Project description:Occurrence and removal of antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in hospital wastewater treatment system
Project description:Background: Antibiotic resistance is an urgent threat to public health. Prior to the evolution of antibiotic resistance, bacteria frequently undergo response and tend to develop a state of adaption to the antibiotic. Ciprofloxacin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic by damaging DNA. With the widespread clinical application, the resistance of bacteria to ciprofloxacin continues to increase. This study aimed to investigate the transcriptome changes under the action of high concentration of ciprofloxacin in Escherichia coli. Results: We identified 773 up-regulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 645 down-regulated DEGs in ciprofloxacin treated cells. Enriched biological pathways reflected the up-regulation of biological process such as DNA damage and repair system, toxin/antitoxin systems, formaldehyde detoxification system, peptide biosynthetic process and cellular protein metabolic process. With KEGG pathway analysis, up-regulated DEGs of kdsA and waa operon were associated with “LPS biosynthesis”. rfbABC operon was related to “streptomycin biosynthesis” and “polyketide sugar unit biosynthesis ”. Down-regulated DEGs of thrABC and fliL operons were associated with “flagellum-dependent cell motility” and “bacterial-type flagellum” in GO terms, and enriched into “biosynthesis of amino acids” and “flagellar assembly” in KEGG pathways. After treatment of ciprofloxacin, bacterial lipopolysacchride (LPS) release was increased by two times, and the mRNA expression level of LPS synthesis genes, waaB, waaP and waaG were elevated (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Characterization of the gene clusters by RNA-seq showed high dose of ciprofloxacin not only lead to damage of bacterial macromolecules and components, but also induce protective response against antibiotic action by up-regulating the SOS system, toxin/antitoxin system and formaldehyde detoxification system. Moreover, genes related to biosynthesis of LPS were also upregulated by the treatment indicating that ciprofloxacin can enhance the production of endotoxin on the level of transcription. These results demonstrated that transient exposure of high dose ciprofloxacin is double edged. Cautions should be taken when administering the high dose antibiotic treatment for infectious diseases.
Project description:Kaiser2014 - Salmonella persistence after ciprofloxacin treatment
The model describes the bacterial tolerance to antibiotics. Using a mouse model for Salmonella diarrhea, the authors have found that bacterial persistence occurs in the presence of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin because Salmonella can exist in two different states. One, the fast-growing population that spreads in the host's tissues and the other, slow-growing "persister" population that hide out inside dendritic cells of the host's immune system and cannot be attacked by the antibiotics. However, this can be killed by adding agents that directly stimulate the host's immune defense.
This model is described in the article:
Cecum lymph node dendritic cells harbor slow-growing bacteria phenotypically tolerant to antibiotic treatment.
Kaiser P, Regoes RR, Dolowschiak T, Wotzka SY, Lengefeld J, Slack E, Grant AJ, Ackermann M, Hardt WD.
PLoS Biol. 2014 Feb 18;12(2):e1001793.
Abstract:
In vivo, antibiotics are often much less efficient than ex vivo and relapses can occur. The reasons for poor in vivo activity are still not completely understood. We have studied the fluoroquinolone antibiotic ciprofloxacin in an animal model for complicated Salmonellosis. High-dose ciprofloxacin treatment efficiently reduced pathogen loads in feces and most organs. However, the cecum draining lymph node (cLN), the gut tissue, and the spleen retained surviving bacteria. In cLN, approximately 10%-20% of the bacteria remained viable. These phenotypically tolerant bacteria lodged mostly within CD103⁺CX₃CR1⁻CD11c⁺ dendritic cells, remained genetically susceptible to ciprofloxacin, were sufficient to reinitiate infection after the end of the therapy, and displayed an extremely slow growth rate, as shown by mathematical analysis of infections with mixed inocula and segregative plasmid experiments. The slow growth was sufficient to explain recalcitrance to antibiotics treatment. Therefore, slow-growing antibiotic-tolerant bacteria lodged within dendritic cells can explain poor in vivo antibiotic activity and relapse. Administration of LPS or CpG, known elicitors of innate immune defense, reduced the loads of tolerant bacteria. Thus, manipulating innate immunity may augment the in vivo activity of antibiotics.
This model is hosted on BioModels Database and identified
by: MODEL1312170001.
