Dual proteomic signature of immune cells and Yersinia pestis upon blood infection

Emerging and reemerging infectious diseases represent major public health concerns. The urgent need for infection control measures requires deep understanding of molecular pathogenesis. Global approaches to study biological systems such as mass-spectrometry based proteomics benefited from groundbreaking physical and bioinformatical technological developments over recent years. However, dual proteomic study of highly pathogenic microorganisms and their hosts in complex matrices encountered during infection remains challenging due to high protein dynamic range of samples and requirements imposed in biosafety level 3 or 4 laboratories. Here, we constructed a dual proteomic pipeline of Yersinia pestis in human blood and plasma, mirroring bacteremic phase of plague. We provide the most complete Y. pestis proteome revealing a major reshaping of important bacterial path-ways such as methionine biosynthesis and iron acquisition in human plasma. Remarkably, proteomic profiling in human blood highlights a greater Yersinia outer proteins intoxication of monocytes than neutrophils. Our study unravels global expression changes and points to a specific pathogenic signature during infection, paving the way for future exploration of proteomes in the complex context of host-pathogen interactions. Subject CategoriesMicrobiology, Virology and Host Pathogen Interaction, Proteomics