scholarly journals Point mutations in topoisomerase I alter the mutation spectrum in E. coli and impact the emergence of drug resistance genotypes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Bachar ◽  
Elad Itzhaki ◽  
Shmuel Gleizer ◽  
Melina Shamshoom ◽  
Ron Milo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Topoisomerase I ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Tandem Repeats ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Mutation Spectrum ◽  
Adaptive Laboratory Evolution ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Topoisomerase 1

AbstractIdentifying the molecular mechanisms that give rise to genetic variation is essential for the understanding of evolutionary processes. Previously, we have used adaptive laboratory evolution to enable biomass synthesis from CO2 in E. coli. Genetic analysis of adapted clones from two independently evolving populations revealed distinct enrichment for insertion and deletion mutational events. Here, we follow these observations to show that mutations in the gene encoding for DNA Topoisomerase 1 (topA) give rise to mutator phenotypes with characteristic mutational spectra. Using genetic assays and mutation accumulation lines, we show that point mutations in topA increase the rate of sequence deletion and duplication events. Interestingly, we observe that a single residue substitution (R168C) results in a high rate of head-to-tail (tandem) short sequence duplications, which are independent of existing sequence repeats. Finally, we show that the unique mutation spectrum of topA mutants enhances the emergence of antibiotic resistance in comparison to mismatch-repair (mutS) mutators, and lead to new resistance genotypes. Our findings highlight a potential link between the catalytic activity of topoisomerases and the fundamental question regarding the emergence of de novo tandem repeats, which are known modulators of bacterial evolution.

scholarly journals Point mutations in topoisomerase I alter the mutation spectrum in E. coli and impact the emergence of drug resistance genotypes

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 761-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Bachar ◽  
Elad Itzhaki ◽  
Shmuel Gleizer ◽  
Melina Shamshoom ◽  
Ron Milo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Topoisomerase I ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Tandem Repeats ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Mutation Spectrum ◽  
Adaptive Laboratory Evolution ◽  
Gene Encoding ◽  
Duplication Events

Abstract Identifying the molecular mechanisms that give rise to genetic variation is essential for the understanding of evolutionary processes. Previously, we have used adaptive laboratory evolution to enable biomass synthesis from CO2 in Escherichia coli. Genetic analysis of adapted clones from two independently evolving populations revealed distinct enrichment for insertion and deletion mutational events. Here, we follow these observations to show that mutations in the gene encoding for DNA topoisomerase I (topA) give rise to mutator phenotypes with characteristic mutational spectra. Using genetic assays and mutation accumulation lines, we find that point mutations in topA increase the rate of sequence deletion and duplication events. Interestingly, we observe that a single residue substitution (R168C) results in a high rate of head-to-tail (tandem) short sequence duplications, which are independent of existing sequence repeats. Finally, we show that the unique mutation spectrum of topA mutants enhances the emergence of antibiotic resistance in comparison to mismatch-repair (mutS) mutators, and leads to new resistance genotypes. Our findings highlight a potential link between the catalytic activity of topoisomerases and the fundamental question regarding the emergence of de novo tandem repeats, which are known modulators of bacterial evolution.

scholarly journals Whole-Genome Analysis of De Novo Somatic Point Mutations Reveals Novel Mutational Biomarkers in Pancreatic Cancer

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4376
Author(s):  
Amin Ghareyazi ◽  
Amir Mohseni ◽  
Hamed Dashti ◽  
Amin Beheshti ◽  
Abdollah Dehzangi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pancreatic Cancer ◽  
Signaling Pathways ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Growth Factor Receptor ◽  
Causative Mutation ◽  
Whole Genome Analysis ◽  
Cancer Subtypes

