Pseudomonas solanacearum: virulence of biochemical mutants

1974 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Coplin ◽  
Luis Sequeira ◽  
R. S. Hanson

The virulence of tryptophan auxotrophs (Trp−) of Pseudomonas solanacearum K60 was significantly lower than that of the wild type when inoculated on tobacco (cult. "Bottom Special") and tomato (cult. "Bonny Best"). These auxotrophs persisted at the site of inoculation for several weeks, but did not cause systemic infection. Auxotrophs for methionine (Met−) and leucine (Leu−) biosynthesis, however, were virulent on tobacco and weakly virulent on tomato. In tobacco leaves infiltrated with suspensions of Trp−, Met−, and Leu− mutant strains and strain K60, the population doubling times of each isolate were 16.0, 4.3, 4.2, and 2.3 h respectively. The amino acid requirement of each auxotroph was determined in vitro and compared with levels of these amino acids in xylem sap collected from decapitated plants. Tobacco sap contained sufficient concentrations of required amino acids to support 0, 53, and 54% of maximum growth in vitro of the Trp−, Met−, and Leu− mutant strains, respectively. Tryptophan, methionine, and leucine levels in tomato sap supported 0, 3, and 13% maximum growth of the respective strains in vitro. The relative concentrations of methionine and leucine in xylem sap were sufficiently different to explain the susceptibility of tobacco and resistance of tomato to these auxotrophs. The virulence of tryptophan auxotrophs was restored by genetic transformation to prototrophy and by supplying tryptophan to inoculated tobacco seedlings.

2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (7) ◽  
pp. 2866-2875 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taseen S. Desin ◽  
Po-King S. Lam ◽  
Birgit Koch ◽  
Claudia Mickael ◽  
Emil Berberov ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis is a leading cause of human food-borne illness that is mainly associated with the consumption of contaminated poultry meat and eggs. To cause infection, S. Enteritidis is known to use two type III secretion systems, which are encoded on two salmonella pathogenicity islands, SPI-1 and SPI-2, the first of which is thought to play a major role in invasion and bacterial uptake. In order to study the role of SPI-1 in the colonization of chicken, we constructed deletion mutants affecting the complete SPI-1 region (40 kb) and the invG gene. Both ΔSPI-1 and ΔinvG mutant strains were impaired in the secretion of SipD, a SPI-1 effector protein. In vitro analysis using polarized human intestinal epithelial cells (Caco-2) revealed that both mutant strains were less invasive than the wild-type strain. A similar observation was made when chicken cecal and small intestinal explants were coinfected with the wild-type and ΔSPI-1 mutant strains. Oral challenge of 1-week-old chicken with the wild-type or ΔSPI-1 strains demonstrated that there was no difference in chicken cecal colonization. However, systemic infection of the liver and spleen was delayed in birds that were challenged with the ΔSPI-1 strain. These data demonstrate that SPI-1 facilitates systemic infection but is not essential for invasion and systemic spread of the organism in chickens.


2002 ◽  
Vol 70 (8) ◽  
pp. 4389-4398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy S. Brown ◽  
Sarah M. Gilliland ◽  
Javier Ruiz-Albert ◽  
David W. Holden

ABSTRACT Bacteria frequently have multiple mechanisms for acquiring iron, an essential micronutrient, from the environment. We have identified a four-gene Streptococcus pneumoniae operon, named pit, encoding proteins with similarity to components of a putative Brachyspira hyodysenteriae iron uptake ABC transporter, Bit. An S. pneumoniae strain containing a defined mutation in pit has impaired growth in medium containing the iron chelator ethylenediamine di-o-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, reduced sensitivity to the iron-dependent antibiotic streptonigrin, and impaired virulence in a mouse model of S. pneumoniae systemic infection. Furthermore, addition of a mutation in pit to a strain containing mutations in the two previously described S. pneumoniae iron uptake ABC transporters, piu and pia, resulted in a strain with impaired growth in two types of iron-deficient medium, a high degree of resistance to streptonigrin, and a reduced rate of iron uptake. Comparison of the susceptibilities to streptonigrin of the individual pit, piu, and pia mutant strains and comparison of the growth in iron-deficient medium and virulence of single and double mutant strains suggest that pia is the dominant iron transporter during in vitro and in vivo growth.


1996 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 945 ◽  
Author(s):  
RJ Partridge ◽  
HJ Leese

Bovine embryos produced in vitro from the putative zygote stage to the blastocyst stage, and blastocysts freshly flushed from the uterus, were cultured in a physiological mixture of amino acids. Depletion of amino acids from the medium and, in a few cases, their appearance, was measured by high performance liquid chromatography. Amino acids were depleted at widely differing rates. The depletion of amino acids was higher when embryos at later developmental stages were cultured, implying an increase in amino acid requirement with development. Threonine was the only amino acid to be depleted at all stages of development; depletion increased from 0.18 +/- 0.07 pmol embryo-1 h-1 at the putative zygote stage to 1.96 +/- 0.49 pmol embryo-1 h-1 at the blastocyst stage. Glutamine was depleted at the putative zygote stage and the 4-cell stage (0.76 +/- 0.05 and 0.94 +/- 0.10 pmol embryo-1 h-1 respectively), but was not significantly depleted at the later stages. Alanine was the only amino acid that appeared consistently in the medium and its production increased progressively throughout development. Aspartate, glutamate, threonine and lysine were depleted significantly by blastocysts derived both in vitro and in vivo; the embryos in vivo also depleted arginine, phenylalanine, isoleucine and tyrosine. These results indicate that individual amino acids are depleted at different rates by bovine preimplantation embryos and suggest that amino acid requirements change during development.


