Project description:A shaving proteomic approach was applied to explore surface protein expression of multi- and pan-drug resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from the airways of cystic fibrosis patients with long-term chronic colonization compared to wild-type antibiotic-sensitive strains isolated from patients with recent infection.
Project description:The aim of this experiment was to determine if the development of resistance to antibiotics can be driven by the concentration and speciation of Cu. Experimental setup was designed to investigate two hypotheses for which two strains of Gram- bacteria have been selected: - Do TE enhance AR in resistant bacteria? Resistant strain: Bioluminescent Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Xen41, Tetracycline resistant) - Do TE induce AR in sensitive bacteria? Sensitive strain: Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Wild Type)
Project description:Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a major opportunistic pathogen causing a wide range of infections and one of the most problematic bacteria regarding antibiotic resistance, with an increasing incidence of multidrug and extensively-drug resistant strains, including resistance to last resource antibiotics such as carbapenems. Resistances are often due to complex interplays of naturally and acquired resistance mechanisms which are enhanced by its remarkably large regulatory network. Thus, the use of non-targeted shotgun methodologies such as mass spectrometry-based proteomics is crucial to understand these interplays and to reveal possible strain and species-specific novel mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. The aim of this study was to determine the proteomic response of two carbapenem-resistant and extensively-drug-resistant P. aeruginosa strains to subminimal inhibitory concentrations (sub-MICs) of meropenem. The strains belonged to high-risk clones ST235 and ST395, one carrying a class 1 integron-encoded VIM-4 metallo-β-lactamase and one carrying no acquired antibiotic resistance genes. Each strain was cultivated with three different sub-MICs of meropenem, and a quantitative shotgun proteomic approach was applied, using tandem mass tag (TMT) isobaric labeling followed by nano-liquid chromatography tandem-mass spectrometry, to determine significantly up- or down-regulated proteins and enriched groups of proteins and pathways. Cultivation of both strains with ½ and ¼ of the MIC, resulted in hundreds of differentially regulated proteins, including several β-lactamases, transport-related proteins (including multiple porins and efflux pumps), proteins associated with peptidoglycan metabolism and cell wall organization and dozens of regulatory proteins. Remarkably, all components of the H1 type VI secretion system were up-regulated in one of the strains. Enrichment analyses revealed that multiple metabolic pathways were affected. Additionally, numerous proteins of unknown function were also differentially-regulated in each strain. In conclusion, high subminimal-inhibitory concentrations of meropenem cause massive changes in the proteomes of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa strains, involving a wide range of common and strain-specific mechanisms and proteins, many still uncharacterized which might potentially play a role in the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to meropenem.
Project description:Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the deadliest infectious disorders in the world. To effectively TB manage, an essential step is to gain insight into the lineage of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains and the distribution of drug resistance. Although the Campania region is declared a cluster area for the infection, to contribute to the effort to understand TB evolution and transmission, still poorly known, we have generated a dataset of 159 genomes of MTB strains, from Campania region collected during 2018-2021, obtained from the analysis of whole genome sequence data. The results show that the most frequent MTB lineage is the 4 according for 129 strains (81.11%). Regarding drug resistance, 139 strains (87.4%) were classified as multi susceptible, while the remaining 20 (12.58%) showed drug resistance. Among the drug-resistance strains, 8 were isoniazid-resistant MTB (HR-MTB), 7 were resistant only to one antibiotic (3 were resistant only to ethambutol and 3 isolate to streptomycin while one isolate showed resistance to fluoroquinolones), 4 multidrug-resistant MTB, while only one was classified as pre-extensively drug-resistant MTB (pre-XDR). This dataset expands the existing available knowledge on drug resistance and evolution of MTB, contributing to further TB-related genomics studies to improve the management of TB infection.
Project description:The aim of this experiment was to determine if the development of resistance to antibiotics can be driven by the concentration and speciation of Cu. Experimental setup was designed to investigate two hypotheses for which two strains of Gram- bacteria have been selected: - Do TE enhance AR in resistant bacteria? Resistant strain: Bioluminescent Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Xen41, Tetracycline resistant) - Do TE induce AR in sensitive bacteria? Sensitive strain: Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (Wild Type)
Project description:Molecular evolution of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains from patients and hospital environment in a prolonged outbreak
Project description:Whole genome sequencing of SYBARIS Aspergillus spp. known to be multi-drug resistant and difficult to treat. Aim of this experiment is to investigate the genetic basis of susceptibility to disease and elucidate molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in these strains.