ABSTRACT
Similar to other CTX-M family enzymes, KLUC is a recently identified and emerging determinant of cefotaxime resistance that has been recovered from at least three Enterobacteriaceae species, including Kluyvera cryocrescens, Escherichia coli, and Enterobacter cloacae. Whether this extended-spectrum ß-lactamase (ESBL) has been disseminated among commonly isolated Enterobacteriaceae is worthy of further investigation. In this study, we screened 739 nosocomial Enterobacteriaceae isolates (240 Klebsiella pneumoniae and 499 E. coli strains) and found that one K. pneumoniae and four E. coli isolates harbored the blaKLUC gene. Three blaKLUC determinants isolated from E. coli were entirely identical to a blaKLUC-3 gene previously recovered in the same hospital. PFGE of four blaKLUC-harboring E. coli strains showed that prevalence of these determinants was most likely mediated by horizontal gene transfer but not clonal dissemination. However, the variant isolated from K. pneumoniae belonged to a novel member of the KLUC enzyme group. This newly identified enzyme (KLUC-5) has an amino acid substitution compared with previously identified KLUC-1 (G18S) and KLUC-3 (G240D). Antimicrobial susceptibility tests showed that KLUC-5 significantly reduced resistance activity to almost all the selected antimicrobials compared to previously identified KLUC-3. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that blaKLUC-5-D240G and blaKLUC-5-S18G significantly enhanced the MIC against its best substrate. Conjugation and S1-PFGE indicated that blaKLUC-5 was located on a transferable plasmid, which was further decoded by single-molecule, real-time sequencing. Comparative genome analysis showed that its backbone exhibited genetic homology to the IncA/C incompatibility group plasmids. A transposable element, ISEcp1, was detected 256-bp upstream of the blaKLUC-5 gene; this location was inconsistent with the previously identified blaKLUC-1 but congruent with the variants recovered from E. coli in the same hospital. These data provide evidence of the increasingly emerging KLUC group of ESBLs in China.
ABSTRACT
Pantoea vagans, a gram-negative bacterium from the genus Pantoea and family Enterobacteriaceae, is present in various natural environments and considered to be plant endophytes. We isolated the Pantoea vagans PV989 strain from the clinic and sequenced its whole genome. Besides a chromosome DNA molecule, it also harboured three large plasmids. A comparative genomics analysis was performed for the smallest plasmid, pPV989-94. It can be divided into four regions, including three conservative regions related to replication (R1), transfer conjugation (R2), and transfer leading (R3), and one variable region (R4). Further analysis showed that pPV989-94 is most similar to plasmids LA637P2 and pEA68 of Erwinia amylovora strains isolated from fruit trees. These three plasmids share three conservative regions (R1, R2, and R3). Interestingly, a fragment (R4') in R4, mediated by phage integrase and phage integrase family site-specific recombinase and encoding 9 genes related to glycometabolism, resistance, and DNA repair, was unique in pPV989-94. Homologues of R4' were found in other plasmids or chromosomes, suggesting that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) occurred among different bacteria of various species or genera. The acquired functional genes may play important roles in the adaptation of bacteria to different hosts or environmental conditions.
ABSTRACT
In order to study the relationship between the structure and function of AmpG, structure, site-specific mutation, and gene complementary experiments have been performed against the clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We found that there are 51 nucleotide variations at 34 loci over the ampG genes from 24 of 35 P. aeruginosa strains detected, of which 7 nucleotide variations resulted in amino acid change. The ampG variants with the changed nucleotides (amino acids) could complement the function of ampG deleted PA01 (PA01ΔG). The ampicillin minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of PA01ΔG complemented with 32 ampG variants was up to 512 µg/ml, similar to the original PA01 (P. aeruginosa PA01). Furthermore, site-directed mutation of two conservative amino acids (I53 and W90) showed that when I53 was mutated to 53S or 53T (I53S or I53T), the ampicillin MIC level dropped drastically, and the activity of AmpC ß-lactamase decreased as well. By contrast, the ampicillin MIC and the activity of AmpC ß-lactamase remained unchanged for W90R and W90S mutants. Our studies demonstrated that although nucleotide variations occurred in most of the ampG genes, the structure of AmpG protein in clinical isolates is stable, and conservative amino acid is necessary to maintain normal function of AmpG.
ABSTRACT
Phycocyanin (PC) from Spirulina platensis has inhibitory effects on tumor cell growth. In this research, the transcriptome study was designed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms of PC inhibition on human ovarian cancer cell SKOV-3 proliferation. The PC IC50 was 216.6µM and 163.8µM for 24h and 48h exposure, respectively, as determined by CCK-8 assay. The morphological changes of SKOV-3 cells after PC exposure were recorded using HE staining. Cells arrested in G2/M stages as determined by flow cytometry. The transcriptome analysis showed that 2031 genes (with > three-fold differences) were differentially expressed between the untreated and the PC-treated cells, including 1065 up-regulated and 966 down-regulated genes. Gene ontology and KEGG pathway analysis identified 18 classical pathways that were remarkably enriched, such as neurotrophin signaling pathway, VEGF signaling pathway and P53 signaling pathway. qPCR results further showed that PTPN12, S100A2, RPL26, and LAMA3 increased while HNRNPA1P10 decreased in PC-treated cells. Molecules and genes in those pathways may be potential targets to develop treatments for ovarian cancer.