To cite BioModels Database, please use: BioModels Database: An enhanced, curated and annotated resource
for published quantitative kinetic models.
To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or
neighbouring rights to this encoded model have been dedicated to the public
domain worldwide. Please refer to CC0 Public Domain
Dedication for more information.
Project description:Many bacteria are often resistant to antibiotic treatment and drugs because, even if these drugs are effective, bacteria can slow down their growth rate and thus attenuate the effectiveness of the drug. A similar growth-rate control is detected in pathogenic bacteria that infect and persist inside their hosts. The bacterial growth rate within host cells can be regulated by multiple signaling pathways, most of which are still unknown. A toxin-antitoxin (TA) system is one of the candidates for controlling bacterial growth because the TA system could slow down growth by expressing a toxin component. The toxin protein can be neutralized by the antitoxin component, serving as a non-heritable phenotypic switch for growth rate. In this study, we investigated a type II toxin-antitoxin system from the intracellular bacterial pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. We characterized residues required for toxin’s activity and a potential mechanism of the toxin by searching for its target via bacterial two-hybrid screening. Understanding the underlying mechanism of toxin-mediated persister formation and growth rate control within host cells will provide a new alternative to treat antibiotic resistant bacteria or intracellular bacteria surviving within host cells.
Project description:Many bacteria are often resistant to antibiotic treatment and drugs because, even if these drugs are effective, bacteria can slow down their growth rate and thus attenuate the effectiveness of the drug. A similar growth-rate control is detected in pathogenic bacteria that infect and persist inside their hosts. The bacterial growth rate within host cells can be regulated by multiple signaling pathways, most of which are still unknown. A toxin-antitoxin (TA) system is one of the candidates for controlling bacterial growth because the TA system could slow down growth by expressing a toxin component. The toxin protein can be neutralized by the antitoxin component, serving as a non-heritable phenotypic switch for growth rate. In this study, we investigated a type II toxin-antitoxin system from the intracellular bacterial pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. We characterized residues required for toxin’s activity and a potential mechanism of the toxin by searching for its target via bacterial two-hybrid screening. Understanding the underlying mechanism of toxin-mediated persister formation and growth rate control within host cells will provide a new alternative to treat antibiotic resistant bacteria or intracellular bacteria surviving within host cells.
Project description:Bacterial antibiotic resistance is as a serious health problem. Antibiotic resistance appears either because of mutations or as a result of a bacteria dormant state without heritable genetic change. This non-growing state allows bacteria to survive antibiotic treatment. The mechanisms of entrance to the bacterial dormant state are unknown. It has been suggested that toxin-antitoxin systems (TASs) are possible controlling factors for cell dormancy. In Staphylococcus aureus, the role of TASs genome-wide and their link to the dormancy induction mechanisms has not been investigated in detail. In this study, we analyzed the role of MazF toxin on transcriptome, translatome and proteome of S. aureus using RNA-Seq, Ribo-Seq and quantitative proteomics. We characterized the correlation between transcription, translation, and protein levels, and demonstrated that the MazF endonuclease decreases translation directly by cleaving mRNA, and indirectly, by decreasing translation factors and by promoting ribosome hibernation. Thus, MazF represses transcription and translation of many genes rather than a particular set of genes. Nevertheless, several specific pathways affected by MazF were identified: we demonstrated that cell wall thickness is increased and cell division is decreased upon MazF induction. MazF cleaves mRNA in vivo, creating stop-less transcripts and stalled ribosomes. These stalled ribosomes are rescued by SsrA-system, which is activated upon MazF induction. Finally, we described the overall impact of MazF on S. aureus metabolism, and propose one of the mechanisms by which MazF may induce bacterial dormancy.
