In vivo detection of endogenous toxic phenolic compounds of intestine.

Phenol and p-cresol are two common toxic small molecules related to various diseases. Existing reports confirmed that high L-tyrosine in the daily diet can increase the concentration of phenolic compounds in blood and urine. L-tyrosine is a common component of protein-rich foods. Some anaerobic bacteria in the gut can convert non-toxic l-tyrosine into these two toxic phenolic compounds, phenol and p-cresol. Existing methods have been constructed for measuring the concentration of phenolic compound in feces. However, there is still a lack of direct visual evidence to measure the phenolic compounds in the intestine. In this study, we aimed to construct a whole-cell biosensor for phenolic compounds detection based on the dmpR, the regulator from the phenol metabolism cluster. The commensal bacterium Citrobacter amalonaticus PS01 was selected and used as the chassis. Compared with the biosensor based on ECN1917, the biosensor PS01[dmpR] could better implant into the mouse gut through gavage and showed a higher sensitive to phenolic compound. And the concentration of phenolic compounds in the intestines could be observed with the help of in vivo imaging system using PS01[dmpR]. This paper demonstrated endogenous phenol synthesis in the gut and the strategy of using commensal bacteria to construct whole-cell biosensors for detecting small molecule compounds in the intestines.

Bacterial load in meconium.

The spike-in plasmid method was utilized to perform an analysis on meconium and second-pass feces, yielding both relative and absolute quantitative results. With the absolute quantitative data, the abundance of bacteria in 17 meconium samples and 17 second-pass fecal samples were found to be 1.14 × 107 and 1.59 × 109 copies/g, respectively. The mode of delivery can significantly influence the alterations and compositions of gut bacteria in a newborn within 72 h.

Variation in intracellular polyphosphate and associated gene expression in response to different phosphorus conditions in the dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi.

Polyphosphate (polyP) has long been recognized as a crucial intracellular reservoir for phosphorus in microorganisms. However, the dynamics of polyP and its regulatory mechanism in eukaryotic phytoplankton in response to variations in external phosphorus conditions remain poorly understood. A comprehensive investigation was conducted to examine the intracellular polyP-associated metabolic response of the dinoflagellate Karenia mikimotoi, a harmful algal bloom species, through integrated physiological, biochemical, and transcriptional analyses under varying external phosphorus conditions. Comparable growth curves and Fv/Fm between phosphorus-replete conditions and phosphorus-depleted conditions suggested that K. mikimotoi has a strong capability to mobilize the intracellular phosphorus pool for growth under phosphorus deficiency. Intracellular phosphate (IPi) and polyP contributed approximately 6-23 % and 1-3 %, respectively, to the overall particulate phosphorus (PP) content under different phosphorus conditions. The significant decrease in PP and increase in polyP:PP suggested that cellular phosphorus components other than polyP are preferred for utilization under phosphorus deficiency. Genes involved in polyP synthesis and hydrolysis were upregulated to maintain phosphorus homeostasis in K. mikimotoi. These findings provide novel insights into the specific cellular strategies for phosphorus storage and the transcriptional response in intracellular polyP metabolism in K. mikimotoi. Additionally, these results also indicate that polyP may not play a crucial role in cellular phosphorus storage in phytoplankton, at least in dinoflagellates.