Centrosome amplification promotes cell invasion via cell-cell contact disruption and Rap-1 activation.

Centrosome amplification (CA) is a prominent feature of human cancers linked to tumorigenesis in vivo. Here, we report mechanistic contributions of CA induction alone to tumour architecture and extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling. CA induction in non-tumorigenic breast cells MCF10A causes cell migration and invasion, with underlying disruption of epithelial cell-cell junction integrity and dysregulation of expression and subcellular localisation of cell junction proteins. CA also elevates expression of integrin ß-3, its binding partner fibronectin-1 and matrix metalloproteinase enzymes, promoting cell-ECM attachment, ECM degradation, and a migratory and invasive cell phenotype. Using a chicken embryo xenograft model for in vivo validation, we show that CA-induced (+CA) MCF10A cells invade into the chick mesodermal layer, with inflammatory cell infiltration and marked focal reactions between chorioallantoic membrane and cell graft. We also demonstrate a key role of small GTPase Rap-1 signalling through inhibition using GGTI-298, which blocked various CA-induced effects. These insights reveal that in normal cells, CA induction alone (without additional oncogenic alterations) is sufficient to confer early pro-tumorigenic changes within days, acting through Rap-1-dependent signalling to alter cell-cell contacts and ECM disruption.

Collateral sensitivity increases the efficacy of a rationally designed bacteriophage combination to control Salmonella enterica.

The ability of virulent bacteriophages to lyse bacteria influences bacterial evolution, fitness, and population structure. Knowledge of both host susceptibility and resistance factors is crucial for the successful application of bacteriophages as biological control agents in clinical therapy, food processing, and agriculture. In this study, we isolated 12 bacteriophages termed SPLA phage which infect the foodborne pathogen Salmonella enterica. To determine phage host range, a diverse collection of Enterobacteriaceae and Salmonella enterica was used and genes involved in infection by six SPLA phages were identified using Salmonella Typhimurium strain ST4/74. Candidate host receptors included lipopolysaccharide (LPS), cellulose, and BtuB. Lipopolysaccharide was identified as a susceptibility factor for phage SPLA1a and mutations in LPS biosynthesis genes spontaneously emerged during culture with S. Typhimurium. Conversely, LPS was a resistance factor for phage SPLA5b which suggested that emergence of LPS mutations in culture with SPLA1a represented collateral sensitivity to SPLA5b. We show that bacteria-phage co-culture with SPLA1a and SPLA5b was more successful in limiting the emergence of phage resistance compared to single phage co-culture. Identification of host susceptibility and resistance genes and understanding infection dynamics are critical steps in the rationale design of phage cocktails against specific bacterial pathogens.IMPORTANCEAs antibiotic resistance continues to emerge in bacterial pathogens, bacterial viruses (phage) represent a potential alternative or adjunct to antibiotics. One challenge for their implementation is the predisposition of bacteria to rapidly acquire resistance to phages. We describe a functional genomics approach to identify mechanisms of susceptibility and resistance for newly isolated phages that infect and lyse Salmonella enterica and use this information to identify phage combinations that exploit collateral sensitivity, thus increasing efficacy. Collateral sensitivity is a phenomenon where resistance to one class of antibiotics increases sensitivity to a second class of antibiotics. We report a functional genomics approach to rationally design a phage combination with a collateral sensitivity dynamic which resulted in increased efficacy. Considering such evolutionary trade-offs has the potential to manipulate the outcome of phage therapy in favor of resolving infection without selecting for escape mutants and is applicable to other virus-host interactions.

Sticking together: independent evolution of biofilm formation in different species of staphylococci has occurred multiple times via different pathways.

