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Journal articleLarrouy-Maumus G, Thomson M, Nunta K, et al., 2022,
Expression of a novel mycobacterial phosphodiesterase successfully lowers cAMP levels resulting in reduced tolerance to cell wall-targeting antimicrobials
, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol: 298, ISSN: 0021-9258Antimicrobial tolerance, the ability to survive exposure to antimicrobials via transient nonspecific means, promotes the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The study of the molecular mechanisms that result in antimicrobial tolerance is therefore essential for the understanding of AMR. In gram-negative bacteria, the second messenger molecule 3’,5’-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) has been previously shown to be involved in AMR. In mycobacteria, however, the role of cAMP in antimicrobial tolerance has been difficult to probe due to its particular complexity. In order to address this difficulty, here, through an unbiased biochemical approaches consisting in the fractionation of clear protein lysate from a mycobacterial strain deleted for the known cAMP phosphodiesterase (Rv0805c) combined with mass spectrometry techniques, we identified a novel cyclic nucleotide-degrading phosphodiesterase enzyme (Rv1339) and developed a system to significantly decrease intracellular cAMP levels through plasmid expression of Rv1339 using the constitutive expression system, pVV16. In Mycobacterium smegmatis mc2155, we demonstrate that recombinant expression of Rv1339 reduced cAMP levels 3-fold and resulted in altered gene expression, impaired bioenergetics and a disruption in peptidoglycan biosynthesis leading to decreased tolerance to antimicrobials that target cell wall synthesis such as ethambutol, D-cycloserine and vancomycin. This work increases our understanding of the role of cAMP in mycobacterial antimicrobial tolerance and our observations suggest that nucleotide signaling may represent a new target for the development of antimicrobial therapies.
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Journal articleSingh S, Wilksch JJ, Dunstan RA, et al., 2022,
LPS O Antigen Plays a Key Role in Klebsiella pneumoniae Capsule Retention
, MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM, Vol: 10, ISSN: 2165-0497- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 7
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Journal articleChaukimath P, Frankel G, Visweswariah SS, 2023,
The metabolic impact of bacterial infection in the gut
, FEBS JOURNAL, ISSN: 1742-464X- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 1
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Journal articleZhang K, Li S, Wang Y, et al., 2022,
Bacteriophage protein PEIP is a potent<i> Bacillus</i><i> subtilis</i> enolase inhibitor
, CELL REPORTS, Vol: 40, ISSN: 2211-1247- Author Web Link
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- Citations: 3
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Journal articleMullish BH, McDonald JAK, Marchesi JR, 2022,
Mechanisms of efficacy of intestinal microbiota transplant: do not forget the metabolites
, The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Vol: 7, Pages: 594-594, ISSN: 2468-1253 -
Journal articleMurphy R, Coates M, Thrane S, et al., 2022,
Synergistic activity of repurposed peptide drug glatiramer acetate with tobramycin against cystic fibrosis Pseudomonas aeruginosa
, Microbiology Spectrum, Vol: 10, ISSN: 2165-0497Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common pathogen infecting the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis (CF), causing both acute and chronic infections. Intrinsic and acquired antibiotic resistance, coupled with the physical barriers resulting from desiccated CF sputum, allow P. aeruginosa to colonize and persist in spite of antibiotic treatment. As well as the specific difficulties in eradicating P. aeruginosa from CF lungs, P. aeruginosa is also subject to the wider, global issue of antimicrobial resistance. Glatiramer acetate (GA) is a peptide drug, used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), which has been shown to have moderate antipseudomonal activity. Other antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been shown to be antibiotic resistance breakers, potentiating the activities of antibiotics when given in combination, restoring and/or enhancing antibiotic efficacy. Growth, viability, MIC determinations, and synergy analysis showed that GA improved the efficacy of tobramycin (TOB) against reference strains of P. aeruginosa, reducing TOB MICs and synergizing with the aminoglycoside. This was also the case for clinical strains from people with CF. GA significantly reduced the MIC50 of TOB for viable cells from 1.69 mg/L (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.26 to 8.97) to 0.62 mg/L (95% CI, 0.15 to 3.94; P = 0.002) and the MIC90 for viable cells from 7.00 mg/L (95% CI, 1.18 to 26.50) to 2.20 mg/L (95% CI, 0.99 to 15.03; P = 0.001), compared to results with TOB only. Investigation of mechanisms of GA activity showed that GA resulted in significant disruption of outer membranes, depolarization of cytoplasmic membranes, and permeabilization of P. aeruginosa and was the only agent tested (including cationic AMPs) to significantly affect all three mechanisms.
