PUBLICATION

Human-specific staphylococcal virulence factors enhance pathogenicity in a humanised zebrafish C5a receptor model

Authors
Buchan, K.D., van Gent, M., Prajsnar, T.K., Ogryzko, N.V., de Jong, N.W.M., Kolata, J., Foster, S.J., van Strijp, J.A.G., Renshaw, S.A.
ID
ZDB-PUB-210217-4
Date
2021
Source
Journal of Cell Science   134(5): (Journal)
Registered Authors
Ogryzko, Nikolay, Renshaw, Steve A.
Keywords
Host-Pathogen Interactions, Immunology, In vivo models, Microbiology, Staphylococcus aureus, Zebrafish
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Humans
  • Receptor, Anaphylatoxin C5a/genetics
  • Staphylococcus aureus*/genetics
  • Virulence
  • Virulence Factors*/genetics
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
33589501 Full text @ J. Cell Sci.
Abstract
Staphylococcus aureus infects approximately 30% of the human population and causes a spectrum of pathologies ranging from mild skin infections to life-threatening invasive diseases. The strict host specificity of its virulence factors has severely limited the accuracy of in vivo models for the development of vaccines and therapeutics. To resolve this, we generated a humanised zebrafish model and determined that neutrophil-specific expression of the human C5a receptor conferred susceptibility to the S. aureus toxins PVL and HlgCB, leading to reduced neutrophil numbers at the site of infection and increased infection-associated mortality. These results show that humanised zebrafish provide a valuable platform to study the contribution of human-specific S. aureus virulence factors to infection in vivo that could facilitate the development of novel therapeutic approaches and essential vaccines.
Genes / Markers
Figures
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Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping