Fig. 1: Gonococcal OMVs induce autophagy flux in epithelial cells.
From: Gonococcal OMV-delivered PorB induces epithelial cell mitophagy
a TEM of gonococcal OMV secretion during invasion and exocytosis of HeLa cells. Images are representative of 2 independent experiments. b Enhanced intracellular survival and exocytosis of gonococcal ΔvacJ mutant in gentamicin protection assays with HeLa cells. Data are mean ± s.d. of log-normalized colony forming units (CFU) per well and relative differences in survival between WT and ΔvacJ are provided within the bars; n = 4 independent experiments, two-way ANOVA with posthoc Bonferroni test. c ΔvacJ mutant shows reduced LAMP1-colocalization after a one-hour challenge of HeLa cells. Scale bar, 5 μm. Data are mean ± s.d.; n = 53 cells, unpaired two-tailed t-test. d TEM images of purified gonococcal OMVs. Images are representative of 4 (ATCC 49226) and 3 (ZJXSH86) independent experiments. e LC3 Western blots show induction of autophagy flux in HeLa cells stimulated with gonococcal OMVs from strains ATCC 49226 and ZJXSH86. f Gonococcal OMVs induce accumulation of LC3 puncta in HeLa cells. Scale bar, 5 μm. Data are mean ± s.d.; n = 50 cells, Kruskal–Wallis with posthoc Dunn test (Vehicle Mock-ZJXSH86 OMVs: P < 10−15). g OMVs from the gonococcal ΔldcA mutant induce accumulation of LC3 puncta in HeLa cells, but largely lost colocalization with LC3 puncta. Scale bar, 5 μm. Data are mean ± s.d.; n = 50 cells, one-way ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey test for quantification of LC3 puncta (Mock-WT OMVs: P = 3 × 10−14; Mock-ΔldcA OMVs: P = 6 × 10−14), unpaired two-tailed t-test for quantification of LC3-positive OMVs (P = 5 × 10−13). h LC3 Western blots of OMV-stimulated HeLa cells show reduced accumulation of LC3 for the ΔldcA mutant. Cells in c, f, g are from 3 independent experiments. Western blots in e, h are representative of 3 independent experiments. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
