scholarly journals Flow Cytometry and Real-Time Quantitative PCR as Tools for Assessing Plasmid Persistence

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (17) ◽  
pp. 5439-5446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley Loftie-Eaton ◽  
Allison Tucker ◽  
Ann Norton ◽  
Eva M. Top

ABSTRACTThe maintenance of a plasmid in the absence of selection for plasmid-borne genes is not guaranteed. However, plasmid persistence can evolve under selective conditions. Studying the molecular mechanisms behind the evolution of plasmid persistence is key to understanding how plasmids are maintained under nonselective conditions. Given the current crisis of rapid antibiotic resistance spread by multidrug resistance plasmids, this insight is of high medical relevance. The conventional method for monitoring plasmid persistence (i.e., the fraction of plasmid-containing cells in a population over time) is based on cultivation and involves differentiating colonies of plasmid-containing and plasmid-free cells on agar plates. However, this technique is time-consuming and does not easily lend itself to high-throughput applications. Here, we present flow cytometry (FCM) and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) as alternative tools for monitoring plasmid persistence. For this, we measured the persistence of a model plasmid, pB10::gfp, in threePseudomonashosts and in known mixtures of plasmid-containing and -free cells. We also compared three performance criteria: dynamic range, resolution, and variance. Although not without exceptions, both techniques generated estimates of overall plasmid loss rates that were rather similar to those generated by the conventional plate count (PC) method. They also were able to resolve differences in loss rates between artificial plasmid persistence assays. Finally, we briefly discuss the advantages and disadvantages for each technique and conclude that, overall, both FCM and real-time qPCR are suitable alternatives to cultivation-based methods for routine measurement of plasmid persistence, thereby opening avenues for high-throughput analyses.

2006 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. SEO ◽  
I. E. VALENTIN-BON ◽  
R. E. BRACKETT

Salmonellosis caused by Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is a significant cause of foodborne illnesses in the United States. Consumption of undercooked eggs and egg-containing products has been the primary risk factor for the disease. The importance of the bacterial enumeration technique has been enormously stressed because of the quantitative risk analysis of SE in shell eggs. Traditional enumeration methods mainly depend on slow and tedious most-probable-number (MPN) methods. Therefore, specific, sensitive, and rapid methods for SE quantitation are needed to collect sufficient data for risk assessment and food safety policy development. We previously developed a real-time quantitative PCR assay for the direct detection and enumeration of SE and, in this study, applied it to naturally contaminated ice cream samples with and without enrichment. The detection limit of the real-time PCR assay was determined with artificially inoculated ice cream. When applied to the direct detection and quantification of SE in ice cream, the real-time PCR assay was as sensitive as the conventional plate count method in frequency of detection. However, populations of SE derived from real-time quantitative PCR were approximately 1 log higher than provided by MPN and CFU values obtained by conventional culture methods. The detection and enumeration of SE in naturally contaminated ice cream can be completed in 3 h by this real-time PCR method, whereas the cultural enrichment method requires 5 to 7 days. A commercial immunoassay for the specific detection of SE was also included in the study. The real-time PCR assay proved to be a valuable tool that may be useful to the food industry in monitoring its processes to improve product quality and safety.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (10) ◽  
pp. 1761-1765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miho Imai ◽  
Madoka Kisoi ◽  
Miwako Moritsugu ◽  
Shigenori Murata ◽  
Atsushi Ichikawa ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milena A. Stachelska

The aim of this paper was to detect Lactobacillus delbrueckii and Streptococcus thermophilus using real-time quantitative PCR assay in 7-day ripening cheese produced from unpasteurised milk. Real-time quantitative PCR assays were designed to identify and enumerate the chosen species of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in ripened cheese. The results of molecular quantification and classic bacterial enumeration showed a high level of similarity proving that DNA extraction was carried out in a proper way and that genomic DNA solutions were free of PCR inhibitors. These methods revealed the presence of L. delbrueckii and S. thermophilus. The real-time PCR enabled quantification with a detection of 101–103 CFU/g of product. qPCR-standard curves were linear over seven log units down to 101 copies per reaction; efficiencies ranged from 77.9% to 93.6%. Cheese samples were analysed with plate count method and qPCR in parallel. Compared with the classic plate count method, the newly developed qPCR method provided faster and species specific identification of two dairy LAB and yielded comparable quantitative results.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Di Dang ◽  
Lingsi Zheng ◽  
Lingyu Wu ◽  
Yu Wu ◽  
...  

