scholarly journals Antibiotic Trapping by Plasmid-Encoded CMY-2 β-Lactamase Combined with Reduced Outer Membrane Permeability as a Mechanism of Carbapenem Resistance in Escherichia coli

2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (8) ◽  
pp. 3941-3949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wil H. F. Goessens ◽  
Akke K. van der Bij ◽  
Ria van Boxtel ◽  
Johann D. D. Pitout ◽  
Peter van Ulsen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA liver transplant patient was admitted with cholangitis, for which meropenem therapy was started. Initial cultures showed a carbapenem-susceptible (CS)Escherichia colistrain, but during admission, a carbapenem-resistant (CR)E. colistrain was isolated. Analysis of the outer membrane protein profiles showed that both CS and CRE. colilacked the porins OmpF and OmpC. Furthermore, PCR and sequence analysis revealed that both CS and CRE. colipossessedblaCTX-M-15andblaOXA-1. The CRE. colistrain additionally harboredblaCMY-2and demonstrated a >15-fold increase in β-lactamase activity against nitrocefin, but no hydrolysis of meropenem was detected. However, nitrocefin hydrolysis appeared strongly inhibited by meropenem. Furthermore, the CMY-2 enzyme demonstrated lower electrophoretic mobility after its incubation eitherin vitroorin vivowith meropenem, indicative of its covalent modification with meropenem. The presence of the acyl-enzyme complex was confirmed by mass spectrometry. By transformation of the CMY-2-encoding plasmid into variousE. colistrains, it was established that both porin deficiency and high-level expression of the enzyme were needed to confer meropenem resistance. In conclusion, carbapenem resistance emerged by a combination of elevated β-lactamase production and lack of porin expression. Due to the reduced outer membrane permeability, only small amounts of meropenem can enter the periplasm, where they are trapped but not degraded by the large amount of the β-lactamase. This study, therefore, provides evidence that the mechanism of “trapping” by CMY-2 β-lactamase plays a role in carbapenem resistance.

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sun Hee Moon ◽  
Yihong Kaufmann ◽  
En Huang

ABSTRACT Polymyxin resistance mediated by the mcr-1 gene threatens the last-resort antibiotics. Linear lipopeptide paenipeptin analogues 1 and 15 disrupted the outer membrane of Gram-negative pathogens and potentiated clarithromycin and rifampin against mcr-1-positive Escherichia coli from the FDA-CDC Antimicrobial Resistance Isolate Bank. In the presence of paenipeptin, clarithromycin and rifampin resulted in over 3-log reduction of E. coli in vitro. Moreover, paenipeptin-antibiotic combinations significantly reduced E. coli in a murine thigh infection model.


2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin M. Nawrocki ◽  
Hillary M. Mosso ◽  
Edward G. Dudley

ABSTRACT Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) strains, including E. coli O157:H7, cause severe illness in humans due to the production of Shiga toxin (Stx) and other virulence factors. Because Stx is coregulated with lambdoid prophage induction, its expression is especially susceptible to environmental cues. Infections with Stx-producing E. coli can be difficult to model due to the wide range of disease outcomes: some infections are relatively mild, while others have serious complications. Probiotic organisms, members of the gut microbiome, and organic acids can depress Stx production, in many cases by inhibiting the growth of EHEC strains. On the other hand, the factors currently known to amplify Stx act via their effect on the stx-converting phage. Here, we characterize two interactive mechanisms that increase Stx production by O157:H7 strains: first, direct interactions with phage-susceptible E. coli, and second, indirect amplification by secreted factors. Infection of susceptible strains by the stx-converting phage can expand the Stx-producing population in a human or animal host, and phage infection has been shown to modulate virulence in vitro and in vivo. Acellular factors, particularly colicins and microcins, can kill O157:H7 cells but may also trigger Stx expression in the process. Colicins, microcins, and other bacteriocins have diverse cellular targets, and many such molecules remain uncharacterized. The identification of additional Stx-amplifying microbial interactions will improve our understanding of E. coli O157:H7 infections and help elucidate the intricate regulation of pathogenicity in EHEC strains.


