Diversity in the swimming motility and flagellar regulon structure of uropathogenic Morganella morganii strains

Author(s):  
Leyla Minnullina ◽  
Zarina Kostennikova ◽  
Vladimir Evtugin ◽  
Yaw Akosah ◽  
Margarita Sharipova ◽  
...  
2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (12) ◽  
pp. 3547-3557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah S. Millikan ◽  
Edward G. Ruby

ABSTRACT Flagellum-mediated motility of Vibrio fischeri is an essential factor in the bacterium's ability to colonize its host, the Hawaiian squid Euprymna scolopes. To begin characterizing the nature of the flagellar regulon, we have cloned a gene, designated flrA, from V. fischeri that encodes a putative σ54-dependent transcriptional activator. Genetic arrangement of the flrA locus in V. fischeri is similar to motility master-regulator operons of Vibrio cholerae and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. In addition, examination of regulatory regions of a number of flagellar operons in V. fischeri revealed apparent σ54 recognition motifs, suggesting that the flagellar regulatory hierarchy is controlled by a similar mechanism to that described in V. cholerae. However, in contrast to its closest known relatives, flrA mutant strains of V. fischeri ES114 were completely abolished in swimming capability. Although flrA provided in trans restored motility to the flrA mutant, the complemented strain was unable to reach wild-type levels of symbiotic colonization in juvenile squid, suggesting a possible role for the proper expression of FlrA in regulating symbiotic colonization factors in addition to those required for motility. Comparative RNA arbitrarily primed PCR analysis of the flrA mutant and its wild-type parent revealed several differentially expressed transcripts. These results define a regulon that includes both flagellar structural genes and other genes apparently not involved in flagellum elaboration or function. Thus, the transcriptional activator FlrA plays an essential role in regulating motility, and apparently in modulating other symbiotic functions, in V. fischeri.


2003 ◽  
Vol 220 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Zaninetti ◽  
Edoardo Baglivo ◽  
Avinoam B. Safran

2021 ◽  
pp. 112067212110334
Author(s):  
Abdullah I Almater ◽  
Mohammed M Abusayf ◽  
Saeed Alshahrani ◽  
Abdullah M Alfawaz ◽  
Hind M Alkatan ◽  
...  

Introduction: The ocular presentation of paraneoplastic pemphigus (PNP) has rarely been reported in the literature. In this report, we describe a 61-year-old male presenting with eruptive skin lesions associated with underlying non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma who had rapid progressive corneal perforation with secondary endophthalmitis in the setting of PNP. Case description: A 61-year-old male presented to the emergency department complaining of skin eruption mimicking Stevens–Johnson syndrome, which was later found to be related to PNP. Initially, the patient complained of progressive ocular surface dryness in both eyes. Meanwhile, he developed mild pain in the right eye associated with blurry vision in both eyes and was managed with lubricants and topical antibiotics. A few days later, he was found to have corneal perforation with features suggestive of left endophthalmitis with possible early panophthalmitis. Intravenous antibiotic was administered, and primary evisceration of the left globe was performed. Histopathology revealed acute necrotizing keratitis and endophthalmitis. Vitreous analysis showed numerous gram-negative bacilli and a positive culture of Morganella morganii. The patient continued to be managed with frequent lubrications and punctual plugs in the fellow eye during the follow-up period. Conclusion: We describe the first case of endophthalmitis developing secondary to PNP-induced corneal melting and perforation. Anticipating unusual infectious sequelae in the setting of PNP might be warranted to actively detect and successfully manage dry eye disease before devastating complications develop.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilziba Kizghin ◽  
Sangjin Ryu ◽  
Younggil Park ◽  
Sunghwan Jung

Abstract Vorticella convallaria is a ciliated protozoan found in freshwater habitats. In the sessile or stalked trophont form, V. convallaria is shaped somewhat like a balloon as it has a body or zooid (the head of the balloon) that is about 40 μm large with cilia around its oral part, and a stalk (the string of a balloon) anchoring the zooid to a solid surface. When a trophont zooid of V. convallaria detached from the stalk, the zooid swims around in water by creating water flow using its oral cilia. In contrast to the stalk contraction of V. convallaria that has been well studied, the swimming motility of V. convallaria is little known. In this study, we measured the swimming trajectories of the stalkless trophont zooid of V. convallaria using video microscopy and Hele-Shaw cells with a gap height of 25 μm, traced the swimming zooid using image processing, and analyzed the swimming motion in terms of swimming velocity and mean square displacement. The stalkless trophont zooid of V . convallaria was found to swim in circular patterns with intermittent ballistic motions in the confinement, and the average swimming speed ranged from 20 μm/s to 110 μm/s. Since the swimming pattern of V. convallaria appeared to be affected by the level of confinement, we will continue characterizing the ciliate’s swimming in the Hele-Shaw cell with different gap heights. Our study is expected to reveal the swimming motility of V. convallaria and to advance general understanding of swimming of microorganisms.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document