BACKGROUND: Staphylococci cause a wide range of infections, including implant-associated infections which are difficult to treat due to the presence of biofilms. Whilst some proteins involved in biofilm formation are known, the differences in biofilm production between staphylococcal species remains understudied. Currently biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus is better understood than other members of the genus as more research has focused on this species. RESULTS: We assembled a panel of 385 non-aureus Staphylococcus isolates of 19 species from a combination of clinical sources and reference strains. We used a high-throughput crystal violet assay to assess the biofilm forming ability of all strains and assign distinct biofilm formation categories. We compared the prevalence of Pfam domains between the categories and used machine learning to identify amino acid 20-mers linked to biofilm formation. This identified some domains within proteins already linked to biofilm formation and important domains not previously linked to biofilm formation in staphylococci. RT-qPCR confirmed the expression of selected genes predicted to encode important domains within biofilms in Staphylococcus epidermidis. The prevalence and distribution of biofilm associated domains showed a link to phylogeny, suggesting different Staphylococcus species have independently evolved different mechanisms of biofilm production. CONCLUSIONS: This work has identified different routes to biofilm formation in diverse species of Staphylococcus and suggests independent evolution of biofilm has occurred multiple times across the genus. Understanding the mechanisms of biofilm formation in any given species is likely to require detailed study of relevant strains and the ability to generalise across the genus may be limited.

Digital image analysis and machine learning-assisted prediction of neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in triple-negative breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Pathological complete response (pCR) is associated with favorable prognosis in patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). However, only 30-40% of TNBC patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) show pCR, while the remaining 60-70% show residual disease (RD). The role of the tumor microenvironment in NAC response in patients with TNBC remains unclear. In this study, we developed a machine learning-based two-step pipeline to distinguish between various histological components in hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained whole slide images (WSIs) of TNBC tissue biopsies and to identify histological features that can predict NAC response. METHODS: H&E-stained WSIs of treatment-naïve biopsies from 85 patients (51 with pCR and 34 with RD) of the model development cohort and 79 patients (41 with pCR and 38 with RD) of the validation cohort were separated through a stratified eightfold cross-validation strategy for the first step and leave-one-out cross-validation strategy for the second step. A tile-level histology label prediction pipeline and four machine-learning classifiers were used to analyze 468,043 tiles of WSIs. The best-trained classifier used 55 texture features from each tile to produce a probability profile during testing. The predicted histology classes were used to generate a histology classification map of the spatial distributions of different tissue regions. A patient-level NAC response prediction pipeline was trained with features derived from paired histology classification maps. The top graph-based features capturing the relevant spatial information across the different histological classes were provided to the radial basis function kernel support vector machine (rbfSVM) classifier for NAC treatment response prediction. RESULTS: The tile-level prediction pipeline achieved 86.72% accuracy for histology class classification, while the patient-level pipeline achieved 83.53% NAC response (pCR vs. RD) prediction accuracy of the model development cohort. The model was validated with an independent cohort with tile histology validation accuracy of 83.59% and NAC prediction accuracy of 81.01%. The histological class pairs with the strongest NAC response predictive ability were tumor and tumor tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes for pCR and microvessel density and polyploid giant cancer cells for RD. CONCLUSION: Our machine learning pipeline can robustly identify clinically relevant histological classes that predict NAC response in TNBC patients and may help guide patient selection for NAC treatment.

Identification of pathways required for Salmonella to colonize alfalfa using TraDIS-Xpress.