Project description:Incomplete antibiotic removal in pharmaceutical wastewater treatment plants (PWWTPs) could lead to the development and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARBs) and genes (ARGs) in the environment, posing a growing public health threat. In this study, two multiantibiotic-resistant bacteria, Ochrobactrum intermedium (N1) and Stenotrophomonas acidaminiphila (N2), were isolated from the sludge of a PWWTP in Guangzhou, China. The N1 strain was highly resistant to ampicillin, cefazolin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, and norfloxacin, while the N2 strain exhibited high resistance to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, and cefazolin. Whole-genome sequencing revealed that N1 and N2 had genome sizes of 0.52 Mb and 0.37 Mb, respectively, and harbored 33 and 24 ARGs, respectively. The main resistance mechanism in the identified ARGs included efflux pumps, enzymatic degradation, and target bypass, with the N1 strain possessing more multidrug-resistant efflux pumps than the N2 strain (22 vs 12). This also accounts for the broader resistance spectrum of N1 than of N2 in antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Additionally, both genomes contain numerous mobile genetic elements (89 and 21 genes, respectively) and virulence factors (276 and 250 factors, respectively), suggesting their potential for horizontal transfer and pathogenicity. Overall, this research provides insights into the potential risks posed by ARBs in pharmaceutical wastewater and emphasizes the need for further studies on their impact and mitigation strategies.
Project description:With the global increase in the use of carbapenems, several gram-negative bacteria have acquired carbapenem resistance, thereby limiting treatment options. Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of such notorious pathogen that is being widely studied to find novel resistance mechanisms and drug targets. These antibiotic-resistant clinical isolates generally harbor many genetic alterations, and identification of causal mutations will provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance. We propose a method to prioritize mutated genes responsible for antibiotic resistance, in which mutated genes that also show significant expression changes among their functionally coupled genes become more likely candidates. For network-based analyses, we developed a genome-scale co-functional network of K. pneumoniae genes, KlebNet (www.inetbio.org/klebnet). Using KlebNet, we could reconstruct functional modules for antibiotic-resistance, and virulence, and retrieved functional association between them. With complementation assays with top candidate genes, we could validate a gene for negative regulation of meropenem resistance and four genes for positive regulation of virulence in Galleria mellonella larvae. Therefore, our study demonstrated the feasibility of network-based identification of genes required for antimicrobial resistance and virulence of human pathogenic bacteria with genomic and transcriptomic profiles from antibiotic-resistant clinical isolates.
Project description:Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a common acute otitis media pathogen, with an incidence that is increased by previous antibiotic treatment. NTHi is also an emerging causative agent of other chronic infections in humans, some linked to morbidity, and all of which impose substantial treatment costs. In this study we explore the possibility that antibiotic exposure may stimulate biofilm formation by NTHi bacteria. We discovered that sub-inhibitory concentrations of beta-lactam antibiotic (i.e., amounts that partially inhibit bacterial growth) stimulated the biofilm-forming ability of NTHi strains, an effect that was strain and antibiotic dependent. When exposed to sub-inhibitory concentrations of beta-lactam antibiotics NTHi strains produced tightly packed biofilms with decreased numbers of culturable bacteria but increased biomass. The ratio of protein per unit weight of biofilm decreased as a result of antibiotic exposure. Antibiotic-stimulated biofilms had altered ultrastructure, and genes involved in glycogen production and transporter function were up regulated in response to antibiotic exposure. Down-regulated genes were linked to multiple metabolic processes but not those involved in stress response. Antibiotic-stimulated biofilm bacteria were more resistant to a lethal dose (10µg/mL) of cefuroxime. Our results suggest that beta-lactam antibiotic exposure may act as a signaling molecule that promotes transformation into the biofilm phenotype. Loss of viable bacteria, increase in biofilm biomass and decreased protein production coupled with a concomitant up-regulation of genes involved with glycogen production might result in a biofilm of sessile, metabolically inactive bacteria sustained by stored glycogen. These biofilms may protect surviving bacteria from subsequent antibiotic challenges, and act as a reservoir of viable bacteria once antibiotic exposure has ended.
Project description:Bacterial persister cells are phenotypic variants that exhibit a transient non-growing state and antibiotic tolerance. Here we provide in vitro evidence of Staphylococcus aureus persisters within infected host cells. We show that the bacteria surviving antibiotic treatment within host cells are persisters, displaying biphasic killing and reaching a uniformly non-responsive, non-dividing state when followed at the single-cell level. This phenotype is stable but reversible upon antibiotic removal. Intracellular S. aureus persisters remain metabolically active, but display an altered transcriptomic profile consistent with activation of stress responses, including the stringent response as well as cell-wall stress, SOS and heat-shock responses. These changes are associated with multidrug tolerance after exposure to a single antibiotic. We hypothesize that intracellular S. aureus persisters may constitute a reservoir for relapsing infection, and could contribute to therapeutic failures.