MALDI-TOF MS Based Bacterial Antibiotics Resistance Finger Print for Diabetic Pedopathy.

Diabetes mellitus has become a major global health issue. Currently, the use of antibiotics remains the best foundational strategy in the control of diabetic foot infections. However, the lack of accurate identification of pathogens and the empirical use of antibiotics at early stages of infection represents a non-targeted treatment approach with a poor curative effect that may increase the of bacterial drug resistance. Therefore, the timely identification of drug resistant bacteria is the key to increasing the efficacy of treatments for diabetic foot infections. The traditional identification method is based on bacterial morphology, cell physiology, and biochemistry. Despite the simplicity and low costs associated with this method, it is time-consuming and has limited clinical value, which delays early diagnosis and treatment. In the recent years, MALDI-TOF MS has emerged as a promising new technology in the field of clinical microbial identification. In this study, we developed a strategy for the identification of drug resistance in the diagnosis of diabetic foot infections using a combination of macro-proteomics and MALDI MS analysis. The macro-proteomics result was utilized to determine the differential proteins in the resistance group and the corresponding peptide fragments were used as the finger print in a MALDI MS analysis. This strategy was successfully used in the research of drug resistance in patients with diabetic foot infections and achieved several biomarkers that could be used as a finger print for 4 different drugs, including ceftazidime, piperacillin, levofloxacin, and tetracycline. This method can quickly confirm the drug resistance of clinical diabetic foot infections, which can help aid in the early treatment of patients.

Fructose as an additional co-metabolite promotes refractory dye degradation: Performance and mechanism.

In this work, the performance and mechanism for the boosting effects of fructose as an additional co-metabolite towards the biological treatment of reactive black 5 were systematically investigated. A decolorization efficiency of 98% was obtained in sample FRU200 (with 3 g/L fructose added based on 3 g/L yeast extract), which was 21% higher than that without fructose. Several intermediates with low molecular weight generated in sample FRU200 and different metabolic pathways were deduced. The bacterial community structure significantly changed due to fructose addition. Label-free quantitative proteomic approach suggested that several up-regulated proteins in sample FRU200 might play essential roles during the degradation. Furthermore, the mechanisms of RB5 degradation by proteins/enzymes of the dominant species in flora DDMZ1 were proposed. This work deepens our understanding of the molecular and ecological mechanism of fructose as co-metabolite enhancing the biodegradation of refractory organic pollutants by a natural bacterial flora.