Enteropathogenic bacteria, such as Salmonella, have been linked to numerous fresh produce outbreaks, posing a significant public health threat. The ability of Salmonella to persist on fresh produce for extended periods is partly attributed to its capacity to form biofilms, which pose a challenge to food decontamination and can increase pathogenic bacterial load in the food chain. Preventing Salmonella colonization of food products and food processing environments is crucial for reducing the incidence of foodborne outbreaks. Understanding the mechanisms of establishment on fresh produce will inform the development of decontamination approaches. We used Transposon-Directed Insertion site Sequencing (TraDIS-Xpress) to investigate the mechanisms used by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to colonize and establish on fresh produce over time. We established an alfalfa colonization model and compared the findings to those obtained from glass surfaces. Our research identified distinct mechanisms required for Salmonella establishment on alfalfa compared with glass surfaces over time. These include the type III secretion system (sirC), Fe-S cluster assembly (iscA), curcumin degradation (curA), and copper tolerance (cueR). Shared pathways across surfaces included NADH hydrogenase synthesis (nuoA and nuoB), fimbrial regulation (fimA and fimZ), stress response (rpoS), LPS O-antigen synthesis (rfbJ), iron acquisition (ybaN), and ethanolamine utilization (eutT and eutQ). Notably, flagellum biosynthesis differentially impacted the colonization of biotic and abiotic environments over time. Understanding the genetic underpinnings of Salmonella establishment on both biotic and abiotic surfaces over time offers valuable insights that can inform the development of targeted antibacterial therapeutics, ultimately enhancing food safety throughout the food processing chain. IMPORTANCE: Salmonella is the second most costly foodborne illness in the United Kingdom, accounting for £0.2 billion annually, with numerous outbreaks linked to fresh produce, such as leafy greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, and alfalfa sprouts. The ability of Salmonella to colonize and establish itself in fresh produce poses a significant challenge, hindering decontamination efforts and increasing the risk of illness. Understanding the key mechanisms of Salmonella to colonize plants over time is key to finding new ways to prevent and control contamination of fresh produce. This study identified genes and pathways important for Salmonella colonization of alfalfa and compared those with colonization of glass using a genome-wide screen. Genes with roles in flagellum biosynthesis, lipopolysaccharide production, and stringent response regulation varied in their significance between plants and glass. This work deepens our understanding of the requirements for plant colonization by Salmonella, revealing how gene essentiality changes over time and in different environments. This knowledge is key to developing effective strategies to reduce the risk of foodborne disease.

Genomic characterization of Pseudomonas spp. on food: implications for spoilage, antimicrobial resistance and human infection.

BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas species are common on food, but their contribution to the antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) burden within food or as a source of clinical infection is unknown. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen responsible for a wide range of infections and is often hard to treat due to intrinsic and acquired ARGs commonly carried by this species. This study aimed to understand the potential role of Pseudomonas on food as a reservoir of ARGs and to assess the presence of potentially clinically significant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains on food. To achieve this, we assessed the genetic relatedness (using whole genome sequencing) and virulence of food-derived isolates to those collected from humans. RESULTS: A non-specific culturing approach for Pseudomonas recovered the bacterial genus from 28 of 32 (87.5%) retail food samples, although no P. aeruginosa was identified. The Pseudomonas species recovered were not clinically relevant, contained no ARGs and are likely associated with food spoilage. A specific culture method for P. aeruginosa resulted in the recovery of P. aeruginosa from 14 of 128 (11%) retail food samples; isolates contained between four and seven ARGs each and belonged to 16 sequence types (STs), four of which have been isolated from human infections. Food P. aeruginosa isolates from these STs demonstrated high similarity to human-derived isolates, differing by 41-312 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). There were diverse P. aeruginosa collected from the same food sample with distinct STs present on some samples and isolates belonging to the same ST differing by 19-67 SNPs. The Galleria mellonella infection model showed that 15 of 16 STs isolated from food displayed virulence between a low-virulence (PAO1) and a high virulence (PA14) control. CONCLUSION: The most frequent Pseudomonas recovered from food examined in this study carried no ARGs and are more likely to play a role in food spoilage rather than infection. P. aeruginosa isolates likely to be able to cause human infections and with multidrug resistant genotypes are present on a relatively small but still substantial proportions of retail foods examined. Given the frequency of exposure, the potential contribution of food to the burden of P. aeruginosa infections in humans should be evaluated more closely.

Common food preservatives impose distinct selective pressures on Salmonella Typhimurium planktonic and biofilm populations.

