Analysis of whiB7 in Mycobacterium tuberculosis reveals novel AT-hook deletion mutations.

Mutations in whiB7 have been associated with both hypersusceptibility and resistance to various antibiotics in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Unlocking the secrets of antibiotic resistance in the bacterium, we examined mutations in the coding sequences of whiB7 of over 40,000 diverse Mtb isolates. Our results unveil the dominant c.191delG (Gly64delG) mutation, present in all members of the lineage L1.2.2 and its impact on WhiB7's conserved GVWGG-motif, causing conformational changes and deletion of the C-terminal AT-hook. Excitingly, we discovered six unique mutations associated with partial or total deletion of the AT-hook, specific to certain sublineages. Our findings suggest the selective pressures driving these mutations, underlining the potential of genomics to advance our understanding of Mtb's antibiotic resistance. As tuberculosis remains a global health threat, our study offers valuable insights into the diverse nature and functional consequences of whiB7 mutations, paving the way for the development of novel therapeutic interventions.

Evaluation of respiratory tract bacterial co-infections in SARS-CoV-2 patients with mild or asymptomatic infection in Lagos, Nigeria.

Background: A common complication of any respiratory disease by a virus could be a secondary bacterial infection, which is known to cause an increase in severity. It is, however, not clear whether the presence of some opportunistic pathogens called pathobionts contributes to the severity of the disease. In COVID-19 patients, undetected bacterial co-infections may be associated with the severity of the disease. Therefore, we investigated the implications of bacterial co-infections in COVID-19 cases. Results: This is a cross-sectional study that involved archived specimens collected from nasopharyngeal samples of 150 people for COVID-19 screening in Lagos. DNA extraction from the samples was carried out to determine the presence of five respiratory bacterial pathogens using nested real-time PCR, and data were analysed using the Chi-square test. Of the 150 samples collected, 121 (80.7%) were positive for SARs-CoV-2 infection and 29 were negative. The proportion of patients with bacteria co-infection in COVID-19-negative, asymptomatic, and mild cases were 93.1%, 70.7%, and 67.5%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between mild COVID-19 conditions and bacteria co-infection (p = 0.097). There was also no significant difference in the nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, and Haemophilus spp. However, there was a statistically significant increase in the carriage of Moraxella catarrhalis and Chlamydophila pneumoniae among COVID-19-negative patients when compared with the positive patients (p value = 0.003 and 0.000 for Moraxella catarrhalis and Chlamydophila pneumoniae, respectively). Conclusions: The current study shows that bacterial co-infection and superinfection with COVID-19 are not associated with mild and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases in our setting. However, given the high prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae among the mild COVID-19 cases seen in this study, early diagnosis and treatment of these bacterial co-infections are still encouraged to mitigate the effect on the severity of COVID-19.

Anticancer potential of metabolic compounds from marine actinomycetes isolated from Lagos Lagoon sediment.

Thirty-two actinomycetes strains were isolated from sediment samples from 12 different sites at Lagos Lagoon and identified using standard physiological and biochemical procedures as well as 16S rDNA gene sequence analysis. Secondary metabolites were extracted from the strains and their anticancer activity on the K562 (Human acute myelocytic leukemia), HeLa (cervical carcinoma), AGS (Human gastric), MCF-7 (breast adenocarcinoma) and HL-60 (Human acute promyelocytic leukemia) cell lines was determined. The metabolic extracts exhibited cytotoxicity with IC50 values ranging from 0.030 mg/mL to 4.4 mg/mL. The Streptomyces bingchenggensis ULS14 extract was cytotoxic against all the cell lines tested. The bioactivity-guided extraction and purification of the metabolic extracts from this strain yielded two purified anticancer compounds: ULDF4 and ULDF5. The structures of the extracted compounds were determined using spectroscopic analyses, including electrospray ionization mass spectrophotometer and nuclear magnetic resonance (1 Dimensional and 2 Dimensional), and were shown to be structurally similar to staurosporine and kigamicin. The IC50 of ULDF4 and ULDF5 against the HeLa cell line was 0.034 µg/mL and 0.075 µg/mL, respectively. This study is the first to reveal the anticancer potential of actinomycetes from Lagos Lagoon, which could be exploited for therapeutic purposes.