Polyether ionophore resistance in a one health perspective.

Antimicrobial resistance is a major threat to human health and must be approached from a One Health perspective. Use of antimicrobials in animal husbandry can lead to dissemination and persistence of resistance in human pathogens. Polyether ionophores (PIs) have antimicrobial activities and are among the most extensively used feed additives for major production animals. Recent discoveries of genetically encoded PI resistance mechanisms and co-localization of resistance mechanisms against PIs and antimicrobials used in human medicine on transferrable plasmids, have raised concerns that use of PIs as feed additives bear potential risks for human health. This review summarizes the current knowledge on PI resistance and discusses the potential consequences of PI-usage as feed additives in a One Health perspective.

Combining an effect-based methodology with chemical analysis for antibiotics determination in wastewater and receiving freshwater and marine environment.

Two different methodologies were combined to evaluate the risks that antibiotics can pose in the environment; i) an effect-based methodology based on microbial growth inhibition and ii) an analytical method based on liquid-chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The first approach was adapted and validated for the screening of four antibiotic families, specifically macrolides/ß-lactams, quinolones, sulfonamides and tetracyclines. The LC-MS method was applied for the identification and quantification of target antibiotics; then, the obtained results were combined with ecotoxicological data from literature to determine the environmental risk. The two methodologies were used for the analysis of antibiotics in water samples (wastewater, river water and seawater) and biofluids (fish plasma and mollusk hemolymph) in two monitoring campaigns undertaken in the Ebro Delta and Mar Menor Lagoon (both in the Mediterranean coast of Spain). Both approaches highlighted macrolides (azithromycin) and quinolones (ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin) as the main antibiotics in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents with potential risk for the environment. However, no risk for the aquatic life was identified in the river, lagoon and seawater as antibiotic levels were much lower than those in WWTP effluents. Fish from Ebro River were the organisms presenting the highest antibiotic concentration when compared with bivalves (mussels) from the Mediterranean Sea and gastropods (marine snails) from the Mar Menor Lagoon. The effect-based methodology successfully determined antibiotic risk in wastewater, but its applicability was less clear in environmental waters such as seawater, due to its high detection limits. Improving sample preconcentration could increase the method sensibility. Overall, combination of both methodologies provides comprehensive insights in antibiotic occurrence and risk associated in areas under study.

A strategy to determine the fate of active chemical compounds in soil; applied to antimicrobially active substances.

Data on the fate of chemical substances in the environment after e.g. manure application is mandatory input for risk assessment in perspective of a more circular biobased economy. Such fate studies include a persistence study to determine a half-life value and a mobility study. It is recognized that not only the native substance should be considered, but that also degradation products should be included that might exert a similar effect as the native substance. We report a tiered fate study strategy that starts with a persistence study. For non-persistent substances a study is performed to determine if degradation products have a similar effect as the native compound. If so, a procedure using high resolution mass spectrometry is suggested to identify the potentially active degradation products. Based on the outcomes, substances are divided into three categories: (I) persistent, (II) degradable to inactive products or (III) degradable to active products. Even though the priority is with category I and III, for all substances and possible degradation products a mobility study is proposed. The fate strategy is successfully applied to ten antimicrobially active substances originating from the tetracyclines, sulfonamides, diaminopyrimidines, fluoroquinolones, macrolides and lincosamides. The fluoroquinolones, tetracyclines and trimethoprim were relatively persistent. The sulfonamides, macrolides and lincomycin (the latter also depending on soil type) degraded relatively quickly. Tylosin A proved to degrade to antimicrobially active degradation products which were tentitatively identified as tylosin C, tylosin A acid, tylosin B acid and tylosin C acid.

Microbial screening methods for detection of antibiotic residues in slaughter animals.

Monitoring of food products from animal origin for the presence of antimicrobial residues is preferably done using microbial screening methods because of their high cost-effectiveness. Traditionally applied methods fail to detect the maximum residue limits which were established when EU Council Regulation 2377/90 came into effect. Consequently, during the last decade this has led to the development of improved microbial screening methods. This review provides an overview of the efforts expended to bring antibiotic screening methods into compliance with EU legislation. It can be concluded that the current situation is still far from satisfactory.

Non-targeted workflow for identification of antimicrobial compounds in animal feed using bioassay-directed screening in combination with liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry.

A non-targeted workflow is reported for the isolation and identification of antimicrobial active compounds using bioassay-directed screening and LC coupled to high-resolution MS. Suspect samples are extracted using a generic protocol and fractionated using two different LC conditions (A and B). The behaviour of the bioactive compound under these different conditions yields information about the physicochemical properties of the compound and introduces variations in co-eluting compounds in the fractions, which is essential for peak picking and identification. The fractions containing the active compound(s) obtained with conditions A and B are selected using a microbiological effect-based bioassay. The selected bioactive fractions from A and B are analysed using LC combined with high-resolution MS. Selection of relevant signals is automatically carried out by selecting all signals present in both bioactive fractions A and B, yielding tremendous data reduction. The method was assessed using two spiked feed samples and subsequently applied to two feed samples containing an unidentified compound showing microbial growth inhibition. In all cases, the identity of the compound causing microbiological inhibition was successfully confirmed.

