scholarly journals High-throughput Screening of Carbohydrate-degrading Enzymes Using Novel Insoluble Chromogenic Substrate Assay Kits

Author(s):  
Julia Schückel ◽  
Stjepan Krešimir Kračun ◽  
William G. T. Willats
2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 5995-6002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin R. Baker ◽  
Bimal Jana ◽  
Henrik Franzyk ◽  
Luca Guardabassi

ABSTRACTThe envelope of Gram-negative bacteria constitutes an impenetrable barrier to numerous classes of antimicrobials. This intrinsic resistance, coupled with acquired multidrug resistance, has drastically limited the treatment options against Gram-negative pathogens. The aim of the present study was to develop and validate an assay for identifying compounds that increase envelope permeability, thereby conferring antimicrobial susceptibility by weakening of the cell envelope barrier in Gram-negative bacteria. A high-throughput whole-cell screening platform was developed to measureEscherichia colienvelope permeability to a β-galactosidase chromogenic substrate. The signal produced by cytoplasmic β-galactosidase-dependent cleavage of the chromogenic substrate was used to determine the degree of envelope permeabilization. The assay was optimized by using known envelope-permeabilizing compounds andE. coligene deletion mutants with impaired envelope integrity. As a proof of concept, a compound library comprising 36 peptides and 45 peptidomimetics was screened, leading to identification of two peptides that substantially increased envelope permeability. Compound 79 reduced significantly (from 8- to 125-fold) the MICs of erythromycin, fusidic acid, novobiocin and rifampin and displayed synergy (fractional inhibitory concentration index, <0.2) with these antibiotics by checkerboard assays in two genetically distinctE. colistrains, including the high-risk multidrug-resistant, CTX-M-15-producing sequence type 131 clone. Notably, in the presence of 0.25 μM of this peptide, both strains were susceptible to rifampin according to the resistance breakpoints (R> 0.5 μg/ml) for Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. The high-throughput screening platform developed in this study can be applied to accelerate the discovery of antimicrobial helper drug candidates and targets that enhance the delivery of existing antibiotics by impairing envelope integrity in Gram-negative bacteria.


Author(s):  
P. Opdensteinen ◽  
S. J. Dietz ◽  
B. B. Gengenbach ◽  
J. F. Buyel

Biofilm-forming bacteria are sources of infections because they are often resistant to antibiotics and chemical removal. Recombinant biofilm-degrading enzymes have the potential to remove biofilms gently, but they can be toxic toward microbial hosts and are therefore difficult to produce in bacteria. Here, we investigated Nicotiana species for the production of such enzymes using the dispersin B-like enzyme Lysobacter gummosus glyco 2 (Lg2) as a model. We first optimized transient Lg2 expression in plant cell packs using different subcellular targeting methods. We found that expression levels were transferable to differentiated plants, facilitating the scale-up of production. Our process yielded 20 mg kg−1 Lg2 in extracts but 0.3 mg kg−1 after purification, limited by losses during depth filtration. Next, we established an experimental biofilm assay to screen enzymes for degrading activity using different Bacillus subtilis strains. We then tested complex and chemically defined growth media for reproducible biofilm formation before converting the assay to an automated high-throughput screening format. Finally, we quantified the biofilm-degrading activity of Lg2 in comparison with commercial enzymes against our experimental biofilms, indicating that crude extracts can be screened directly. This ability will allow us to combine high-throughput expression in plant cell packs with automated activity screening.


Planta Medica ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
L Hingorani ◽  
NP Seeram ◽  
B Ebersole

Planta Medica ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 81 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
K Georgousaki ◽  
N DePedro ◽  
AM Chinchilla ◽  
N Aliagiannis ◽  
F Vicente ◽  
...  

Planta Medica ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (S 01) ◽  
pp. S1-S381
Author(s):  
LS Espindola ◽  
RG Dusi ◽  
KR Gustafson ◽  
J McMahon ◽  
JA Beutler

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clair Cochrane ◽  
Halil Ruso ◽  
Anthony Hope ◽  
Rosemary G Clarke ◽  
Christopher Barratt ◽  
...  

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