropicalis, indicating that SPFs and MIFs constitute a differentiation continuum. Mutant RFs lacking the sigma factor gene rpoS, or the response regulator gene letA, were unable to produce normal SPFs in vitro and did not fully differentiate into MIFs in vivo, further supporting the existence of a common mechanism of differentiation shared by SPFs and MIFs. Mutants with a defective Dot/Icm system morphologically differentiated into MIFs while in transit through T. tropicalis. Therefore, T. tropicalis has allowed us to unequivocally conclude that SPFs can directly differentiate into MIFs and that the Dot/Icm system is not required for differentiation, two events that could not be experimentally addressed before. The Tetrahymena model can now be exploited to study the signals that trigger MIF development in vivo and is the only replication-independent model reported to date that allows the differentiation of Dot/Icm mutants into MIFs.

Toxicity of alum sludge extracts to a freshwater alga, protozoan, fish, and marine bacterium

Alum sludges from ten water treatment plants throughout North America were subjected to a battery of toxicity tests which included the S. capricornutum growth test, the fathead minnow survival and growth test, a protozoan mortality test, and the Microtox® test. S. capricornutum was more sensitive than any other test species to sludge extracts. Algal growth inhibition was observed in extracts obtained at pH 5 but generally not in circumneutral solutions. Alum sludge extracts prepared with natural receiving waters were toxic to S. capricornutum at all extract pH levels tested if receiving water hardness was less than 35 mg CaCO3/L. These results indicate that water-soluble constituents from alum sludges discharged into receiving waters may affect algal growth.

Prediction of Microcystis Blooms Based on TN:TP Ratio and Lake Origin

We evaluated the relationship between TN:TP ratio and Microcystis growth via a database that includes worldwide lakes based on four types of lake origin (dammed, tectonic, coastal, and volcanic lakes). We used microcosm and mesocosm for the nutrient elution tests with lake water and four kinds of sediment (nontreated, MgO sprinkling treated, dissolved air flotation [DAF] treated, and combined treated sediment) in order to control TN:TP ratio and to suppress Microcystis growth. Microcystis growth was related to TN:TP ratio, with the maximum value at an optimum TN:TP ratio and the minimum values when the TN:TP ratios reached to 0 or ∞. The kurtosis of the distribution curve varied with the type of lake origin; the lowest kurtosis was found in dammed lakes, while the highest was found in volcanic lakes. The lake trophic state could affect the change in the kurtosis, providing much lower kurtosis at eutrophic lakes (dammed lakes) than that at oligotrophic lakes (volcanic lakes). The relationship between TN:TP ratio and Microcystis growth could be explained by the nutrient elution tests under controlled TN:TP ratios through the various sediment treatments. A significant suppression of Microcystis growth of 70% could be achieved when the TN:TP ratios exceeded 21. Lake origin could be regarded as an index including morphological and geographical factors, and controlling the trophic state in lakes. The origin rather than trophic state for lakes could be considered as an important factor of TN:TP influences on Microcystis growth.

Static uniform magnetic fields and amoebae

Three species of potentially pathogenic amoebae were exposed to 71 and 106.5 mT from constant homogeneous magnetic fields and examined for inhibition of population growth. The number of amoebae for three species was significantly less than controls after a 72 h exposure to the magnetic fields when the temperature was 20 C or above. Axenic cultures, i.e., cultures grown without bacteria, were significantly affected after only 24 h. In 20 of 21 tests using the three species, the magnetic field significantly inhibited the growth of amoebae. In one test in which the temperature was 20 C for 48 h, exposure to the magnetic field was not inhibitory. Final numbers of magnetic field-exposed amoebae ranged from 9 to 72% lower than the final numbers of unexposed controls, depending on the species. This research may lead to disinfection strategies utilizing magnetic fields for surfaces on which pathogenic amoebae may proliferate.

The tetrahymena and acanthamoeba model systems.

Although the study of protozoology has been active for centuries, very few current academic curricula incorporate requirements or even options for coursework on the study of protists; yet, protozoa are becoming widely recognized by investigators as organisms that play a significant role in the evolution, pathogenicity, protection and amplification of human pathogens in the environment. This is particularly true for the study of Legionella, as this accidental human pathogen has naturally evolved to infect protozoa in fresh water environments. Researchers have made great progress in the study of pathogenicity, evolution, and ecology of Legionella and its protozoan hosts, which include amoebae and ciliated protozoa. Our own collaboration in this field has been active for over a decade, and we have gained a valuable experience working with these protozoa, particularly aspects of their biology and the methods needed to address new experimental concepts. Therefore, in this chapter we provide the most effective procedures that we have developed or modified through our years of practice. We also offer notes on what procedures, in our opinion, should be avoided; and we provide the rationale for such precautions.

Reversal of phenol and naphthalene effects on ciliate chemoattraction

In an effort to address research needs in the area of rapid screening tests for aquatic toxicology, the authors engaged in a study of pollutant effects on protozoan chemoattraction. Among pollutants tested were metals and hydrocarbons. To ascertain whether inhibition observed after brief exposures to certain concentrations of the pollutants were irreversible, they examined the possibility of nullifying the inhibitory effect by removing protozoa from the toxicants after short exposures. Earlier work showed that inhibitory effects of metals could be removed, and they report here the nullification and reversibility of effects of phenol and naphthalene on certain ciliates.

Using microcosms to assess aeration, cement, and clay mitigation of iron contaminated lake sediments

Abstract A sediment‐water phase laboratory microcosm experiment was designed to assess iron dynamics for Fall Creek Lake located in the Cumberland Plateau Region of Tennessee, the United States. Aeration, clay, and cement treatments were compared with control. Representing the lake hypolimnion, microcosms were maintained under dark conditions at 9 ± 1 °C for six months. For the initial six weeks, the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in clay, cement and control microcosms was 5–6 mg/L The DO in the aerated microcosms was 10–11 mg/L. After six weeks, the DO concentration was reduced by nitrogen purging to 0–2 mg/L in all microcosms except the aerated one. All treatment microcosms demonstrated significantly lower water column iron concentrations. The rate and extent of iron release from lake sediments to water was influenced by mechanisms involving oxidation and sorption processes. Of the treatments, aeration and clay appeared to be effective in capturing iron released from sediments. Cement treatment cau...