Technical Study of Automated High-Throughput High-Sensitive Ceruloplasmin Assay on Dried Blood Spots-Reinstate the Potential Use for Newborn Screening of Wilson Disease.

In this study, we modified a fully automatic immunoassay on ceruloplasmin concentration on dried blood spots (DBS) to increase its analytical sensitivity in order to accurately differentiate newborns from true Wilson disease (WD) patients. Modifications to the assay parameters of the Roche/Hitachi Cobas c systems immunoturbidimetric assay are adjusted to lower the limit of quantitation to 0.60 mg/L from 30 mg/L. This enables sensitive measurement of ceruloplasmin in eluent after DBS extraction. In addition, reference intervals and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis for diagnostic cut-off were established using DBS of neonates and WD adult patients. After DBS whole blood calibration, the 95th percentile of the reference interval for newborns was 86-229 mg/L. The cut-off value of 54 mg/L was found to be the most optimal point for differentiating true adult WD from newborn controls. This test shows a high area under curve of 1.000 with 100% sensitivity and specificity in differentiating normal newborns from WD adult samples. However, the results should be further validated with true newborn WD patient samples together with the consideration of other factors that can also lead to low ceruloplasmin levels. This test shows application potential in newborn screening for WD, which can save lives through early identification and timely treatment.

The insect pathogenic bacterium Xenorhabdus innexi has attenuated virulence in multiple insect model hosts yet encodes a potent mosquitocidal toxin.

BACKGROUND: Xenorhabdus innexi is a bacterial symbiont of Steinernema scapterisci nematodes, which is a cricket-specialist parasite and together the nematode and bacteria infect and kill crickets. Curiously, X. innexi expresses a potent extracellular mosquitocidal toxin activity in culture supernatants. We sequenced a draft genome of X. innexi and compared it to the genomes of related pathogens to elucidate the nature of specialization. RESULTS: Using green fluorescent protein-expressing X. innexi we confirm previous reports using culture-dependent techniques that X. innexi colonizes its nematode host at low levels (~3-8 cells per nematode), relative to other Xenorhabdus-Steinernema associations. We found that compared to the well-characterized entomopathogenic nematode symbiont X. nematophila, X. innexi fails to suppress the insect phenoloxidase immune pathway and is attenuated for virulence and reproduction in the Lepidoptera Galleria mellonella and Manduca sexta, as well as the dipteran Drosophila melanogaster. To assess if, compared to other Xenorhabdus spp., X. innexi has a reduced capacity to synthesize virulence determinants, we obtained and analyzed a draft genome sequence. We found no evidence for several hallmarks of Xenorhabdus spp. toxicity, including Tc and Mcf toxins. Similar to other Xenorhabdus genomes, we found numerous loci predicted to encode non-ribosomal peptide/polyketide synthetases. Anti-SMASH predictions of these loci revealed one, related to the fcl locus that encodes fabclavines and zmn locus that encodes zeamines, as a likely candidate to encode the X. innexi mosquitocidal toxin biosynthetic machinery, which we designated Xlt. In support of this hypothesis, two mutants each with an insertion in an Xlt biosynthesis gene cluster lacked the mosquitocidal compound based on HPLC/MS analysis and neither produced toxin to the levels of the wild type parent. CONCLUSIONS: The X. innexi genome will be a valuable resource in identifying loci encoding new metabolites of interest, but also in future comparative studies of nematode-bacterial symbiosis and niche partitioning among bacterial pathogens.

Defects in lysosomal maturation facilitate the activation of innate sensors in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Defects in clearing apoptotic debris disrupt tissue and immunological homeostasis, leading to autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Herein, we report that macrophages from lupus-prone MRL/lpr mice have impaired lysosomal maturation, resulting in heightened ROS production and attenuated lysosomal acidification. Impaired lysosomal maturation diminishes the ability of lysosomes to degrade apoptotic debris contained within IgG-immune complexes (IgG-ICs) and promotes recycling and the accumulation of nuclear self-antigens at the membrane 72 h after internalization. Diminished degradation of IgG-ICs prolongs the intracellular residency of nucleic acids, leading to the activation of Toll-like receptors. It also promotes phagosomal membrane permeabilization, allowing dsDNA and IgG to leak into the cytosol and activate AIM2 and TRIM21. Collectively, these events promote the accumulation of nuclear antigens and activate innate sensors that drive IFNα production and heightened cell death. These data identify a previously unidentified defect in lysosomal maturation that provides a mechanism for the chronic activation of intracellular innate sensors in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Are you my symbiont? Microbial polymorphic toxins and antimicrobial compounds as honest signals of beneficial symbiotic defensive traits.

In defensive symbioses where microbes benefit their host by killing competitors, predators or parasites, natural selection should favor the transmission of microbes with the most beneficial defensive traits. During the initiation of symbiosis, the host's ability to accurately pre-assess a symbiont's beneficial traits would be a selective advantage. We propose that one mechanism by which a host could recognize and select a beneficial partner would be if the latter displayed an honest signal of its defensive or other symbiotic capabilities. As one example, we suggest that polymorphic toxins and their surface receptors, which are involved in inter-microbial competition and predator killing activities, can be honest signals that facilitate partner choice in defensive symbioses.

Isolation of highly persistent mutants of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium reveals a new toxin-antitoxin module.

Bacterial persistence is characterized by the ability of a subpopulation within bacterial cultures to survive exposure to antibiotics and other lethal treatments. The surviving persisters are not the result of genetic changes but represent epigenetic variants that are in a physiological state where growth is inhibited. Since characterization of persisters has been performed mainly in Escherichia coli K-12, we sought to identify mechanisms of persistence in the pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Isolation of new highly persistent mutants revealed that the shpAB locus (Salmonella high persistence) imparted a 3- to 4-order-of-magnitude increase in survival after ampicillin exposure throughout its growth phase and protected the population against exposure to multiple antibiotics. Genetic characterization revealed that shpAB is a newly discovered toxin-antitoxin (TA) module. The high-persistence phenotype was attributed to a nonsense mutation in the 3' end of the shpB gene encoding an antitoxin protein. Characteristic of other TA modules, shpAB is autoregulated, and high persistence depends on the Lon protease.