Food preservatives are crucial in controlling microbial growth in processed foods to maintain food safety. Bacterial biofilms pose a threat in the food chain by facilitating persistence on a range of surfaces and food products. Cells in a biofilm are often highly tolerant of antimicrobials and can evolve in response to antimicrobial exposure. Little is known about the efficacy of preservatives against biofilms and their potential impact on the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. In this study we investigated how Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium responded to subinhibitory concentrations of four food preservatives (sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium nitrite or sodium lactate) when grown planktonically and in biofilms. We found that each preservative exerted a unique selective pressure on S. Typhimurium populations. There was a trade-off between biofilm formation and growth in the presence of three of the four preservatives, where prolonged preservative exposure resulted in reduced biofilm biomass and matrix production over time. All three preservatives selected for mutations in global stress response regulators rpoS and crp. There was no evidence for any selection of cross-resistance to antibiotics after preservative exposure. In conclusion, we showed that preservatives affect biofilm formation and bacterial growth in a compound specific manner. We showed trade-offs between biofilm formation and preservative tolerance, but no antibiotic cross-tolerance. This indicates that bacterial adaptation to continuous preservative exposure, is unlikely to affect food safety or contribute to antibiotic resistance.

Genome-wide analysis of genes involved in efflux function and regulation within Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.

The incidence of multidrug-resistant bacteria is increasing globally, with efflux pumps being a fundamental platform limiting drug access and synergizing with other mechanisms of resistance. Increased expression of efflux pumps is a key feature of most cells that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. Whilst expression of efflux genes can confer benefits, production of complex efflux systems is energetically costly and the expression of efflux is highly regulated, with cells balancing benefits against costs. This study used TraDIS-Xpress, a genome-wide transposon mutagenesis technology, to identify genes in Escherichia coli and Salmonella Typhimurium involved in drug efflux and its regulation. We exposed mutant libraries to the canonical efflux substrate acriflavine in the presence and absence of the efflux inhibitor phenylalanine-arginine ß-naphthylamide. Comparisons between conditions identified efflux-specific and drug-specific responses. Known efflux-associated genes were easily identified, including acrAB, tolC, marRA, ramRA and soxRS, confirming the specificity of the response. Further genes encoding cell envelope maintenance enzymes and products involved with stringent response activation, DNA housekeeping, respiration and glutathione biosynthesis were also identified as affecting efflux activity in both species. This demonstrates the deep relationship between efflux regulation and other cellular regulatory networks. We identified a conserved set of pathways crucial for efflux activity in these experimental conditions, which expands the list of genes known to impact on efflux efficacy. Responses in both species were similar and we propose that these common results represent a core set of genes likely to be relevant to efflux control across the Enterobacteriaceae.

TraDIS-Xpress: a high-resolution whole-genome assay identifies novel mechanisms of triclosan action and resistance.

Understanding the genetic basis for a phenotype is a central goal in biological research. Much has been learnt about bacterial genomes by creating large mutant libraries and looking for conditionally important genes. However, current genome-wide methods are largely unable to assay essential genes which are not amenable to disruption. To overcome this limitation, we developed a new version of "TraDIS" (transposon directed insertion-site sequencing) that we term "TraDIS-Xpress" that combines an inducible promoter into the transposon cassette. This allows controlled overexpression and repression of all genes owing to saturation of inserts adjacent to all open reading frames as well as conventional inactivation. We applied TraDIS-Xpress to identify responses to the biocide triclosan across a range of concentrations. Triclosan is endemic in modern life, but there is uncertainty about its mode of action with a concentration-dependent switch from bacteriostatic to bactericidal action unexplained. Our results show a concentration-dependent response to triclosan with different genes important in survival between static and cidal exposures. These genes include those previously reported to have a role in triclosan resistance as well as a new set of genes, including essential genes. Novel genes identified as being sensitive to triclosan exposure include those involved in barrier function, small molecule uptake, and integrity of transcription and translation. We anticipate the approach we show here, by allowing comparisons across multiple experimental conditions of TraDIS data, and including essential genes, will be a starting point for future work examining how different drug conditions impact bacterial survival mechanisms.

