NSD1 mitigates caspase-1 activation by listeriolysin O in macrophages

PLoS One. 2013 Sep 18;8(9):e75911. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075911. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

Mammals and plants share pathogen-sensing systems named nod-like receptors (NLRs). Some NLRs form the inflammasome, a protein scaffold that regulates the secretion of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18 by cleaving catalytically inactive substrates into mature cytokines. Here, we show an immune conservation between plant and mammalian NLRs and demonstrate that the murine nuclear receptor binding SET domain protein 1 (NSD1), a protein that bears similarity to the NLR regulator enhanced downy mildew 2 (EDM2) in Arabidopsis, diminishes caspase-1 activity during extracellular stimulation with Listeria monocytogenes listeriolysin O (LLO). EDM2 is known to regulate plant developmental processes, whereas NSD1 is associated with developmental disorders. We observed that NSD1 neither affects nuclear factor (NF)-κB signaling nor regulates NLRP3 inflammasome gene expression at the chromatin, transcriptional or translational level during LLO stimulation of macrophages. Silencing of Nsd1 followed by LLO stimulation led to increased caspase-1 activation, enhanced post-translational maturation of IL-1β and IL-18 and elevated pyroptosis, a form of cell death associated with inflammation. Furthermore, treatment of macrophages with LLO(W492A), which lacks hemolytic activity due to a tryptophan to alanine substitution in the undecapeptide motif, indicates the importance of functional LLO for NSD1 regulation of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Taken together, our results indicate that NLR signaling in plants may be used for gene discovery in mammals.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacterial Toxins / pharmacology*
  • Carrier Proteins / genetics
  • Carrier Proteins / metabolism*
  • Caspase 1 / genetics
  • Caspase 1 / metabolism*
  • Cell Death / drug effects
  • Cell Death / genetics
  • Cell Line
  • Enzyme Activation / drug effects
  • Enzyme Activation / genetics
  • Heat-Shock Proteins / pharmacology*
  • Hemolysin Proteins / pharmacology*
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase
  • Inflammasomes / genetics
  • Inflammasomes / metabolism
  • Interleukin-18 / genetics
  • Interleukin-18 / metabolism
  • Interleukin-1beta / genetics
  • Interleukin-1beta / metabolism
  • Listeria monocytogenes
  • Macrophages / metabolism*
  • Macrophages / pathology
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • NF-kappa B / genetics
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism
  • NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects*
  • Signal Transduction / genetics

Substances

  • Bacterial Toxins
  • Carrier Proteins
  • Heat-Shock Proteins
  • Hemolysin Proteins
  • Inflammasomes
  • Interleukin-18
  • Interleukin-1beta
  • NF-kappa B
  • NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein
  • Nlrp3 protein, mouse
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase
  • Nsd1 protein, mouse
  • Caspase 1
  • hlyA protein, Listeria monocytogenes