Proteomic Characterization of Virulence Factors and Related Proteins in Enterococcus Strains from Dairy and Fermented Food Products

Enterococcus species are Gram-positive bacteria that are normal gastrointestinal tract inhabitants that play a beneficial role in the dairy and meat industry. However, Enterococcus species are also the causative agents of health care-associated infections that can be found in dairy and fermented food products. Enterococcal infections are led by strains of Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium, which are often resistant to antibiotics and biofilm formation. Enterococci virulence factors attach to host cells and are also involved in immune evasion. LC-MS/MS-based methods offer several advantages compared with other approaches because one can directly identify microbial peptides without the necessity of inferring conclusions based on other approaches such as genomics tools. The present study describes the use of liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC–ESI–MS/MS) to perform a global shotgun proteomics characterization for opportunistic pathogenic Enterococcus from different dairy and fermented food products. This method allowed the identification of a total of 1403 nonredundant peptides, representing 1327 proteins. Furthermore, 310 of those peptides corresponded to proteins playing a direct role as virulence factors for Enterococcus pathogenicity. Virulence factors, antibiotic sensitivity, and proper identification of the enterococcal strain are required to propose an effective therapy. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD036435. Label-free quantification (LFQ) demonstrated that the majority of the high-abundance proteins corresponded to E. faecalis species. Therefore, the global proteomic repository obtained here can be the basis for further research into pathogenic Enterococcus species, thus facilitating the development of novel therapeutics.     

Novel Virulence Factors Deciphering Klebsiella pneumoniae KpC4 Infect Maize as a Crossing-Kingdom Pathogen: An Emerging Environmental Threat

Klebsiella pneumoniae is not only a human and animal opportunistic pathogen, but a food-borne pathogen. Cross-kingdom infection has been focused on since K. pneumoniae was identified as the pathogen of maize, banana, and pomegranate. Although the pathogenicity of K. pneumoniae strains (from ditch water, maize, and human) on plant and mice has been confirmed, there are no reports to explain the molecular mechanisms of the pathogen. This study uncovered the K. pneumoniae KpC4 isolated from maize top rot for the determination of various virulence genes and resistance genes. At least thirteen plant disease-causing genes are found to be involved in the disruption of plant defense. Among them, rcsB is responsible for causing disease in both plants and animals. The novel sequence types provide solid evidence that the pathogen invades plant and has robust ecological adaptability. It is imperative to perform further studies on the verification of these KpC4 genes’ functions to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in plant–pathogen interactions.     

食品中克罗诺杆菌分离菌株生物被膜形成、耐药性及毒力基因检测

研究食品中克罗诺杆菌分离菌株的生物被膜形成、耐药性以及携带毒力基因情况。在成都市周边农贸市场和路边小摊采集食品样品129份,采用DFI 阪崎肠杆菌显色培养基分离克罗诺杆菌;通过16S rRNA序列比对分析鉴定分离菌株;采用试管法和微孔板法分析菌株生物被膜形成能力,同时研究温度对细菌成膜能力影响;采用纸片法检测分离菌株对18种抗生素的耐药性;采用PCR方法检测分离菌株携带cpa、hly、sip 和ompX毒力基因情况。结果发现从129份食品样本中共检出克罗诺杆菌43株,检出率为33.3%。43株克罗诺杆菌食品分离菌株的成膜率为90.7%,并且温度对细菌成膜影响明显。四种毒力基因中,ompX检出率为100%;cpa检出率为13.9%;hly检出率为11.6%;sip基因未检出。耐药表型检测发现43株克罗诺杆菌食品分离菌株对青霉素、克林霉素、万古霉素、苯唑西林和杆菌肽B的耐药率为100%,对利福平的耐药率达97.7%;对红霉素的耐药率为7%;对环丙沙星、庆大霉素、四环素、氯霉素、亚胺培南、磺胺甲恶挫、呋喃妥因、头孢西丁、链霉素、阿米卡星、氧氟沙星等100%敏感。本研究表明克罗诺杆菌食品分离菌株具有较好的形成生物被膜能力,对常见的抗生素耐药率较高,并且分离菌株携带一定的毒力基因,对食品安全造成潜在威胁。     

Characterization of a Cutibacterium acnes Camp Factor 1-Related Peptide as a New TLR-2 Modulator in In Vitro and Ex Vivo Models of Inflammation

Cutibacterium acnes (C. acnes) has been implicated in inflammatory acne where highly mutated Christie–Atkins–Munch–Petersen factor (CAMP)1 displays strong toll like receptor (TLR)-2 binding activity. Using specific antibodies, we showed that CAMP1 production was independent of C. acnes phylotype and involved in the induction of inflammation. We confirmed that TLR-2 bound both mutated and non-mutated recombinant CAMP1, and peptide array analysis showed that seven peptides (A14, A15, B1, B2, B3, C1 and C3) were involved in TLR-2 binding, located on the same side of the three-dimensional structure of CAMP1. Both mutated and non-mutated recombinant CAMP1 proteins induced the production of C-X-C motif chemokine ligand interleukin (CXCL)8/(IL)-8 in vitro in keratinocytes and that of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-1β and IL-10 in ex vivo human skin explants. Only A14, B1 and B2 inhibited the production of CXCL8/IL-8 by keratinocytes and that of (GM-CSF), TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-10 in human skin explants stimulated with rCAMP1 and C. acnes. Following pretreatment with B2, RNA sequencing on skin explants identified the 10 genes displaying the strongest differential expression as IL6, TNF, CXCL1, CXCL2, CXCL3, CXCL8, IL-1β, chemokine ligand (CCL)2, CCL4 and colony stimulating factor (CSF)2. We, thus, identified a new CAMP1-derived peptide as a TLR-2 modulator likely to be a good candidate for clinical evaluation.     