UPR-Induced miR-616 Inhibits Human Breast Cancer Cell Growth and Migration by Targeting c-MYC.

C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), also known as growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible protein 153 (GADD153), belongs to the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) family. CHOP expression is induced by unfolded protein response (UPR), and sustained CHOP activation acts as a pivotal trigger for ER stress-induced apoptosis. MicroRNA-616 is located within an intron of the CHOP gene. However, the regulation of miR-616 expression during UPR and its function in breast cancer is not clearly understood. Here we show that the expression of miR-616 and CHOP (host gene of miR-616) is downregulated in human breast cancer. Both miR-5p/-3p arms of miR-616 are expressed with levels of the 5p arm higher than the 3p arm. During conditions of ER stress, the expression of miR-616-5p and miR-616-3p arms was concordantly increased primarily through the PERK pathway. Our results show that ectopic expression of miR-616 significantly suppressed cell proliferation and colony formation, whereas knockout of miR-616 increased it. We found that miR-616 represses c-MYC expression via binding sites located in its protein coding region. Furthermore, we show that miR-616 exerted growth inhibitory effects on cells by suppressing c-MYC expression. Our results establish a new role for the CHOP locus by providing evidence that miR-616 can inhibit cell proliferation by targeting c-MYC. In summary, our results suggest a dual function for the CHOP locus, where CHOP protein and miR-616 can cooperate to inhibit cancer progression.

miRNA-378 Is Downregulated by XBP1 and Inhibits Growth and Migration of Luminal Breast Cancer Cells.

X-box binding protein 1 (XBP1) is a transcription factor that plays a crucial role in the unfolded protein response (UPR), a cellular stress response pathway involved in maintaining protein homeostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum (EnR). While the role of XBP1 in UPR is well-characterised, emerging evidence suggests its involvement in endocrine resistance in breast cancer. The transcriptional activity of spliced XBP1 (XBP1s) is a major component of its biological effects, but the targets of XBP1s in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer are not well understood. Here, we show that the expression of miR-378 and PPARGC1B (host gene of miR-378) is downregulated during UPR. Using chemical and genetic methods, we show that XBP1s is necessary and sufficient for the downregulation of miR-378 and PPARGC1B. Our results show that overexpression of miR-378 significantly suppressed cell growth, colony formation, and migration of ER-positive breast cancer cells. Further, we found that expression of miR-378 sensitised the cells to UPR-induced cell death and anti-estrogens. The expression of miR-378 and PPARGC1B was downregulated in breast cancer, and higher expression of miR-378 is associated with better outcomes in ER-positive breast cancer. We found that miR-378 upregulates the expression of several genes that regulate type I interferon signalling. Analysis of separate cohorts of breast cancer patients showed that a gene signature derived from miR-378 upregulated genes showed a strong association with improved overall and recurrence-free survival in breast cancer. Our results suggest a growth-suppressive role for miR-378 in ER-positive breast cancer where downregulation of miR-378 by XBP1 contributes to endocrine resistance in ER-positive breast cancer.

Responses of Salmonella biofilms to oxidizing biocides: Evidence of spatial clustering.

The spatial organization of biofilm bacterial communities can be influenced by several factors, including growth conditions and challenge with antimicrobials. Differential survival of clusters of cells within biofilms has been observed. In this work, we present a variety of methods to identify, quantify and statistically analyse clusters of live cells from images of two Salmonella strains with differential biofilm forming capacity exposed to three oxidizing biocides. With a support vector machine approach, we showed spatial separation between the two strains, and, using statistical testing and high-performance computing (HPC), we determined conditions which possess an inherent cluster structure. Our results indicate that there is a relationship between biocide potency and inherent biofilm formation capacity with the tendency to select for spatial clusters of survivors. There was no relationship between positions of clusters of live or dead cells within stressed biofilms. This work identifies an approach to robustly quantify clusters of physiologically distinct cells within biofilms and suggests work to understand how clusters form and survive is needed. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Control of biofilm growth remains a major challenge and there is considerable uncertainty about how bacteria respond to disinfection within a biofilm and how clustering of cells impacts survival. We have developed a methodological approach to identify and statistically analyse clusters of surviving cells in biofilms after biocide challenge. This approach can be used to understand bacterial behaviour within biofilms under stress and is widely applicable.

