Suppression of lactate production in fed-batch culture of some lactic acid bacteria with sucrose as the carbon source.

We report a method for suppression of lactate production by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in culture. LAB produce lactate to regenerate NAD+ that is consumed during glycolysis. Glucose suppresses NAD+ regeneration pathways other than lactate dehydrogenase and non-glycolytic ATP production pathways. Therefore, the carbon source was changed to sucrose, and fed-batch culture was performed to limit the glycolytic flux and thus suppress lactate production. As a result, lactate productivity (i.e., the amount of lactate produced per amount of grown cell) in the sucrose/fed-batch culture was decreased compared to that in glucose/batch culture, in all five LAB strains examined. The productivity level decreased to 24% and 46% in Lactobacillus reuteri JCM 1112 and Lactococcus lactis JCM 7638, respectively. Metabolic flux analysis of Lactobacillus reuteri JCM 1112 revealed increased contributions of the mannitol production pathway to NAD+ regeneration and the arginine deiminase pathway to ATP production in the sucrose/fed-batch culture.

Oral administration of azithromycin ameliorates trypanosomosis in Trypanosoma congolense-infected mice.

Animal trypanosomosis is a devastating parasitic disease that is of economic importance to livestock production. The infection includes animal African trypanosomosis, surra, and dourine. The treatment is based solely on few compounds that were discovered decades ago and which are associated with severe toxicity. Furthermore, it is likely that the parasite has developed resistance towards them. Thus, there is an urgent need for new, accessible, and less toxic drugs. Azithromycin is an antibiotic with documented efficacy against Toxoplasma, Babesia, and Plasmodium. The current study investigated its effects against animal trypanosomes. An in vitro system was used to determine the trypanocidal effects of azithromycin against Trypanosoma congolense, Trypanosoma brucei brucei, and Trypanosoma evansi, and cytotoxicity in Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) and NIH 3T3 cells. Furthermore, the trypanocidal effects of azithromycin were investigated in T. congolense-infected mice. In vitro, azithromycin had an IC50 of 0.19 ± 0.17; 3.69 ± 2.26; 1.81 ± 1.82 µg/mL against T. congolense, T. b. brucei, and T. evansi, respectively. No cytotoxic effects were observed in MDBK and NIH 3T3 cells. The efficacy of orally administered azithromycin was investigated in short-term and long-term treatment protocols. Although the short-term treatment protocol showed no curative effects, the survival rate of the mice was significantly prolonged (p < 0.001) in comparison to the control group. The long-term treatment yielded satisfying curative effects with doses of 300 and 400 mg/kg achieving 80 and 100% survival, respectively. In conclusion, long-term oral azithromycin treatment has trypanocidal effects against T. congolense.

The establishment of in vitro culture and drug screening systems for a newly isolated strain of Trypanosoma equiperdum.

Dourine is caused by Trypanosoma equiperdum via coitus with an infected horse. Although dourine is distributed in Equidae worldwide and is listed as an internationally important animal disease by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), no effective treatment strategies have been established. In addition, there are no reports on drug discovery, because no drug screening system exists for this parasite. A new T. equiperdum strain was recently isolated from the genital organ of a stallion that showed typical symptoms of dourine. In the present study, we adapted T. equiperdum IVM-t1 from soft agarose media to HMI-9 liquid media to develop a drug screening assay for T. equiperdum. An intracellular ATP-based luciferase assay using CellTiter-Glo reagent and an intracellular dehydrogenase activity-based colorimetric assay using WTS-8 tetrazolium salt (CCK-8 reagent) were used in order to examine the trypanocidal effects of each compound. In addition, the IC50 values of 4 reference trypanocidal compounds (pentamidine, diminazene, suramin and melarsomine) were evaluated and compared using established assays. The IC50 values of these reference compounds corresponded well to previous studies involving other strains of T. equiperdum. The luciferase assay would be suitable for the mass screening of chemical libraries against T. equiperdum because it allows for the simple and rapid-evaluation of the trypanocidal activities of test compounds, while a simple, inexpensive colorimetric assay will be applicable in developing countries for the evaluation of the drug sensitivity of epidemic trypanosome strains.

Isolation, cultivation and molecular characterization of a new Trypanosoma equiperdum strain in Mongolia.

