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Dietary zinc and the control of Streptococcus pneumoniae infection

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posted on 2024-08-06, 12:03 authored by Bart A. Eijkelkamp, Jacqueline R. Morey, Stephanie L. Neville, Aimee Tan, Victoria G. Pederick, Nerida Cole, Prashina P. Singh, Cheryl Lynn Y. Ong, Raquel Gonzalez de Vega, David Clases, Bliss A. Cunningham, Catherine E. Hughes, Iain Comerford, Erin B. Brazel, Jonathan J. Whittall, Charles D. Plumptre, Shaun R. McColl, James C. Paton, Alastair G. McEwan, Philip A. Doble, Christopher A. McDevitt
Human zinc deficiency increases susceptibility to bacterial infection. Although zinc supplementation therapies can reduce the impact of disease, the molecular basis for protection remains unclear. Streptococcus pneumoniae is a major cause of bacterial pneumonia, which is prevalent in regions of zinc deficiency. We report that dietary zinc levels dictate the outcome of S. pneumoniae infection in a murine model. Dietary zinc restriction impacts murine tissue zinc levels with distribution post-infection altered, and S. pneumoniae virulence and infection enhanced. Although the activation and infiltration of murine phagocytic cells was not affected by zinc restriction, their efficacy of bacterial control was compromised. S. pneumoniae was shown to be highly sensitive to zinc intoxication, with this process impaired in zinc restricted mice and isolated phagocytic cells. Collectively, these data show how dietary zinc deficiency increases sensitivity to S. pneumoniae infection while revealing a role for zinc as a component of host antimicrobial defences.

Funding

The molecular basis for manganese uptake by pathogenic bacteria.

National Health and Medical Research Council

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Defining the role of zinc at the host-pneumococcal interface

National Health and Medical Research Council

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Protein glycan interactions in infectious diseases.

National Health and Medical Research Council

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Multiplexed bio-imaging mass spectrometry

Australian Research Council

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Aptamer imaging mass spectrometry for biomarker quantification

Australian Research Council

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Molecular insights into bacterial metal ion homeostasis and toxicity

Australian Research Council

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Investigating the antimicrobial activity of zinc at the host-pneumococcal interface

National Health and Medical Research Council

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New molecular tools to study the mechanisms of bacterial metal homeostasis

Australian Research Council

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History

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PDF (Published version)

ISSN

1553-7374

Journal title

PLoS Pathogens

Volume

15

Issue

8

Article number

article no. e1007957

Pagination

1 p

Publisher

Public Library of Science (PLoS)

Copyright statement

Copyright © 2019 Eijkelkamp et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Language

eng

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