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Journal articleCiechonska M, Sturrock M, Grob A, et al., 2022,
Emergent expression of fitness-conferring genes by phenotypic selection
, PNAS Nexus, Vol: 1, Pages: 1-13, ISSN: 2752-6542Genotypic and phenotypic adaptation is the consequence of ongoing natural selection in populations and is key to predicting and preventing drug resistance. Whereas classic antibiotic persistence is all-or-nothing, here we demonstrate that an antibiotic resistance gene displays linear dose-responsive selection for increased expression in proportion to rising antibiotic concentration in growing E. coli populations. Furthermore, we report the potentially wide-spread nature of this form of emergent gene expression by instantaneous phenotypic selection process under bactericidal and bacteriostatic antxibiotic treatment, as well as an amino acid synthesis pathway enzyme under a range of auxotrophic conditions. We propose an analogy to Ohm’s law in electricity (V=IR) where selection pressure acts similarly to voltage (V), gene expression to current (I), and resistance (R) to cellular machinery constraints and costs. Lastly, mathematical modelling using agent-based models of stochastic gene expression in growing populations and Bayesian model selection reveal that the emergent gene expression mechanism requires variability in gene expression within an isogenic population, and a cellular ‘memory’ from positive feedbacks between growth and expression of any fitness-conferring gene. Finally, we discuss the connection of the observed phenomenon to a previously described general fluctuation-response relationship in biology.
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Journal articleTonkin R, Kloeckner A, Najer A, et al., 2022,
Bacterial toxin-triggered release of antibiotics from capsosomes protects a fly model from lethal methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection
, Advanced Healthcare Materials, Vol: 11, Pages: 1-14, ISSN: 2192-2640Antibiotic resistance is a severe global health threat and hence demands rapid action to develop novel therapies, including microscale drug delivery systems. Herein, a hierarchical microparticle system is developed to achieve bacteria-activated single- and dual-antibiotic drug delivery for preventing methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacterial infections. The designed system is based on a capsosome structure, which consists of a mesoporous silica microparticle coated in alternating layers of oppositely charged polymers and antibiotic-loaded liposomes. The capsosomes are engineered and shown to release their drug payloads in the presence of MRSA toxins controlled by the Agr quorum sensing system. MRSA-activated single drug delivery of vancomycin and synergistic dual delivery of vancomycin together with an antibacterial peptide successfully kills MRSA in vitro. The capability of capsosomes to selectively deliver their cargo in the presence of bacteria, producing a bactericidal effect to protect the host organism, is confirmed in vivo using a Drosophila melanogaster MRSA infection model. Thus, the capsosomes serve as a versatile multidrug, subcompartmentalized microparticle system for preventing antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, with potential applications to protect wounds or medical device implants from infections.
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Journal articleDavid S, Wong JLC, Sanchez-Garrido J, et al., 2022,
Widespread emergence of OmpK36 loop 3 insertions among multidrug-resistant clones of Klebsiella pneumoniae.
, PLoS Pathogens, Vol: 18, Pages: 1-23, ISSN: 1553-7366Mutations in outer membrane porins act in synergy with carbapenemase enzymes to increase carbapenem resistance in the important nosocomial pathogen, Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP). A key example is a di-amino acid insertion, Glycine-Aspartate (GD), in the extracellular loop 3 (L3) region of OmpK36 which constricts the pore and restricts entry of carbapenems into the bacterial cell. Here we combined genomic and experimental approaches to characterise the diversity, spread and impact of different L3 insertion types in OmpK36. We identified L3 insertions in 3588 (24.1%) of 14,888 KP genomes with an intact ompK36 gene from a global collection. GD insertions were most common, with a high concentration in the ST258/512 clone that has spread widely in Europe and the Americas. Aspartate (D) and Threonine-Aspartate (TD) insertions were prevalent in genomes from Asia, due in part to acquisitions by KP sequence types ST16 and ST231 and subsequent clonal expansions. By solving the crystal structures of novel OmpK36 variants, we found that the TD insertion causes a pore constriction of 41%, significantly greater than that achieved by GD (10%) or D (8%), resulting in the highest levels of resistance to selected antibiotics. We show that in the absence of antibiotics KP mutants harbouring these L3 insertions exhibit both an in vitro and in vivo competitive disadvantage relative to the isogenic parental strain expressing wild type OmpK36. We propose that this explains the reversion of GD and TD insertions observed at low frequency among KP genomes. Finally, we demonstrate that strains expressing L3 insertions remain susceptible to drugs targeting carbapenemase-producing KP, including novel beta lactam-beta lactamase inhibitor combinations. This study provides a contemporary global view of OmpK36-mediated resistance mechanisms in KP, integrating surveillance and experimental data to guide treatment and drug development strategies.
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Journal articlePenades J, Gallego del Sol F, Quiles-Puchalt N, et al., 2022,
Insights into the mechanism of action of the arbitrium communication system in SPbeta phages
, Nature Communications, Vol: 13, ISSN: 2041-1723The arbitrium system is employed by phages of the SPbeta family to communicate with their progeny during infection to decide either to follow the lytic or the lysogenic cycle. The system is controlled by a peptide, AimP, that binds to the regulator AimR, inhibiting its DNA-binding activity and expression of aimX. Although the structure of AimR has been elucidated for phages SPβ and phi3T, there is still controversy regarding the molecular mechanism of AimR function, with two different proposed models for SPβ. In this study, we deepen our understanding of the system by solving the structure of an additional AimR that shows chimerical characteristics with the SPβ receptor. The crystal structures of this AimR (apo, AimP-bound and DNA-bound) together with in vitro and in vivo analyses confirm a mechanism of action by AimP-induced conformational restriction, shedding light on peptide specificity and cross regulation with relevant biological implications.
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