scholarly journals Characterization of eDNA from the Clinical StrainAcinetobacter baumanniiAIIMS 7 and Its Role in Biofilm Formation

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Praveen K. Sahu ◽  
Pavithra S. Iyer ◽  
Amrita M. Oak ◽  
Karishma R. Pardesi ◽  
Balu A. Chopade

Release of extracellular DNA (eDNA) was observed duringin vitrogrowth of a clinical strain ofAcinetobacter baumannii. Membrane vesicles (MV) of varying diameter (20–200 nm) containing DNA were found to be released by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). An assessment of the characteristics of the eDNA with respect to size, digestion pattern by DNase I/restriction enzymes, and PCR-sequencing, indicates a high similarity with genomic DNA. Role of eDNA in static biofilm formed on polystyrene surface was evaluated by biofilm augmentation assay using eDNA available in different preparations, for example, whole cell lysate, cell-free supernatant, MV suspension, and purified eDNA. Biofilm augmentation was seen up to 224.64%, whereas biofilm inhibition was 59.41% after DNase I treatment: confirming that eDNA facilitates biofilm formation inA. baumannii. This is the first paper elucidating the characteristics and role of eDNA inA. baumanniibiofilm, which may provide new insights into its pathogenesis.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shurooq Zakariya Albaghdadi ◽  
Jenan Bader Altaher ◽  
Hana Drobiova ◽  
Radhika G. Bhardwaj ◽  
Maribasappa Karched

Background: Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory oral infection is the outcome of disturbances in the homeostasis of the oral biofilm microbiota. A number of studies have found the occurrence of Prevotella species in elevated levels in periodontitis compared to healthy subjects. Even though different aspects of Prevotella as part of oral biofilm have been studied, in vitro biofilms formed by these species have not been characterized systematically. The objective of this study was to characterize biofilms formed by several Prevotella species and further to assess biofilm inhibition and detachment of preformed biofilms.Methods: Biofilms were grown in 24-well plates containing brucella broth in anaerobic conditions for 3 days, and were quantified using crystal violet staining. Images of SYTO 9 Green fluorescent stained biofilms were captured using confocal microscopy. Biofilm inhibition and detachment by proteinase and DNase I was tested. The biochemical characterization included quantification of proteins and DNA in the biofilms and biofilm-supernatants.Results:Prevotella loescheii, Prevotella oralis and Prevotella nigrescens showed highest biofilm formation. P. nigrescens formed significantly higher amounts of biofilms than P. loescheii (P = 0.005) and P. oralis (P = 0.0013). Inhibition of biofilm formation was significant only in the case of P. oralis when treated with proteinase (P = 0.037), whereas with DNase I treatment, the inhibition was not significant (P = 0.531). Overall, proteinase was more effective in biofilm detachment than DNase I. Protein and DNA content were higher in biofilm than the supernatant with the highest amounts found in P. nigrescens biofilm and supernatants. P. oralis biofilms appeared to secrete large amounts of proteins extracellularly into the biofilm-supernatants.Conclusion: Significant differences among Prevotella species to form biofilms may imply their variable abilities to get integrated into oral biofilm communities. Of the species that were able to grow as biofilms, DNase I and proteinase inhibited the biofilm growth or were able to cause biofilm detachment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junlan Liu ◽  
Zhen Shen ◽  
Jin Tang ◽  
Qian Huang ◽  
Ying Jian ◽  
...  