The extensive application of Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs) in industry, agriculture, and food processing areas increases the possibility of its release and accumulation to agroecosystem, but the effects of AgNPs to denitrification and the microbial community in paddy ecosystems are still poorly studied. In this study, microcosmic simulation experiments were established to investigate the response of soil denitrification to different levels of AgNPs (i.e., 0.1, 1, 10, and 50 mg/kg) in a paddy soil. Real-time quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing were conducted to reveal the microbial mechanism of the nanometer effect. The results showed that, though 0.1–10 mg/kg AgNPs had no significant effects on denitrification rate and N2O emission rate compared to CK and bulk Ag treatments, 50 mg/kg AgNPs significantly stimulated more than 60% increase of denitrification rate and N2O emission rate on the 3rd day (P < 0.05). Real-time quantitative PCR revealed that 50 mg/kg AgNPs significantly decreased the abundance of 16S bacterial rRNA gene, nirS/nirK, cnorB, and nosZ genes, but it did not change the narG gene abundance. The correlation analysis further revealed that the cumulative N2O emission was positively correlated with the ratio of all the five tested denitrifying genes to bacterial 16S rRNA gene (P < 0.05), indicating that the tolerance of narG gene to AgNPs was the key factor of the increase in denitrification in the studied soil. High-throughput sequencing showed that only the 50-mg/kg-AgNP treatment significantly changed the microbial community composition compared to bulk Ag and CK treatments. The response of microbial phylotypes to AgNPs suggested that the most critical bacteria which drove the stimulation of 50 mg/kg AgNPs on N2O emission were Firmicutes and β-proteobacteria, such as Clotridiales, Burkholderiales, and Anaerolineales. This study revealed the effects of AgNPs to denitrification in a paddy ecosystem and could provide a scientific basis for understanding of the environmental and toxicological effects of Ag nanomaterials.


2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 2503-2503
Author(s):  
Robert J. Kreitman ◽  
Evgeny Arons ◽  
Jeffrey Sapolsky ◽  
Laura Roth ◽  
Hong Zhou ◽  
...  

2503^ Background: The anti-CD22 recombinant immunotoxin moxetumomab pasudotox, also known as HA22 or CAT-8015, was recently reported in phase I testing to achieve complete remissions (CRs) in 13 (46%) of 28 patients with relapsed/refractory hairy cell leukemia (HCL); 3 of 13 patients have relapsed. Methods: To complete this trial, 20 additional patients received the highest dose level (50 µg/Kg every other day x 3 doses); none of the 48 HCL patients had dose-limiting toxicity (DLT). Results: Of the first 42 patients with >6 mo of follow up off-treatment, 23 (55%) had CRs, with an overall response rate of 88%. Of the 23 CRs, 21 were evaluable for minimal residual disease (MRD) using flow cytometry of blood and immunohistochemistry of the bone marrow biopsy, and 17 (81%) were negative. Of these 17 patients, 11 (65%) were negative by bone marrow aspirate (BMA) flow cytometry. PCR using consensus primers for the heavy chain immunoglobulin (IgH) rearrangement was less specific than flow cytometry of blood, since IgH rearrangements of normal B cells, which recovered rapidly after immunotoxin treatment, were also amplified. For better MRD detection in blood, patient IgH sequences were cloned and sequence specific primers and probes designed for real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR). RQ-PCR of blood was negative in 6 (100%) of 6 patients achieving flow-negativity in both blood and BMA and positive in 3 (100%) of 3 patients flow-negative in blood but not BMA (p=0.01). No relapses from CR have been observed in 10 patients who became RQ-PCR-negative in blood or flow-negative in BMA, with 5-38 (median 11) mo of follow-up. Conclusions: We conclude that clone-specific RQ-PCR is the most sensitive blood test for MRD in our HCL patients after moxetumomab pasudotox, and could be used to assess the possibility of long-term molecular remissions. We believe these results, including durable CRs without DLT, support a pivotal trial in which moxetumomab pasudotox is compared with alternative therapy. Note: this summary contains investigator reported data. This study was funded by MedImmune, LLC, and supported by NCI’s Intramural Research Program and the Hairy Cell Leukemia Research Foundation.


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