Zebrafish and Streptococcal Infections

Abstract

Streptococcal bacteria are a versatile group of gram-positive bacteria capable of infecting several host organisms, including humans and fish. Streptococcal species are common colonizers of the human respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, but they also cause some of the most common life-threatening, invasive infections in humans and aquaculture. With its unique characteristics and efficient tools for genetic and imaging applications, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has emerged as a powerful vertebrate model for infectious diseases. Several zebrafish models introduced so far have shown that zebrafish are suitable models for both zoonotic and human-specific infections. Recently, several zebrafish models mimicking human streptococcal infections have also been developed. These models show great potential in providing novel information about the pathogenic mechanisms and host responses associated with human streptococcal infections. Here, we review the zebrafish infection models for the most relevant streptococcal species: the human-specific Streptococcus pneumoniae and Streptococcus pyogenes, and the zoonotic Streptococcus iniae and Streptococcus agalactiae. The recent success and the future potential of these models for the study of host-pathogen interactions in streptococcal infections are also discussed.

Infection of zebrafish embryos with live fluorescent Streptococcus pneumoniae as a real-time pneumococcal meningitis model

“…Finally, the immune cells of the adaptive immune response that have been assumed to play a role in the innate immune response to pneumococcal infection show a different pattern in zebrafish as compared to mice and human [31, 73]. Moreover, there is evidence that zebrafish have a tissue-restricted expression of Toll-like receptors and the repertoire of components of the zebrafish innate immune system seems to be more diverse that in mice or humans [74, 75]. Despite these differences, the zebrafish embryo model has been proven very useful to study several human pathogens, e.g.…”

Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae isolated from milk of the bovine udder as emerging pathogens: In vitro and in vivo infection of human cells and zebrafish as biological models

“…As previously reported, zebrafish, Danio rerio , show great potential in providing novel information about the pathogenic mechanisms and host responses associated with human streptococcal infections and several zebrafish infection models for the most relevant streptococcal species, the human‐specific Streptococcus pneumoniae , S. pyogenes , and the zoonotic Streptococcus iniae and Streptococcus agalactiae have been described (Borst, Patterson, Lanka, Suyemoto, & Maddox, ; Miller & Neely, ; Novoa & Figueras, ; Patterson et al., ; Phelps, Runft, & Neely, ; Saralahti & Ramet, ; Wu, Zhang, Lu, & Lu, ).…”

“…Since our bovine SDSD isolates (VSD9, VSD13, VSD21, VSD23, and VSD24 (Table 1)) can infect in vitro human cells from the respiratory tract, we questioned if these isolates could infect and trigger an immune system response in other organisms beside the bovine host. For that purpose, the SDSD isolates were inoculated into the well described vertebrate model for the study of infectious diseases, zebrafish (Novoa & Figueras, 2012;Saralahti & Ramet, 2015;Miller & Neely, 2005;Borst et al, 2013;Patterson et al, 2012;Wu et al, 2010;Phelps et al, 2009).…”

“…Adult zebrafish have well-developed innate and adaptive immune systems resembling the human, since the latter system evolved prior to the evolutionary divergence between fishes and other vertebrates (Novoa & Figueras, 2012;Saralahti & Ramet, 2015). Together, the characteristics of this animal model accentuate the importance in the study of human diseases, thus helping in the study of the zoonotic potential of animal pathogens (Borst et al, 2013;Miller & Neely, 2005;Neely, 2017;Novoa & Figueras, 2012;Patterson et al, 2012;Phelps et al, 2009;Saralahti & Ramet, 2015;Torraca & Mostowy, 2017;Wu et al, 2010;Yoshida, Frickel, & Mostowy, 2017).…”

Chromatin immunoprecipitation and an open chromatin assay in zebrafish erythrocytes

“…As a well-established model for studies concerning vertebrate developmental biology and genetics, including areas of developmental hematopoiesis (Paik & Zon, 2010) and organ formation and function (Cox & Goessling, 2015; Jaźwińska & Sallin, 2016; Lagendijk, Yap, & Hogan, 2014; Quiros-Gonzalez & Yadav, 2014; Schlegel & Gut, 2015; Takeuchi, 2014), zebrafish has been reliably utilized to model human biology and disease and develop therapies and drugs for human disease treatment (Asnani & Peterson, 2014; Carroll & North, 2014; Goessling & Sadler, 2015; Gurevich, Siegel, & Currie, 2015; Haesemeyer & Schier, 2015; van Houcke, De Groef, Dekeyster, & Moons, 2015; Jörgens et al, 2015; McCammon & Sive, 2015; Mohseny & Hogendoorn, 2014; Mort, Jackson, & Patton, 2015; Phillips & Westerfield, 2014; Plantié, Migocka-Patrzałek, Daczewska, & Jagla, 2015; Powles-Glover, 2014; Saralahti & Rämet, 2015; Wager, Mahmood, & Russell, 2014; White, 2015; Wilkinson, Jopling, & van Eeden, 2014; Wilkinson & van Eeden, 2014). Zebrafish offers a number of unique advantages for studying development in particular, including the transparency of zebrafish embryos, which facilitates the use of in vivo microscopy coupled with fluorescent labeling for the direct visualization of organ development and function.…”