1991 ◽  
Vol 174 (5) ◽  
pp. 1167-1177 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Vuopio-Varkila ◽  
G K Schoolnik

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli grow as discrete colonies on the mucous membranes of the small intestine. A similar pattern can be demonstrated in vitro; termed localized adherence (LA), it is characterized by the presence of circumscribed clusters of bacteria attached to the surfaces of cultured epithelial cells. The LA phenotype was studied using B171, an O111:NM enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) strain, and HEp-2 cell monolayers. LA could be detected 30-60 min after exposure of HEp-2 cells to B171. However, bacteria transferred from infected HEp-2 cells to fresh monolayers exhibited LA within 15 min, indicating that LA is an inducible phenotype. Induction of the LA phenotype was found to be associated with de novo protein synthesis and changes in the outer membrane proteins, including the production of a new 18.5-kD polypeptide. A partial NH2-terminal amino acid sequence of this polypeptide was obtained and showed it to be identical through residue 12 to the recently described bundle-forming pilus subunit of EPEC. Expression of the 18.5-kD polypeptide required the 57-megadalton enteropathogenic E. coli adherence plasmid previously shown to be required for the LA phenotype in vitro and full virulence in vivo. This observation, the correspondence of the 18.5-kD polypeptide to an EPEC-specific pilus protein, and the temporal correlation of its expression with the development of the LA phenotype suggest that it may contribute to the EPEC colonial mode of growth.


2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 1801-1812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvia Kleta ◽  
Marcel Nordhoff ◽  
Karsten Tedin ◽  
Lothar H. Wieler ◽  
Rafal Kolenda ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTEnteropathogenicEscherichia coli(EPEC) is recognized as an important intestinal pathogen that frequently causes acute and persistent diarrhea in humans and animals. The use of probiotic bacteria to prevent diarrhea is gaining increasing interest. The probioticE. colistrain Nissle 1917 (EcN) is known to be effective in the treatment of several gastrointestinal disorders. While bothin vitroandin vivostudies have described strong inhibitory effects of EcN on enteropathogenic bacteria, including pathogenicE. coli, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unknown. In this study, we examined the inhibitory effect of EcN on infections of porcine intestinal epithelial cells with atypical enteropathogenicE. coli(aEPEC) with respect to single infection steps, including adhesion, microcolony formation, and the attaching and effacing phenotype. We show that EcN drastically reduced the infection efficiencies of aEPEC by inhibiting bacterial adhesion and growth of microcolonies, but not the attaching and effacing of adherent bacteria. The inhibitory effect correlated with EcN adhesion capacities and was predominantly mediated by F1C fimbriae, but also by H1 flagella, which served as bridges between EcN cells. Furthermore, EcN seemed to interfere with the initial adhesion of aEPEC to host cells by secretion of inhibitory components. These components do not appear to be specific to EcN, but we propose that the strong adhesion capacities enable EcN to secrete sufficient local concentrations of the inhibitory factors. The results of this study are consistent with a mode of action whereby EcN inhibits secretion of virulence-associated proteins of EPEC, but not their expression.


2019 ◽  
Vol 201 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Qiu ◽  
Rajeev Misra

