Roles of viable but non-culturable state in the survival of Campylobacter jejuni.

Despite being considered fragile and fastidious, Campylobacter jejuni is the most prevalent cause of foodborne bacterial gastroenteritis, and chicken meat is considered the main vehicle of transmission to humans. This agent can survive adverse conditions in the form of biofilms, but extreme stress (nutritional, oxidative and thermal) promotes the acquisition of a state called viable but not culturable (VBNC). The emergence of this pathogen worldwide and the recent international requirements in its control instigated us to qualitatively and quantitatively estimate the time required for the acquisition of the VBNC form in 27 strains of C. jejuni, characterize morphological aspects, determine its adaptive and invasive potential and perform comparative metabolomic evaluation. Extreme stress promoted the complete acquisition of the VBNC form in a mean time of 26 days. Starting from an average initial count of 7.8 log CFU/mL, the first four days determined the greatest average reduction of the culturable form of 3.2 log CFU/mL. The scanning and transmission image analyses showed a transition from the typical viable form (VT) to the VBNC form, with initial acquisition of the straight rod shape, followed by loss of the flagella and subdivision into two to 11 imperfect cocci arranged in a chain and rich in cellular content, until their individual release. RT-PCR identified the presence of ciaB and p19 transcripts in the 27 cultivable C. jejuni strains, a character maintained in the VBNC form only for p19 and in 59.3% (16/27) of the VBNC strains for the ciaB gene. The average inoculation of 1.8 log CFU/mL of C. jejuni VBNC into primary chicken embryo hepatocyte cells promoted the occurrence of apoptosis processes significantly after 24 hours of contact by one of the strains tested. In C. jejuni VBNC, we detected higher expression of metabolites linked to protective and adaptation mechanisms and of volatile organic precursor compounds indicative of metabolism interruption. The oscillations in the time of acquisition of the VBNC form together with the presence of transcripts for ciaB and p19, the identification of cell lysis and metabolites that ensure the maintenance of the pathogen alert to the fact that C. jejuni VBNC remains virulent and adapted to stress, which makes evident the potential danger of this latent form, which is not detectable by official methodologies.

Interleukin-6 Signaling in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells Elicits the Annexin A1/Formyl Peptide Receptor 1 Axis and Affects the Tumor Microenvironment.

Annexin A1 (AnxA1) is a pleiotropic protein that exerts essential roles in breast cancer (BC) growth and aggressiveness. In our previous work, we described the autocrine signaling of AnxA1 through formyl peptide receptor 1 (FPR1) in the triple-negative (TN) BC cell line, MDA-MB-231. Here, we aimed to describe the interaction between the AnxA1/FPR1 and the Interleukin-6 (IL-6) signaling pathways and their role in the tumor microenvironment (TME). First, we demonstrated that AnxA1 and IL-6 expression levels are correlated in BC tissue samples. In three TNBC cell lines, overexpression of both AnxA1 and IL-6 was also identified. Next, we inhibited FPR1, the IL-6 receptor and STAT3 in both MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-157 cells. The FPR1 inhibition led to increased levels of IL-6 and secreted AnxA1 in both cell lines. On the other side, inhibition of the IL-6 receptor or STAT3 led to the impairment of AnxA1 secretion, suggesting the essential role of the IL-6 signaling cascade in the activation of the AnxA1/FPR1 autocrine axis. Finally, we described the interaction between IL-6 and the AnxA1/FPR1 pathways and their role on the TME by analyzing the effect of supernatants derived from MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-157 cells under the inhibition of FPR1 or IL-6 signaling on fibroblast cell motility.

Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca Strains Fb7 and 9a5c from Citrus Display Differential Behavior, Secretome, and Plant Virulence.

Xylella fastidiosa colonizes the xylem of various cultivated and native plants worldwide. Citrus production in Brazil has been seriously affected, and major commercial varieties remain susceptible to Citrus Variegated Chlorosis (CVC). Collective cellular behaviors such as biofilm formation influence virulence and insect transmission of X. fastidiosa. The reference strain 9a5c produces a robust biofilm compared to Fb7 that remains mostly planktonic, and both were isolated from symptomatic citrus trees. This work deepens our understanding of these distinct behaviors at the molecular level, by comparing the cellular and secreted proteomes of these two CVC strains. Out of 1017 identified proteins, 128 showed differential abundance between the two strains. Different protein families were represented such as proteases, hemolysin-like proteins, and lipase/esterases, among others. Here we show that the lipase/esterase LesA is among the most abundant secreted proteins of CVC strains as well, and demonstrate its functionality by complementary activity assays. More severe symptoms were observed in Nicotiana tabacum inoculated with strain Fb7 compared to 9a5c. Our results support that systemic symptom development can be accelerated by strains that invest less in biofilm formation and more in plant colonization. This has potential application in modulating the bacterial-plant interaction and reducing disease severity.