Antiglycation Effects of Carnosine and Other Compounds on the Long-Term Survival of Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Glycation, or nonenzymatic glycosylation, is a chemical reaction between reactive carbonyl-containing compounds and biomolecules containing free amino groups. Carbonyl-containing compounds include reducing sugars such as glucose or fructose, carbohydrate-derived compounds such as methylglyoxal and glyoxal, and nonsugars such as polyunsaturated fatty acids. The latter group includes molecules such as proteins, DNA, and amino lipids. Glycation-induced damage to these biomolecules has been shown to be a contributing factor in human disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, and cataracts and in diabetic complications. Glycation also affects Escherichia coli under standard laboratory conditions, leading to a decline in bacterial population density and long-term survival. Here we have shown that as E. coli aged in batch culture, the amount of carboxymethyl lysine, an advanced glycation end product, accumulated over time and that this accumulation was affected by the addition of glucose to the culture medium. The addition of excess glucose or methylglyoxal to the culture medium resulted in a dose-dependent loss of cell viability. We have also demonstrated that glyoxylase enzyme GloA plays a role in cell survival during glycation stress. In addition, we have provided evidence that carnosine, folic acid, and aminoguanidine inhibit glycation in prokaryotes. These agents may also prove to be beneficial to eukaryotes since the chemical processes of glycation are similar in these two domains of life.

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Recovery from long-term stationary phase and stress survival in Escherichia coli require the l-isoaspartyl protein carboxyl methyltransferase at alkaline pH

Microbiology ◽

10.1099/mic.0.27835-0 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 151 (7) ◽

pp. 2151-2158 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Wade M. Hicks ◽

Matthew V. Kotlajich ◽

Jonathan E. Visick

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Stationary Phase ◽

Alkaline Ph ◽

Term Survival ◽

Long Term Survival ◽

E Coli ◽

Carboxyl Methyltransferase ◽

Protein Carboxyl Methyltransferase ◽

Stress Survival

The l-isoaspartyl protein carboxyl methyltransferase (pcm) can stimulate repair of isoaspartyl residues arising spontaneously in proteins to normal l-aspartyl residues. PCM is needed in Escherichia coli for maximal long-term survival when exposed to oxidative stress, osmotic stress, repeated heat stress or methanol. The effect of pH on a pcm mutant during long-term stationary phase was examined. PCM was not required for long-term survival of E. coli subjected to pH stress alone; however, PCM-deficient cells showed impaired resistance to paraquat and methanol only at elevated pH. The mutant also showed stress-survival phenotypes in minimal medium buffered to pH 9·0. Accumulation of isoaspartyl residues was accelerated at pH 8·0 or 9·0 in vivo, though PCM-deficient cells did not show higher levels of damage. However, the pcm mutant displayed an extended lag phase in recovering from stationary phase at pH 9·0. Protein repair by PCM thus plays a key role in long-term stress survival only at alkaline pH in E. coli, and it may function primarily to repair damage in cells that are recovering from nutrient limitation and in those cells that are able to divide during long-term stationary phase.

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A Stable Bioluminescent Construct of Escherichia coli O157:H7 for Hazard Assessments of Long-Term Survival in the Environment

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.69.6.3359-3367.2003 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 69 (6) ◽

pp. 3359-3367 ◽

Cited By ~ 54

Author(s):

Jennifer M. Ritchie ◽

Graeme R. Campbell ◽

Jill Shepherd ◽

Yvonne Beaton ◽

Davey Jones ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Wild Type Strain ◽

Light Emission ◽

Quantitative Measure ◽

Matric Potential ◽

Term Survival ◽

Long Term Survival ◽

E Coli ◽

Survival Studies

ABSTRACT A chromosomally lux-marked (Tn5 luxCDABE) strain of nontoxigenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 was constructed by transposon mutagenesis and shown to have retained the O157, H7, and intimin phenotypes. The survival characteristics of this strain in the experiments performed (soil at −5, −100, and −1,500 kPa matric potential and artificial groundwater) were indistinguishable from the wild-type strain. Evaluation of potential luminescence was found to be a rapid, cheap, and quantitative measure of viable E. coli O157:H7 Tn5 luxCDABE populations in environmental samples. In the survival studies, bioluminescence of the starved populations of E. coli O157:H7 Tn5 luxCDABE could be reactivated to the original levels of light emission, suggesting that these populations remain viable and potentially infective to humans. The attributes of the construct offer a cheap and low-risk substitute to the use of verocytotoxin-producing E. coli O157:H7 in long-term survival studies.

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Survival ofEscherichia coliO157:H7 in soil and on lettuce after soil fumigation

Canadian Journal of Microbiology ◽

10.1139/w07-003 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 53 (5) ◽

pp. 623-635 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

A. Mark Ibekwe ◽

Catherine M. Grieve ◽

Ching-Hong Yang

Keyword(s):