It is now known that at least 10% of samples with pancreatic cancers (PC) contain a causative mutation in the known susceptibility genes, suggesting the importance of identifying cancer-associated genes that carry the causative mutations in high-risk individuals for early detection of PC. In this study, we develop a statistical pipeline using a new concept, called gene-motif, that utilizes both mutated genes and mutational processes to identify 4211 3-nucleotide PC-associated gene-motifs within 203 significantly mutated genes in PC. Using these gene-motifs as distinguishable features for pancreatic cancer subtyping results in identifying five PC subtypes with distinguishable phenotypes and genotypes. Our comprehensive biological characterization reveals that these PC subtypes are associated with different molecular mechanisms including unique cancer related signaling pathways, in which for most of the subtypes targeted treatment options are currently available. Some of the pathways we identified in all five PC subtypes, including cell cycle and the Axon guidance pathway are frequently seen and mutated in cancer. We also identified Protein kinase C, EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) signaling pathway and P53 signaling pathways as potential targets for treatment of the PC subtypes. Altogether, our results uncover the importance of considering both the mutation type and mutated genes in the identification of cancer subtypes and biomarkers.

scholarly journals Loss of cell wall integrity genes CpxA and MrcB causes flocculation in Escherichia coli

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keita Sugawara ◽  
Hayato Toyoda ◽  
Mami Kimura ◽  
Shunsuke Hayasaka ◽  
Hiromi Saito ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Histidine Kinase ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Cell Envelope ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Outer Membrane Proteins ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Membrane Vesicles ◽  
High Salt ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Salt Shock

Flocculation has been recognized for hundreds of years as an important phenomenon in brewing and wastewater treatment. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. The lack of a distinct phenotype to differentiate between slow-growing mutants and floc-forming mutants prevents the isolation of floc related gene by conventional mutant screening. To overcome this, we performed a two-step E. coli mutant screen. The initial screen of E. coli for mutants conferring floc production during high salt treatment yielded a mutant containing point mutations in 61 genes. The following screen of the corresponding single-gene mutants identified two genes, mrcB, encoding a peptidoglycan-synthesizing enzyme and cpxA, encoding a histidine kinase of a two-component signal transduction system that contributed to salt tolerance and flocculation prevention. Both single mutants formed flocs during high salt shock, these flocs contained cytosolic proteins. ΔcpxA exhibited decreased growth with increasing floc production and addition of magnesium to ΔcpxA suppressed floc production effectively. In contrast, growth of ΔmrcB was inconsistent under high salt conditions. In both strains, flocculation was accompanied by the release of membrane vesicles containing inner and outer membrane proteins. Of 25 histidine kinase mutants tested, ΔcpxA produced the highest amount of proteins in floc. Expression of cpxP was upregulated by high salt in ΔcpxA, suggesting that high salinity and activation of CpxR might promote floc formation. The finding that ΔmrcB or ΔcpxA conferred floc production indicates that cell envelope stress triggered by unfavorable environmental conditions cause the initiation of flocculation in E. coli.

scholarly journals Trends towards Lower Antimicrobial Susceptibility and Characterization of Acquired Resistance among Clinical Isolates of Brachyspira hyodysenteriae in Spain

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 3330-3337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro Hidalgo ◽  
Ana Carvajal ◽  
Birte Vester ◽  
Märit Pringle ◽  
Germán Naharro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Susceptibility ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Tandem Repeats ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Clinical Isolates ◽  
23S Rrna ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brachyspira Hyodysenteriae ◽  
23S Rrna Gene

ABSTRACTThe antimicrobial susceptibility of clinical isolates ofBrachyspira hyodysenteriaein Spain was monitored, and the underlying molecular mechanisms of resistance were investigated. MICs of tylosin, tiamulin, valnemulin, lincomycin, and tylvalosin were determined for 87B. hyodysenteriaeisolates recovered from 2008 to 2009 by broth dilution. Domain V of the 23S rRNA gene and the ribosomal protein L3 gene were sequenced in 20 isolates for which the tiamulin MIC was ≥4 μg/ml, presenting decreased susceptibility, and in 18 tiamulin-susceptible isolates (MIC ≤ 0.125 μg/ml), and all isolates were typed by multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeats analysis. A comparison with antimicrobial susceptibility data from 2000 to 2007 showed an increase in pleuromutilin resistance over time, doubling the number of isolates with decreased susceptibility to tiamulin. No alteration in susceptibility was detected for lincomycin, and the MIC of tylosin remained high (MIC50> 128 μg/ml). The decreased susceptibility to tylosin and lincomycin can be explained by mutations at position A2058 of the 23S rRNA gene (Escherichia colinumbering). A2058T was the predominant mutation, but A2058G also was found together with a change of the neighboring base pair at positions 2057 to 2611. The role of additional point mutations in the vicinity of the peptidyl transferase center and mutations in the L3 at amino acids 148 and 149 and their possible involvement in antimicrobial susceptibility are considered. An association between G2032A and high levels of tiamulin and lincomycin MICs was found, suggesting an increasing importance of this mutation in antimicrobial resistance of clinical isolates ofB. hyodysenteriae.

