Insights into the structure and assembly of a bacterial cellulose secretion system.

Secreted exopolysaccharides present important determinants for bacterial biofilm formation, survival, and virulence. Cellulose secretion typically requires the concerted action of a c-di-GMP-responsive inner membrane synthase (BcsA), an accessory membrane-anchored protein (BcsB), and several additional Bcs components. Although the BcsAB catalytic duo has been studied in great detail, its interplay with co-expressed subunits remains enigmatic. Here we show that E. coli Bcs proteins partake in a complex protein interaction network. Electron microscopy reveals a stable, megadalton-sized macromolecular assembly, which encompasses most of the inner membrane and cytosolic Bcs components and features a previously unobserved asymmetric architecture. Heterologous reconstitution and mutational analyses point toward a structure-function model, where accessory proteins regulate secretion by affecting both the assembly and stability of the system. Altogether, these results lay the foundation for more comprehensive models of synthase-dependent exopolysaccharide secretion in biofilms and add a sophisticated secretory nanomachine to the diverse bacterial arsenal for virulence and adaptation.

Inhibition of type 1 fimbriae-mediated Escherichia coli adhesion and biofilm formation by trimeric cluster thiomannosides conjugated to diamond nanoparticles.

Recent advances in nanotechnology have seen the development of a number of microbiocidal and/or anti-adhesive nanoparticles displaying activity against biofilms. In this work, trimeric thiomannoside clusters conjugated to nanodiamond particles (ND) were targeted for investigation. NDs have attracted attention as a biocompatible nanomaterial and we were curious to see whether the high mannose glycotope density obtained upon grouping monosaccharide units in triads might lead to the corresponding ND-conjugates behaving as effective inhibitors of E. coli type 1 fimbriae-mediated adhesion as well as of biofilm formation. The required trimeric thiosugar clusters were obtained through a convenient thiol-ene "click" strategy and were subsequently conjugated to alkynyl-functionalized NDs using a Cu(I)-catalysed "click" reaction. We demonstrated that the tri-thiomannoside cluster-conjugated NDs (ND-Man3) show potent inhibition of type 1 fimbriae-mediated E. coli adhesion to yeast and T24 bladder cells as well as of biofilm formation. The biofilm disrupting effects demonstrated here have only rarely been reported in the past for analogues featuring such simple glycosidic motifs. Moreover, the finding that the tri-thiomannoside cluster (Man3N3) is itself a relatively efficient inhibitor, even when not conjugated to any ND edifice, suggests that alternative mono- or multivalent sugar-derived analogues might also be usefully explored for E. coli-mediated biofilm disrupting properties.

Hepatocellular carcinoma protein carbonylation in virus C and metabolic syndrome patients.

Metabolic syndrome (MS) is becoming the leading cause of chronic liver diseases worldwide. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in MS is peculiar compared to other chronic liver diseases. Carbohydrate and lipid metabolic imbalance in MS increase reactive oxygen species damaging proteins. In the present work we study the difference in protein oxidative damage (carbonylation) in human HCC derived from virus C infection (VHC) and from MS (MS_HCC) as the only subjacent cause. We selected a patient cohort containing of 10 non-tumoral and 10 tumoral liver resections in each study group (virus C and MS HCC) based on clinical patient history and histological parameters. Protein samples were labeled to saturation using CF 647-hydrazide™ dye. This approach allows us to perform carbonyl detection alongside with a DIGE experiment. We detected a total of 1184 spots with 36 differentially expressed proteins and 47 spots differentially carbonylated between VHC and MS_HCC (fold change >1.5, p<0.05). VHC up-regulated proteins are involved in signaling pathways related to cancer development such as signaling by EGFR, Wnt, Cdc20 and cell cycle. Further, up-regulated proteins in MS HCC, are implicated in metabolism of carbohydrates and amino acids. Differential carbonylation analysis between VHC and MS_HCC showed protein damage in proteins such as glucose phosphate isomerase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, and 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase. Higher protein carbonylation in MS_HCC samples was observed in proteins involved in redox response and lipid metabolism. In conclusion, the observed difference in protein oxidative damage between MS and Virus C derived carcinoma could account for the different cancer development pathway.

Glycan-functionalized diamond nanoparticles as potent E. coli anti-adhesives.

Bacterial attachment and subsequent biofilm formation on biotic surfaces or medical devices is an increasing source of infections in clinical settings. A large proportion of these biofilm-related infections are caused by Escherichia coli, a major nosocomial pathogen, in which the major adhesion factor is the FimH adhesin located at the tip of type 1 fimbriae. Inhibition of FimH-mediated adhesion has been identified as an efficient antibiotic-alternative strategy to potentially reduce E. coli-related infections. In this article we demonstrate that nanodiamond particles, covently modified with mannose moieties by a "click" chemistry approach, are able to efficiently inhibit E. coli type 1 fimbriae-mediated adhesion to eukaryotic cells with relative inhibitory potency (RIP) of as high as 9259 (bladder cell adhesion assay), which is unprecedented when compared with RIP values previously reported for alternate multivalent mannose-functionalized nanostructures designed to inhibit E. coli adhesion. Also remarkable is that these novel mannose-modified NDs reduce E. coli biofilm formation, a property previously not observed for multivalent glyco-nanoparticles and rarely demonstrated for other multivalent or monovalent mannose glycans. This work sets the stage for the further evaluation of these novel NDs as an anti-adhesive therapeutic strategy against E. coli-derived infections.