Impact of the presence of pAA plasmids on the virulence phenotypes of hybrid strains of uropathogenic Escherichia coli.

• Grant number: 24/19380-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: March 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Biology and Physiology of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Tânia Aparecida Tardelli Gomes do Amaral
• Grantee: Natalia Victoriano de Araujo
• Supervisor: Ulrich Dobrindt
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Munster, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/14882-7 - Impact of the presence of pAA plasmids on the virulence phenotypes of hybrid strains of uropathogenic Escherichia coli., BP.DD

Abstract

The isolation of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) from extraintestinal sites has been increasingly frequent. This fact has raised questions about the relevance of the pAA plasmid in extraintestinal infections, given that it is responsible for coding virulence factors associated with EAEC intestinal infections.To understand if the presence of pAA could contribute to the increase of extraintestinal virulence potential, we transferred pAA from three uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) strains to a non-pathogenic E. coli strain and the resulting transconjugants were analyzed in comparison with the wild-type non-pathogenic strain to investigate the impact of pAA acquisition on the bacterial ability to survive in human serum and interact and invade intestinal and extraintestinal cell lineages. Our preliminary data showed that the presence of pAA can contribute to extraintestinal virulence in some E. coli strains, enhancing serum resistance and/or increasing the interaction and invasion of distinct cell lineages. To further understand the role of pAA in bacterial pathogenicity, and its influence on global gene expression, this project aims to perform in vitro and in vivo virulence models, including the transcriptome of bacteria grown in human urine and human blood serum, a murine model of experimental urinary tract infection, to evaluate if the strains harboring the pAA plasmid can cause urinary tract infection, and to perform epigenetic assays in the Galleria mellonella model, to verify if the pAA can make epigenetic modifications that will impact in the innate immune response.