Activity of antibacterial phytochemicals and their potential use as natural food preservatives.

The risk to human health from bacterial foodborne infection is presently controlled by the addition of antimicrobial preservatives to food. However, the use of chemical preservatives such as sodium nitrite poses a health risk in themselves with concerns around carcinogenic effects. This makes the development of improved preservatives a priority for the food industry.One promising source of novel antimicrobial compounds can be found in nature; phytochemicals, in particular polyphenols are secondary metabolites produced by plants for numerous purposes including antimicrobial defence. There has been significant study of phytochemicals; including quantifying their antimicrobial activity, potential to synergise with current antibiotics and the feasibility of their application as natural food preservatives. However, there remains significant uncertainty about the relative antimicrobial efficacy of different phytochemicals, their mechanisms of action (MOA) and the potential for emergence of bacterial resistance to their effects. This review summarizes recent work relevant to the potential development of phytochemicals as antimicrobial agents.

Identification of binding residues between periplasmic adapter protein (PAP) and RND efflux pumps explains PAP-pump promiscuity and roles in antimicrobial resistance.

Active efflux due to tripartite RND efflux pumps is an important mechanism of clinically relevant antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. These pumps are also essential for Gram-negative pathogens to cause infection and form biofilms. They consist of an inner membrane RND transporter; a periplasmic adaptor protein (PAP), and an outer membrane channel. The role of PAPs in assembly, and the identities of specific residues involved in PAP-RND binding, remain poorly understood. Using recent high-resolution structures, four 3D sites involved in PAP-RND binding within each PAP protomer were defined that correspond to nine discrete linear binding sequences or "binding boxes" within the PAP sequence. In the important human pathogen Salmonella enterica, these binding boxes are conserved within phylogenetically-related PAPs, such as AcrA and AcrE, while differing considerably between divergent PAPs such as MdsA and MdtA, despite overall conservation of the PAP structure. By analysing these binding sequences we created a predictive model of PAP-RND interaction, which suggested the determinants that may allow promiscuity between certain PAPs, but discrimination of others. We corroborated these predictions using direct phenotypic data, confirming that only AcrA and AcrE, but not MdtA or MsdA, can function with the major RND pump AcrB. Furthermore, we provide functional validation of the involvement of the binding boxes by disruptive site-directed mutagenesis. These results directly link sequence conservation within identified PAP binding sites with functional data providing mechanistic explanation for assembly of clinically relevant RND-pumps and explain how Salmonella and other pathogens maintain a degree of redundancy in efflux mediated resistance. Overall, our study provides a novel understanding of the molecular determinants driving the RND-PAP recognition by bridging the available structural information with experimental functional validation thus providing the scientific community with a predictive model of pump-contacts that could be exploited in the future for the development of targeted therapeutics and efflux pump inhibitors.

AlbaTraDIS: Comparative analysis of large datasets from parallel transposon mutagenesis experiments.