AbstractThough a definitive link between small colony variants (SCVs) and implant-related staphylococcal infections has been well-established, the specific underlying mechanism remains an ill-explored field. The present study analyzes the role SCVs play in catheter infection by performing genomic and metabolic analyses, as well as analyzing biofilm formation and impacts of glycine on growth and peptidoglycan-linking rate, on a clinically typical Staphylococcus epidermidis case harboring stable SCV, normal counterpart (NC) and nonstable SCV. Our findings reveal that S. epidermidis stable SCV carries mutations involved in various metabolic processes. Metabolome analyses demonstrate that two biosynthetic pathways are apparently disturbed in SCV. One is glycine biosynthesis, which contributes to remarkable glycine shortage, and supplementation of glycine restores growth and peptidoglycan-linking rate of SCV. The other is overflow of pyruvic acid and acetyl-CoA, leading to excessive acetate. SCV demonstrates higher biofilm-forming ability due to rapid autolysis and subsequent eDNA release. Despite a remarkable decline in cell viability, SCV can facilitate in vitro biofilm formation and in vivo survival of NC when co-infected with its normal counterparts. This work illustrates an intriguing strategy utilized by a glycine-auxotrophic clinical S. epidermidis SCV isolate to facilitate biofilm-related infections, and casts a new light on the role of SCV in persistent infections.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 931
Author(s):  
Mayra M. Ferrari Ferrari Barbosa ◽  
Alex Issamu Kanno ◽  
Leonardo Paiva Farias ◽  
Mariusz Madej ◽  
Gergö Sipos ◽  
...  

Innate immune cells such as monocytes and macrophages are activated in response to microbial and other challenges and mount an inflammatory defensive response. Exposed cells develop the so-called innate memory, which allows them to react differently to a subsequent challenge, aiming at better protection. In this study, using human primary monocytes in vitro, we have assessed the memory-inducing capacity of two antigenic molecules of Schistosoma mansoni in soluble form compared to the same molecules coupled to outer membrane vesicles of Neisseria lactamica. The results show that particulate challenges are much more efficient than soluble molecules in inducing innate memory, which is measured as the production of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, IL-6, IL-10). Controls run with LPS from Klebsiella pneumoniae compared to the whole bacteria show that while LPS alone has strong memory-inducing capacity, the entire bacteria are more efficient. These data suggest that microbial antigens that are unable to induce innate immune activation can nevertheless participate in innate activation and memory when in a particulate form, which is a notion that supports the use of nanoparticulate antigens in vaccination strategies for achieving adjuvant-like effects of innate activation as well as priming for improved reactivity to future challenges.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 1206-1214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Yan ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Hongyan Ma ◽  
David Chiu ◽  
James D. Bryers

ABSTRACTNosocomial infections are the fourth leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, resulting in 2 million infections and ∼100,000 deaths each year. More than 60% of these infections are associated with some type of biomedical device.Staphylococcus epidermidisis a commensal bacterium of the human skin and is the most common nosocomial pathogen infecting implanted medical devices, especially those in the cardiovasculature.S. epidermidisantibiotic resistance and biofilm formation on inert surfaces make these infections hard to treat. Accumulation-associated protein (Aap), a cell wall-anchored protein ofS. epidermidis, is considered one of the most important proteins involved in the formation ofS. epidermidisbiofilm. A small recombinant protein vaccine comprising a single B-repeat domain (Brpt1.0) ofS. epidermidisRP62A Aap was developed, and the vaccine's efficacy was evaluatedin vitrowith a biofilm inhibition assay andin vivoin a murine model of biomaterial-associated infection. A high IgG antibody response againstS. epidermidisRP62A was detected in the sera of the mice after two subcutaneous immunizations with Brpt1.0 coadministered with Freund's adjuvant. Sera from Brpt1.0-immunized mice inhibitedin vitroS. epidermidisRP62A biofilm formation in a dose-dependent pattern. After receiving two immunizations, each mouse was surgically implanted with a porous scaffold disk containing 5 × 106CFU ofS. epidermidisRP62A. Weight changes, inflammatory markers, and histological assay results after challenge withS. epidermidisindicated that the mice immunized with Brpt1.0 exhibited significantly higher resistance toS. epidermidisRP62A implant infection than the control mice. Day 8 postchallenge, there was a significantly lower number of bacteria in scaffold sections and surrounding tissues and a lower residual inflammatory response to the infected scaffold disks for the Brpt1.0-immunized mice than for of the ovalbumin (Ova)-immunized mice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 2308
Author(s):  
Yusuke Iwabuchi ◽  
Tomoyo Nakamura ◽  
Yasuka Kusumoto ◽  
Ryoma Nakao ◽  
Tsutomu Iwamoto ◽  
...  