scholarly journals Mucoidy, a general mechanism for maintaining lytic phage in populations of bacteria

2020 ◽  
Vol 96 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqas Chaudhry ◽  
Esther Lee ◽  
Andrew Worthy ◽  
Zoe Weiss ◽  
Marcin Grabowicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Genomic Analysis ◽  
High Rate ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Lytic Phage ◽  
Total Density ◽  
Serial Transfer ◽  
E Coli ◽  
General Answer ◽  
Mucoid Cells

ABSTRACT We present evidence that phage resistance resulting from overproduction of exopolysaccharides, mucoidy, provides a general answer to the longstanding question of how lytic viruses are maintained in populations dominated by bacteria upon which they cannot replicate. In serial transfer culture, populations of mucoid Escherichia coli MG1655 that are resistant to lytic phages with different receptors, and thereby requiring independent mutations for surface resistance, are capable of maintaining these phages with little effect on their total density. Based on the results of our analysis of a mathematical model, we postulate that the maintenance of phage in populations dominated by mucoid cells can be attributed primarily to high rates of transition from the resistant mucoid states to susceptible non-mucoid states. Our tests with both population dynamic and single cell experiments as well as genomic analysis are consistent with this hypothesis. We discuss reasons for the generalized resistance of these mucoid E. coli, and the genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for the high rate of transition from mucoid to sensitive states responsible for the maintenance of lytic phage in mucoid populations of E. coli.

scholarly journals Mucoidy, a general mechanism for maintaining lytic phage in populations of bacteria

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waqas Chaudhry ◽  
Esther Lee ◽  
Andrew Worthy ◽  
Zoe Weiss ◽  
Marcin Grabowicz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Resistance ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
High Rate ◽  
General Mechanism ◽  
Lytic Phage ◽  
Total Density ◽  
Serial Transfer ◽  
E Coli ◽  
General Answer ◽  
Mucoid Cells

AbstractWe present evidence that phage resistance resulting from overproduction of exopolysaccharides, mucoidy, provides a general answer to the longstanding question of how lytic viruses are maintained in populations dominated by bacteria upon which they cannot replicate. In serial transfer culture, populations of mucoid E. coli MG1655 that are resistant to lytic phages with different receptors, and thereby requiring independent mutations for surface resistance, are capable of maintaining these phages with little effect on their total density. Based on the results of our analysis of a mathematical model, we postulate that the maintenance of phage in populations dominated by mucoid cells can be attributed primarily to high rates of transition from the resistant mucoid states to susceptible non-mucoid states. Our tests with both population dynamic and single cell experiments as well as DNA sequence analysis are consistent with this hypothesis. We discuss reasons for the generalized resistance of these mucoid E. coli, and the genetic and molecular mechanisms responsible for the high rate of transition from mucoid to sensitive states responsible for the maintenance of lytic phage in mucoid populations of E. coli.

scholarly journals Temporal scaling of ageing as an adaptive strategy of Escherichia coli

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yifan Yang ◽  
Ana L. Santos ◽  
Luping Xu ◽  
Chantal Lotton ◽  
François Taddei ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Life History Evolution ◽  
Time Lapse ◽  
Life History Trait ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Hazard Functions ◽  
E Coli ◽  
Ageing Rate