CtpB Facilitates Mycobacterium tuberculosis Growth in Copper-Limited Niches

Copper is required for aerobic respiration by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its human host, but this essential element is toxic in abundance. Copper nutritional immunity refers to host processes that modulate levels of free copper to alternately starve and intoxicate invading microbes. Bacteria engulfed by macrophages are initially contained within copper-limited phagosomes, which fuse with ATP7A vesicles that pump in toxic levels of copper. In this report, we examine how CtpB, a P-type ATPase in M. tuberculosis, aids in response to nutritional immunity. In vitro, the induced expression of ctpB in copper-replete medium inhibited mycobacterial growth, while deletion of the gene impaired growth only in copper-starved medium and within copper-limited host cells, suggesting a role for CtpB in copper acquisition or export to the copper-dependent respiration supercomplex. Unexpectedly, the absence of ctpB resulted in hypervirulence in the DBA/2 mouse infection model. As ctpB null strains exhibit diminished growth only in copper-starved conditions, reduced copper transport may have enabled the mutant to acquire a “Goldilocks” amount of the metal during transit through copper-intoxicating environments within this model system. This work reveals CtpB as a component of the M. tuberculosis toolkit to counter host nutritional immunity and underscores the importance of elucidating copper-uptake mechanisms in pathogenic mycobacteria.     

绍兴市生食鱼中副溶血性弧菌毒力基因及耐药性与分子分型研究

目的 了解绍兴市生食鱼中副溶血性弧菌的污染状况、毒力基因携带情况、耐药性及分子分型情况。方法 采集绍兴地区354份生食鱼样品,参照GB 4789.7-2013《食品安全国家标准 食品微生物学检验 副溶血性弧菌检验》进行菌株的分离与鉴定;利用荧光定量PCR技术对分离株进行毒力基因检测;采用微量肉汤稀释法和脉冲场凝胶电泳对分离株分别进行药物敏感试验和分子分型。结果 354份生食鱼中有13份样品检出副溶血性弧菌,总检出率为3.7%。13株菌全部检出tlh基因,tdh和trh基因均未检出。13株菌对头孢唑林均耐药,部分菌对氨苄西林耐药,对其他抗生素均敏感。PFGE条带分散,遗传特征多样。结论 绍兴市生食鱼中存在一定程度的副溶血性弧菌污染,菌株毒力基因携带率低,对头孢唑林普遍耐药,遗传特征多样。     

我国食源性金黄色葡萄球菌耐药及遗传特征情况研究

目的 探究我国2020年食源性金黄色葡萄球菌的耐药性、毒力因子及分子分型特征。方法 采用微量肉汤稀释法对菌株进行药物敏感性试验,基于全基因序列分析多位点序列分型及重要耐药基因（mecA）和毒力基因。结果 224株食源性金黄色葡萄球菌对12类抗菌药物的整体耐药率为87.9%（197/224）,对青霉素的耐药率最高为82.6%（185/224）。多重耐药率为23.2%（52/224）,多重耐药菌中ST398占比最高为26.9%（14/52）,耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌检出率为8.0%（18/224）。葡萄球菌肠毒素基因整体携带率为52.2%（117/224）,其中sea的携带率最高为24.6%（55/224）,携带肠毒素基因种类最多的ST型为ST1。共检测到31种ST型,其中ST7最多（12.9%,29/224）,ST398次之（10.7%,24/224）。中毒性休克综合征毒素编码基因（tsst-1）和杀白细胞素编码基因（lukF-PV和lukS-PV）的携带率分别为6.3%（14/224）和4.5%（10/224）。结论 我国食源性金黄色葡萄球菌耐药率和肠毒素携带率均较高,且检出了临床感染中重要的毒力基因,提示食品中金黄色葡萄球菌的潜在危害不容忽视。ST型与食品类别、耐药性和致病性存在一定相关性,可为了解我国食源性金黄色葡萄球菌的流行特征和风险防控提供数据支撑。     

克罗诺杆菌主要毒力因子及致病机理研究进展

综述了克罗诺杆菌肠毒素、外膜蛋白、基因Inv、关键酶RpfF等主要的毒力因子在克罗诺杆菌致病过程中的作用,并从菌毛的黏附作用、克罗诺杆菌对铁的吸收作用、对唾液酸的利用能力、生物膜对克罗诺杆菌的保护作用和黏附能力的影响、外排系统对克罗诺杆菌在宿主胃肠道中存活能力的影响、耐干燥能力等几个方面总结了该病原菌的致病机理。