Streptococcus mutans releases membrane vesicles (MVs) and induces MV-dependent biofilm formation. Glucosyltransferases (Gtfs) are bound to MVs and contribute to the adhesion and glucans-dependent biofilm formation of early adherent bacteria on the tooth surface. The biofilm formation of S. mutans may be controlled depending on whether the initial pH tends to be acidic or alkaline. In this study, the characteristics and effects of MVs extracted from various conditions {(initial pH 6.0 and 8.0 media prepared with lactic acid (LA) and acetic acid (AA), and with NaOH (NO), respectively)} on the biofilm formation of S. mutans and early adherent bacteria were investigated. The quantitative changes in glucans between primary pH 6.0 and 8.0 conditions were observed, associated with different activities affecting MV-dependent biofilm formation. The decreased amount of Gtfs on MVs under the initial pH 6.0 conditions strongly guided low levels of MV-dependent biofilm formation. However, in the initial pH 6.0 and 8.0 solutions prepared with AA and NO, the MVs in the biofilm appeared to be formed by the expression of glucans and/or extracellular DNA. These results suggest that the environmental pH conditions established by acid and alkaline factors determine the differences in the local pathogenic activities of biofilm development in the oral cavity.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0245708
Author(s):  
Eun Seob Lim ◽  
Seung-Youb Baek ◽  
Taeyoung Oh ◽  
Minseon Koo ◽  
Joo Young Lee ◽  
...  

Bacillus cereus is a foodborne pathogen and can form biofilms on food contact surfaces, which causes food hygiene problems. While it is necessary to understand strain-dependent variation to effectively control these biofilms, strain-to-strain variation in the structure of B. cereus biofilms is poorly understood. In this study, B. cereus strains from tatsoi (BC4, BC10, and BC72) and the ATCC 10987 reference strain were incubated at 30°C to form biofilms in the presence of the extracellular matrix-degrading enzymes DNase I, proteinase K, dispase II, cellulase, amyloglucosidase, and α-amylase to assess the susceptibility to these enzymes. The four strains exhibited four different patterns in terms of biofilm susceptibility to the enzymes as well as morphology of surface-attached biofilms or suspended cell aggregates. DNase I inhibited the biofilm formation of strains ATCC 10987 and BC4 but not of strains BC10 and BC72. This result suggests that some strains may not have extracellular DNA, or their extracellular DNA may be protected in their biofilms. In addition, the strains exhibited different patterns of susceptibility to protein- and carbohydrate-degrading enzymes. While other strains were resistant, strains ATCC 10987 and BC4 were susceptible to cellulase, suggesting that cellulose or its similar polysaccharides may exist and play an essential role in their biofilm formation. Our compositional and imaging analyses of strains ATCC 10987 and BC4 suggested that the physicochemical properties of their biofilms are distinct, as calculated by the carbohydrate to protein ratio. Taken together, our study suggests that the extracellular matrix of B. cereus biofilms may be highly diverse and provides insight into the diverse mechanisms of biofilm formation among B. cereus strains.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Akrm Ghergab ◽  
Nisha Mohanan ◽  
Grace Saliga ◽  
Ann Karen C. Brassinga ◽  
David Levin ◽  
...  

Pseudomonas chlororaphis PA23 is a biocontrol agent capable of protecting canola against the fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. In addition to producing antifungal compounds, this bacterium synthesizes and accumulates polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) polymers as carbon and energy storage compounds. Because the role of PHA in PA23 physiology is currently unknown, we investigated the impact of this polymer on stress resistance, adherence to surfaces, and interaction with the protozoan predator Acanthamoeba castellanii. Three PHA biosynthesis mutants were created, PA23phaC1, PA23phaC1ZC2, and PA23phaC1ZC2D, which accumulated reduced PHA. Our phenotypic assays revealed that PA23phaC1ZC2D produced less phenazine (PHZ) compared with the wild type (WT) and the phaC1 and phaC1ZC2 mutants. All three mutants exhibited enhanced sensitivity to UV irradiation, starvation, heat stress, cold stress, and hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, motility, exopolysaccharide production, biofilm formation, and root attachment were increased in strains with reduced PHA levels. Interaction studies with the amoeba A. castellanii revealed that the WT and the phaC1 and phaC1ZC2 mutants were consumed less than the phaC1ZC2D mutant, likely due to decreased PHZ production by the latter. Collectively these findings indicate that PHA accumulation enhances PA23 resistance to a number of stresses in vitro, which could improve the environmental fitness of this bacterium in hostile environments.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Espinosa-Valdés ◽  
Sara Borbolla-Alvarez ◽  
Ana Delgado-Espinosa ◽  
Juan Sánchez-Tejeda ◽  
Anabelle Cerón-Nava ◽  
...  