2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 422-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill R. Blankenship ◽  
Floyd L. Wormley ◽  
Molly K. Boyce ◽  
Wiley A. Schell ◽  
Scott G. Filler ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Calcineurin is a calcium-activated protein phosphatase that is the target of the immunosuppressants cyclosporin A and FK506. In T cells, calcineurin controls nuclear import of the NF-AT transcription factor and gene activation. In plants and fungi, calcineurin functions in stress responses (e.g., temperature, cations, and pH) and is necessary for the virulence of the fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Here we show that calcineurin is also required for the virulence of another major fungus that is pathogenic to humans, Candida albicans. C. albicans calcineurin mutants had significantly reduced virulence in a murine model of systemic infection. In contrast to its role in C. neoformans, calcineurin was not required for C. albicans survival at 37°C. Moreover, C. albicans calcineurin mutant strains exhibited no defects in known Candida virulence traits associated with host invasion, including filamentous growth, germ tube formation, and adherence to and injury of mammalian cells. C. albicans calcineurin mutant strains failed to colonize and grow in the kidneys of infected animals and were unable to survive when exposed to serum in vitro. Our studies illustrate that calcineurin has evolved to control aspects of the virulence of two divergent fungal pathogens via distinct mechanisms that can be targeted to achieve broad-spectrum antifungal action.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (22) ◽  
pp. 1952-1961 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.C. Sobrinho ◽  
A.F. Francisco ◽  
R. Simões-Silva ◽  
A.M. Kayano ◽  
J.J. Alfonso Ruiz Diaz ◽  
...  

Background: Several studies have aimed to identify molecules that inhibit the toxic actions of snake venom phospholipases A2 (PLA2s). Studies carried out with PLA2 inhibitors (PLIs) have been shown to be efficient in this assignment. Objective: This work aimed to analyze the interaction of peptides derived from Bothrops atrox PLIγ (atPLIγ) with a PLA2 and to evaluate the ability of these peptides to reduce phospholipase and myotoxic activities. Methods: Peptides were subjected to molecular docking with a homologous Lys49 PLA2 from B. atrox venom modeled by homology. Phospholipase activity neutralization assay was performed with BthTX-II and different ratios of the peptides. A catalytically active and an inactive PLA2 were purified from the B. atrox venom and used together in the in vitro myotoxic activity neutralization experiments with the peptides. Results: The peptides interacted with amino acids near the PLA2 hydrophobic channel and the loop that would be bound to calcium in Asp49 PLA2. They were able to reduce phospholipase activity and peptides DFCHNV and ATHEE reached the highest reduction levels, being these two peptides the best that also interacted in the in silico experiments. The peptides reduced the myotubes cell damage with a highlight for the DFCHNV peptide, which reduced by about 65%. It has been suggested that myotoxic activity reduction is related to the sites occupied in the PLA2 structure, which could corroborate the results observed in molecular docking. Conclusion: This study should contribute to the investigation of the potential of PLIs to inhibit the toxic effects of PLA2s.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (03) ◽  
Author(s):  
PREM PANDEY ◽  
G. C. SAGAR ◽  
SUNDARMAN SHRESTHA2 ◽  
HIRAKAJI MANANDHAR ◽  
RITESH K. YADAV ◽  
...  

Nine isolates of Trichoderma spp. were isolated from different agro- ecological regions of Nepal viz; Jumla, Palpa, Chitwan, Tarahara, Banke, Illam and Salyan and screened against Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. Adreded soil borne phytopathogen causing collar rot of chickpea in chickpea; In-vitro efficacy of nine fungal antagonist (Trichoderma spp.) against Sclerotium rolfsii were screened. Pot experiment was done to find out the effective management of S. rolfsi through Tricoderma using different methods i.e. Seed treatment, soil drenching and soil application. All the tested isolates of Trichoderma spp. were found effective on mycelial growth inhibition and sclerotial parasitization of S. rolfsii. Trichoderma isolated from Palpa district showed maximum growth inhibition (%) of pathogen periodically after 48(93.78%), 72(96.00%), 96(97.96%) and 120(100.00%) hours of inoculation. Parasitized sclerotium showed minimum sclerotial germination on agar plates. Moreover, Trichoderma species isolated from Palpa districts showed second best percent mycelial growth inhibition periodically at 72(25.00%), 120(29.16%), 168(29.16%) and 216(29.16%).In pot experiment at 40 days after sowing, Seedling height was maximum in soil drenching with 30g per 100ml of water (22.27cm) and Mortality percentage of seedlings was least or highest disease control was observed in seed treated with 109cfu/ml (0.000%).


1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 2170-2177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdenko Procházka ◽  
Jiřina Slaninová
Keyword(s):  

Solid phase technique on p-methylbenzhydrylamine resin was used for the synthesis of four analogs of oxytocin and four analogs of vasopressin with the non-coded amino acids L- or D- and 1- or 2-naphthylalanine and D-homoarginine. [L-1-Nal2]oxytocin, [D-1-Nal2]oxytocin, [L-2-Nal2]oxytocin, [D-2-Nal2]oxytocin, [L-1-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin, [D-1-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin, [L-2-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin and [D-2-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin were synthesized. All eight analogs were found to be uterotonic inhibitors in vitro and in vivo. Analogs with 2-naphthylalanine are stronger inhibitors, particularly in the vasopressin series than the analogs with 1-naphthylalanine. Analogs with 1-naphthylalanine have no activity in the pressor test, analogs with 2-naphthylalanine are weak pressor inhibitors.


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