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The bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila inhibits phospholipases A2 from insect, prokaryote, and vertebrate sources

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Abstract

The bacterium, Xenorhabdus nematophila, is a virulent insect pathogen. Part of its pathogenicity is due to impairing cellular immunity by blocking biosynthesis of eicosanoids, the major recognized signal transduction system in insect cellular immunity. X. nematophila inhibits the first step in eicosanoid biosynthesis, phospholipase A2 (PLA2). Here we report that the bacterium inhibits PLA2 from two insect immune tissues, hemocytes and fat body, as well as PLA2s selected to represent a wide range of organisms, including prokaryotes, insects, reptiles, and mammals. Our finding on a bacterial inhibitor of PLA2 activity contributes new insight into the chemical ecology of microbe–host interactions, which usually involve actions rather than inhibitors of PLA2s.

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Acknowledgements

This is paper number 14554 of the Nebraska Agricultural Research Division (Project NEB-17-054). Support is acknowledged from NSF Grant No. 0201376 and by the post-doctoral fellowship program of the Korean Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF). All experiments reported in this paper were conducted in strict accordance with current laws in the United States of America.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Insect Biochemical Physiology Laboratory, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 68583-0816, USA

    Youngjin Park & David Stanley

  2. School of Bioresource Sciences, Andong National University, 760-749, Andong, South Korea

    Yonggyun Kim

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  1. Youngjin Park
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  2. Yonggyun Kim
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  3. David Stanley
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Correspondence to David Stanley.

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Park, Y., Kim, Y. & Stanley, D. The bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila inhibits phospholipases A2 from insect, prokaryote, and vertebrate sources. Naturwissenschaften 91, 371–373 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-004-0548-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-004-0548-2

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