Generating segmental mutations in haloalkane dehalogenase: a novel part in the directed evolution toolbox.

Directed evolution techniques allow us to genuinely mimic molecular evolution in vitro. To enhance this imitation of natural evolutionary processes on a laboratory scale in even more detail, we developed an in vitro method for the generation of random deletions and repeats. The pairwise fusion of two fragments of the same gene that are truncated by exonuclease BAL-31 either at the 3' or 5' side results in a deletion or a repeat at the fusion point. Although in principle the method randomly covers the whole gene, it can also be limited to a predefined area in the sequence by controlling the level of the initial truncation. To test the procedure and to illustrate its potential, we used haloalkane dehalogenase from Xanthobacter autotrophicus GJ10 (DhlA) as a model enzyme, since the adaptation of this enzyme towards new substrates is known to occur via the generation of this type of mutation. The results show that the mutagenesis method presented here is an effective tool for accessing formerly unexplorable sequence space and can contribute to the success of future directed evolution experiments.

Occurrence of chloramphenicol in crops through natural production by bacteria in soil.

Due to the unexpected findings of the banned antibiotic chloramphenicol in products of animal origin, feed, and straw, the hypothesis was studied that the drug is naturally present in soil, through production by soil bacteria, and subsequently can be transferred to crops. First, the stability of chloramphenicol in soil was studied. The fate of chloramphenicol highly depends on soil type and showed a half-life of approximately one day in nonsterile topsoil. It was found to be more stable in subsoil and sterile soils. Second, the production of chloramphenicol in soil was studied, and it was confirmed that Streptomyces venezuelae can produce chloramphenicol at appreciable amounts in nonsterile soil. Third, a transfer study was carried out using wheat and maize grown on three different soils that were weekly exposed to aqueous chloramphenicol solutions at different levels. Chloramphenicol was taken up by crops as determined by chiral liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometric analysis, and the levels in crops were found to be bioavailability related. It was concluded that chloramphenicol residues can occur naturally in crops as a result of the production of chloramphenicol by soil bacteria in their natural environment and subsequent uptake by crops.

Are antibiotic screening approaches sufficiently adequate? A proficiency test.

A proficiency test including the screening analysis of antibiotics in beef using cryogenicly minced materials was organized by RIKILT in 2009. The test included blank beef samples and beef samples spiked with either flumequine or a combination of lincomycin and spectinomycin around the maximum residue limits [1]. The suitability of the materials was demonstrated with a homogeneity and a stability study. This study showed that cryogenically minced spiked muscle material is suited for proficiency tests aiming at the screening and the confirmatory analysis. Of the 26 participants, 23 carried out their in-house screening approach involving microbial, biochemical or instrumental methods, or a combination of these to cover the broad range of antibiotic groups. The false negative rate was 73% for microbial methods, 50% for biochemical and 22% for instrumental methods. These results indicate that substantial effort is needed to improve screening approaches and that more regular proficiency tests are needed to reveal the shortcomings in the currently applied screening methods.

Comparing the sensitivity of algal, cyanobacterial and bacterial bioassays to different groups of antibiotics.

Antibiotics may affect both primary producers and decomposers, potentially disrupting ecosystem processes. Hence, it is essential to assess the impact of antibiotics on aquatic ecosystems. The aim of the present study was therefore to evaluate the potential of a recently developed test for detecting antibiotics in animal tissue, the Nouws Antibiotic Test (NAT), as a sensitive bioassay to assess the effects of antibiotics in water. To this purpose, we determined the toxicity of sulphamethoxazole, trimethoprim, flumequine, tylosin, streptomycin, and oxytetracycline, using the NAT adapted for water exposure. The sensitivity of the NAT was compared to that of bioassays with bacteria (Microtox), cyanobacteria and green algae. In the Microtox test with Vibrio fischeri as test organism, no effects were observed for any of the test compounds. For three of the six antibiotics tested, the cyanobacteria were more vulnerable than the green algae when using photosynthetic efficiency as an endpoint. The lowest EC50 values for four out of six tested antibiotics were obtained using the NAT bacterial bioassay. The bacterial plate system responded to antibiotics at concentrations in the microgL(-1) and lower mgL(-1) range and, moreover, each plate proved to be specifically sensitive to the antibiotics group it was designed for. It is concluded that the NAT bioassay adapted for water exposure is a sensitive test to determine the presence of antibiotics in water. The ability of this test to distinguish five major antibiotic groups is a very strong additional value.

Comparison of three microbial screening methods for antibiotics using routine monitoring samples.

Monitoring large numbers of slaughter animals for the presence of antimicrobial residues is preferably carried out using microbiological screening methods, because of their high cost-effectiveness. An evaluation of the Nouws antibiotic test (NAT) was performed on routine monitoring samples and the performance of the method was compared with two other microbial screening methods: Screening test for antibiotic residues (STAR) and Premi Test. Analysis of 591 samples yielded four MRL violations. Three of them concerned tetracyclines that were only detected with the NAT and the STAR method. The fourth, 172 microgkg(-1) Sulfadiazine, was detected by all three methods. Additionally, 156 microgkg(-1) Tulathromycin was found in porcine meat, while for this residue no MRL in muscle has been established.

