Biology subjects

Fong, W. Y.

Publications and source records attributed to Fong, W. Y..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Impaired acid stress resistance in Salmonella Typhi Ty2

Salmonella enterica encounters acid stress during gastrointestinal transit and within the phagosomal environment of macrophages. Acid stress resistance has been well characterized in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, but comparative studies in the human-adapted Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi are limited. We compared the growth of S. Typhimurium 14028s and S. Typhi Ty2 at pH values ranging from 3-8 and observed that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium exhibits enhanced growth at pH 4.5 compared to S. Typhi. Comparative transcriptomic profiling of S. Typhimurium and S. Typhi at pH 4.5 and 7.5 identified numerous differentially expressed acid-induced genes (DEGs), including genes encoding membrane proteins (OmpC, PhoE, HydB), a transcriptional regulator (RpoS), and stress response proteins (YciG, STM14_1829, YmdF). Targeted deletion of selected genes in S. Typhimurium significantly suppressed growth at acidic pH, confirming their role in acid stress resistance. These resistance mechanisms are compromised in S. Typhi due to pseudogenization. Heterologous expression of pseudogenized genes in S. Typhi restored acid tolerance. Collectively, these findings suggest that S. Typhi has lost the ability to withstand acid stress due to genomic decay and the loss of multiple genes essential for acid survival in S. Typhimurium, reflecting divergent evolutionary paths in these two serovars. ImportanceSalmonella Typhimurium must adapt to acidic pH conditions in the intestinal tract and the intracellular environment to cause infection. In this study, we show that the enteric fever serovar Salmonella Typhi exhibits impaired growth at pH 4.5, in comparison to Salmonella Typhimurium. We further show that the loss of specific membrane proteins, a transcriptional regulator, and a family of stress response proteins in Salmonella Typhi are responsible for this difference. Collectively, these observations suggest that Salmonella Typhi has evolutionarily lost the ability to withstand acid stress due to differences in its interaction with the human host. This has important implications for the pathogenesis of typhoid fever.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2022

Genome-wide fitness analysis identifies genes required for in vitro growth and macrophage infection by African and Global Epidemic pathovariants of Salmonella Enteritidis

Salmonella Enteritidis is the second most common serovar associated with invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Previously, genomic and phylogenetic characterisation of S. Enteritidis isolates from human bloodstream led to the discovery of the Central/Eastern African (CEAC) and West African clades, which were distinct from the gastroenteritis-associated Global Epidemic clade (GEC). The African S. Enteritidis clades have unique genetic signatures that include genomic degradation, novel prophage repertoires and multi-drug resistance, but the molecular basis for the enhanced propensity of African S. Enteritidis to cause bloodstream infection is poorly understood. We used transposon insertion sequencing (TIS) to identify the genetic determinants of the GEC representative strain P125109 and the CEAC representative strain D7795 for growth in three in vitro conditions (LB or minimal NonSPI2 and InSPI2 growth media), and for survival and replication in RAW 264.7 murine macrophages. We identified 207 in vitro-required genes that were common to both S. Enteritidis strains and also required by S. Typhimurium, S. Typhi and Escherichia coli, and 63 genes that were only required by individual S. Enteritidis strains. Similar types of genes were required by both P125109 and D7795 for optimal growth in particular media. Screening the transposon libraries during macrophage infection identified 177 P125109 and 201 D7795 genes that contribute to bacterial survival and replication in mammalian cells. The majority of these genes have proven roles in Salmonella virulence. Our analysis also revealed candidate strain-specific macrophage fitness genes, some of which represent potential novel Salmonella virulence factors. IMPACT STATEMENTInvasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease is a systemic infection that has a high case fatality rate of 15% and is responsible for an estimated 66,500 deaths/year in sub-Saharan Africa. The main causative agents are pathovariants of Salmonella Typhimurium, known as S. Typhimurium ST313, and Salmonella Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis), known as Central/Eastern African (CEAC) and West African S. Enteritidis. Whilst the African S. Typhimurium pathovariant has been an active focus of research over the past decade, studies on African S. Enteritidis have been lacking. We used transposon insertion sequencing (TIS) to identify the genetic requirements of both African and Global Epidemic S. Enteritidis to grow in vitro and to infect murine macrophages. To our knowledge, this is the first genome-wide functional analysis of African S. Enteritidis under conditions relevant to infection of a mammalian host. We show that the gene sets required for growth under laboratory conditions and macrophage infection by African and Global Epidemic S. Enteritidis were broadly similar, and that the majority of the genes that contribute to survival and replication in macrophage already have proven roles in Salmonella virulence. Our analysis did identify candidate strain-specific macrophage fitness genes, some of which could be novel Salmonella virulence factors.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2018

Adding function to the genome of African Salmonella ST313

Salmonella Typhimurium ST313 causes invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease in sub-Saharan Africa, targeting susceptible HIV+, malarial or malnourished individuals. An in-depth genomic comparison between the ST313 isolate D23580, and the well-characterized ST19 isolate 4/74 that causes gastroenteritis across the globe, revealed extensive synteny. To understand how the 856 nucleotide variations generated phenotypic differences, we devised a large-scale experimental approach that involved the global gene expression analysis of strains D23580 and 4/74 grown in sixteen infection-relevant growth conditions. Comparison of transcriptional patterns identified virulence and metabolic genes that were differentially expressed between D23580 versus 4/74, many of which were validated by proteomics. We also uncovered the S. Typhimurium D23580 and 4/74 genes that showed expression differences during infection of murine macrophages. Our comparative transcriptomic data are presented in a new enhanced version of the Salmonella expression compendium SalComD23580: bioinf.gen.tcd.ie/cgi-bin/salcom_v2.pl. We discovered that the ablation of melibiose utilization was caused by 3 independent SNP mutations in D23580 that are shared across ST313 lineage 2, suggesting that the ability to catabolise this carbon source has been negatively selected during ST313 evolution. The data revealed a novel plasmid maintenance system involving a plasmid-encoded CysS cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase, highlighting the power of large-scale comparative multi-condition analyses to pinpoint key phenotypic differences between bacterial pathovariants.

microbiology↗