Bacteria need to survive in a wide range of environments. Currently, there is an incomplete understanding of the genetic basis for mechanisms underpinning survival in stressful conditions, such as the presence of anti-microbials. Transposon directed insertion-site sequencing (TraDIS) is a powerful tool to identify genes and networks which are involved in survival and fitness under a given condition by simultaneously assaying the fitness of millions of mutants, thereby relating genotype to phenotype and contributing to an understanding of bacterial cell biology. A recent refinement of this approach allows the roles of essential genes in conditional stress survival to be inferred by altering their expression. These advancements combined with the rapidly falling costs of sequencing now allows comparisons between multiple experiments to identify commonalities in stress responses to different conditions. This capacity however poses a new challenge for analysis of multiple data sets in conjunction. To address this analysis need, we have developed 'AlbaTraDIS'; a software application for rapid large-scale comparative analysis of TraDIS experiments that predicts the impact of transposon insertions on nearby genes. AlbaTraDIS can identify genes which are up or down regulated, or inactivated, between multiple conditions, producing a filtered list of genes for further experimental validation as well as several accompanying data visualisations. We demonstrate the utility of our new approach by applying it to identify genes used by Escherichia coli to survive in a wide range of different concentrations of the biocide Triclosan. AlbaTraDIS identified all well characterised Triclosan resistance genes, including the primary target, fabI. A number of new loci were also implicated in Triclosan resistance and the predicted phenotypes for a selection of these were validated experimentally with results being consistent with predictions. AlbaTraDIS provides a simple and rapid method to analyse multiple transposon mutagenesis data sets allowing this technology to be used at large scale. To our knowledge this is the only tool currently available that can perform these tasks. AlbaTraDIS is written in Python 3 and is available under the open source licence GNU GPL 3 from https://github.com/quadram-institute-bioscience/albatradis.

The Escherichia coli MarA protein regulates the ycgZ-ymgABC operon to inhibit biofilm formation.

The Escherichia coli marRAB operon is a paradigm for chromosomally encoded antibiotic resistance. The operon exerts its effect via an encoded transcription factor called MarA that modulates efflux pump and porin expression. In this work, we show that MarA is also a regulator of biofilm formation. Control is mediated by binding of MarA to the intergenic region upstream of the ycgZ-ymgABC operon. The operon, known to influence the formation of curli fibres and colanic acid, is usually expressed during periods of starvation. Hence, the ycgZ-ymgABC promoter is recognised by σ38 (RpoS)-associated RNA polymerase (RNAP). Surprisingly, MarA does not influence σ38 -dependent transcription. Instead, MarA drives transcription by the housekeeping σ70 -associated RNAP. The effects of MarA on ycgZ-ymgABC expression are coupled with biofilm formation by the rcsCDB phosphorelay system, with YcgZ, YmgA and YmgB forming a complex that directly interacts with the histidine kinase domain of RcsC.

Donor plasmids for phenotypically neutral chromosomal gene insertions in Enterobacteriaceae.

Recombineering using bacteriophage lambda Red recombinase (λ-Red) uses homologous recombination to manipulate bacterial genomes and is commonly applied to disrupt genes to elucidate their function. This is often followed by the introduction of a wild-type copy of the gene on a plasmid to complement its function. This is often not, however, at a native copy number and the introduction of a chromosomal version of a gene can be a desirable solution to provide wild-type copy expression levels of an allele in trans. Here, we present a simple methodology based on the λ-Red-based 'gene doctoring' technique, where we developed tools used for chromosomal tagging in a conserved locus downstream of glmS and found no impact on a variety of important phenotypes. The tools described provide an easy, quick and inexpensive method of chromosomal modification for the creation of a library of insertion mutants to study gene function.

A whole-genome screen identifies Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi genes involved in fluoroquinolone susceptibility.

OBJECTIVES: A whole-genome screen at sub-gene resolution was performed to identify candidate loci that contribute to enhanced or diminished ciprofloxacin susceptibility in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi. METHODS: A pool of over 1 million transposon insertion mutants of an S. Typhi Ty2 derivative were grown in a sub-MIC concentration of ciprofloxacin, or without ciprofloxacin. Transposon-directed insertion site sequencing (TraDIS) identified relative differences between the mutants that grew following the ciprofloxacin treatment compared with the untreated mutant pool, thereby indicating which mutations contribute to gain or loss of ciprofloxacin susceptibility. RESULTS: Approximately 88% of the S. Typhi strain's 4895 annotated genes were assayed, and at least 116 were identified as contributing to gain or loss of ciprofloxacin susceptibility. Many of the identified genes are known to influence susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, thereby providing method validation. Genes were identified that were not known previously to be involved in susceptibility, and some of these had no previously known phenotype. Susceptibility to ciprofloxacin was enhanced by insertion mutations in genes coding for efflux, other surface-associated functions, DNA repair and expression regulation, including phoP, barA and marA. Insertion mutations that diminished susceptibility were predominantly in genes coding for surface polysaccharide biosynthesis and regulatory genes, including slyA, emrR, envZ and cpxR. CONCLUSIONS: A genomics approach has identified novel contributors to gain or loss of ciprofloxacin susceptibility in S. Typhi, expanding our understanding of the impact of fluoroquinolones on bacteria and of mechanisms that may contribute to resistance. The data also demonstrate the power of the TraDIS technology for antibacterial research.