ABSTRACTThe intake of certain nutrients, including ferric ion, is facilitated by the outer membrane-localized transporters. Due to ferric insolubility at physiological pH,Escherichia colisecretes a chelator, enterobactin, outside the cell and then transports back the enterobactin-ferric complex via an outer membrane receptor protein, FepA, whose activity is dependent on the proton motive force energy transduced by the TonB-ExbBD complex of the inner membrane. Consequently, ΔtonBmutant cells grow poorly on a medium low in iron. Prolonged incubation of ΔtonBcells on low-iron medium yields faster-growing colonies that acquired suppressor mutations in theyejM(pbgA) gene, which codes for a putative inner-to-outer membrane cardiolipin transporter. Further characterization of suppressors revealed that they display hypersusceptibility to vancomycin, a large hydrophilic antibiotic normally precluded from enteringE. colicells, and leak periplasmic proteins into the culture supernatant, indicating a compromised outer membrane permeability barrier. All phenotypes were reversed by supplying the wild-type copy ofyejMon a plasmid, suggesting thatyejMmutations are solely responsible for the observed phenotypes. The deletion of all known cardiolipin synthase genes (clsABC) did not produce the phenotypes similar to mutations in theyejMgene, suggesting that the absence of cardiolipin from the outer membraneper seis not responsible for increased outer membrane permeability. Elevated lysophosphatidylethanolamine levels and the synthetic growth phenotype withoutpldAindicated that defective lipid homeostasis in theyejMmutant compromises outer membrane lipid asymmetry and permeability barrier to allow enterobactin intake, and that YejM has additional roles other than transporting cardiolipin.IMPORTANCEThe work presented here describes a positive genetic selection strategy for isolating mutations that destabilize the outer membrane permeability barrier ofE. coli. Given the importance of the outer membrane in restricting the entry of antibiotics, characterization of the genes and their products that affect outer membrane integrity will enhance the understanding of bacterial membranes and the development of strategies to bypass the outer membrane barrier for improved drug efficacy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Allyson E. Shea ◽  
Juan Marzoa ◽  
Stephanie D. Himpsl ◽  
Sara N. Smith ◽  
Lili Zhao ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Urinary tract infections (UTI), the second most diagnosed infectious disease worldwide, are caused primarily by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), placing a significant financial burden on the health care system. High-throughput transposon mutagenesis combined with genome-targeted sequencing is a powerful technique to interrogate genomes for fitness genes. Genome-wide analysis of E. coli requires random libraries of at least 50,000 mutants to achieve 99.99% saturation; however, the traditional murine model of ascending UTI does not permit testing of large mutant pools due to a bottleneck during infection. To address this, an E. coli CFT073 transposon mutant ordered library of 9,216 mutants was created and insertion sites were identified. A single transposon mutant was selected for each gene to assemble a condensed library consisting of 2,913 unique nonessential mutants. Using a modified UTI model in BALB/c mice, we identified 36 genes important for colonizing the bladder, including purB, yihE, and carB. Screening of the condensed library in vitro identified yigP and ubiG to be essential for growth in human urine. Additionally, we developed a novel quantitative PCR (qPCR) technique to identify genes with fitness defects within defined subgroups of related genes (e.g., genes encoding fimbriae, toxins, etc.) following UTI. The number of mutants within these subgroups circumvents bottleneck restriction and facilitates validation of multiple mutants to generate individual competitive indices. Collectively, this study investigates the bottleneck effects during UTI, provides two techniques for evading those effects that can be applied to other disease models, and contributes a genetic tool in prototype strain CFT073 to the field. IMPORTANCE Uropathogenic Escherichia coli strains cause most uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTI), one of the most common infectious diseases worldwide. Random transposon mutagenesis techniques have been utilized to identify essential bacterial genes during infection; however, this has been met with limitations when applied to the murine UTI model. Conventional high-throughput transposon mutagenesis screens are not feasible because of inoculum size restrictions due to a bottleneck during infection. Our study utilizes a condensed ordered transposon library, limiting the number of mutants while maintaining the largest possible genome coverage. Screening of this library in vivo, and in human urine in vitro, identified numerous candidate fitness factors. Additionally, we have developed a novel technique using qPCR to quantify bacterial outputs following infection with small subgroups of transposon mutants. Molecular approaches developed in this study will serve as useful tools to probe in vivo models that are restricted by anatomical, physiological, or genetic bottleneck limitations.


2013 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 4260-4266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chun Chen ◽  
Carla A. Blumentritt ◽  
Meredith M. Curtis ◽  
Vanessa Sperandio ◽  
Alfredo G. Torres ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTStreptomycin binds to the bacterial ribosome and disrupts protein synthesis by promoting misreading of mRNA. Restrictive mutations on the ribosomal subunit protein S12 confer a streptomycin resistance (Strr) phenotype and concomitantly increase the accuracy of the decoding process and decrease the rate of translation. Spontaneous Strrmutants ofEscherichia coliO157:H7 have been generated forin vivostudies to promote colonization and to provide a selective marker for this pathogen. The locus of enterocyte effacement (LEE) ofE. coliO157:H7 encodes a type III secretion system (T3SS), which is required for attaching and effacing to the intestinal epithelium. In this study, we observed decreases in both the expression and secretion levels of the T3SS translocated proteins EspA and EspB inE. coliO157:H7 Strrrestrictive mutants, which have K42T or K42I mutations in S12. However, mildly restrictive (K87R) and nonrestrictive (K42R) mutants showed slight or indistinguishable changes in EspA and EspB secretion. Adherence and actin staining assays indicated that restrictive mutations compromised the formation of attaching and effacing lesions inE. coliO157:H7. Therefore, we suggest thatE. coliO157:H7 strains selected for Strrshould be thoroughly characterized beforein vivoandin vitroexperiments that assay for LEE-directed phenotypes and that strains carrying nonrestrictive mutations such as K42R make better surrogates of wild-type strains than those carrying restrictive mutations.


mBio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dante P. Ricci ◽  
Jaclyn Schwalm ◽  
Michelle Gonzales-Cope ◽  
Thomas J. Silhavy

