scholarly journals Multiomics analysis reveals the presence of a microbiome in the gut of fetal lambs

Gut ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 853-864
Author(s):  
Yanliang Bi ◽  
Yan Tu ◽  
Naifeng Zhang ◽  
Shiqing Wang ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
...  

ObjectiveMicrobial exposure is critical to neonatal and infant development, growth and immunity. However, whether a microbiome is present in the fetal gut prior to birth remains debated. In this study, lambs delivered by aseptic hysterectomy at full term were used as an animal model to investigate the presence of a microbiome in the prenatal gut using a multiomics approach.DesignLambs were euthanised immediately after aseptic caesarean section and their cecal content and umbilical cord blood samples were aseptically acquired. Cecal content samples were assessed using metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing to characterise any existing microbiome. Both sample types were analysed using metabolomics in order to detect microbial metabolites.ResultsWe detected a low-diversity and low-biomass microbiome in the prenatal fetal gut, which was mainly composed of bacteria belonging to the phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Escherichia coli was the most abundant species in the prenatal fetal gut. We also detected multiple microbial metabolites including short chain fatty acids, deoxynojirimycin, mitomycin and tobramycin, further indicating the presence of metabolically active microbiota. Additionally, bacteriophage phiX174 and Orf virus, as well as antibiotic resistance genes, were detected in the fetal gut, suggesting that bacteriophage, viruses and bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes can be transmitted from the mother to the fetus during the gestation period.ConclusionsThis study provides strong evidence that the prenatal gut harbours a microbiome and that microbial colonisation of the fetal gut commences in utero.

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. S301-S301
Author(s):  
Jessica L Snyder ◽  
Brendan Manning ◽  
Robert Shivers ◽  
Daniel Gamero ◽  
Heidi Giese ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are spread through selective pressure from the use of broad-spectrum empirical therapies, mobile genetic elements that pass resistance genes between species, and the inability to rapidly and appropriately respond to their presence. Resistance gene identification is often performed with post culture molecular diagnostic tests. The T2Resistance Panel, which detects methicillin resistance genes mecA/C; vancomycin resistance genes vanA/B; carbapenemases blaKPC, blaOXA-48,blaNDM, blaVIM, and blaIMP; AmpC β-lactamases blaCMY and blaDHA; and extended-spectrum β-lactamases blaCTX-M directly from patient blood samples, is based on T2 magnetic resonance (T2MR), an FDA-cleared technology with demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for culture-independent bacterial and fungal species identification. Here we report the clinical performance of T2MR detection of resistance genes directly from patient blood samples. Methods Patients with a clinical diagnosis of sepsis and an order for blood culture (BC) were enrolled in the study at two sites. BCs were managed using standard procedures and MALDI-TOF for species identification. Resistance testing with the T2MR assay was performed on a direct patient draw and compared with diagnostic test results from concurrent BC specimen and BC specimen taken at other points in time. The potential impact on therapy was evaluated through patient chart review. Results T2MR detected the same resistance genes as detected by post culture diagnostics in 100% of samples from concurrent blood draws. Discordant results occurred when T2MR was taken ≥48 hours after BC for patients on antimicrobial therapy. The average time to positive result was 5.9 hours with T2MR vs. 30.6 hours with post-culture molecular testing. Conclusion The T2Resistance Panel detected antibiotic resistance genes in clinical samples and displayed agreement with post culture genetic testing. T2MR results were achieved faster than culture-dependent diagnostic testing results and may allow for an earlier change from empiric to directed therapy. The use of culture-independent diagnostics like T2MR could enable a quicker response to antibiotic-resistant organisms for individual patients and developing outbreaks. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Connor L. Brown ◽  
Ishi M. Keenum ◽  
Dongjuan Dai ◽  
Liqing Zhang ◽  
Peter J. Vikesland ◽  
...  