A genome-wide analysis of Escherichia coli responses to fosfomycin using TraDIS-Xpress reveals novel roles for phosphonate degradation and phosphate transport systems.

BACKGROUND: Fosfomycin is an antibiotic that has seen a revival in use due to its unique mechanism of action and efficacy against isolates resistant to many other antibiotics. In Escherichia coli, fosfomycin often selects for loss-of-function mutations within the genes encoding the sugar importers, GlpT and UhpT. There has, however, not been a genome-wide analysis of the basis for fosfomycin susceptibility reported to date. METHODS: Here we used TraDIS-Xpress, a high-density transposon mutagenesis approach, to assay the role of all genes in E. coli involved in fosfomycin susceptibility. RESULTS: The data confirmed known fosfomycin susceptibility mechanisms and identified new ones. The assay was able to identify domains within proteins of importance and revealed essential genes with roles in fosfomycin susceptibility based on expression changes. Novel mechanisms of fosfomycin susceptibility that were identified included those involved in glucose metabolism and phosphonate catabolism (phnC-M), and the phosphate importer, PstSACB. The impact of these genes on fosfomycin susceptibility was validated by measuring the susceptibility of defined inactivation mutants. CONCLUSIONS: This work reveals a wider set of genes that contribute to fosfomycin susceptibility, including core sugar metabolism genes and two systems involved in phosphate uptake and metabolism previously unrecognized as having a role in fosfomycin susceptibility.

Emergence of ciprofloxacin heteroresistance in foodborne Salmonella enterica serovar Agona.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial heteroresistance has been increasingly identified as an important phenomenon for many antibiotic/bacterium combinations. OBJECTIVES: To investigate ciprofloxacin heteroresistance in Salmonella and characterize mechanisms contributing to ciprofloxacin heteroresistance. METHODS: Ciprofloxacin-heteroresistant Salmonella were identified by population analysis profiling (PAP). Target mutations and the presence of PMQR genes were detected using PCR and sequencing. Expression of acrB, acrF and qnrS was conducted by quantitative RT-PCR. Competition ability and virulence were also compared using pyrosequencing, blue/white screening, adhesion and invasion assays and a Galleria model. Two subpopulations were whole-genome sequenced using Oxford Nanopore and Illumina platforms. RESULTS: PAP identified one Salmonella from food that yielded a subpopulation demonstrating heteroresistance to ciprofloxacin at a low frequency (10-9 to 10-7). WGS and PFGE analyses confirmed that the two subpopulations were isogenic, with six SNPs and two small deletions distinguishing the resistant from the susceptible. Both subpopulations possessed a T57S substitution in ParC and carried qnrS. The resistant subpopulation was distinguished by overexpression of acrB and acrF, a deletion within rsxC and altered expression of soxS. The resistant population had a competitive advantage against the parental population when grown in the presence of bile salts but was attenuated in the adhesion and invasion of human intestinal cells. CONCLUSIONS: We determined that heteroresistance resulted from a combination of mutations in fluoroquinolone target genes and overexpression of efflux pumps associated with a deletion in rsxC. This study warns that ciprofloxacin heteroresistance exists in Salmonella in the food chain and highlights the necessity for careful interpretation of antibiotic susceptibility.