Growth Chamber ◽

Term Survival ◽

Soil Microcosms ◽

Long Term Survival ◽

E Coli ◽

Chamber Study ◽

Plate Counts ◽

Significant Pathway ◽

Harsh Conditions

Long-term survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in soil and in the rhizosphere of many crops after fumigation is relatively unknown. One of the critical concerns with food safety is the transfer of pathogens from contaminated soil to the edible portion of the plants. Multiplex fluorogenic polymerase chain reaction was used in conjunction with plate counts to quantify the survival of E. coli O157:H7 in soil after fumigation with methyl bromide and methyl iodide in growth chamber and microcosm laboratory experiments. Plants were grown at 20 °C in growth chambers during the first experiment and soils were irrigated with water contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. For the second experiment, soil microcosms were used in the laboratory without plants and were inoculated with E. coli O157:H7 and spiked with the two fumigants. Primers and probes were designed to amplify and quantify the Shiga-like toxin 1 (stx1) and 2 (stx2) genes and the intimin (eae) gene of E. coli O157:H7. Both fumigants were effective in reducing pathogen concentrations in soil, and when fumigated soils were compared with nonfumigated soils, pathogen concentrations were significantly higher in the nonfumigated soils throughout the study. This resulted in a longer survival of the pathogen on the leaf surface especially in sandy soil than observed in fumigated soils. Therefore, application of fumigant may play some roles in reducing the transfer of E. coli O157:H7 from soil to leaf. Regression models showed that survival of the pathogen in the growth chamber study followed a linear model while that of the microcosm followed a curvilinear model, suggesting long-term survival of the pathogen in soil. Both experiments showed that E. coli O157:H7 can survive in the environment for a long period of time, even under harsh conditions, and the pathogen can survive in soil for more than 90 days. This provides a very significant pathway for pathogen recontamination in the environment.

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A Role for Single-Stranded Exonucleases in the Use of DNA as a Nutrient

Journal of Bacteriology ◽

10.1128/jb.01678-08 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 191 (11) ◽

pp. 3712-3716 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Vyacheslav Palchevskiy ◽

Steven E. Finkel

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Bacterial Cells ◽

Wild Type ◽

Nutrient Source ◽

Term Survival ◽

Natural Competence ◽

E Coli ◽

Double Stranded Dna ◽

Better Than

ABSTRACT Nutritional competence is the ability of bacterial cells to utilize exogenous double-stranded DNA molecules as a nutrient source. We previously identified several genes in Escherichia coli that are important for this process and proposed a model, based on models of natural competence and transformation in bacteria, where it is assumed that single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) is degraded following entry into the cytoplasm. Since E. coli has several exonucleases, we determined whether they play a role in the long-term survival and the catabolism of DNA as a nutrient. We show here that mutants lacking either ExoI, ExoVII, ExoX, or RecJ are viable during all phases of the bacterial life cycle yet cannot compete with wild-type cells during long-term stationary-phase incubation. We also show that nuclease mutants, alone or in combination, are defective in DNA catabolism, with the exception of the ExoX− single mutant. The ExoX− mutant consumes double-stranded DNA better than wild-type cells, possibly implying the presence of two pathways in E. coli for the processing of ssDNA as it enters the cytoplasm.

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Zooplankton as a transitional host for Escherichia coli in freshwater

10.1101/2021.12.23.474077 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Di Cesare ◽

Francesco Riva ◽

Noemi Colinas ◽

Giulia Borgomaneiro ◽

Sara Borin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Fluorescent Protein ◽

Poultry Meat ◽

Freshwater Environment ◽

Term Survival ◽

E Coli ◽

Sequence Types ◽

Protein Tagging ◽

Animal Isolates

This study shows that Escherichia coli can be temporarily enriched in zooplankton in natural conditions and that these bacteria can belong to different phylogroups and sequence types including environmental as well as clinical and animal isolates. We isolated 10 E. coli strains and sequenced the genomes of two of them. Phylogenetically the two isolates were closer to strains isolated from poultry meat than with freshwater E. coli, albeit their genomes were smaller than those from poultry. After isolation and fluorescent protein tagging of strains ED1 and ED157 we show that Daphnia sp. can take up these strains and release them alive again, thus forming a temporary host for E. coli. In a chemostat experiment we show that the association does not prolong the bacterial long-term survival, but that at low abundances it does also not significantly reduce the bacterial numbers. We demonstrate that E. coli does not belong to the core microbiota of Daphnia, suffers from competition by the natural microbiota of Daphnia, but can profit from its carapax to survive in water. All in all, this study suggests that the association of E. coli to Daphnia is only temporary but that the cells are viable therein and this might allow encounters with other bacteria for genetic exchange and potential genomic adaptations to the freshwater environment.

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Long-Term Survival of Shiga Toxin-ProducingEscherichia coli O26, O111, and O157 in Bovine Feces

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.65.11.5177-5181.1999 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 65 (11) ◽

pp. 5177-5181 ◽

Cited By ~ 99

Author(s):

Hiroshi Fukushima ◽

Ken Hoshina ◽

Manabu Gomyoda

Keyword(s):

Escherichia Coli ◽

Shiga Toxin ◽

Term Survival ◽

Long Term Survival ◽

Low Concentration ◽

Long Time ◽

High Concentrations ◽

Bovine Feces

ABSTRACT Cattle are an important reservoir of Shiga toxin-producingEscherichia coli (STEC) O26, O111, and O157. The fate of these pathogens in bovine feces at 5, 15, and 25°C was examined. The feces of a cow naturally infected with STEC O26:H11 and two STEC-free cows were studied. STEC O26, O111, and O157 were inoculated into bovine feces at 101, 103, and 105 CFU/g. All three pathogens survived at 5 and 25°C for 1 to 4 weeks and at 15°C for 1 to 8 weeks when inoculated at the low concentration. On samples inoculated with the middle and high concentrations, O26, O111, and O157 survived at 25°C for 3 to 12 weeks, at 15°C for 1 to 18 weeks, and at 5°C for 2 to 14 weeks, respectively. Therefore, these pathogens can survive in feces for a long time, especially at 15°C. The surprising long-term survival of STEC O26, O111, and O157 in bovine feces shows that such feces are a potential vehicle for transmitting not only O157 but also O26 and O111 to cattle, food, and the environment. Appropriate handling of bovine feces is emphasized.

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