AbstractIn the fight to limit the global spread of antibiotic resistance, the assembly of environmental metagenomes has the potential to provide rich contextual information (e.g., taxonomic hosts, carriage on mobile genetic elements) about antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) in the environment. However, computational challenges associated with assembly can impact the accuracy of downstream analyses. This work critically evaluates the impact of assembly leveraging short reads, nanopore MinION long-reads, and a combination of the two (hybrid) on ARG contextualization for ten environmental metagenomes using seven prominent assemblers (IDBA-UD, MEGAHIT, Canu, Flye, Opera-MS, metaSpades and HybridSpades). While short-read and hybrid assemblies produced similar patterns of ARG contextualization, raw or assembled long nanopore reads produced distinct patterns. Based on an in-silico spike-in experiment using real and simulated reads, we show that low to intermediate coverage species are more likely to be incorporated into chimeric contigs across all assemblers and sequencing technologies, while more abundant species produce assemblies with a greater frequency of inversions and insertion/deletions (indels). In sum, our analyses support hybrid assembly as a valuable technique for boosting the reliability and accuracy of assembly-based analyses of ARGs and neighboring genes at environmentally-relevant coverages, provided that sufficient short-read sequencing depth is achieved.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelino Campos ◽  
Álvaro San Millán ◽  
José M. Sempere ◽  
Val F. Lanza ◽  
Teresa M. Coque ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Bacterial plasmids harboring antibiotic resistance genes are critical in the spread of antibiotic resistance. It is known that plasmids differ in their kinetic values, i.e., conjugation rate, segregation rate by copy number incompatibility with related plasmids, and rate of stochastic loss during replication. They also differ in cost to the cell in terms of reducing fitness and in the frequency of compensatory mutations compensating plasmid cost. However, we do not know how variation in these values influences the success of a plasmid and its resistance genes in complex ecosystems, such as the microbiota. Genes are in plasmids, plasmids are in cells, and cells are in bacterial populations and microbiotas, which are inside hosts, and hosts are in human communities at the hospital or the community under various levels of cross-colonization and antibiotic exposure. Differences in plasmid kinetics might have consequences on the global spread of antibiotic resistance. New membrane computing methods help to predict these consequences. In our simulation, conjugation frequency of at least 10−3 influences the dominance of a strain with a resistance plasmid. Coexistence of different antibiotic resistances occurs if host strains can maintain two copies of similar plasmids. Plasmid loss rates of 10−4 or 10−5 or plasmid fitness costs of ≥0.06 favor plasmids located in the most abundant species. The beneficial effect of compensatory mutations for plasmid fitness cost is proportional to this cost at high mutation frequencies (10−3 to 10−5). The results of this computational model clearly show how changes in plasmid kinetics can modify the entire population ecology of antibiotic resistance in the hospital setting.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Navindra Kumari Palanisamy ◽  
Parasakthi Navaratnam ◽  
Shamala Devi Sekaran

Introduction: Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important bacterial pathogen, causing respiratory infection. Penicillin resistance in S. pneumoniae is associated with alterations in the penicillin binding proteins, while resistance to macrolides is conferred either by the modification of the ribosomal target site or efflux mechanism. This study aimed to characterize S. pneumoniae and its antibiotic resistance genes using 2 sets of multiplex PCRs. Methods: A quintuplex and triplex PCR was used to characterize the pbp1A, ermB, gyrA, ply, and the mefE genes. Fifty-eight penicillin sensitive strains (PSSP), 36 penicillin intermediate strains (PISP) and 26 penicillin resistance strains (PRSP) were used. Results: Alteration in pbp1A was only observed in PISP and PRSP strains, while PCR amplification of the ermB or mefE was observed only in strains with reduced susceptibility to erythromycin. The assay was found to be sensitive as simulated blood cultures showed the lowest level of detection to be 10cfu. Conclusions: As predicted, the assay was able to differentiate penicillin susceptible from the non-susceptible strains based on the detection of the pbp1A gene, which correlated with the MIC value of the strains.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document