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In vivo induced antigen technology (IVIAT) is an immuno-screening technique that identifies bacterial antigens expressed during infection and not during standard in vitro culturing conditions. We applied IVIAT to Bacillus anthracis and identified PagA, seven members of a N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidase autolysin family, three P60 family lipoproteins, two transporters, spore cortex lytic protein SleB, a penicillin binding protein, a putative prophage holin, respiratory nitrate reductase NarG, and three proteins of unknown function. Using quantitative real-time PCR comparing RNA isolated from in vitro cultured B. anthracis to RNA isolated from BALB/c mice infected with virulent Ames strain B. anthracis, we confirmed induced expression in vivo for a subset of B. anthracis genes identified by IVIAT, including L-alanine amidases BA3767, BA4073, and amiA (pXO2-42); the bacteriophage holin gene BA4074; and pagA (pXO1-110). The exogenous addition of two purified putative autolysins identified by IVIAT, N-acetylmuramoyl-L-alanine amidases BA0485 and BA2446, to vegetative B. anthracis cell suspensions induced a species-specific change in bacterial morphology and reduction in viable bacterial cells. Many of the proteins identified in our screen are predicted to affect peptidoglycan re-modeling, and our results support significant cell wall structural remodeling activity during B. anthracis infection. Identification of L-alanine amidases with B. anthracis specificity may suggest new potential therapeutic targets.

Invariant natural killer T-cells (iNKT) are a subset of T-cells that play a regulatory role in sepsis. Following cecal ligation and puncture (CLP), iNKT cells emigrate from the liver and into the circulation and peritoneum in a manner dependent upon co-inhibitory molecule Programmed Cell Death Receptor 1 (PD-1). We hypothesized that the effect of PD-1 on iNKT cell emigration was dependent upon the direct PD-1:PD-L1 interaction and that PD-1 and PD-L1 would play a role in chemotaxis and chemokine receptor expression. Adoptive transfer of Vybrant-labelled wild type (WT) cells showed the donor iNKT cells migrated from the liver to the peritoneum following CLP, but PD-L1 deficient donor iNKT cells did not. In a chemotaxis assay, WT iNKT cells chemotaxed to CXCL12, but PD-1 and PD-L1 deficient iNKT cells did not. Using flow cytometry to evaluate chemokine receptor expression, peritoneal iNKT expression of CXCR4 increased following CLP in the WT, PD-1, and PD-L1 deficient animals, and CXCR6 increased in the WT and PD-1 deficient animals. In conclusion here we document that the hepatic emigration of iNKT cells following CLP to the peritoneum appears dependent upon the direct PD-1:PD-L1 interaction, however, while PD-1 and PD-L1 appear to play a role in chemotaxis, this is unlikely a reflection of iNKT cell chemokine receptor expression changes.

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