Gonococcal phospholipase D modulates the expression and function of complement receptor 3 in primary cervical epithelial cells

CR3-mediated endocytosis is a primary mechanism by which Neisseria gonorrhoeae elicits membrane ruffling and cellular invasion of the cervical epithelia. Our data indicate that, upon infection of cervical epithelia, N. gonorrhoeae specifically releases proteins, including a phospholipase D (PLD) homolog, which facilitate membrane ruffling. To elucidate the function of gonococcal PLD in infection of the cervical epithelia, we constructed an N. gonorrhoeae PLD mutant. By comparative association and/or invasion assays, we demonstrated that PLD mutant gonococci are impaired in their ability to adhere to and to invade primary cervical cells. This defect can be rescued by the addition of supernatants obtained from wild-type-infected cell monolayers but not by exogenously added Streptomyces PLD. The decreased level of total cell association (i.e., adherence and invasion) observed for mutant gonococci is, in part, attributed to the inability of these bacteria to recruit CR3 to the cervical cell surface with extended infection. Using electron microscopy, we demonstrate that gonococcal PLD may be necessary to potentiate membrane ruffling and clustering of gonococci on the cervical cell surface. These data may be indicative of the inability of PLD mutant gonococci to recruit CR3 to the cervical cell surface. Alternatively, in the absence of gonococcal PLD, signal transduction events required for CR3 clustering may not be activated. Collectively, our data indicate that PLD augments CR3-mediated gonococcus invasion of and survival within cervical epithelia.