Dictamnine Inhibits the Adhesion to and Invasion of Uropathogenic Escherichia Coli (UPEC) to Urothelial Cells.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the most common pathogenic bacteria associated with urinary tract infection (UTI). UPEC can cause UTI by adhering to and invading uroepithelial cells. Fimbriae is the most important virulence factor of UPEC, and a potentially promising target in developing novel antibacterial treatments. In this study, the antibacterial properties and effects of the compound dictamnine, extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine Cortex Dictamni, on the bacterial morphology, cell adhesion, and invasion of UPEC were studied. Dictamnine exhibited no obvious antibacterial activity against UPEC, but significantly impeded the ability of UPEC to adhere to and invade uroepithelial cells. RT-qPCR analysis showed that treatment downregulated the expression of type 1 fimbriae, P fimbriae, and curli fimbriae adhesion genes, and also downregulated adhesion-related receptor genes of uroepithelial cells. Transmission electron microscopy showed that dictamnine destroyed the structure of the fimbriae and the surface of the bacteria became smooth. These results suggest that dictamnine may help to prevent UTI by simultaneously targeting UPEC fimbriae and urothelial adhesin receptors, and may have a potential use as a new anti-UPEC drug.

Genomic research for important pathogenic bacteria in China.

Rapid accumulation of bacterial genomic data offered an unprecedented opportunity to understand bacterial biology from a holistic view of point. We can thus closely look at the way in which a pathogen is evolved, and these data has been applied to molecular epidemiology and microbial forensics, and screening of novel diagnostic, vaccine and drug targets. The newly developed high-throughput low-cost sequencing technologies, such as 454, Solexa and SOLiD, will promote the acquisition and application of genomic data in new research areas that we dared not imagine previously, such as the metagenomics of human gastric-intestinal tract, for better and comprehensive understanding of human health and disease.