BACKGROUND: Trypanosoma equiperdum causes dourine via sexual transmission in Equidae. T. equiperdum is classified under the subgenus Trypanozoon along with the T. brucei sspp. and T. evansi; however, the species classification of Trypanozoon remains a controversial topic due to the limited number of T. equiperdum reference strains. In addition, it is possible that some were misclassified T. evansi strains. Thus, there is a strong need for a new T. equiperdum strain directly isolated from the genital mucosa of a horse with a clinically- and parasitologically-confirmed dourine infection. METHODS: Trypanosomes isolated from the urethral tract of a stallion with suspected dourine, were directly cultivated using soft agarose media at 37 °C in 5 % CO2. For molecular characterization, 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 8 maxicircle DNA regions were amplified by a PCR and their sequences were determined. To analyze the ratio of the kinetoplastic/akinetoplastic population, the kinetoplasts and the nuclei of trypanosomes were subjected to Hoechst staining and observed by fluorescence microscopy. RESULTS: In addition to the clinical symptoms and the molecular diagnosis, this stallion was definitively diagnosed with dourine by the detection of trypanosomes in the urethral mucosa. These results strongly suggested that the isolated trypanosome was true T. equiperdum. T. equiperdum isolated from the urethral tract was adapted in vitro using soft agarose media. Based on the results of a phylogenetic analysis of 18S rRNA and ITS, this T. equiperdum isolate was classified into the Trypanozoon clade. In a PCR of the maxicircle DNA region, only NADH-dehydrogenase subunits 4 and 5 was amplified. Clear kinetoplasts were observed in most of the T. equiperdum isolates. In contrast, most culture-adapted T. equiperdum were of the akinetoplastic form. CONCLUSION: We concluded that our isolated trypanosome was the first confirmed case of T. equiperdum in Mongolia and named it "T. equiperdum IVM-t1". T. equiperdum IVM-t1 was well adapted and propagated in soft agarose media, which indicates that this culture method is useful for isolation of T. equiperdum from horses with dourine.

Characterization of an epimastigote-stage-specific hemoglobin receptor of Trypanosoma congolense.

BACKGROUND: Since Trypanosoma spp. lack a complete heme synthesis pathway, the parasites are totally dependent on their host for heme throughout all of the stages of their life-cycle. We herein report the identification and characterization of a T. congolense epimastigote form (EMF)-specific hemoglobin (Hb) receptor. The gene was initially reported to encode a T. congolense haptoglobin (Hp)-Hb complex receptor (TcHpHbR) based on its similarity to a gene encoding a T. brucei Hp-Hb complex receptor (TbHpHbR). METHODS: Trypanosoma congolense IL3000 was used in this study. A TcHpHbR gene was PCR amplified from the parasite genome. The recombinant protein was used as an immunogen to raise antibodies for immunofluorescence assay and immunoblotting. Hemoglobin uptake by the parasite was examined by using Alexa 488 labelled Hb and visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The qualitative and quantitative interaction between TcHpHbR and its ligand were measured using a surface plasmon resonance assay. RESULTS: We found that, unlike TbHpHbR, TcHpHbR was exclusively expressed in the EMF stage at RNA and protein levels. The recombinant TcHpHbR (rTcHpHbR) was co-precipitated with free-Hb in a GST-pull down assay. Surface plasmon resonance revealed that rTcHpHbR binds free-Hb with high affinity (dissociation constant (K d) = 2.1×10(-8) M) but free-Hp with low affinity (K d = 2.2×10(-7) M). Furthermore, Alexa 488-labelled-Hb was only taken up by the EMF and co-localized with tomato lectin, which is a marker of endocytic compartments (flagellar pocket and lysosome). CONCLUSION: We conclude that the T. congolense EMF takes up free-Hb via TcHpHbR, a receptor which is specific to this developmental stage. We therefore propose renaming TcHpHbR as T. congolense EMF-specific Hb receptor (TcEpHbR).

Identification and characterization of a Trypanosoma congolense 46 kDa protein as a candidate serodiagnostic antigen.

Trypanosoma congolense is a major livestock pathogen in Africa, causing large economic losses with serious effects on animal health. Reliable serodiagnostic tests are therefore urgently needed to control T. congolense infection. In this study, we have identified one T. congolense protein as a new candidate serodiagnostic antigen. The 46.4 kDa protein (TcP46, Gene ID: TcIL3000.0.25950) is expressed 5.36 times higher in metacyclic forms than epimastigote forms. The complete nucleotide sequences of TcP46 contained an open reading frame of 1,218 bp. Southern blot analysis indicated that at least two copies of the TcP46 gene were tandemly-arranged in the T. congolense genome. The recombinant TcP46 (rTcP46) was expressed in Escherichia coli as a glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion protein. Western blot analysis and confocal laser scanning microscopy revealed that the native TcP46 protein is expressed in the cytoplasm during all life-cycle stages of the parasite. Moreover, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on rTcP46 detected the specific antibodies as early as 8 days post-infection from mice experimentally infected with T. congolense. No cross-reactivity was observed in the rTcP46-based ELISA against serum samples from cattle experimentally infected with Babesia bigemina, B. bovis and Anaplasma marginale. These results suggest that rTcP46 could be used as a serodiagnostic antigen for T. congolense infection.