ABSTRACTSurA is a component of the periplasmic chaperone network that plays a central role in biogenesis of integral outer membrane β-barrel proteins (OMPs) inEscherichia coli. Although SurA contains two well-conserved proline isomerase (PPIase) domains, the contribution of these domains to SurA function is unclear. In the present work, we show that defects in OMP assembly caused by mutation of the β-barrel assembly factors BamA or BamB can be corrected by gain-of-function mutations in SurA that map to the first PPIase domain. These mutations apparently bypass the requirement for a stable interaction between SurA and the Bam complex and enhance SurA chaperone activityin vivodespite destabilization of the proteinin vitro. Our findings suggest an autoinhibitory mechanism for regulation of SurA chaperone activity through interdomain interactions involving a PPIase domain. We propose a model in which SurA activity is modulated by an interaction between SurA and the Bam complex that alters the substrate specificity of the chaperone.IMPORTANCEThe dominantsurAmutations described here alter amino acid residues that are highly conserved in eukaryotic homologs of SurA, including Pin1, the human proline isomerase (PPIase) implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and certain cancers. Consequently, a mechanistic description of SurA function may enhance our understanding of clinically important PPIases and their role(s) in disease. In addition, the virulence of Gram-negative bacterial pathogens, such asSalmonella,Shigella, andEscherichia coliO157:H7, is largely dependent on SurA, making this PPIase/chaperone an attractive antibiotic target. Investigating the function of SurA in outer membrane (OM) biogenesis will be useful in the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the disruption of the OM or the processes that are essential for its assembly.


2002 ◽  
Vol 184 (22) ◽  
pp. 6093-6099 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Heidrich ◽  
Astrid Ursinus ◽  
Jürgen Berger ◽  
Heinz Schwarz ◽  
Joachim-Volker Höltje

ABSTRACT The multiplicity of murein hydrolases found in most bacteria presents an obstacle to demonstrating the necessity of these potentially autolytic enzymes. Therefore, Escherichia coli mutants with deletions in multiple murein hydrolases, including lytic transglycosylases, amidases, and dd-endopeptidases, were constructed. Even a mutant from which seven different hydrolases were deleted was viable and grew at a normal rate. However, penicillin-induced lysis was retarded. Most of the mutants were affected in septum cleavage, which resulted in the formation of chains of cells. All three enzymes were shown to be capable of splitting the septum. Failure to cleave the septum resulted in an increase in outer membrane permeability, and thus the murein hydrolase mutants did not grow on MacConkey agar plates. In addition, the hydrolase mutants not only could be lysed by lysozyme in the absence of EDTA but also were sensitive to high-molecular-weight antibiotics, such as vancomycin and bacitracin, which are normally ineffective against E. coli.


2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (24) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew E. Mokszycki ◽  
Mary Leatham-Jensen ◽  
Jon L. Steffensen ◽  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Karen A. Krogfelt ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTA novelin vitrogut model was developed to better understand the interactions betweenEscherichia coliand the mouse cecal mucus commensal microbiota. The gut model is simple and inexpensive while providing an environment that largely replicates the nonadherent mucus layer of the mouse cecum. 16S rRNA gene profiling of the cecal microbial communities of streptomycin-treated mice colonized withE. coliMG1655 orE. coliNissle 1917 and the gut model confirmed that the gut model properly reflected the community structure of the mouse intestine. Furthermore, the results from thein vitrogut model mimic the results of publishedin vivocompetitive colonization experiments. The gut model is initiated by the colonization of streptomycin-treated mice, and then the community is serially transferred in microcentrifuge tubes in an anaerobic environment generated in anaerobe jars. The nutritional makeup of the cecum is simulated in the gut model by using a medium consisting of porcine mucin, mouse cecal mucus, HEPES-Hanks buffer (pH 7.2), Cleland’s reagent, and agarose. Agarose was found to be essential for maintaining the stability of the microbial community in the gut model. The outcome of competitions betweenE. colistrains in thein vitrogut model is readily explained by the “restaurant hypothesis” of intestinal colonization. This simple model system potentially can be used to more fully understand how different members of the microbiota interact physically and metabolically during the colonization of the intestinal mucus layer.IMPORTANCEBoth commensal and pathogenic strains ofEscherichia coliappear to colonize the mammalian intestine by interacting physically and metabolically with other members of the microbiota in the mucus layer that overlays the cecal and colonic epithelium. However, the use of animal models and the complexity of the mammalian gut make it difficult to isolate experimental variables that might dictate the interactions betweenE. coliand other members of the microbiota, such as those that are critical for successful colonization. Here, we describe a simple and relatively inexpensivein vitrogut model that largely mimicsin vivoconditions and therefore can facilitate the manipulation of experimental variables for studying the interactions ofE. coliwith the intestinal microbiota.


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