An altered fecal microbiota profile in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) associated with obesity.

INTRODUCTION: increasing evidence suggests a role of intestinal dysbiosis in obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The advances in recent years with regard to the role of the gut microbiota raise the potential utility of new therapeutic approaches based on the modification of the microbiome. OBJECTIVE: the aim of this study was to compare the bacterial communities in obese patients with or without NAFLD to those of healthy controls. PATIENTS AND METHODS: the fecal microbiota composition of 20 healthy adults, 36 obese patients with NAFLD and 17 obese patients without NAFLD was determined by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq system. RESULTS: the results highlighted significant differences in the phylum Firmicutes between patients with and without NAFLD, which was a determining factor of the disease and supported its possible role as a marker of NAFLD. At the genus level, the relative abundance of Blautia, Alkaliphilus, Flavobacterium and Akkermansia was reduced in obese patients, both with or without NAFLD, compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, the number of sequences from the genus Streptococcus was significantly higher in patients with NAFLD in comparison with individuals without the disease, constituting another possible marker. Comparison of bacterial communities at the genus level by a principal coordinate analysis indicated that the bacterial communities of patients with NAFLD were dispersed and did not form a group. CONCLUSION: in conclusion, these results indicate the role of intestinal dysbiosis in the development of NAFLD associated with obesity. There was a differential microbiota profile between obese patients, with and without NAFLD. Thus, supporting gut microbiota modulation as a therapeutic alternative for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD.

Analysis of laccase-like enzymes secreted by fungi isolated from a cave in northern Spain.

Laccases belong to a family of multicopper enzymes able to oxidize a broad spectrum of organic compounds. Despite the well-known property of laccases to carry out bleaching and degradation of industrial dyes and polyphenolic compounds, their industrial use is often limited by the high cost, low efficiency, or instability of these enzymes. To look for new microorganisms which produce laccases that are potentially suitable for industrial applications, we have isolated several fungal strains from a cave in northern Spain. Their phenotypic analysis on agar plates supplemented with ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)) disclosed two laccase-positive strains. Further genotyping revealed that they belonged to the Gliomastix murorum and Conidiobolus thromboides species. The secretion of G. murorum and C. thromboides laccase-like enzymes was then confirmed by zymography. Further identification of these polypeptides by mass-spectroscopy revealed the nature of the laccases and made it possible to predict their functional domains and other features. In addition, plate assays revealed that the laccases secreted by both G. murorum and C. thromboides were capable of degrading industrial dyes (Congo Red, Indigo, and Eriochrome Black T). Homology modeling and substrate docking predicted the putative structure of the currently uncrystallized G. murorum enzyme as well as its amino acid residues potentially involved in interactions with these dyes. In summary, new biochemical and structural insights into decolorization mediated by G. murorum laccase as well as identification of laccase-like oxidase in C. thromboides point to a promising future for these enzymes in biotechnology.

Evaluation of the effects of erythritol on gene expression in Brucella abortus.

Bacteria of the genus Brucella have the unusual capability to catabolize erythritol and this property has been associated with their virulence mainly because of the presence of erythritol in bovine foetal tissues and because the attenuated S19 vaccine strain is the only Brucella strain unable to oxydize erythritol. In this work we have analyzed the transcriptional changes produced in Brucella by erythritol by means of two high throughput approaches: RNA hybridization against a microarray containing most of Brucella ORF's constructed from the Brucella ORFeome and next generation sequencing of Brucella mRNA in an Illumina GAIIx platform. The results obtained showed the overexpression of a group of genes, many of them in a single cluster around the ery operon, able to co-ordinately mediate the transport and degradation of erythritol into three carbon atoms intermediates that will be then converted into fructose-6P (F6P) by gluconeogenesis. Other induced genes participating in the nonoxidative branch of the pentose phosphate shunt and the TCA may collaborate with the ery genes to conform an efficient degradation of sugars by this route. On the other hand, several routes of amino acid and nucleotide biosynthesis are up-regulated whilst amino acid transport and catabolism genes are down-regulated. These results corroborate previous descriptions indicating that in the presence of erythritol, this sugar was used preferentially over other compounds and provides a neat explanation of the the reported stimulation of growth induced by erythritol.

An altered fecal microbiota profile in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) associated with obesity

Introduction: increasing evidence suggests a role of intestinal dysbiosis in obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The advances in recent years with regard to the role of the gut microbiota raise the potential utility of new therapeutic approaches based on the modification of the microbiome. Objective: the aim of this study was to compare the bacterial communities in obese patients with or without NAFLD to those of healthy controls. Patients and methods: the fecal microbiota composition of 20 healthy adults, 36 obese patients with NAFLD and 17 obese patients without NAFLD was determined by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq system. Results: the results highlighted significant differences in the phylum Firmicutes between patients with and without NAFLD, which was a determining factor of the disease and supported its possible role as a marker of NAFLD. At the genus level, the relative abundance of Blautia, Alkaliphilus, Flavobacterium and Akkermansia was reduced in obese patients, both with or without NAFLD, compared to healthy controls. Furthermore, the number of sequences from the genus Streptococcus was significantly higher in patients with NAFLD in comparison with individuals without the disease, constituting another possible marker. Comparison of bacterial communities at the genus level by a principal coordinate analysis indicated that the bacterial communities of patients with NAFLD were dispersed and did not form a group. Conclusion: in conclusion, these results indicate the role of intestinal dysbiosis in the development of NAFLD associated with obesity. There was a differential microbiota profile between obese patients, with and without NAFLD. Thus, supporting gut microbiota modulation as a therapeutic alternative for the prevention and treatment of NAFLD

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The aquaporin gene aqpX of Brucella abortus is induced in hyperosmotic conditions.

An aquaporin gene (aqpX) was previously detected in the pathogenic bacterium Brucella abortus. Earlier studies showed that AqpX mediated rapid and large water fluxes in both directions in response to sudden osmotic up- or downshifts. Here, to study the role and the expression of the aqpX gene in B. abortus, an aqpX null mutant was constructed using an aqpX : : lacZ gene fusion. This mutant showed no significant difference in growth rate compared to the wild-type strain when grown in rich and minimal media, demonstrating that disruption of the aqpX gene was not lethal for B. abortus. The role of the B. abortus AqpX water channel was investigated by exposing the cells to hypo- and hyperosmolar conditions. While in hyperosmolar environments the growth rate of the knockout mutant was not affected, in hypo-osmolar conditions this mutant showed reduced viability after 50 h of growth. beta-Galactosidase assays and RT-PCR revealed that aqpX gene expression and the amount of aqpX mRNA were markedly increased in hyperosmolar conditions. Moreover, B. abortus aqpX expression levels were enhanced during the mid-exponential phase of growth. These results indicated that the expression of aqpX was regulated during the growth curve and induced in hyperosmolar conditions. This report is believed to be the first example of the induction of a bacterial aquaporin in hypertonic conditions.