Adenosine-uridine-rich element is one of the required cis-elements for epimastigote form stage-specific gene expression of the congolense epimastigote specific protein.

It is known that gene expression in kinetoplastida is regulated post-transcriptionally. Several previous studies have shown that stage-specific gene expression in trypanosomes is regulated by cis-elements located in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of each mRNA and also by RNA binding proteins. Our previous study revealed that gene expression of congolense epimastigote specific protein (cesp) was regulated by cis-elements located in the 3'UTR. In the present study, we identified the adenosine and uridine rich region in the cesp 3'UTR. Using transgenic trypanosome cell lines with different egfp expression cassettes, we showed that this adenosine and uridine rich region is one of the regulatory elements for epimastigote form (EMF) stage-specific gene expression via the regulatory cis-element of the eukaryotic AU rich element (ARE). Therefore this required element within the cesp 3'UTR was designated as T. congolense ARE. This required cis-element might selectively stabilize mRNA in the EMF stage and destabilize mRNA in other stages. By RNA electro mobility shift assay, unknown stage-specific RNA binding proteins (RBPs) whose sequences specifically interacted with the required cis-element were found. These results indicate that EMF stage specific cis-element and RBP complexes might specifically stabilize cesp mRNA in EMF.

Expression and characterization of cathepsin B from tsetse (Glossina morsitans morsitans).

Digestive enzymes in tsetse fly midgut are thought to modulate the development of African trypanosome which is a causative agent of trypanosomosis in human and animal. Cathepsin B is induced after the first blood meal ingestion and being higher in trypanosome infected flies. A DNA fragment encoding pro-cathepsin B (930 bp) (Accession No. AF329480_1) was cloned and expressed in E. coli and P. pastoris protein expression systems. An active recombinant cathepsin B (rGmcathB) produced by P. pastoris was migrating from 35 to 45 kDa under reducing condition, rGmcathB exhibited the highest proteolytic activity at pH 4.0 with wide range temperature 25-30 degrees C, also degraded bovine hemoglobin and serum albumin. rGmcathB exhibited hydrolysis preference for Z-Arg-Arg-MCA (K(cat)/K(M) 7.58 mM(-1)sec(-1)) and bovine hemoglobin (K(cat)/K(M) 3.77 x 10(3) mM(-1)sec(-1)). The proteolytic activity of rGmcathB was inhibited by specific cysteine protease inhibitor (E-64) confirmed belonging to papain-like cysteine protease family. These results indicated that rGmcathB shows the activity of cathepsin B and have high affinity with blood protein referring a role in blood meal digestion. In this study, the recombinant protein expressed by E. coli expression system was not enzymatically active as shown in the recombinant protein expressed by P. pastoris expression system. This finding implies that P. pastoris expression system is more suitable for expressing enzymatically active recombinant proteases than E. coli expression system.

The epimastigote stage-specific gene expression of CESP is tightly regulated by its 3' UTR.

It is known that gene expression in kinetoplastids is regulated post-transcriptionally. Although previous studies have shown that stage-specific gene expression in trypanosomes is regulated by cis-elements located in the 3' untranslated region (UTR) of mRNA and also by RNA binding proteins that use bloodstream and procyclic forms, no studies have been performed in the epimastigote form (EMF) of African trypanosomes. This study shows that the cis-elements of the congolense epimastigote-specific protein (cesp) gene regulate its EMF-specific expression. Four different egfp expression cassettes containing 5' and 3' UTRs derived from actin and cesp were integrated into the Trypanosoma congolense genome. EGFP expression was observed in EMF trypanosomes when the egfp cassette contained the cesp 3' UTR. These results indicate that the essential cis-element located in the cesp 3' UTR selectively stabilizes mRNA in the EMF stage and/or destabilized mRNA in other stages. This is the first report of post-transcriptional gene expression regulation in EMF African trypanosomes.