Biological differences between FIM2 and FIM3 fimbriae of Bordetella pertussis: not just the serotype

Soraya Matczak (1) , Valérie Bouchez (1) , Pauline Leroux (1) , Thibaut Douché (2) , Nils Collinet (1) , Annie Landier (3) , Quentin Giai Gianetto (2, 4) , Sophie Guillot (3) , Julia Chamot-Rooke (5) , Milena Hasan (6) , Mariette Matondo (2) , Sylvain Brisse (1, 3) , Julie Toubiana (1, 3, 7)

1 Biodiversité et Epidémiologie des Bactéries pathogènes - Biodiversity and Epidemiology of Bacterial Pathogens
2 Plateforme de Protéomique / Proteomics platform
3 CNR - Centre national de Référence de la Coqueluche et autres Bordetelloses - National Reference Center for Whooping Cough and other Bordetella infections
4 Hub Bioinformatique et Biostatistique - Bioinformatics and Biostatistics HUB
5 UTechS MSBio - Spectrométrie de Masse pour la Biologie – Mass Spectrometry for Biology
6 UTechS CB - Cytometrie et Biomarqueurs – Cytometry and Biomarkers
7 Département de Pédiatrie et maladies infectieuses [CHU Necker]

Introduction: Bordetella pertussis still circulates worldwide despite vaccination. Fimbriae are components of some acellular pertussis vaccines. Population fluctuations of B. pertussis fimbrial serotypes (FIM2 and FIM3) are observed, and fim3 alleles (fim3-1 [clade 1] and fim3-2 [clade 2]) mark a major phylogenetic subdivision of B. pertussis. Objectives: To compare microbiological characteristics and expressed protein profiles between fimbrial serotypes FIM2 and FIM3 and genomic clades. Methods: A total of 23 isolates were selected. Absolute protein abundance of the main virulence factors, autoagglutination and biofilm formation, bacterial survival in whole blood, induced blood cell cytokine secretion, and global proteome profiles were assessed. Results: Compared to FIM3, FIM2 isolates produced more fimbriae, less cellular pertussis toxin subunit 1 and more biofilm, but auto-agglutinated less. FIM2 isolates had a lower survival rate in cord blood, but induced higher levels of IL-4, IL-8 and IL-1 secretion. Global proteome comparisons uncovered 15 differentially produced proteins between FIM2 and FIM3 isolates, involved in adhesion and metabolism of metals. FIM3 isolates of clade 2 produced more FIM3 and more biofilm compared to clade 1. Conclusion: FIM serotype and fim3 clades are associated with proteomic and other biological differences, which may have implications on pathogenesis and epidemiological emergence.

Mots clés: Microbes and Infection

Domaines: Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]

Soraya Matczak, Valérie Bouchez, Pauline Leroux, Thibaut Douché, Nils Collinet, et al.. Biological differences between FIM2 and FIM3 fimbriae of Bordetella pertussis: not just the serotype. Microbes and Infection, 2023, pp.105152. ⟨10.1016/j.micinf.2023.105152⟩. ⟨pasteur-04109470⟩