Richard de Boer

Caenorhabditis elegans is a highly versatile model system, intensively used for functional, genetic, cytometric, and integrative studies. Due to its simplicity and large muscle cell number, C. elegans has frequently been used to study mitochondrial deficiencies caused by disease or drug toxicity. Here we describe a robust and efficient method to visualize and quantify mitochondrial morphology in vivo. This method has many practical and technical advantages above traditional (manual) methods and provides a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial morphology.

Bacillus cereus can survive in the form of spores for prolonged periods posing a serious problem for the manufacture of safe shelf-stable foods of optimal quality. Our study aims at increasing knowledge of B. cereus spores focusing primarily on germination mechanisms to develop novel milder food preservation strategies. Major features of B. cereus spores are a core with the genetic material encased by multiple protective layers, an important one being the spores′ inner membrane (IM), the location of many important germination proteins. To study mechanisms involved in germination of B. cereus spores, we have examined the organization of germinant receptors (GRs) in spores′ IM. Previous studies have indicated that in spores of B.cereus ATCC 14579 the L-alanine responsive GR, GerR, plays a major role in the germination process. In our study, the location of the GerR GR subunit, GerRB, in spores was examined as a C-terminal SGFP2 fusion protein expressed under the control of the gerR operon′s promoter. Our results showed that: (i) the fluorescence maxima and integrated intensity in spores with plasmid-borne expression of GerRB-SGFP2 were significantly higher than in wild-type spores; (ii) western blot analysis confirmed the expression of the GerRB-SGFP2 fusion protein in spores; and (iii) fluorescence microscopy visualized GerRB-SGFP2 specific bright foci in ~30% of individual dormant spores if only GerRB-SGFP2 was expressed, but, noticeably, in ~85% of spores upon co-expression with GerRA and GerRC. Our data corroborates the notion that co-expression of GR subunits improves their stability. Finally, all spores displayed bright fluorescent foci upon expression of GerD-mScarlet-I under the control of the gerD promoter. We termed all fluorescent foci observed germinosomes, the term used for the IM foci of GRs in Bacillus subtilis spores. Our data are the first evidence for the existence of germinosomes in B. cereus spores.

Weak organic acids like sorbic and acetic acid are widely used to prevent growth of spoilage organisms such as Bacilli. To identify genes involved in weak acid stress tolerance we screened a transposon mutant library of Bacillus subtilis for sorbic acid sensitivity. Mutants of the rodZ (ymfM) gene were found to be hypersensitive to the lipophilic weak organic acid. RodZ is involved in determining the cell’s rod-shape and believed to interact with the bacterial actin-like MreB cytoskeleton. Since rodZ lies upstream in the genome of the essential gene pgsA (phosphatidylglycerol phosphate synthase) we hypothesized that expression of the latter might also be affected in rodZ mutants and hence contribute to the phenotype observed. We show that both genes are co-transcribed and that both the rodZ::mini-Tn10 mutant and a conditional pgsA mutant, under conditions of minimal pgsA expression, were sensitive to sorbic and acetic acid. Both strains displayed a severely altered membrane composition. Compared to the wild-type strain, phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin levels were lowered and the average acyl chain length was elongated. Induction of rodZ expression from a plasmid in our transposon mutant led to no recovery of weak acid susceptibility comparable to wild-type levels. However, pgsA overexpression in the same mutant partly restored sorbic acid susceptibility and fully restored acetic acid sensitivity. A construct containing both rodZ and pgsA as on the genome led to some restored growth as well. We propose that RodZ and PgsA play intertwined roles in membrane homeostasis and resistance to weak organic acid stress.

Today HIV-1 infection is recognized as a chronic disease with obligatory lifelong treatment to keep viral titers below detectable levels. The continuous intake of antiretroviral drugs however, leads to severe and even life-threatening side effects, supposedly by the deleterious impact of nucleoside-analogue type compounds on the functioning of the mitochondrial DNA polymerase. For detailed investigation of the yet partially understood underlying mechanisms, the availability of a versatile model system is crucial. We therefore set out to develop the use of Caenorhabditis elegans to study drug induced mitochondrial toxicity. Using a combination of molecular-biological and functional assays, combined with a quantitative analysis of mitochondrial network morphology, we conclude that anti-retroviral drugs with similar working mechanisms can be classified into distinct groups based on their effects on mitochondrial morphology and biochemistry. Additionally we show that mitochondrial toxicity of antiretroviral drugs cannot be exclusively attributed to interference with the mitochondrial DNA polymerase.

Caenorhabditis elegans is a highly malleable model system, intensively used for functional, genetic, cytometric, and integrative studies. Due to its simplicity and large muscle cell number, C. elegans has frequently been used to study mitochondrial deficiencies caused by disease or drug toxicity. Here, we describe a robust and efficient method to visualize and quantify mitochondrial morphology in vivo. This method has many practical and technical advantages above traditional (manual) methods and provides a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial morphology.

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has significantly increased life expectancy of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive population. Nevertheless, the average lifespan of HIV-patients remains shorter compared to uninfected individuals. Immunosenescence, a current explanation for this difference invokes heavily on viral stimulus despite HAART efficiency in viral suppression. We propose here that the premature and accelerated aging of HIV-patients can also be caused by adverse effects of antiretroviral drugs, specifically those that affect the mitochondria. The nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) antiretroviral drug class for instance, is known to cause depletion of mitochondrial DNA via inhibition of the mitochondrial specific DNA polymerase-γ. Besides NRTIs, other antiretroviral drug classes such as protease inhibitors also cause severe mitochondrial damage by increasing oxidative stress and diminishing mitochondrial function. We also discuss important areas for future research and argue in favor of the use of Caenorhabditis elegans as a novel model system for studying these effects.