Infection from multidrug resistant bacteria has become a growing health concern worldwide, increasing the need for developing new antibacterial agents. Among the strategies that have been studied, biofilm inhibitors have acquired relevance as a potential source of drugs that could act as a complement for current and new antibacterial therapies. Based on the structure of 2-alkyl-3-hydroxy-4-quinolone and N-acylhomoserine lactone, molecules that act as mediators of quorum sensing and biofilm formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, we designed, prepared, and evaluated the biofilm inhibition properties of long chain amide derivatives of 2-amino-4-quinolone in Staphylococcus aureus and P. aeruginosa. All compounds had higher biofilm inhibition activity in P. aeruginosa than in S. aureus. Particularly, compounds with an alkyl chain of 12 carbons exhibited the highest inhibition of biofilm formation. Docking scores and molecular dynamics simulations of the complexes of the tested compounds within the active sites of proteins related to quorum sensing had good correlation with the experimental results, suggesting the diminution of biofilm formation induced by these compounds could be related to the inhibition of these proteins.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 1972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jūratė Skerniškytė ◽  
Emilija Karazijaitė ◽  
Julien Deschamps ◽  
Renatas Krasauskas ◽  
Romain Briandet ◽  
...  

Acinetobacter baumannii is a nosocomial human pathogen of increasing concern due to its multidrug resistance profile. The outer membrane protein A (OmpA) is an abundant bacterial cell surface component involved in A. baumannii pathogenesis. It has been shown that the C-terminal domain of OmpA is located in the periplasm and non-covalently associates with the peptidoglycan layer via two conserved amino acids, thereby anchoring OmpA to the cell wall. Here, we investigated the role of one of the respective residues, D268 in OmpA of A. baumannii clinical strain Ab169, on its virulence characteristics by complementing the ΔompA mutant with the plasmid-borne ompAD268A allele. We show that while restoring the impaired biofilm formation of the ΔompA strain, the Ab169ompAD268A mutant tended to form bacterial filaments, indicating the abnormalities in cell division. Moreover, the Ab169 OmpA D268-mediated association to peptidoglycan was required for the manifestation of twitching motility, desiccation resistance, serum-induced killing, adhesion to epithelial cells and virulence in a nematode infection model, although it was dispensable for the uptake of β-lactam antibiotics by outer membrane vesicles. Overall, the results of this study demonstrate that the OmpA C-terminal domain-mediated association to peptidoglycan is critical for a number of virulent properties displayed by A. baumannii outside and within the host.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Baeza ◽  
Elena Mercade

Abstract Biofilms offer a safe environment that favors bacterial survival; for this reason, most pathogenic and environmental bacteria live integrated in biofilm communities. The development of biofilms is complex and involves many factors, which need to be studied in order to understand bacterial behavior and control biofilm formation when necessary. We used a collection of cold-adapted Antarctic Gram-negative bacteria to study whether their ability to form biofilms is associated with a capacity to produce membrane vesicles and secrete extracellular ATP. In most of the studied strains, no correlation was found between biofilm formation and these two factors. Only Shewanella vesiculosa M7T secreted high levels of extracellular ATP, and its membrane vesicles caused a significant increase in the speed and amount of biofilm formation. In this strain, an important portion of the exogenous ATP was contained in membrane vesicles, where it was protected from apyrase treatment. These results confirm that ATP influences biofilm formation. Although the role of extracellular ATP in prokaryotes is still not well understood, the metabolic cost of its production suggests it has an important function, such as a role in biofilm formation. Thus, the liberation of extracellular ATP through membrane vesicles and its function deserve further study.


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