Comparison of a fluoroquinolone surface plasmon resonance biosensor screening assay with established methods.

The performance of a previously developed immunochemical biosensor screening method for fluoroquinolone (FQ) antibiotics in poultry muscle, fish and egg was compared with established methods. Blank sample material of the target matrices was individually spiked with the FQs at half maximum residue levels. Homogeneity of the test materials was confirmed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Identical sets of spiked samples as well as incurred samples from a previous feeding experiment were sent to three independent laboratories and analysed by LC-MS/MS, a microbiological assay and the new biosensor assay. The new method correctly identified all contaminated samples and demonstrated advantages in sensitivity and analysis time compared to the microbiological screening assay.

Rapid detection of tetracyclines and their 4-epimer derivatives from poultry meat with bioluminescent biosensor bacteria.

Tetracycline (TC) specific luminescent bacterial biosensors were used in a rapid TC residue assay sensitized to meet the EU maximum residue limit (MRL) for TC residues in poultry muscle tissue (100 microg kg(-1)) by membrane-permeabilizing and chelating agents polymyxin B and EDTA. Sensitivities of 5 ng g(-1) for doxycycline, 7.5 ng g(-1) for chlortetracycline, and 25 ng g(-1) for tetracycline and oxytetracycline were reached. Except for doxycycline, the MRLs of these tetracyclines include their 4-epimer metabolites. In the biosensor assay, all four 4-epimers showed induction capacity and antimicrobial activity, and antimicrobial activity was also observed in the inhibition assay, although with lower efficiency than that of the corresponding parent compound in both assays. The biosensor assay is an inexpensive and rapid high-throughput screening method for the detection of 4-epimer TC residues along with their parent compounds.

Steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetic analysis of halopropane conversion by a rhodococcus haloalkane dehalogenase.

Haloalkane dehalogenase from Rhodococcus rhodochrous NCIMB 13064 (DhaA) catalyzes the hydrolysis of carbon-halogen bonds in a wide range of haloalkanes. We examined the steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetics of halopropane conversion by DhaA to illuminate mechanistic details of the dehalogenation pathway. Steady-state kinetic analysis of DhaA with a range of halopropanes showed that bromopropanes had higher k(cat) and lower K(M) values than the chlorinated analogues. The kinetic mechanism of dehalogenation was further studied using rapid-quench-flow analysis of 1,3-dibromopropane conversion. This provided a direct measurement of the chemical steps in the reaction mechanism, i.e., cleavage of the carbon-halogen bond and hydrolysis of the covalent alkyl-enzyme intermediate. The results lead to a minimal mechanism consisting of four main steps. The occurrence of a pre-steady-state burst, both for bromide and 3-bromo-1-propanol, suggests that product release is rate-limiting under steady-state conditions. Combining pre-steady-state burst and single-turnover experiments indicated that the rate of carbon-bromine bond cleavage was indeed more than 100-fold higher than the steady-state k(cat). Product release occurred with a rate constant of 3.9 s(-1), a value close to the experimental k(cat) of 2.7 s(-1). Comparing the kinetic mechanism of DhaA with that of the corresponding enzyme from Xanthobacter autotrophicus GJ10 (DhlA) shows that the overall mechanisms are similar. However, whereas in DhlA the rate of halide release represents the slowest step in the catalytic cycle, our results suggest that in DhaA the release of 3-bromo-1-propanol is the slowest step during 1,3-dibromopropane conversion.

Molecular dynamics simulations as a tool for improving protein stability.

Haloalkane dehalogenase (DhlA) was used as a model protein to explore the possibility to use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations as a tool to identify flexible regions in proteins that can serve as a target for stability enhancement by introduction of a disulfide bond. DhlA consists of two domains: an alpha/beta-hydrolase fold main domain and a cap domain composed of five alpha-helices. MD simulations of DhlA showed high mobility in a helix-loop-helix region in the cap domain, involving residues 184-211. A disulfide cross-link was engineered between residue 201 of this flexible region and residue 16 of the main domain. The mutant enzyme showed substantial changes in both thermal and urea denaturation. The oxidized form of the mutant enzyme showed an increase of the apparent transition temperature from 47.5 to 52.5 degrees C, whereas the T(m,app) of the reduced mutant decreased by more than 8 degrees C compared to the wild-type enzyme. Urea denaturation results showed a similar trend. Measurement of the kinetic stability showed that the introduction of the disulfide bond caused a decrease in activation free energy of unfolding of 0.43 kcal mol(-1) compared to the wild-type enzyme and also indicated that the helix-loop-helix region was involved early in the unfolding process. The results show that MD simulations are capable of identifying mobile protein domains that can successfully be used as a target for stability enhancement by the introduction of a disulfide cross-link.