AbstractNatural selection has long been hypothesised to shape ageing patterns, but whether and how ageing contributes to life-history evolution remains elusive. The complexity of various ageing-associated molecular mechanisms and their inherent stochasticity hinder reductionist approaches to the understanding of functional senescence, i.e. reduced fecundity and increased mortality. Recent bio-demographic work demonstrated that high-precision statistics of life-history traits such as mortality rates could be used phenomenologically to understand the ageing process. We adopted this approach to study cellular senescence in growth-arrested E. coli cells, where damages to functional macromolecules are no longer diluted by fast de novo biosynthesis. We acquired high-quality longitudinal physiological and life history data of large environmentally controlled clonal E. coli populations at single-cell resolution, using custom-designed microfluidic devices coupled to time-lapse microscopy. We show that E. coli lifespan distributions follow the Gompertz law of mortality, a century-old actuarial observation of human populations, despite developmental, cellular and genetic differences between bacteria and metazoan organisms. Measuring the shape of the hazard functions allowed us to disentangle quantitatively the demographic effects of ageing, which accumulate with time, from age-independent genetic longevity-modulating interventions. A pathway controlling cellular maintenance, the general stress response, not only promotes longevity but also temporally scales the whole distribution by reducing ageing rate. We further show that E. coli, constrained by the amount of total biosynthesis, adapt to their natural feast-or-famine lifestyle by modulating the amount of maintenance investment, rendering ageing rate a highly evolvable life-history trait.

scholarly journals The Phosphatidylserine Receptor TIM-1 Enhances Authentic Chikungunya Virus Cell Entry

Cells ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 1828
Author(s):  
Jared Kirui ◽  
Yara Abidine ◽  
Annasara Lenman ◽  
Koushikul Islam ◽  
Yong-Dae Gwon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Chikungunya Virus ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Rna Virus ◽  
Ectopic Expression ◽  
Point Mutations ◽  
Cell Entry ◽  
Target Cells ◽  
Human Hepatoma Cells ◽  
Chikv Infection ◽  
Phosphatidylserine Receptor

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging, mosquito-transmitted, enveloped positive stranded RNA virus. Chikungunya fever is characterized by acute and chronic debilitating arthritis. Although multiple host factors have been shown to enhance CHIKV infection, the molecular mechanisms of cell entry and entry factors remain poorly understood. The phosphatidylserine-dependent receptors, T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain 1 (TIM-1) and Axl receptor tyrosine kinase (Axl), are transmembrane proteins that can serve as entry factors for enveloped viruses. Previous studies used pseudoviruses to delineate the role of TIM-1 and Axl in CHIKV entry. Conversely, here, we use the authentic CHIKV and cells ectopically expressing TIM-1 or Axl and demonstrate a role for TIM-1 in CHIKV infection. To further characterize TIM-1-dependent CHIKV infection, we generated cells expressing domain mutants of TIM-1. We show that point mutations in the phosphatidylserine binding site of TIM-1 lead to reduced binding, entry, and infection of CHIKV. Ectopic expression of TIM-1 renders immortalized keratinocytes permissive to CHIKV, whereas silencing of endogenously expressed TIM-1 in human hepatoma cells reduces CHIKV infection. Altogether, our findings indicate that, unlike Axl, TIM-1 readily promotes the productive entry of authentic CHIKV into target cells.

scholarly journals HP1 drives de novo 3D genome reorganization in early Drosophila embryos

Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fides Zenk ◽  
Yinxiu Zhan ◽  
Pavel Kos ◽  
Eva Löser ◽  
Nazerke Atinbayeva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Organization ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
High Throughput Sequencing ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Early Embryo ◽  
Heterochromatin Protein ◽  
Chromosome Conformation ◽  
3D Genome ◽  
Genome Reorganization

AbstractFundamental features of 3D genome organization are established de novo in the early embryo, including clustering of pericentromeric regions, the folding of chromosome arms and the segregation of chromosomes into active (A-) and inactive (B-) compartments. However, the molecular mechanisms that drive de novo organization remain unknown1,2. Here, by combining chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C), chromatin immunoprecipitation with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP–seq), 3D DNA fluorescence in situ hybridization (3D DNA FISH) and polymer simulations, we show that heterochromatin protein 1a (HP1a) is essential for de novo 3D genome organization during Drosophila early development. The binding of HP1a at pericentromeric heterochromatin is required to establish clustering of pericentromeric regions. Moreover, HP1a binding within chromosome arms is responsible for overall chromosome folding and has an important role in the formation of B-compartment regions. However, depletion of HP1a does not affect the A-compartment, which suggests that a different molecular mechanism segregates active chromosome regions. Our work identifies HP1a as an epigenetic regulator that is involved in establishing the global structure of the genome in the early embryo.

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