Emergence of Novel Type C Botulism Strain in Household Outbreak, Japan.

In 2021, an outbreak of food poisoning caused by Clostridium botulinum type C occurred in Kumamoto, Japan. Analysis of the isolated strain revealed that it possessed the bont/C gene and was slightly different from the reference bont/C gene. The risk for human infection with this new toxin type may be low.

Cancer cell growth suppressibility of ω-3 fatty acid whose carboxy group converted to ester group.

Recently, ω-3 fatty acids have been revealed to having cancer cell growth suppressibility. It is necessary to analyze the mechanism of cancer cell growth suppressibility and to impart selective cancer cell accumulation when creating anticancer drugs based on ω-3 fatty acids. Therefore, it is necessarily essential to introduce a luminescent molecule or a molecule which have a drug delivery function into ω-3 fatty acids, and the position of introduction is the ω-3 fatty acids' carboxyl group. On the other hand, whether the ω-3 fatty acids' cancer cell growth suppressibility is maintained when the ω-3 fatty acids' carboxyl groups are converted to other structures, such as ester groups, is unclear. In this work, a derivative was synthesized wherein the α-linolenic acid carboxyl group, one of the ω-3 fatty acids, was converted to an ester group and evaluated the cancer cell growth suppressibility, as well as the amount of cancer cell uptake. As a result, it was suggested that the ester group derivatives presented the same functionality as α-linolenic acid, and the ω-3 fatty acid carboxyl group is a flexible functional group, which can be structurally modified in terms of functionality to cancer cells.

Development of a Novel Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Assay to Detect Escherichia albertii in Chicken Meat.

Escherichia albertii is an emerging enteropathogen. Several foodborne outbreaks of E. albertii have been reported in Japan; however, foods associated with most outbreaks remain unidentified. Therefore, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays detecting E. albertii specifically and sensitively are required. Primers and probe for real-time PCR assays targeting E. albertii-specific gene (EA-rtPCR) was designed. With 74 strains, including 43 E. albertii strains and several of its close relatives, EA-rtPCR specifically amplified E. albertii; therefore, the sensitivity of EA-rtPCR was then evaluated. The detection limits were 2.8 and 2.0-3.2 log colony-forming unit (CFU)/mL for E. albertii culture and enriched chicken culture inoculated with the pathogen, respectively. In addition, E. albertii was detected from 25 g of chicken meat inoculated with 0.1 log CFU of the pathogen by EA-rtPCR. The detection of E. albertii from chicken meat by EA-rtPCR was also evaluated by comparing with the nested-PCR assay, and 28 retail chicken meat and 193 dissected body parts from 21 chicken carcass were tested. One and three chicken meat were positive in the nested-PCR assay and EA-rtPCR, respectively. Fourteen carcasses had at least one body part that was positive for EA-rtPCR, and 36 and 48 samples were positive for the nested-PCR assay and EA-rtPCR, respectively. A total of 37 strains of E. albertii were isolated from seven PCR-positive samples obtained from six chicken carcass. All E. albertii isolates harbored eae gene, and were classified as E. albertii O-genotype (EAOg)3 or EAOg4 by EAO-genotyping. The EA-rtPCR developed in this study has potential to improve E. albertii detection in food and advance research on E. albertii infection.

Neopetrosidines A-D, pyridine alkaloids isolated from the marine sponge Neopetrosia chaliniformis and their cell cycle elongation activity.

Natural products that inhibit cell cycle progression show promise as anticancer agents and chemical probes. In our research on biologically active natural products that affect cell cycle progression of HeLa/fluorescent ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator (Fucci)2 cells, the extract of the marine sponge Neopetrosia chaliniformis was revealed to inhibit cell proliferation. Purification of the extract afforded four new pyridine alkaloids, neopetrosidines A-D (1-4). Their structures were elucidated by the interpretation of spectroscopic data and chemical degradation. Compounds 1-4 were found to inhibit cell proliferation of HeLa/Fucci2 cells, and time-lapse imaging showed that 1 exerts its effect by increasing the duration of the cell cycle. Furthermore, we show that 1 perturbs bioenergetics to exhibit a cytostatic effect by reducing the mitochondrial membrane potential.