Lack of Lipid A Pyrophosphorylation and FunctionallptAReduces Inflammation by Neisseria Commensals

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe interaction of the immune system withNeisseriacommensals remains poorly understood. We have previously shown that phosphoethanolamine on the lipid A portion of lipooligosaccharide (LOS) plays an important role in Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) signaling. For pathogenicNeisseria, phosphoethanolamine is added to lipid A by the phosphoethanolamine transferase specific for lipid A, which is encoded bylptA. Here, we report that Southern hybridizations and bioinformatics analyses of genomic sequences from all eight commensalNeisseriaspecies confirmed thatlptAwas absent in 15 of 17 strains examined but was present inN. lactamica. Mass spectrometry of lipid A and intact LOS revealed the lack of both pyrophosphorylation and phosphoethanolaminylation in lipid A of commensal species lackinglptA. Inflammatory signaling in human THP-1 monocytic cells was much greater with pathogenic than with commensalNeisseriastrains that lackedlptA, and greater sensitivity to polymyxin B was consistent with the absence of phosphoethanolamine. Unlike the other commensals, whole bacteria of twoN. lactamicacommensal strains had low inflammatory potential, whereas their lipid A had high-level pyrophosphorylation and phosphoethanolaminylation and induced high-level inflammatory signaling, supporting previous studies indicating that this species uses mechanisms other than altering lipid A to support commensalism. A meningococcallptAdeletion mutant had reduced inflammatory potential, further illustrating the importance of lipid A pyrophosphorylation and phosphoethanolaminylation in the bioactivity of LOS. Overall, our results indicate that lack of pyrophosphorylation and phosphoethanolaminylation of lipid A contributes to the immune privilege of most commensalNeisseriastrains by reducing the inflammatory potential of LOS.